Suchergebnisse

In August 1985, eight South Pacific Forum states signed the Rarotonga Treaty, establishing a nuclear-free zone in the South Pacific region, including Australia, New Zealand and island states south of the equator. The treaty came into force in late 1986 and has been recognised internationally at the UN and by two nuclear powers, the Soviet Union and China. However, the two nuclear powers with the most extensive nuclear involvement in the region, France and the United States, have declined to recognise the treaty and sign the protocol. Michael Hamel-Green's study critically assesses the limited and selective character of the treaty - which prohibits nuclear testing and land based stationing of nuclear weapons but permits transit, mobile deployment and some forms of control - and examines the Australian Government's motivations in initiating and negotiating the measure. The study analyses both regional and nuclear weapon state responses to the treaty and concludes with a discussion of its security and disarmament implications.

During the East-West conflict, the Arctic became one of the world's most militarised regions. Strategic submarines cruised the north polar sea. Long-range bombers and intercontinental missiles, whose routes would have led over the North Pole, were to see to nuclear deterrence. Today, there is a chance to establish a nuclear-free zone in the Arctic. The Antarctic Treaty offers a model for demilitarisation. The establishment of nuclear-free zones in other regions of the world made it possible that nuclear states do not have to take the initiative. Lessons are also to be learned from other nuclear-free zones. If civil society exerts pressure, and countries without nuclear weapons lead the way, the United States and Russia could follow. Adapted from the source document.