ABSTRACT
Instruments dealing with nuclear weapons are less homogenous, prohibiting very different behaviors. The main pillar of international security in the field of nuclear weapons is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons ("NPT"), signed on July 1, 1968 after more than two decades of Cold War nuclear tension. Only in 1994, after the Soviet Union and the United States had declared national moratoria on nuclear tests, multilateral negotiations with a view to a comprehensive ban took off, leading ultimately to the adoption, on September 10, 1996, of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The regional approach to strengthen global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament is of considerable practical relevance, considering in particular the lack of real progress in universal disarmament. The ultimate goal of Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZ) is to insulate a region totally from the destructive effects of nuclear warfare in general, and from nuclear-weapons deployment and testing in particular.
