FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF LATIN AMERICAN TREATY CREATING NUCLEAR-WEAPON-FREE ZONE

TO BE OBSERVED IN MEXICO CITY CEREMONY 14 FEBRUARY

NEW YORK, 13 February (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- Latin America and the Caribbean declared itself a “nuclear-weapon-free zone” 40 years ago this week.  On 14 February 1967, the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean was adopted in the Tlatelolco area of Mexico City.  It has been ratified since then by all the 33 States in the region.  This treaty became a model for all other nuclear-weapon-free zones.

On Wednesday, 14 February, the Mexican Government will hold a solemn ceremony at its Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Mexico City, located in Tlatelolco, to commemorate the historic treaty.  The Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Nobuaki Tanaka, will take part in this event and deliver a statement on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The Treaty of Tlatelolco was followed by several other regional treaties creating nuclear-weapon-free zones in populated areas: the Treaty of Rarotonga (1986) in the South Pacific, the Pelindaba Treaty (1996) for the African continent, the Bangkok Treaty (1997) in South-East Asia and the treaty adopted in September 2006 in Semipalatinsk by five countries of Central Asia.

Prior to Tlatelolco, the 1959 Antarctic Treaty demilitarized that continent and banned the testing of nuclear devices and the placement of radioactive waste.  The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is also worth mentioning, as it mandated that nuclear weapons not be placed or tested in outer space or on the Moon.

Wednesday’s ceremony in Mexico City will be followed by a one and a half day academic seminar to assess the impact of the Treaty of Tlatelolco both in the region and worldwide.  Panels scheduled on Thursday will discuss “Effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons” and “Challenges to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation”.

Contact: François Coutu, 212-963-2874, coutu@un.org, United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs.  Website: http://disarmament.un.org.

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For information media • not an official record