The problem is that 15 years later, the Senate has yet to ratify the treaty. And without the full backing of the United States, the treaty has languished, with progress in other countries stalled as well.

But now, President Obama is testing the waters for a possible push to finally ratify the treaty, and set the stage for a global ban on nuclear explosions. After our recent victory in making the first reductions to the US and Russian nuclear arsenals in decades, momentum is on our side.

That’s why I believe the time for the CTBT is now. Click here to tell your senators to support ratification of the CTBT.

As the leaders of the Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World we are spearheading a national week of action starting September 24th, with hundreds of groups across the country urging their senators to support ratification of the CTBT as soon as possible.

Join thousands of other activists to amplify your voice and call for the Senate to ratify the CTBT.

This treaty is a necessary step to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons. If we want to repeat the victory we had with New START, we need to lay the groundwork now. The sooner we show the Senate that the public supports the CTBT, the better chance we have to swing the key votes we need to ratify.

Click here to tell your senators to support ratification of the CTBT and make the world safer from the threat of nuclear weapons.

When I entered Hiroshima, the charred bodies were still being pulled out of the rubble. The horror that I experienced burned a lasting impression in my conscience. To this day, it serves as a philosophical anchor – my beacon of clarity in a political arena that turns a deaf ear to those who do not speak the exotic language of megatons, kill probability ratios and other terms that desensitize us to the true nature of nuclear war.

For 8 years I was involved in progressive politics in Oregon, where Hatfield’s service as a senator and a governor was much admired, and I was saddened to learn of his death. It is surprising to newcomers to Oregon that so many on the left side of the aisle think so highly of Hatfield and his legacy. Because Senator Hatfield was a Republican.

The Senator consistently reached across the aisle to find common ground with Democrats, and felt it was important to act according to his own sense of right and wrong, even if it meant taking a position that was in conflict with the Republican Party line. As John Isaacs with Council for a Livable World put it:

Indeed, Hatfield represented a brand of Republican moderation that has largely been obliterated in United States politics.

In my work with communities across the state, I found that Oregonians of a variety backgrounds, perspectives and political stripes are proud of the bipartisan heritage that Senator Hatfield represents. When calling voters for the Jeff Merkley campaign in 2008 I spoke to one gentleman from Pendleton, in Eastern Oregon, a rural and historically conservative area. I started telling him about Jeff’s positions on various issues when he cut me off to ask, “is he going to do what he says he’s going to do?” Agreeing with a politician on every issue wasn’t as important to this gentleman as whether his senator had integrity and was going to do what he thought was right.

Senator Hatfield became one of the US Senate’s foremost leaders opposing the use of nuclear weapons and the nuclear arms race, never forgetting his experience in Hiroshima. The concept of an arms moratorium was originated by Senator Hatfield in 1979, and became what we now know as the nuclear weapons freeze. In a prime example of his bipartisanship, he partnered with Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) to sponsor a Senate resolution endorsing a mutual and verifiable nuclear weapons freeze. Although their resolution was never adopted, it was a groundbreaking proposal that paved the way for bipartisan efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons and led to last year’s successful ratification of the New START Treaty.

And the fact that the United States has not explosively tested any nuclear weapons in 20 years is a direct result of Senator Hatfield’s work. He led the fight to impose a moratorium on nuclear testing in 1992, again partnering with a Democrat, Sen. Jim Exon (D-NE), to introduce an amendment that called for a moratorium on US testing, and required the US to begin negotiations on a multinational test ban. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which has been signed by 182 nations, is the continuing legacy of Senator Hatfield and his experience witnessing first-hand the “incredible human suffering” caused by nuclear bombs.

We must urge our senators to put aside party divisions and vote to ratify the CTBT so that a complete ban on all nuclear testing becomes law, and finish the work that Senator Hatfield began when he stepped off that boat 66 years ago.

This was the most detailed and substantive address to date by a senior Barack Obama administration official about the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, according to the Project for the CTBT. Undersecretary Tauscher made it clear that the administration would soon be launching an effort to educate Senators on the CTBT and provide updated answers to some of the concerns that were raised during the 1999 debate on the treaty.

Here is the complete video of the Undersecretary’s remarks:

Utah
Saturday, April 30

The Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (UCAN) has planned a peaceful 5K walk and rally to support a world free of nuclear weapons and an end to nuclear testing.

The 5-K walk will start at Noon in Salt Lake City, and then end with a rally in Washington Square. Click here for more information.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told the Indonesian House of Representatives yesterday that he will officially announce the ratification during the NPT Review Conference next month in New York. “We have been holding off the ratification process since 2002 as we expected the US and other nuclear weapons states to ratify first,” said Natalegawa. “However, we decided there was no point in delaying it. We do not want our policy to be steered by the US’ decisions. We can move it forward with a note that there must be a move to push the US to ratify…The US needs a template it can take as an example when dealing with the [S]enate on ratification.”

In addition to prompting the US to take action, Indonesia’s ratification will mean we are one step closer to making a ban on nuclear weapons testing a reality. Nuclear weapons testing contributes to the spread of nuclear weapons and arms races. Countries seeking to develop nuclear weapons must test them and without testing, cannot “go nuclear.” Meanwhile, countries with nuclear weapons can’t engage in escalating nuclear arms races without nuclear weapons testing to develop more deadly nuclear bombs. According to Reuters:

Indonesia is one of nine remaining nations whose ratification is required for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to come into effect. The others are the United States, China, North Korea, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel and Pakistan.