Thirty years ago, on 24 September 1996, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) opened for signature. In this special episode of Ok, Doomer!, we look at what the treaty has achieved over the past three decades, why it remains an important part of the global nuclear order despite never entering into force, and the challenges it faces today.
Hosted by the ELN’s Deputy Executive Director Bekki Field and Policy Fellow Jana Baldus, this episode asks what it will take to protect the global norm against nuclear testing at a time of growing geopolitical tension.
To begin, Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) joins us to discuss the CTBT’s significance for the wider multilateral nuclear order and its relationship with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Jana’s panel brings together Dr Oliver Meier of the ELN, Jenifer Mackby of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and Francesca Giovannini of Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center to examine some of the biggest challenges facing the CTBT and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Together, they discuss:
The challenges of maintaining and modernising the treaty’s verification regime and International Monitoring System (IMS)
Progress, and regression, towards the CTBT’s entry into force • Allegations of nuclear testing and non-compliance
The institutional and political challenges facing the CTBTO
What needs to happen in the coming years to protect the treaty and the norm against nuclear testing
Moving on to a special interview marking the CTBT’s 30th anniversary, Bekki is joined by Robert Floyd, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). They discuss why the treaty still matters even though it has yet to enter into force, how its mechanisms can help clarify potentially misunderstood events, and the technical, operational and political challenges involved in sustaining its global verification regime.
Finally, in “The Debrief”, Bekki and Jana reflect on what they’ve heard and what the next 30 years could hold for the nuclear test ban.
Listen to previous episodes of Ok, Doomer! here.
