Two decades after the CTBT’s signing, now is time for the world’s leading states to come together to finish what we started

The growing global concerns about North Korea’s nuclear weapons capabilities and tensions in the region are a stark reminder of the need to re-energize the cooperative, diplomatic efforts necessary to advance nuclear risk reduction initiatives, including the global treaty to verifiably ban all nuclear weapon test explosions.

Two decades ago, the nations of the world came together to negotiate a verifiable ban on nuclear weapons test explosions. The 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) prohibits “any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion,” anywhere on Earth, whatever the yield.

Today, the nuclear test ban treaty has near universal support and is a pillar of international security. The treaty has been signed by 183 states and ratified by 166 thus establishing a powerful alliance against nuclear test explosions. Only one country — North Korea — has conducted nuclear test explosions in this century.

Under the prohibition on nuclear explosive testing established by the treaty, states not possessing nuclear arms would be practically barred from acquiring and fielding them by not being able to test, and those already having nuclear arms would have far greater difficulty de