N.C.C.D. Disarmament Times
NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE ON DISARMAMENT
Volume 3, Number 1, April 2000
World-Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zones
Name and Location | Members [ ] = signed but not ratified | Protocol Signatories | Population | Area of Land | Area of Sea | Administrative Body | Provisions | Comments |
1. Antarctic NFZ Pole to 60 S In Force: 1961 |
Aus. NZ, USA, Russia, UK, Argentina, Belgium,Chile, France, Japan, Norway, S Africa, Brazil, China, India, Germany, Finland, Italy, S Korea, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden. Uruguay. | No protocols | 0 | 13 m km2 | 22 m km2 | Consultative meetings of all signatories when requested. | Excludes all military activity, nuclear explosions and dumping on land until agreed otherwise. Inspections are allowed and many have been carried out. | Despite the Treaty extending to latitude 60 degrees South only the land is covered by the anti- nuclear provisions. Has an expiry date (or may be revised). |
2. Latin American NWFZ Treaty of Tlatelolco In force: 1968 | 32 Latin American countries, from Mexico south including the Caribbean. [Cuba] | USA, UK, France, Russia, China, Holland | 340 m | 18 m km2 | 17 m km2 | OPNAL: The Agency for the Prohibition of N.Ws in Latin America, with a General Confer- ence, a Council, and Secretariat. | Bans all nuclear weapons and testing by or for states party. Ignores sea/air transit by parties and protocol states. Allows nuclear power and explosions for peaceful ends. Minor amendments 1990,91,92. Specific-ally encourages relations with other dis-armament organisations. Violations must be reported to UN Security Council. | Picture Frame zone limits seem to include the sea (and part of the USA!) but implicit transit bans were breached by UK in Malvinas/Falklands war; this interpretation of the treaty is denied by USA, UK. |
3 SPNFZ Treaty of Rarotonga South Pacific In force: 1986 |
Aus, NZ, Cooks, Fiji, Niue, Kiribati, Nauru, W.Samoa, Solomons, PNG, Tuvalu, Vanuatu. [Tonga] | UK, China, France, Russia. [USA] | 26 m | 7.9 m km2 | 21 m km2 | SPBEC: South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation. | No party will make, get, control, supply, station, or test nuclear weapons on land; nor dump waste in the seas of the zone; they will prevent dumping by anyone. Does not ban sea transit, land dumping, nuclear states CCCI facilities, testing missiles. | Picture frame zone limits seem to include all sea but does not, except for dumping by parties. Otherwise the treaty deals only with the land. Only NZ bans ship visits and then only to harbours. |
4 SE Asian NWFZ Treaty of Bangkok In force: 1999 | Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Singapore, Myanmar, (Burma), Laos. [Philippines] | One, only. No signatures, no ratifications yet. | 325 m | 3.5 m km2 | 6 m km2 | CSEANWFZ: The Commission for the SE Asian NWFZ, and its Executive. | No party will develop, make, acquire, test inside or outside the zone. No stationing. No transit in or through the zone. No dumping at sea or on land. The protocol requires NWS not to threaten or use nuclear weapons in whole Zone. All nuclear accidents must be reported. | Includes continental shelves and Exclusive Economic Zones. USA leading a push to have no Nuclear Weapons States sign the single protocol. China will not sign over Spratly Is. Export of fissionables only under IAEA. |
5 African NWFZ Treaty of Pelindaba Open for signature 1996; not yet in force. |
All 53 member states of the Organisation for African Unity. All have signed, eight ratifications so far. | France, China, [UK, USA, Spain, Russia] | 276 m | 28 m km2 | 0 m km2 | ACNE: African Commission on Nuclear Energy. Bi-annual con-ference. And a Bureau | No research, development, manufacture, stockpiling, stationing, testing,dumping, or assistance with these. Present facilities to be converted. No attacks on peaceful nuclear installations allowed. Ship and aircraft visits up to each state. | Only land and territorial waters covered; no provisions about transit. Good provisions about reporting breaches. Export of fission materials only under IAEA. Slow progress since 1996. |
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