The United Nations has renewed its call for an immediate, comprehensive nuclear test ban across the world.

The partial Test Ban Treaty, formally known as the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water, prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted underground.

António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, says there is an urgent need for all the countries to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty without conditions.

According to Guterres, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have inflicted suffering on people, poisoned the air, and ravaged landscapes around the world since 1945.

“In the name of the victims, I call on all countries to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, immediately and without conditions,” said the UN’s Guterres.

On 2 December 2009, the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 29 August the International Day against Nuclear Tests by unanimously adopting resolution 64/35.

The resolution calls for increasing awareness and education “about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.”

The resolution was initiated by the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with a large number of sponsors and cosponsors with a view to commemorating the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991.

2010 marked the inaugural commemoration of the International Day against Nuclear Tests. In each subsequent year, the day has been observed by coordinating various activities throughout the world, such as symposia, conferences, exhibits, competitions, publications, lectures, media broadcasts and other initiatives.

On August 5, 1963, after more than eight years of difficult negotiations, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

The first attempt to negotiate the Treaty was held in May 1955, when the United Nations Disarmament Commission brought together the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and the Soviet Union to begin negotiations on ending nuclear weapons testing.

Despite this call, some countries that are Non-signatories including India and Pakistan last tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016, and 2017. The most recent confirmed nuclear test occurred in September 2017 in North Korea.