Guidelines for Establishing NWFZs

United Nations Guidelines

The principles and guidelines for establishing a NWFZ have evolved over the years with experience and changes in the global political environment. The first NWFZ, the Latin America and Caribbean NWFZ created by the Treaty of Tlatelolco, was established before the NPT codified the international community's commitment to nuclear nonproliferation. Since then, the United Nations has developed a comprehensive set of guidelines for creating NWFZs.

The 1999 Report of the UN Disarmament Commission on the "Establishment of nuclear weapon free zones on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the States of the region concerned" proposed the following principles and guidelines, which have since been endorsed by the UN General Assembly:

• The establishment of NWFZs strengthens the international nonproliferation regime and regional and contributes to world peace and security.
• NWFZs should be based on arrangements freely arrived at among the states of the region concerned.
• The initiative to establish a NWFZ should start from states within the region concerned and be pursued by all the states of that region.
• If the states of a given region agree to establish a NWFZ, the international community should support efforts towards that goal.
• All the states of the region concerned should participate in the negotiations on the establishment of such a zone.
• The status of a NWFZ should be respected by all states parties to the treaty establishing the zone as well as by states outside the region, including the nuclear weapon states.
• The NWS should be involved in the negotiations of each treaty and respective protocols in order to facilitate their signature to and ratification of the relevant protocols.
• States with territory, or that are internationally responsible for territories, within the zone concerned should be involved in the negotiations of the treaties and protocols relevant to this territory to facilitate the responsible state's signature and ratification.
• The process of establishing the zone should take into account all the relevant characteristics of the region concerned.
• The establishment of new NWFZs should reaffirm the commitment of the states to such zones to respect relevant international treaties already in force.
• NWFZ treaties are legally binding, and the states parties should fully comply with such agreements.
• The arrangements relating to a NWFZ should be consistent with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
• States parties to a NWFZ can freely decide whether to allow foreign ships and aircraft to visit their ports and airfield, and transit their airspace and their territorial waters.
• A NWFZ treaty should be implemented by the states parties in accordance with their individual constitutional requirements.
• A NWFZ should effectively prohibit the development, manufacturing, control, possession, testing, stationing, or transporting by states parties of any type of nuclear explosive device for any purpose; the zone should also prohibit the stationing of any nuclear explosive devices by any other state within the zone.
• A NWFZ should have an effective means to verify compliance with the treaty obligations through IAEA comprehensive safeguards agreement.
• A NWFZ should clearly demarcate the zone in full consultations with prospective states parties to the treaty and other states concerned.
• NWS should fully comply with their obligations regarding NWFZ signing and ratifying relevant protocols including legal commitments not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against the states party to the NWFZ treaties.
• A NWFZ should not prevent the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

The above principles and guidelines specify nuclear weapon states' obligations towards NWFZ, including "negative security assurances." However, if a NWS does not agree with specific provisions of a given NWFZ treaty, it may refuse to sign or ratify the relevant protocols. As we will see in the following pages, this issue can impact the implementation of a NWFZ treaty.

This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents.
Copyright © 2005 by MIIS.