Thirty years ago, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) opened for signature. Despite its successes, the global norm against nuclear testing faces renewed pressure. The case for preserving the test-ban is not only about verification and strategic stability, but also about the lasting humanitarian and environmental consequences of nuclear explosions.
Three decades since the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) opened for signature, many of the legal frameworks underpinning Europe’s security have eroded. What can the test-ban regime teach us about building a new European security architecture? Kjølv Egeland argues that a new one must be designed before it can be built.
In our latest episode, we look at what the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) 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 ELN Policy Fellow Dr Jana Baldus.
Continuing our commentary series exploring different European perspectives ahead of the 2026 NPT Review Conference, Carmen Wunderlich writes that Germany’s current policy towards the NPT reflects not only a change in tone but also a gradual shift in priorities towards pragmatic measures such as risk reduction and confidence-building, while multilateral disarmament seems to have lost political salience.
President Trump’s recent statement about the US resumption of nuclear testing has heightened concerns over a renewed arms race and the erosion of the global norm against nuclear testing enshrined in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). This new policy brief from the ELN’s Protecting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty project argues that the CTBT reinforces the NPT by bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation norm and constraining the development of new nuclear warhead types: sustaining it is a strategic imperative. States Parties to the NPT must work together to strengthen the CTBT’s credibility and relevance to international security and prioritise collective multilateral action over short-term security gains.
The world today stands closer to nuclear catastrophe than at any point since the end of the Cold War. Conflicts involving nuclear-armed states could all too easily escalate to a nuclear confrontation, as global arms control treaties collapse. Steve Barwick, Chair of the Nuclear Education Trust, calls for the UK, as the chair of the group of five ‘official’ nuclear weapon states in the run-up to the 2026 NPT Review Conference, to reject nuclear sharing and prioritise transparency, reinvigorate global nuclear diplomacy, adopt a no-first-use policy, and engage with the TPNW.