AG/RES. 1938 (XXXIII-O/03) Inter-American Support For The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

(Resolution adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 10, 2003)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

Having seen the Annual Report of the Permanent Council to the General Assembly (AG/doc.4156/03 add. 4), in particular the section on the matters entrusted to the Committee on Hemispheric Security;

RECALLING its resolutions AG/RES. 1747 (XXX-O/00), AG/RES. 1791 (XXXI-O/01), and AG/RES. 1876 (XXXII-O/02), "Inter-American Support for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty"¹;

RECOGNIZING that the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones is an effective and concrete mechanism that contributes to the maintenance of international peace and security;

BEARING IN MIND:

That the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) has now entered into full force for all states within the denuclearized zone established by the Treaty;

That, in operative paragraph 4 of resolution AG/RES. 1937 (XXXIII-O/03), "Consolidation of the Regime Established in the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco)," the General Assembly reaffirms "its commitment to continue striving for a nonproliferation regime that is universal, genuine, and nondiscriminatory in every aspect"; and

The commitment by member states to undertake effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, according to Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT);

RECOGNIZING the value of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in strengthening the nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament regimes and its contribution to the consolidation and maintenance of international peace and security;

REAFFIRMING the need for universal adoption of the CTBT, negotiated within the United Nations framework;

NOTING that the CTBT has, thus far, been signed by 28 member states of the OAS and ratified by 19 of them; and, in particular, that it has now been ratified by six of the eight states of the region whose ratification is required for the treaty to enter into force;

WELCOMING the upcoming Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), to be held in Vienna, Austria, in September 2003, and the fact that all states, whether or not they have deposited their instruments of ratification of the CTBT, have been invited to participate in that Conference; and

EXPRESSING its gratitude to the Preparatory Commission of the CTBT Organization for its participation in the special meeting of the Committee on Hemispheric Security on the comprehensive nuclear test ban, and for the recommendations made by that Committee to the Special Conference on Security,

RESOLVES:

1. To urge all states of the Hemisphere, whether or not they have signed and/or ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), to participate, at the highest possible level, in the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, to be held in Vienna, Austria, in September 2003.

2. To urge those states of the Hemisphere that have not yet done so, in particular the states listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty, to sign and/or ratify the CTBT, as appropriate, so that it may enter into force as soon as possible.

3. To urge the states of the Hemisphere to refrain, until the Treaty comes into force, from contravening the spirit of the obligations set forth therein.

4. To invite all states of the Hemisphere that have International Monitoring System facilities to take the pertinent measures to facilitate the preparatory work for the CTBT’s verification regime, which is to be operational when the Treaty enters into force.

5. To entrust the Permanent Council with holding, through its Committee on Hemispheric Security, a special meeting, in 2004, on a worldwide comprehensive nuclear test ban, with the participation of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL), the United Nations, the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization, and other international institutions with competence in this area.

6. To request the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth regular session on the implementation of this resolution.

7. To request the Secretary General to transmit this resolution to the United Nations Secretary-General and to the Executive Secretary of the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization.

¹The delegation of the United States stated that it could not support this resolution.