The 40th Anniversary of the establishment of the Latin American and Caribbean Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) was commemorated on February 14-15 in Mexico City by a high-level ceremony and an academic seminar on the role of nuclear weapons in the achievement of nuclear disarmament. New Zealanders Marian Hobbs, former Minister for Disarmament, and Alyn Ware, Director of Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace, were invited to speak. Other speakers included Bernardo Sepúlveda (Judge on the International Court of Justice), Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo (Mexican Under-Secretary-General for Multilateral Affairs), Nurbek Jeenbaev (Kyrgyztan Ambassador to the UN), Jose Miguel Insulza (Secretary-General of the Organization of American States) Nobuaki Tanaka (United Nations Under-Secretary for Disarmament) and Edmundo Vargas Carreno (OPANAL General Secretary). Key themes of the conference included: that NWFZs now include the majority of States in the world; there is potential for establishing new NWFZs in regions like North East Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Nordic/Arctic regions; national legislation to abolish nuclear weapons (like New Zealand’s) can strengthen the legal norm against nuclear weapons; States parties to NWFZs could constitute a new powerful voting block at the United Nations; and that NWFZ states could promote negotiations for a Nuclear Weapons Convention to achieve complete nuclear disarmament.

Participants of the Academic Seminar in Mexico on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, Feb 14-15, 2007:

1)reaffirmed the significance and importance of nuclear-weapon-free zones in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, providing security from the threat of use of nuclear weapons, strengthening a global norm against nuclear weapons, building confidence and collaboration between countries within the zones, educating citizens about the dangers of nuclear weapons and the benefits of nuclear disarmament, and providing a stepping stone towards a nuclear weapons free world;

2)recognized the significant achievement in the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones in Antarctica, Latin America and the Caribbean, the South Pacific, the Sea Bed, Outer Space, South East Asia, Africa, Mongolia and Central Asia;

3)called for the full adherence to and implementation of the nuclear-weapon-free zone treaties including their protocols;

4)supported the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones in additional regions including North East Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and the Nordic/Arctic regions;

5)called for further collaboration and cooperation between the States Parties to the nuclear-weapon-free zones including the establishment of a Southern Hemisphere and Adjacent Areas nuclear-weapon-free zone, further conferences of States parties as was done in Mexico in April 2005, and the coordinated promotion of disarmament initiatives and positions by the States Parties to the zones at international disarmament fora including the United Nations General Assembly and the Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conferences;

6)supported the commencement of negotiations that would culminate in a Nuclear Weapons Convention – or framework of agreements – and highlighted the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention circulated as United Nations Document A/C.1/52/7 as a useful tool in exploring the legal, technical and political requirements for such a treaty;

7)supported additional efforts to encourage the rapid achievement of nuclear disarmament including the possibility of seeking an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on current non-compliance with disarmament obligations;

8)recognized the importance of the academic community to expand citizen education about the history and significance of nuclear-weapon-free zones on the path to nuclear disarmament.

Mexico City, 15 Feb 2007