Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 5 December 2016  [on the report of the First Committee (A/71/450)]   71/51.  Nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere  and adjacent areas        The General Assembly,     Recalling its resolutions 51/45 B of 10 December 1996, 52/38 N of 9 December  1997, 53/77 Q of 4 December 1998, 54/54 L of 1 December 1999, 55/33 I of  20 November 2000, 56/24 G of 29 November 2001, 57/73 of 22 November 2002,  58/49 of 8 December 2003, 59/85 of 3 December 2004, 60/58 of 8 December 2005,  61/69 of 6 December 2006, 62/35 of 5 December 2007, 63/65 of 2 December   2008, 64/44 of 2 December 2009, 65/58 of 8 December 2010, 67/55 of 3 December  2012, 69/35 of 2 December 2014 and 70/45 of 7 December 2015,    Recalling also the provisions on nuclear-weapon-free zones of the Final  Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, the first special  session devoted to disarmament,1    Recalling further the adoption by the Disarmament Commission at its 1999  substantive session of a text entitled “Establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones  on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the States of the region  concerned”,2    Determined to pursue the total elimination of nuclear weapons,    Determined also to continue to contribute to the prevention of the proliferation  of nuclear weapons in all its aspects and to the process of general and complete  disarmament under strict and effective international control, in particular in the field  of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, with a view to  strengthening international peace and security, in accordance with the purposes and  principles of the Charter of the United Nations,    Recalling the Final Document of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to  the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 3 which reaffirmed the  _______________  1 Resolution S-10/2.  2 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 42 (A/54/42), annex I.  3 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Final  Document, vols. I–III (NPT/CONF.2010/50 (Vols. I–III)).   A/RES/71/51  Nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas   2/3  conviction that the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones contributes towards  realizing the objectives of nuclear disarmament,    Stressing the importance of the treaties of Tlatelolco, 4 Rarotonga,5 Bangkok6  and Pelindaba 7 establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones, as well as the Antarctic  Treaty,8 inter alia, for achieving a world entirely free of nuclear weapons,    Welcoming the convening by Indonesia of the Third Conference of States  Parties and Signatories to Treaties that Establish Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones and  Mongolia, on 24 April 2015,    Noting that 115 States are currently parties and signatories to nuclear-weapon- free zone treaties,    Underlining the value of enhancing cooperation among the nuclear-weapon- free zone treaty members by means of mechanisms such as joint meetings of States  parties, signatories and observers to those treaties,    Reaffirming the applicable principles and rules of international law relating to  the freedom of the high seas and the rights of passage through maritime space,  including those of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 9    1.  Reaffirms its conviction of the important role of nuclear-weapon-free  zones in strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime and in extending the  areas of the world that are nuclear-weapon-free, and calls for greater progress  towards the total elimination of all nuclear weapons;    2.  Welcomes the continued contribution that the Antarctic Treaty8 and the  treaties of Tlatelolco,4 Rarotonga,5 Bangkok6 and Pelindaba7 are making towards  freeing the southern hemisphere and adjacent areas covered by those treaties from  nuclear weapons;    3.  Notes with satisfaction that all nuclear-weapon-free zones in the southern  hemisphere and adjacent areas are now in force;    4.  Calls upon all States concerned to continue to work together in order to  facilitate adherence to the protocols to nuclear-weapon-free zone treaties by all  relevant States that have not yet done so, in this regard welcomes the ratification by  China, France, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and  Northern Ireland of the Protocol to the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in  Central Asia and the steps taken by the United States of America towards the  ratification of the protocols to the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central  Asia, to the Treaty of Pelindaba and to the Treaty of Rarotonga, and encourages  progress with a view to concluding consultations between the nuclear-weapon States  and the parties to the Bangkok Treaty on the Protocol to that Treaty;    5.  Calls upon the nuclear-weapon States to withdraw any reservations or  interpretive declarations contrary to the object and purpose of the treaties  establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones;  _______________  4 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 634, No. 9068.  5  The United Nations Disarmament Yearbook, vol. 10: 1985 (United Nations publication, Sales  No. E.86.IX.7), appendix VII.  6 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1981, No. 33873.  7 A/50/426, annex.  8 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 402, No. 5778.  9 Ibid., vol. 1833, No. 31363.   Nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas  A/RES/71/51   3/3    6.  Welcomes the steps taken to conclude further nuclear-weapon-free zone  treaties on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the States of the region  concerned, and calls upon all States to consider all relevant proposals, including  those reflected in its resolutions on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone  in the Middle East;    7.  Congratulates the States parties and signatories to the treaties of  Tlatelolco, Rarotonga, Bangkok and Pelindaba, as well as of Central Asia and  Mongolia, for their efforts to pursue the common goals envisaged in those treaties  and to promote the nuclear-weapon-free status of the southern hemisphere and  adjacent areas, and calls upon them to explore and implement further ways and  means of cooperation among themselves and their treaty agencies;    8.  Encourages efforts to reinforce coordination among nuclear-weapon-free  zones;    9.  Encourages the competent authorities of the nuclear-weapon-free zone  treaties to provide assistance to the States parties and signatories to those treaties so  as to facilitate the accomplishment of the goals of the treaties;    10. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-second  session, under the item entitled “General and complete disarmament”, the sub-item  entitled “Nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas”.