Nuclear Weapons Free Zone

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  • Nuclear weapons-free zone, the areas of the GDR and West Berlin are also nuclear-weapon-free zones ( two-plus-four treaty )
  • no nuclear weapons, signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
  • Nuclear participation
  • Nuclear powers
    • Nuclear Weapon Free Zones Treaties
    Contract (from) region Signatory /
    ratification     		Year signed /
    in force
    Antarctic Treaty Antarctic 45/45 1959/1961
    Tlatelolco Latin America / Caribbean 33/33 1967/1968
    Rarotonga South pacific 13/13 1985/1986
    Two-plus-four contract former GDR and Berlin 6/5 * 1990/1991
    Mongolia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Mongolia 1/1 1992/2000
    Bangkok South East Asia 10/10 1995/1997
    Pelindaba Africa 53 (54) / 40 1996/2009
    Semei Central Asia 5/5 2006/2009
    * ratified by all still existing contracting parties (the GDR no longer existed)

    The term nuclear-weapon-free zone or nuclear-weapon-free zone describes a spatial area that is free from nuclear weapons . It appeared for the first time in the 1950s, when the nuclear arms race between East and West began during the Cold War and the Federal Republic of Germany was also thinking about the nuclear armament of the Bundeswehr. The peace movement called for a nuclear weapon-free zone in Central Europe. The 1957 Rapacki Plan, named after the Polish Foreign Minister , also provided for a nuclear weapons-free zone in Central Europe, but failed. However, after the British, Americans and French had stationed nuclear weapons in the Federal Republic of Germany, the term seemed to have become obsolete within Germany, but still had its global justification (see Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ).

    Nuclear-weapon-free zones, which are stipulated in international treaties , exist in Antarctica, Latin America, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central Asia and parts of Germany (through the two-plus-four treaty , according to the accession area and all of Berlin, neither foreign NATO troops may still be stationed nuclear weapons).

    The term came back to life in Germany with the peace movement at the beginning of the 1980s, which turned against so-called retrofitting within the framework of NATO's double decision . Schools, municipalities, etc. The like. declared themselves to be a nuclear weapons-free zone to express their rejection of nuclear weapons. However, since these institutions, even if they were the bearers of sovereign authority, have no legal competence to defend themselves, these purely declaratory statements were considered to be legally irrelevant.

    Today the term appears again and again in connection with nuclear armaments in the Middle East and Asia . Countries such as Israel , Pakistan and India as well as North Korea oppose with their nuclear programs the aim of the five official nuclear powers ( USA , Great Britain , France , Russia and People's Republic of China ) to maintain nuclear weapon-free zones for security reasons.

    See also

    literature

    • Heinz Gärtner : A Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in the Middle East. Brief analysis. Austrian Institute for International Politics . April 2011 ( PDF , accessed April 27, 2013).
    • Axel Krohn : Nuclear Weapons Free Zone. Regional disengagement under the framework of global great power interests. The case study Northern Europe (= military, armaments, security . Vol. 51). Nomos, Baden-Baden 1989, ISBN 3-7890-1698-5 .
    • Roberta Mulas: Nuclear Weapon Free Zones and the Nuclear Powers: Lessons for a WMD / DVs Free Zone in the Middle East. Policy Brief No. 5/2011, PRIF , Frankfurt am Main ( PDF , accessed on April 27, 2013).
    • Harald Müller : A Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Near and Middle East: A Concept of Small Steps. HSFK -Report No 5/2011. ( PDF , accessed 27 April 2013).
    • Rolf Mützenich : A Middle East without weapons of mass destruction - from utopia to concept. In: Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft 4/2004 ( PDF , accessed April 27, 2013).

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