SG/SM/7177

SECRETARY-GENERAL LEARNS WITH REGRET OF NEGATIVE VOTE OF UNITED STATES SENTATE ON RATIFICATION OF COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY

14 October 1999


Press Release
SG/SM/7177
DC/2667


SECRETARY-GENERAL LEARNS WITH REGRET OF NEGATIVE VOTE OF UNITED STATES SENTATE ON RATIFICATION OF COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY

19991014

The following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General has learned with regret of the negative vote of the Senate of the United States on the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Both as Secretary-General of the United Nations and in his capacity as Depositary of the Treaty, he has consistently appealed to Member States who have not done so to sign and ratify the Treaty in order that this important norm against nuclear proliferation and the further development of nuclear weapons should enter into force and become part of international law.

Participants in the Conference for Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT issued a Declaration in Vienna on 8 October reaffirming the importance of a universal and internationally and effectively verifiable comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty.

The Secretary-General reaffirms this goal in view of its importance in maintaining the nuclear non-proliferation regime and progress towards nuclear disarmament.

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For information media. Not an official record.