The Nuclear Weapon Free Zones (NWFZ) Working Group supports existing regional NWFZs and promotes the establishment of additional NWFZs including in the Arctic, Europe, Middle East and North East Asia.
Background:
A nuclear weapon-free zone (NWFZ) is a specified region in which countries commit themselves to not manufacture, acquire, test, or possess nuclear weapons.
Article VII of the 1968 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) affirms the right of countries to establish specified zones free of nuclear weapons. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3472 B (1975) reaffirmed that right and outlined the conditions for such zones.
Five such zones exist today, with four of them spanning the entire Southern Hemisphere. The populated regions currently covered under NWFZ agreements include: the Latin America (the 1967 Treaty of Tlatelolco), the South Pacific (the 1985 Treaty of Rarotonga), Southeast Asia (the 1995 Treaty of Bangkok) Africa (the 1996 Treaty of Pelindaba) and Central Asia (the 2006 Treaty of Semipalatinsk).
In addition, Mongolia has established itself as a Single-State NWFZ, and there are a number of non-country specific NWFZs covering Antarctica, the Sea Bed and Outer Space.
Each NWFZ treaty includes a protocol for the nuclear-weapon States to sign and ratify, whereby they legally commit themselves to not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against treaty States Parties (“negative security assurances”).
Nuclear weapon-free zones are an effective tool to strengthen the global nuclear prohibition norm, address non-proliferation issues, and promote regional cooperative, non-nuclear security. As such, NWFZ proposals have been made for regions with complex and unstable security environments, including the Arctic, Europe, the Middle East and Northeast Asia.
Recent activities
- June 9-10, 2022. Ulaanbaatar conference on Nuclear Weapon Free Zones organised by Blue Banner. Ulaanbaatar statement on NWFZs adopted at the conference.
Resources:
- Basel Peace Office backgrounder on NWFZs
- Parliamentarians and NWFZs Chapter from IPU handbook
- Nuclear sabre-rattling in North East Asia: Can Godzilla be tamed? Article on the proposal for a NE Asia NWFZ
- Features of the NE Asia Treaty proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan nuclear disarmament group
- Archive of documents to support a Middle East Zone Free from Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction
Coordinator:
Alyn Ware (New Zealand/Czech Republic), Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace. World Future Council. alyn@lcnp.org
Core group members:
Marc Finaud (Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Switzerland), Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikhan (Blue Banner, Mongolia), Dr Andreas Nidecker (Basel Peace Office, IPPNW Switzerland), Dr Mounir Zahran (Pugwash Egypt), Tony Robinson (METO, London)
