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Excerpted from the Inventory of International Organizations
and Regimes 2001 published by the CNS International Organizations and Nonproliferation
Project. A complete PDF copy of the 2000 edition of the Inventory is
available in the Publications section of the NTI website.
South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga)
Opened for signature: August 6, 1985.
Entered into force: December 11, 1986.
Number of Parties: 13 full members - Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati,
Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu,
Vanuatu. The five nuclear-weapon states, China, France, the Russian Federation,
the United Kingdom and the United States have all adhered to the Treaty's relevant
Protocols.
Duration: Treaty is of a permanent nature and shall remain in force indefinitely.
Organs: Consultative Committee, Director.
Seven dialogue partners: Canada, China, the EU, Japan, South
Korea, United Kingdom, and United States EU. (France was one of the dialogue
partners, its dialogue partner status was suspended in 1995 in protest of
its nuclear tests in Mururoa but restored in 1996.)
Obligations: not to manufacture or otherwise acquire,
possess, or have control over any nuclear explosive device anywhere inside or
outside the treaty zone; not to seek or receive any assistance in this; not to
take any action to assist or encourage the manufacture or acquisition of any
nuclear explosive device by any state; not to provide source or special
fissionable materials or equipment to any NNWS, or any NWS unless subject to
safeguards agreements with the IAEA; to prevent in the territory of states
parties the stationing of any nuclear explosive device; to prevent testing of
any nuclear explosive device; not to dump radioactive wastes and other
radioactive matter at sea, anywhere within the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone
(SPNFZ), and to prevent the dumping of radioactive wastes and other radioactive
matter by anyone in the territorial sea of the states parties.
Treaty zone: under Annex I, it covers an extensive part of
the South Pacific.
Verification: by providing reports and exchanging
information, and by the application of IAEA safeguards.
Visits by foreign ships and aircraft to ports and airfields, transit of
airspace by foreign aircraft and navigation by foreign ships carrying nuclear
weapons are left to the discretion of states parties.
Protocol I calls on each party in respect of the territories for
which it is internationally responsible situated within the South Pacific
Nuclear Free Zone, to apply the prohibitions of the Treaty. On March 25, 1996
France, UK and U.S. have signed the Protocol and the Treaty therefore applies to
American Samoa and Jarvis Island, as well as to the dependent territories of
France and the UK. France ratified Protocol I on 20 Sep 96, and UK on 19 Sep 97.
U.S. have not yet ratified Protocol I.
Protocol II calls on the nuclear weapon states not to use or
threaten to use nuclear explosive devices against any party to the Treaty or
against each other's territories located within the zone. China signed
this protocol in 1987, the U.S.SR in 1986, whereas the remaining three nuclear
weapon states signed it on March 25, 1996 (after France ceased nuclear weapon
testing in the zone). China ratified protocol II on 21 Oct 88, France 20 Sep 96,
UK 19 Sep 97, U.S.SR 21 Apr 88. The U.S. is still yet to ratify protocol
II.
Protocol III calls on the nuclear weapon states not to test nuclear
explosive devices within the zone established by the Treaty. China signed this
protocol in 1987, the U.S.SR in 1986, whereas the remaining three nuclear weapon
states signed it on March 25, 1996 (after France ceased nuclear weapon testing
in the zone). China ratified protocol II on 21 Oct 88, France 20 Sep 96, UK 19
Sep 97, U.S.SR 21 Apr 88. U.S. ratification of Protocol III is still
pending.
Background: Asia-Pacific region was concerned about nuclear weapon
issues since the dawn of the nuclear age in 1945. Following the nuclear detonations
over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the region became a testing ground for such weapons.
Between 1946-1958, the U.S. conducted some 66 atmospheric and under-water tests
in the Marshall Islands in the northern Pacific region, which lies outside the
SPNFZ zone of application. The UK conducted atmospheric tests between 1952-1957
on Australian territory at Maralinga, Emu Field and Monte Bello Island, and then
both the UK and the U.S. conducted atmospheric nuclear tests on Christmas Island
until the signing of the PTBT in 1963, banning further atmospheric nuclear detonations.
That same year, France established a nuclear test site in French Polynesian atolls
and proceeded to carry out some 190 nuclear detonations (including more than 40
above ground) between 2 July 1966 and early 1996 at the Mururoa and Fangataufa
sites.
South Pacific states besides being concerned about nuclear testing in their
region and its vicinity, were also worried about dumping of nuclear wastes at
sea, fearing radioactive contamination of the marine environment. The South
Pacific Forum took up the issue in 1975 in response to a New Zealand proposal
calling for the setting up of a NWFZ in the region. This goal was also endorsed
by the UNGA that same year. In 1979, the South Pacific forum in response to
reports of nuclear dumping on land in the region, strongly condemned the use of
the Pacific as a dumping ground for nuclear wastes. Japan also opposed nuclear
dumping in the Pacific.
In 1983, Australia revived the concept of a SPNFZ at a SPF meeting held in
Canberra. The following year, meeting in Tuvalu, the Forum endorsed a set of
principles proposed by Australia as a basis for establishing a zone and
appointed a Working Group to draft a treaty text. These principles were aimed at
preventing the region from becoming a theater for superpower rivalry, preserving
peace and security, and protecting natural resources as well as the well-being
and livelihood of the South Pacific peoples.
The Working group used the Treaties of Tlatelolco, Antarctic, Sea-Bed,
Partial Test-Ban and the NPT to guide its work. The Treaty of Rarotonga was
signed in Rarotonga (Cook Islands) on 6 August 1985, and entered into force on
11 December 1986 with the deposit of the eighth instrument of ratification. The
Treaty has 13 signatories, and 12 have ratified: Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji,
Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga,
Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Western Samoa (Tonga has yet to ratify). Three dependent
territories not located within the zone Marshall Islands Republic, Federated
States of Micronesia, and Palau are not parties to the Treaty but are eligible
to do so; if they elect to join the SPNFZ treaty, then the SPNFZ area would be
enlarged to incorporate the territory of each new party.
The SPNFZ
contributes to limiting the threat posed by nuclear weapons and serves to
strengthen the NPT regime and nuclear non-proliferation.
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