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26-765: The Treaty of Rarotonga is the common name for the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty , which formalises a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the South Pacific . The treaty bans the use, testing , and possession of nuclear weapons within the borders of the zone. It was signed by the South Pacific nations of Australia , the Cook Islands , Fiji , Kiribati , Nauru , New Zealand , Niue , Papua New Guinea , Samoa , Solomon Islands , Tonga , Tuvalu , and Vanuatu on

52-524: A Compact of Free Association with the US. India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed states and the six other South Asian states ( Afghanistan , Sri Lanka , Maldives , Bangladesh , Nepal , Bhutan ) are not part of a NWFZ or security bloc. The six Gulf Cooperation Council states, the 5 other Arab League states outside Africa ( Yemen , Jordan , Lebanon , Syria , Iraq ), and Iran (see Nuclear program of Iran ) are not nuclear weapons states and not part of

78-644: A NWFZ. The UN General Assembly has urged establishment of a Middle East NWFZ, and NPT Review Conferences in 1995 and 2010 called for a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. An International Conference For A WMD-Free Middle East was held in Haifa in December 2013 attended by citizens from all over the world concerned about the lack of progress in the official talks. Nuclear weapons Too Many Requests If you report this error to

104-455: A US military base . Four NWFZ countries have nuclear plants to generate electricity. South Africa formerly had a nuclear weapons program which it terminated in 1989. Argentina and Brazil are known to operate uranium enrichment facilities. Countries that had enrichment programs in the past include Libya and South Africa, although Libya's facility was never operational. Australia has announced its intention to pursue commercial enrichment, and

130-544: A group of states has freely established by treaty or convention that bans the development, manufacturing, control, possession, testing, stationing or transporting of nuclear weapons in a given area, that has mechanisms of verification and control to enforce its obligations, and that is recognized as such by the General Assembly of the United Nations . NWFZs have a similar purpose to, but are distinct from,

156-603: Is freedom of the seas ) or transit of nuclear missiles through space (as opposed to deployment of nuclear weapons in space ). As of 15 July 2009 when the African NWFZ came into force, the six land zones cover 56% of the Earth 's land area of 149 million square kilometers and 60% of the 195 states on Earth , up from 34% and 30% the previous year; however, only 39% of the world's population lives in NWFZs, while

182-484: Is actively researching laser enrichment . Argentina and Brazil also have plans to build nuclear submarines . Several of the NWFZ treaties have protocols under which states outside the zone that have territories within the zone can bring the provisions of the NWFZ into force for those territories. All these territories are small islands except for French Guiana . The United States has signed but not ratified Protocol I to

208-685: The Arctic . All countries without nuclear weapons, except South Sudan , are parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty , as are the five NPT-sanctioned nuclear weapon states. The UK, France, and the USA share a nuclear umbrella with the 29 other members of NATO , and the four European Union states not part of NATO (Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta) are part of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy . The other European countries west of

234-519: The Atomsperrgesetz in 1999. Similarly the 2+4 Treaty , which led to German reunification , banned nuclear weapons in the new states of Germany ( Berlin and former East Germany ), but was an agreement only among the six signatory countries, without formal NWFZ mechanisms. Today there are five zones covering continental or subcontinental groups of countries (including their territorial waters and airspace), and three governing Antarctica ,

260-569: The Central Asian NWFZ , are allies of Russia in CSTO , the three Baltic states have joined NATO, and the GUAM states ( Georgia , Azerbaijan , Ukraine , Moldova ) are not party to either security treaty. South Korea and Japan are American allies under its nuclear umbrella, while the three Micronesian states ( Marshall Islands , Federated States of Micronesia , and Palau ) are in

286-634: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to which most countries including five nuclear weapons states are a party. Another term, nuclear-free zone , often means an area that has banned both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and sometimes nuclear waste and nuclear propulsion , and usually does not mean a UN-acknowledged international treaty. The NWFZ definition does not count countries or smaller regions that have outlawed nuclear weapons simply by their own law, like Austria with

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312-670: The U.N. General Assembly endorsed but the U.S., U.K., and France still opposed. The Latin American, African, South Pacific and Southeast Asian zones also cover most land in the tropics , but not some Northern Hemisphere areas south of the Tropic of Cancer . Most tropical land outside of NWFZs is in India and the Arabian Peninsula . Little of the land area covered by the five southern Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones extends north of

338-409: The former Soviet Union are small Western European states and surrounded by and aligned with the EU and NATO but not members (Switzerland and European microstates Liechtenstein , Monaco, San Marino, Vatican, Andorra), or Balkan states that have not yet joined the EU and NATO (Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo). NATO also extends to Turkey and Canada . Belarus and Armenia , along with some members of

