Nuclear-weapon-free zone

A nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) is defined by the United Nations as an agreement that a group of states has freely established by treaty or convention that bans the development, manufacturing, control, possession, testing, stationing or transporting of nuclear weapons in a given area, that has mechanisms of verification and control to enforce its obligations, and that is recognized as such by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The NWFZ definition does not count countries or smaller regions that have outlawed nuclear weapons simply by their own law, like Austria with the Atomsperrgesetz in 1999.

Today there are five zones covering continental or subcontinental groups of countries (including their territorial waters and airspace), and three governing Antarctica, the seabed, and outer space which are not part of any state.

An AU member, Mauritius, claims the British Indian Ocean Territory where Diego Garcia is currently a US military base.

The United States has signed but not ratified Protocol I to the Treaty of Rarotonga which would apply to American Samoa and Jarvis Island.

The United Kingdom does not accept that African NWFZ is applicable to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia which has a U.S. military base.

There have been NWFZ proposals for the Middle East (e.g. Nuclear program of Iran#Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East, 2009 UN proposal,[6] 2011 IAEA forum[7]),[8] the Korean Peninsula, Central Europe, South Asia, South-east Asia, and the Arctic.

[11][12][13] An International Conference For A WMD-Free Middle East was held in Haifa in December 2013 attended by citizens from all over the world concerned about the lack of progress in the official talks.

Nuclear-weapon-free zones NW states Nuclear sharing NPT only
Treaty Region Land (in sq. km.) States Date in force
Antarctic Antarctica 14,000,000 1961-06-23
Space Outer space 1967-10-10
Tlatelolco Latin America and the Caribbean 21,069,501 33 1969-04-25
Seabed Seabed 1972-05-18
Rarotonga South Pacific 9,008,458 13 1986-12-11 [ 1 ]
Bangkok ASEAN 4,465,501 10 1997-03-28 [ 2 ]
Semei Central Asia 4,003,451 5 2009-03-21 [ 3 ]
Pelindaba Africa 30,221,532 53 2009-07-15
All NWFZs combined: 84,000,000 114 39% of the world population
Nuclear weapons states 41,400,000 9 47% of the world population
Neither NWS nor NWFZ 24,000,000 74 14% of the world population
Area in dark blue is outside exclusive economic zones . Some NWFZs are defined in terms of EEZ areas, some in terms of territorial waters which extend only 12 nautical miles.
The area between the Equator and 60°S, and between 20°W and 115°E, excluding Africa, Australia and Indonesia and their neighboring islands and waters, is outside the five southern NWFZs. A small area of ocean outside the upper right corner of the map, between Indonesia and Australia, is also not in any NWFZ.
Australian islands are part of the South Pacific NWFZ but the other oceanic islands in this area are owned by Britain, France, Norway, and Maldives and are the only Southern Hemisphere lands other than East Timor that are not in a NWFZ.
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones
States with nuclear weapons
Neither, but NATO member
Neither, but uses nuclear power
Neither, but NATO and nuclear power
Just party to Non-Proliferation Treaty
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a geostrategic military alliance concerned with most of Europe and North America.