Senegal ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

Senegal deposited its instrument of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 9 June 1999. Senegal is the thirty-seventh State signatory to have ratified the Treaty. Senegal is also the second State signatory in the African geographical region to have ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Senegal is contributing one auxiliary seismic station to the international network of monitoring facilities that the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom) is establishing or upgrading to verify compliance with the Treaty. The three-component station is currently located at Mbour, but a survey will be undertaken later this year to determine whether the station´s location is optimal and whether the station needs to be upgraded to meet the specifications of the international monitoring system.

The 36 other States that have ratified the Treaty are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Luxembourg, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Uzbekistan. To date, 152 States have signed the Treaty. Under the CTBT, an international monitoring system of 321 stations, using four complementary technologies, is being established to record data necessary to verify compliance with the Treaty. The stations will be capable of registering vibrations from a 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 PrepCom in Vienna, where the data will be used to detect, locate and characterize events. These data and other IDC products will be made available to the signatory States for final analysis.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty bans any nuclear weapon test explosion or 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 in New York.

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
M    +43 699 1459 6375