Non Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament
Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
Nuclear Weapon Free Zones (NWFZs) aim to ban nuclear weapons completely from the regions of member states and therefore contain a far more comprehensive commitment to renounce nuclear weapons than the NPT: not only do the parties reject the acquisition or use of nuclear weapons themselves, but they also preclude others from producing, storing, installing, testing or deploying nuclear weapons on their territories. In return for this commitment to banish nuclear weapons completely from their territories, states parties to the NWFZ treaties ask the NWS to make a commitment not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against them.
Australia is a member of the South Pacific Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (the Treaty of Rarotonga). Other NWFZ include the South East Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (SEANWFZ), the African nuclear weapon free zone (Treaty of Pelindaba), and the Treaty of Tlatelolco, covering Latin America. An agreement establishing a Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone in Central Asia (CANWFZ) was signed on 8 September 2006.