Vatican City, Sep 22, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations is currently in New York for the U.N. conference: "Facilitating the Entry-into-Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)," at which, he told participants yesterday that states must clear the way to ending "forever the testing of nuclear weapons."
In his address, the Archbishop pointed that, at the last CTBT meeting in 2003, "168 States had signed and 104 States had ratified the treaty. Today ... 176 States have signed and 125 have ratified. It is clear that the treaty is growing in impact. The growth of the CTBT shows that the great majority of States wants to move toward a nuclear weapons-free world."
He said that "The goal of the CTBT - to put an end forever to the testing of nuclear weapons - should be the aim of every State. ... Yet the movement to CTBT entry-into-force is impeded by the lack of universality.
"The Holy See", he said, "adds its voice in appealing to the States whose ratification is necessary for the entry-into-force of the treaty."