AG/RES. 1600 (XXVIII-O/98): Indian/Pakistani Nuclear Testing

(Resolution adopted at the fifth plenary session, held on June 3, 1998)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

GRAVELY CONCERNED by the nuclear test explosions recently conducted by the Governments of India and Pakistan;

STRESSING the pronouncements on this action which have been issued by the governments of the various member states of the Organization, including the Rio Group's statements of May 13 and 29, 1998, and those resolutions adopted by the Council of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) on May 14 and 29, 1998;

RECALLING General Assembly resolution AG/RES. 1499 (XXVII-O/97) and Permanent Council declarations CP/DEC. 22 (1042/95) and CP/DEC. 24 (1160/98);

RECALLING member states' support for the consolidation throughout the region of the nuclear nonproliferation regime established in the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), in the framework of cooperation for security in the Hemisphere and regional contributions to global security;

CONVINCED that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which was opened for signature on September 24, 1996, at the United Nations, should contribute greatly to strengthening the global regime of nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament;

NOTING that 149 countries have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and thereby have established an inviolable principle against nuclear test explosions; and

RECALLING the Principles and Objectives for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament of the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

RESOLVES:

1. To condemn the nuclear test explosions conducted by the Governments of India and Pakistan, to firmly urge them to refrain from further nuclear testing, missile deployment and weaponization, or other steps which will further escalate tensions in the region, and to appeal to the Governments of India and Pakistan to: peacefully resolve their differences, accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty without delay and without conditions, and participate, in a positive spirit, in the proposed negotiations with other states for a fissile material cut-off treaty for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

2. To emphasize that the nuclear tests conducted by the Governments of India and Pakistan jeopardize the nuclear weapon nonproliferation regime, the maintenance of which is indispensable for international peace and security, and, therefore, urges all states, in particular those of South Asia, to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from further nuclear testing.

3. To place at the disposal of India and Pakistan experience derived from agreements to guarantee the nonproliferation and banning of nuclear weapons and the mechanisms for implementing them, particularly the 1967 Treaty of Tlatelolco and the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials.