180 ICJ and said that it would ignore the ICJ’s ruling. It did, however, decide to stop atmospheric testing and only Peace and henceforth test underground. (Underground testing may have stopped the radioactive fall-out but it is destroy­ ing the atoll and polluting the sea— this law in the was to be checked by the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ on its fateful voyage.) Another principal organ of the UN is the Security Council. This is designed to South Pacific operate day or night to handle threats to international peace and security. But The Pacific Ocean occupies a third of Keith Suter this would have been of no use to New the globe. It has become one of the most Zealand. Any resolution would have militarised regions of the world. The been blocked by France, which, as one Cold War is ending for the rest of the of the Security Council’s five ‘perma­ planet, but there has been a delay in this nent members’ has the power of veto. region benefiting fully from the ‘peace dividend’. Nuclear Non-Proliferation The object of this article is to review Treaty (NPT) the treaties affecting peace in the South The NPT was finalised in 1968, at a Pacific. (The North Pacific has a differ­ time when there were five nuclear- ent mixture of treaties and so is not cov­ weapon nations (US, USSR, UK, The cold war in Europe ered by this article.) France and China). It came into force in 1970. It will run until 1995, when a con­ The link running through this survey may be ending but the ference of nations bound by it will is that the South Pacific has been on the decide whether the NPT will be wound South Pacific is still margins of international disarmament up, continued indefinitely or continued considerations but it has had some key highly militarised. for a set period. It was written at a time military features. when there was speculation that another United Nations Charter 20 or 30 nations could acquire nuclear The UN has 178 member-nations. It is weapons (‘horizontal proliferation’). the largest international organisation in The NPT provides a neat formula for world history. unfriendly nations to challenge each All member-nations have to ratify the other not to acquire nuclear weapons: UN Charter (established in 1945). Two we won’t if you don’t. Nations with UN Charter principles are that all mem­ nuclear weapons (these were the US, ber-nations shall setde their disputes by USSR and UK since France and China peaceful means in such a way that inter­ boycotted the NPT) agreed not to trans­ national peace, security and justice are fer nuclear weapons to a nation without not endangered, and that member- them. Nations without them agreed not nations shall refrain in their internation­ to manufacture or import them. al relations from the threat or use of The predictions of 25 years ago were force. The 1985 French destruction of wrong: far fewer additional nations have the Greenpeace ‘Rainbow Warrior’ in acquired nuclear weapons than was pre­ Auckland Harbour violated those princi­ dicted. Almost all the world’s nations ples — it was the first act of political have now accepted the NPT — the main terrorism in New Zealand history. exceptions being India and Pakistan. France managed to extricate the two Among the recent additions are France agents caught in New Zealand by threat­ and China — an indication of the ening to stop New Zealand exports to changed international political environ­ the European Community. ment There is no prospect of horizontal The ‘Rainbow Warrior’ had intended proliferation in the South Pacific. to monitor French nuclear tests. French The NPT also contains an obligation nuclear tests began in the South Pacific on nuclearrweapon nations (basically in May 1966; Algeria had gained inde­ the US and what used to be the USSR, pendence and so France had to stop test­ which have 95% of the world’s nuclear ing in the Sahara. The testing in the weapons) to end ‘vertical proliferation’, atmosphere gave rise to complaints that is, ending their own acquisition of from South Pacific nations about still more nuclear weapons. They have radioactive fall-out. In 1973, Australia, been obliged to work towards disarma­ Keith Suter is President of the Centre for New Zealand and Fiji complained to the ment One of the main problems for the Peace and Conflict Studies at the University International Court of Justice about the NPT was the failure of the US and of Sydney. testing. France decided to boycott the USSR to honour their commitments. ALTERNATIVE LAW JOURNAL Peace and law in the South Pacific 181 At last, there has been some progress. tion project to work out the details of can help make it effective. The first pro­ The 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces just how an inspection team could check tocol is directed at the nations with (INF) Treaty, which is the first ever on (say) fertiliser or cosmetic factories colonies in the region (US, UK and nuclear disarmament treaty, is resulting to ensure that they were not also secret­ France) and enables them — if they in the scrapping of an entire category of ly making chemical weapons. choose to do so — to apply the treaty’s nuclear weapons. More recently, The bad news concerns how and key provisions to their colonies. The progress has been made in negotiating a where the existing chemical weapon other two protocols are both directed at reduction in the long-range (interconti­ stockpiles are to be destroyed. In 1990, the five nuclear-weapon nations. They nental) weapons. the US responded to opposition in West are invited, under the second protocol, not to use or threaten to use nuclear Biological Warfare (BW) Germany over the continued deploy­ ment there of 102 000 nerve gas shells, devices against parties to the treaty. Convention Under the third protocol they are invited Biological warfare consists of taking a by deciding to destroy the weapons before the new treaty was finished. not to test nuclear weapons within the germ out of nature (like anthrax or zone. smallpox) and spreading it among the Owing to opposition from West German enemy. The 1972 Biological Warfare and US community groups, the weapons The treaty complements two similar Treaty entered into force in 1975. The could not be destroyed in West treaties. The treaty’s eastern edge is the treaty bans the development, production Germany or the US. western boundary of the Latin American and deployment of biological weapons. The US decided on the Johnston Zone (Treaty of Tlatelolco) and its It was the first disarmament treaty since Atoll, 1300 km south-west of Hawaii. southern edge adjoins the Antarctic 1945 (that is, it required an existing cat­ South Pacific nations and environment Zone. egory of weapons to be destroyed). The groups opposed the transportation of the The treaty was drawn up at the height treaty has been widely ratified and weapons 10 000 km away. However, of Cold War II and so was one of the (except for Iraq), there has been little the shells arrived at the Johnston Atoll few arms control treaties in the early evidence of B W research. Chemical Disposal System (JACADS) 1980s. The military do not like BW. The late in 1990. They are now being On the other hand, the treaty was not impetus for BW research has come from destroyed but JACADS has had some as strict as some people would have scientists and politicians. BW is unsatis­ technical problems. Meanwhile, the US liked, such as creating a total ban on the factory from a military point of view is still having to develop other sites transport and deployment of nuclear because once anthrax, for example, is (probably on the US mainland) to weapons in the zone. The treaty was used, it can spread easily and quickly — destroy its weapons because there are weakened to try to gain US acceptance. including to one’s own side. other stockpiles elsewhere. France has ignored the three protocols. The US and UK have been in a dilem­ Chemical Warfare (CW) South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (SPNFZ) ma: whether to support the South The use of chemical (gas) warfare is Pacific nations or France. They have This treaty was drafted under the aus­ prohibited by the 1925 Geneva opted to side with France. All three have pices of the South Pacific Forum (con­ Protocol. The treaty is weak in that it refused to sign the three protocols. (By sisting of the region’s independent does not prohibit the development and contrast, the USSR and China accepted nations). This is the only arms control deployment of chemical weapons, there the two protocols they are eligible to treaty specifically covering the South is some doubt as to which forms of sign.) chemical weapons are covered by the Pacific. It was signed in 1985 and treaty, and the treaty bans the use of entered into force in 1986. Military agreements chemical weapons only in respect of The treaty states that a South Pacific Military agreements constitute another other nations which are themselves par­ nation which becomes a party will not branch of international law. As with dis­ ties to the treaty. manufacture or acquire any nuclear armament and arms control agreements, Attempts have been made during the weapon; there should be no testing of these treaties are either bilateral past two decades to create a more sub­ nuclear weapons in the South Pacific; (between two nations) or multilateral stantial treaty dealing with the weak­ there should be no stationing of nuclear (between three or more nations).