Japan makes voluntary contribution in support of the verification regime and GEM

Japan has made a new voluntary contribution of U.S.$ 455,000 to the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

The larger part of the funds will flow into the further enhancement of the verification system of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).  The contribution will also be used to support activities of the recently established Group of Eminent Persons (GEM).

“Through this voluntary contribution, Japan reconfirms its role as a driving force behind the CTBT and its verification regime at the outset of its chairmanship of the CTBTO’s governing body. It is gratifying to receive these additional resources, which help us in pursuing our common dream of banning all nuclear explosions. And they will allow us to detect any nuclear explosion with even greater efficiency and precision,” said Lassina Zerbo, CTBTO Executive Secretary.

This contribution comes only weeks after Japan’s most recent voluntary contribution of U.S.$ 737,000, which was used for the acquisition of high-performance computing hardware, enabling the CTBTO to track airborne radioactivity more accurately.

The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, in outer space, underwater and underground. A total of 183 countries have signed the Treaty, of which 161 have also ratified it. The Treaty can however only enter into force after it has been ratified by the eight remaining ‘nuclear capable’ countries: China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States.

The GEM supports and complements efforts to promote the Treaty’s entry into force. Through their expertise, experience and political standing the group comprising eminent personalities and internationally recognized experts will reinvigorate international endeavours to achieve this goal. Japanese national Nobuyasu Abe, who served as UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs from 2003 to 2006, is one of the members of the group. Furthermore, Japan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Vienna, Toshiro Ozawa, chairs the CTBTO’s main governing body, the Preparatory Commission in 2014.
An unprecedented global verification regime with over 300 sensors monitors the globe around the clock for nuclear explosions to detect any violations of the Treaty. Japan hosts 10 fully functional CTBTO monitoring facilities. The radionuclide station at Takasaki was the first station to detect traces of radioactive noble gas attributable to the nuclear test announced by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 12 February 2013.