1995 Review and Extension Conference
of the Parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
NPT/CONF.1995/10/Add.1
24 April 1995
ORIGINAL: SPANISH
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
New York, 17 April-12 May 1995
MEMORANDUM FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE AGENCY FOR
THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN LATIN AMERICA AND
THE CARIBBEAN PREPARED FOR THE 1995 CONFERENCE OF THE
PARTIES TO THE TREATY ON THE NON-PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR
WEAPONS
Addendum
F. New accessions to the Treaty of Tlatelolco
1. The General Secretariat of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) is submitting this supplementary memorandum to the background document (NPT/CONF.1995/10 of 28 February 1995) to the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons because of some important recent events in Latin America and the Caribbean which alter the present situation regarding the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco).
2. On 25 March 1995, the Republic of Cuba signed the Treaty of Tlatelolco, thus becoming the last of the 33 States of the Latin American and Caribbean region to be covered by the system established by the Treaty of Tlatelolco.
3. The Argentine Republic recently completed the necessary legislative procedures and has become a full party to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
4. In view of those events, paragraph 25 of document NPT/CONF.1995/10 should be amended to read as follows:
"25. It is useful to provide a summary of the current situation of Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) as compared with the NPT:
- All 33 States belonging to the regional group of Latin America and the Caribbean have signed the Treaty of Tlatelolco.
- Of the 33 States signatories, only 3 are in the process of taking legal steps to ratify the Treaty, 4 have to make the waiver under article 28 and are therefore not yet full members of OPANAL.
- Thus, at present, 29 States in the region are full members of the Tlatelolco system and the 4 remaining States, as signatories to that Treaty, have undertaken to respect it in their zone of application.
- On the other hand, of the 33 States of the region 30 are parties to the NPT.
- Two States that have signed the Treaty of Tlatelolco but have not yet ratified it are full members of the NPT."
5. The following annexes to document NPT/CONF.1995/10 also need to be amended: in annex A, annexes C-1, C-2 and C-3, Cuba should be listed as having signed on 25 March 1995. Annexes C-1, C-2, and C-3 should also list Guyana as having signed and ratified the Treaty on 16 January 1995, and Saint Kitts and Nevis should be listed as having ratified it on 18 April 1995.
6. As a result of Cuba's signing the Treaty of Tlatelolco it can be said that the region of Latin America and the Caribbean has become the first densely populated area on the planet to be free from nuclear weapons, and its exemplary effort, 28 years after the Treaty of Tlatelolco was opened for signature, should be imitated by other populated regions of the international community. The Treaty of Tlatelolco is an autonomous and comprehensive legal instrument on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons which guarantees a regional commitment to the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The Treaty of Tlatelolco is therefore an important example of the contribution regions must make to measures to promote confidence, peace and the development of humankind as a whole.
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