It has been an objective of Mayors for Peace from the days of its founding to see nuclear weapon testing prohibited. On December 8th, the world took a step closer to that goal when the Indonesian Parliament ratified the Comprehensive (nuclear) Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Mayors for Peace can claim a small role in this development as in November it sent two letters to the chairman of “First Commission” the parliamentary committee handling ratification. The first letter from the Mayors of the Founding Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was quickly followed by a letter from the Executive Conference.

They wrote, “A demonstration of leadership by your great country will pave the way to bringing the world one-step closer towards reaching the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons… We would like to ask you, in your capacity as Chairman of the First Commission, to lead the process of ratification to fruition.”
Mayors for Peace thanks Chairman Mahfuz Siddiq, doing so.

While over 150 countries have ratified the CTBT and over 180 support its verification arm, the CTBT Organization, the Treaty has a very stringent entry-into-force requirement: all 44 nations that have nuclear reactors must ratify it. Counting Indonesia, 36 of them have now done so; but eight have not, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United States. Mayors for Peace works for ratification by these countries as well.

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