Situated near the starting point for guided tours at UN Headquarters is the CTBT OmniGlobe. It tells the history of nuclear testing and explains the work of the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), a UN treaty which bans nuclear tests.
This 3D spherically shaped display screen allows users to play animations and listen to narrations about the CTBT’s International Monitoring System (IMS), consisting of over 300 stations that span the globe for the detection of nuclear tests 24/7. The images and sound are controlled by a touchscreen computer monitor standing adjacent to the globe.
The OmniGlobe visually presents data about the four technologies used in the IMS: seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide.
The strategically positioned device attracts the attention of hundreds of visitors from around the world, as well as staff members and delegates.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty opened for signature at UN headquarters in September 1996, and although it has not entered into force, it is among the most universal legal instruments: 186 States have signed it and 177 have ratified it thus far, with more expected before the year’s end. Entry into force is contingent on eight of the so-called Annex 2 States of the Treaty that have yet to ratify: China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the United States of America, which have signed the Treaty, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), India and Pakistan, which have not signed.
Between 1945 and 1996 over 2000 nuclear explosions were detonated worldwide. Since the opening for signature of the CTBT in 1996, there have been only 10. Of those, only one country has conducted nuclear tests, six of them, during the 21st century.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the Depository of the Treaty.
The CTBTO has maintained a liaison office at UN headquarters since 2017.
