Philippines ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

The Philippines deposited its instrument of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 23 February 2001. The Philippines is the third member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), after Lao People´s Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Cambodia, to ratify the Treaty. So far, 71 States have deposited their instruments of ratification of the CTBT and 160 States have signed the Treaty. The Philippines hosts a seismological station and a radionuclide station of the global network of 321 monitoring stations and 16 laboratories - the International Monitoring System (IMS).

Under the CTBT, the IMS will record data necessary to verify compliance with the Treaty using four complementary technologies. The stations will be capable of registering vibrations from a possible nuclear explosion underground, in the seas and in the air, as well as detecting radioactive debris released into the atmosphere. The monitoring stations will transmit, via satellite, the data to the International Data Centre (IDC) within CTBTO Preparatory Commission in Vienna, where the data will be used to detect, locate and characterize events. These data and IDC products are made available to the States Signatories for final analysis. The CTBT prohibits all nuclear weapon test explosions and any other nuclear explosion anywhere in the world. Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the Treaty was opened for signature on 24 September 1996 at the United Nations, New York.

The 71 States that have deposited their instruments of ratification of the CTBT are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kingdom of Cambodia, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People´s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mali, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org or contact: 
Annika Thunborg
Chief, Public Information   
T    +43 1 26030-6375  
E    press@ctbto.org
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