UN General Assembly
1996

recent Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the illegality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons will serve as a catalyst towards this end. The 10 countries of South-East Asia recently made a substantive contribution to the cause of nuclear disarmament. During the historic Bangkok summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the seven ASEAN leaders, together with the leaders of Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, signed the Treaty on the South- East Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. ASEAN is now working for the Treaty’s early entry into force. We hope that the nuclear Powers will soon endorse the Treaty by acceding to its Protocol. Thus, with the conclusion of Treaties for nuclear-weapon-free zones in South-East Asia and Africa, in addition to the Antarctic, Rarotonga and Tlatelolco Treaties, a large segment of the southern hemisphere should become free of the nuclear menace. As for chemical weapons, I am pleased to inform the General Assembly that Indonesia is now at the final stage of the process of ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention.