Treaty of Tlatelolco

The Treaty of Tlatelolco is an international treaty banning the testing, siting, possession, and the production of nuclear weapons in the Caribbean and Latin America. He was signed in Tlatelolco, a suburb of Mexico City on 14 February 1967, and became effective on April 22, 1968, first between El Salvador and Mexico in force. He was the first contract, which explains an inhabited land a nuclear-weapon -free zone, after it has already been held in 1961 at the Antarctic Treaty that Antarctica remains nuclear-weapon- free.

The treaty has now been ratified by all 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The last state was Cuba on 22 October 2002., There are two additional protocols to the treaty. The first additional protocol concerns countries which possess the overseas territories in the geographical area in which the Treaty applies. It obliges these states to comply in the areas concerned, the provisions of the Treaty as well. The protocol was ratified by the U.S., Britain, the Netherlands and France and is therefore binding on them. The second additional protocol dictates of the nuclear weapon states to respect the nuclear-weapon- free status of the Territory. All five official nuclear weapon states, ie the United States, Britain, France, the People's Republic of China and Russia have ratified the Second Additional Protocol.

Alfonso García Robles and Alva Myrdal in 1982 received the Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to this contract.