Nuclear: CTBTO Member States Appoint Two Female Directors

Nuclear: CTBTO Member States Appoint Two Female Directors

Vienna, 15 June 2011 - The highest decision-making organ of the 182 Member States of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) today endorsed the appointment of Ms Frances Boyle (USA) as Director of the Division of Administration and Ms Vorian Johanna Andrén Maryssael (Mexico) as head of the International Monitoring System Division. This will be the first time that a woman has held the position of director at the CTBTO. In addition to two of the five directors now being women, six of the organization’s 31 senior management staff are women, bringing female representation at that level to 22%. The percentage of all women professional staff at the CTBTO currently stands at around 30%, while women represent about 40% of the total staff.

U.S. delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Rose Gottemoeller, led the U.S. delegation at the Member States’ meeting. She also visited the CTBTO and met with the Executive Secretary Tibor Tóth.

“I would like to assure you of President Obama’s unshakable commitment to ratification of the CTBT and its entry into force at the earliest possible date… We do not expect it will be easy or happen quickly, but we will work hard to make it happen.”
Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance

Resolve to strengthen on-site inspection capabilities
Member States decided to boost the organization’s capabilities to conduct on-site inspections by endorsing a concept for a comprehensive on-site inspection exercise in 2014. The concept includes a host of run-up activities to strengthen human expertise, infrastructure and equipment aspects. A first such comprehensive exercise, the Integrated Field Exercise 2008, was conducted at the former Soviet Union nuclear test site Semipalatinsk in modern-day Kazakhstan.

2012 budget below zero real growth
Taking into account the ongoing economic and financial difficulties experienced by Member States, the organization’s budget for 2012 remains below zero real growth for yet another year, amounting to U.S. $ 117.4 million in equivalent U.S. dollars at 2011 prices. At the same time, the network of the International Monitoring System (IMS) continues to grow, as do the associated operation and recapitalization costs. To date, 281 of the 337 planned IMS facilities have been established.

Background on the CTBT
The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground. 182 countries have signed the Treaty, of which 154 have also ratified it. Of the 44 countries that have to ratify the Treaty for entry into force, 35 have already done so. The remaining nine are: China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org – your resource on ending nuclear testing.

ENDS

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