364-537: The Indian Ocean also belong to Australia and are therefore part of the zone. "Territory" means internal waters , territorial sea and archipelagic waters , the seabed and subsoil beneath, the land territory and the airspace above them. It does not include international waters . Article 2 says "Nothing in this Treaty shall prejudice or in any way affect the rights, or the exercise of the rights, of any State under international law with regard to freedom of

390-636: The NWFZ movement. Twenty-two states are not part of a NWFZ or a collective security bloc nor nuclear weapons states, twelve in the Middle East, six in South Asia, and four in the former Soviet Union. There have been NWFZ proposals for the Middle East (e.g. Nuclear program of Iran#Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East , 2009 UN proposal, 2011 IAEA forum ), the Korean Peninsula , Central Europe , South Asia , South-east Asia , and

416-723: The Southeast Asian zone is defined as the territories of its members including their Exclusive Economic Zones , and the African zone is also defined as the countries and territories considered part of Africa by the OAU (now the African Union ) which include islands close to Africa and Madagascar . An AU member, Mauritius , claims the British Indian Ocean Territory where Diego Garcia is currently

442-688: The Southern Hemisphere except East Timor , still in the process of joining ASEAN , and Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands belonging to non-NWFZ countries in the box (map) bounded by 60° S , 20° W , and 115° E , which combined have less than 8000 km of land area: In 1994 states of the South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone issued a "Declaration on the Denuclearization of the South Atlantic" which

468-697: The Treaty of Rarotonga which would apply to American Samoa and Jarvis Island . The United Kingdom does not accept that African NWFZ is applicable to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia which has a U.S. military base . Few prevailing winds cross the Equator and effects of nuclear explosions in the Northern Hemisphere might send less fallout to the Southern Hemisphere . The five southern NWFZs together cover all land in

494-771: The Tropic of Cancer: only northern Mexico , northern Bahamas , northern Myanmar , and North Africa . However, the Central Asian and Mongolian zones are entirely in the North Temperate Zone . The majority of non-NWS non-NWFZ states are in Europe and the North Pacific and are members of (or surrounded by) collective security alliances with nuclear weapons states dating from the Cold War and predating

520-716: The U.S. government does not tell the Australian government whether the aircraft are carrying nuclear weapons. In 2023, the Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian Government "understand[s] and respect[s] the longstanding US policy of neither confirming or denying".  Nuclear-weapon-free zone A nuclear-weapon-free zone ( NWFZ ) is defined by the United Nations as an agreement that

546-626: The Zone, to the territories within the Zone, or globally. "South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone" means the area : plus three projections north of the Equator to include the territory and territorial waters of Papua New Guinea , Nauru , and Kiribati , but minus the northwest corner beyond Australian territorial waters and near Indonesia (and the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone ). Several islands in

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572-561: The island of Rarotonga (where the capital of the Cook Islands is located) on 6 August 1985, came into force on 11 December 1986 with the 8th ratification, and has since been ratified by all of those states. The Marshall Islands , the Federated States of Micronesia , and Palau are not party to the treaties but are eligible to become parties should they decide to join the treaty in the future. There are three protocols to

598-475: The nine nuclear weapons states have 28% of the world's land area and 46% of the world population. The Antarctic, Latin American , and South Pacific zones are defined by lines of latitude and longitude , except for the northwestern boundary of the South Pacific zone which follows the limit of Australian territorial waters, and these three zones form a contiguous area, though treaty provisions do not apply to international waters within that area. In contrast,

624-519: The seabed, and outer space which are not part of any state. The Antarctic, seabed, and space zones preceded all but one of the zones on national territories. Most of the Earth's oceans above the seabed are not covered by NWFZs since freedom of the seas restricts restrictions in international waters . The UN has also recognized one additional country, Mongolia , as having nuclear-weapon-free status . NWFZs do not cover international waters (where there

650-463: The seas ." The treaty is an agreement between nation-states and as such of course cannot apply to those who have not signed the treaty or protocols, for example, the four countries not signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty , who are all nuclear powers. U.S. bomber aircraft have been visiting Australia since the early 1980s, and nuclear-capable B-52s and B-2s operate regularly out of northern Australia. When U.S. bombers visit Australia,

676-548: The treaty, which have been signed by the five declared nuclear states , with the exception of Protocol 1 for China and Russia who have no territory in the Zone. In 1996 France and the United Kingdom signed and ratified the three protocols. The United States signed them the same year but has not ratified them. China signed and ratified protocols 2 and 3 in 1987. Russia has also ratified protocols 2 and 3 with reservations. The treaty's different provisions apply variously to

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