Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

• text of the CTBT
• For Additional Resources (see: Study Group Archive)

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

• text of the NPT
• NPT Review Conference (2000): The Thirteen Practical Step Plan to Achieve Complete Disarmament
• Understanding the NPT: (Reaching Critical Will)

Biological Weapons Convention (BWC)

• text of the BWC

Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaties

Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaties (NWFZ's) are multilateral agreements between states committing each signatory to forever abandon the development, stockpiling, or use of nuclear weapons on their respective territories. In addition, these treaties also prohibit the major nuclear weapons states (U.S., Russia, U.K., France, and China) from using nuclear weapons against a nuclear weapon free state. Typically the major nuclear weapons states have reserved to right to use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear weapon state only if that state is allied with a nuclear weapon state making an attack against them.

All major NWFZ treaties have been regionally organized. These treaties are currently in force in regions spanning Latin America (Treaty of Tlatelolco), a large portion of the South Pacific (Treaty of Rarotonga), the Antarctic (Antarctic Treaty), and portions of Southeast Asia (Treaty of Bangkok). Additional treaties, which have been signed but have not yet entered into force, include the majority of the continent of Africa (Treaty of Pelindaba), and a several Central Asian former Soviet Republics (Almaty Declaration).

African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (Treaty of Pelindaba):
Signed April 11, 1996

• treaty text
• signatories: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Antarctic Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (Antarctic Treaty):
Signed December 1, 1959
Entered into force June 23, 1961

• treaty text
• signatories: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Russia, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay

Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (Treaty of Bangkok):
Signed December 15, 1995
Entered into force March 27, 1997

• treaty text
• signatories: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesida, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

Central Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (Almaty Declaration):
Signed February 28, 1997

• treaty text
• signatories: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Latin American Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (Treaty of Tlatelolco):
Signed February 14, 1967
Entered into force April 22, 1968

• treaty text
• signatories: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatelmala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and Gren., Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela

South Pacific Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (Treaty of Rarotonga):
Signed August 8, 1985
Entered into force December 11, 1986

• treaty text
• signatories: Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Western Samoa

(Source: U.S. Department of State)