DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE DELEGATES WELCOME SIGNING OF PROTOCOLS TO RAROTONGA TREATY BY UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, FRANCE
Press Release
DCF/259
DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE DELEGATES WELCOME SIGNING OF PROTOCOLS TO RAROTONGA TREATY BY UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, FRANCE
19960327 GENEVA, 26 March (UN Information Service) -- Delegates to the Conference on Disarmament this morning welcomed yesterday's signing by the United States, United Kingdom and France of the three Protocols to the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Rarotonga.According to the representative of France, the decision by the three countries was further evidence of their commitment to nuclear non- proliferation. The decision would also give additional impetus to ongoing negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty (CTBT), which should be concluded in the first half of 1996.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Tarja Halonen, welcomed the announcement, pointing out that the continuation of nuclear testing had been particularly sad in view of the imminence of a test-ban treaty. She urged China to join the other nuclear-weapon States and stop any further testing.
The representative of Australia said the accessions to the Treaty Protocols formally brought to an end the unhappy chapter of nuclear testing in the South Pacific. The message from the developments was clear -- The international community ardently desired to live in a world secure from the threat of nuclear confrontation. It required the cessation forthwith of all nuclear explosions. It would not easily forgive the Conference should it fail to deliver a CTBT this year. Furthermore, it would expect the Conference and other relevant international and multilateral organizations to continue to pursue further meaningful nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament measures with imagination and vigour.
The representatives of Belgium and New Zealand also welcomed the signing of the three Protocols. Statements
TARJA HALONEN, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, said a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty was the means to achieve a permanent end to nuclear test explosions and prevent the development of new generations of nuclear weapons. It would also prevent the emergence of entirely new nuclear arsenals, making the world a safer place. In view of the imminence of a test-
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ban treaty, the continuation of nuclear testing had been particularly sad. It was no wonder that reactions to recent Chinese and French testing had been strong the world over. Finland welcomed the announcement by France on 29 January of a definitive end to nuclear testing, as well as the active French commitment to achieving a CTBT. She urged China to join the other nuclear-weapon States and stop any further testing.
She strongly supported the goal of having the treaty concluded by the end of June, she continued. The test ban would be an achievement that stood on its own, serving the twin goals of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. It would be a disservice to make the ban conditional on other objectives. Calls for extending the scope to cover not only explosions but also other activities put agreement on the treaty itself at risk.
She said the international community, and world public opinion, would be assuming that nuclear test explosions were a thing of the past once the treaty was signed. Finland urged that upon signature, the nuclear-weapon States affirmed, jointly or individually, that pending ratification they would not test and that they would swiftly ratify the treaty.
Turning to the issue of verification, she said the establishment of an international monitoring system would be a demanding test. Finland supported the four networks -- seismic, radionuclide, hydroacoustic and infrasound -- incorporated in the "rolling text" of the treaty. In view of its crucial role in helping to detect underground explosions, noble gas monitoring should be included in the monitoring system. Her Government was making available a station in central Finland for the primary seismic network and a laboratory in Helsinki for radionuclide monitoring.
She welcomed the signature yesterday by France, the United Kingdom and the United States of the three Protocols to the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, or Treaty of Rarotonga.
BJORN SKOGMO (Norway) said the reactions to the nuclear tests carried out by China and France clearly demonstrated that there was strong world opinion against any nuclear testing. There were strong public expectations that a CTBT should be concluded and universally implemented as soon as possible. The world community would not understand if the commitment to reach a CTBT was blocked by a refusal to subordinate narrow perceptions of national interests to a broader and more global perspective. "Our aim must be a nuclear weapons free world", he continued. "A CTBT is a necessary prerequisite to that end. To insist on linkages to a time-bound nuclear disarmament in the present negotiations is unrealistic and would derail the process. It was also counter-productive, since it would make the ultimate goal of nuclear disarmament not closer, but more distant.
Setting out the views of his Government on the key issues before the Conference, he said he saw no alternative to a truly comprehensive test-ban.
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That meant an absolute zero-yield standard, which would not allow any nuclear- weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion. So-called peaceful nuclear explosions could not be permitted within any credible and verifiable test-ban treaty. Norway wanted an independent CTBT organization with specific tasks and responsibilities. It welcomed the candidature of Vienna to host such an organization and supported a co-location with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In addition, the composition of the executive council of the organization must be based on fair and equitable arrangements, he added. All States parties should have an opportunity to be a member of the council and no State party should be permanently excluded. As for monitoring and verification, Norway believed the international monitoring system should be based on the four known technologies on which consensus had been achieved, but not preclude the inclusion of additional technologies which might be available to strengthen the credibility of the system. On-site inspections were natural and necessary parts of any verification regime to clarify any ambiguous events. It was also decisive to establish a funding system that secured a smooth and reliable operation of CTBT. Contributions of the States parties should be based on the United Nations scale of assessments. As it was essential that the CTBT organization became operational as soon as possible, Norway would positively consider making advance contributions to that end.
FRANçOIS RIVASSEAU (France) announced that the United Kingdom, the United States and his country had signed yesterday the three additional protocols to the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. That was further evidence of the three countries' commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, he said. The decision also underlined their desire to reach a definitive end to nuclear testing everywhere in the world. It would give additional impetus to negotiations on a CTBT, which should be concluded in the first half of 1996.
RICHARD STARR, (Australia) told the Conference that the Australian Government had warmly welcomed the signing in Fiji on 25 March of the three additional Protocols to the Treaty of Rarotonga by France, United Kingdom and the United States. All five nuclear-weapon States had now undertaken not to use, nor threaten to use, nuclear explosive devices against any member of the zone, and not to test nuclear explosive devices within the Treaty area, and to apply the provisions of the Treaty to their non-self-governing territories within the zone.
Those accessions to the Treaty Protocols formally brought to an end the unhappy chapter of nuclear testing in the South Pacific, he went on. The message from those developments was clear -- the international community ardently desired to live in a world secure from the threat of nuclear confrontation. It required the cessation forthwith of all nuclear explosions. It would not easily forgive the Conference should it fail to deliver a CTBT this year. Furthermore, it would expect the Conference and other relevant
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international and multilateral organizations to continue to pursue further meaningful nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament measures with imagination and vigour.
BARON GUILLAUME (Belgium) welcomed the signing of three Protocols to the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty by France, United Kingdom and the United States, qualifying the event as "historic". He said the signing of the Protocols would give added impetus to the work of the Conference.
LUCY DUNCAN (New Zealand) said she joined the representative of Belgium in welcoming the signing of the three Protocols at Fiji. The signatories of the Treaty of Rarotonga had pledged not to use any nuclear explosive devices in the Pacific zone.
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