Treaty of Rarotonga
| 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 Treaty of Rarotonga ( English South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty , SPNFZT ) is a treaty under international law that prohibits the testing, stationing, possession and manufacture of nuclear weapons in the South Pacific . It also bans the storage of nuclear waste in the region's waters. It was signed by eight member states of the South Pacific Forum on Rarotonga on August 6, 1985 and came into force on December 11, 1986. Meanwhile - with the exception of the Federated States of Micronesia , the Marshall Islands and Palau - the other member states of the forum are also contracting parties.
The text of the treaty is supplemented by three protocols which are intended to extend the effects of the treaty to states outside the region:
- Protocol I obliges the signatory states, which have territories in the affected region, to apply and enforce the prohibitions specified in the text of the treaty in their areas.
- Protocol II obliges the five official nuclear powers to refrain from any threat or implementation of nuclear explosions against the signatory states of the treaty.
- Protocol III obliges these states not to conduct any nuclear weapons tests on the premises of any of the signatory states to the treaty.
The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China signed Protocols II and III in 1986 and 1987, respectively; they came into force for both states in 1988. Since both states have no territories in the region, Protocol I is out of the question for them. On March 25, 1996, the USA , France and the United Kingdom also signed Protocols II and III as well as Protocol I. For the latter two countries they came into force in the same year or in the following year. The US has so far left it at its signature, so that the protocols do not apply to them; In May 2011, however, the US government announced that it now also wanted to ratify the protocols.
Web links
- Text of the contract and the minutes (English; PDF; 48 kB)
- Overview of the ratification status of the treaty and the protocols (PDF; 13 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ SG welcomes US President's decision on Treaty of Rarotonga ( Memento of the original of July 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Press release 30/11 of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat dated May 6, 2011.
