Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 8 December 2003  [on the report of the First Committee (A/58/462)]  58/49.  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 and 57/73 of  22 November 2002,    Welcoming 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”,1    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 provisions on nuclear-weapon-free zones of the Final Document  of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly,2 the first special session  devoted to disarmament,    Stressing the importance of the treaties of Tlatelolco,3 Rarotonga,4 Bangkok5  and Pelindaba6 establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones, as well as the Antarctic  Treaty,7 to, inter alia, achieve a world entirely free of nuclear weapons,  _______________  1 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 42 (A/54/42), annex I.  2 Resolution S-10/2.  3 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 634, No. 9068.  4 See The United Nations Disarmament Yearbook, vol. 10: 1985 (United Nations publication, Sales  No. E.86.IX.7), appendix VII.  5 Treaty on the South-East Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.  6 A/50/426, annex.  7 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 402, No. 5778.   A/RES/58/49  2    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,    Recalling 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,8    1.  Welcomes the continued contribution that the Antarctic Treaty7 and the  treaties of Tlatelolco,3 Rarotonga,4 Bangkok5 and Pelindaba6 are making towards  freeing the southern hemisphere and adjacent areas covered by those treaties from  nuclear weapons;     2.  Also welcomes the ratification by all original parties of the Treaty of  Rarotonga, and calls upon eligible States to adhere to the treaty and the protocols  thereto;     3.  Further welcomes the efforts towards the completion of the ratification  process of the Treaty of Pelindaba, and calls upon the States of the region that have  not yet done so to sign and ratify the treaty, with the aim of its early entry into  force;    4.  Calls upon all concerned States 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;    5.  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 nuclear-weapon-free zones  in the Middle East and South Asia;    6.  Affirms 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, with particular reference to the  responsibilities of the nuclear-weapon States, calls upon all States to support the  process of nuclear disarmament and to work for the total elimination of all nuclear  weapons;    7.  Calls upon the States parties and signatories to the treaties of Tlatelolco,  Rarotonga, Bangkok and Pelindaba, in order to pursue the common goals envisaged  in those treaties and to promote the nuclear-weapon-free status of the southern  hemisphere and adjacent areas, to explore and implement further ways and means of  cooperation among themselves and their treaty agencies;    8.  Welcomes the vigorous efforts being made among States parties and  signatories to those treaties to promote their common objectives, and considers that  an  international  conference  of  States  parties  and  signatories  to  the  nuclear-weapon-free-zone treaties might be held to support the common goals  envisaged in those treaties;  _______________  8 See The Law of the Sea: Official Texts of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of  10 December 1982 and of the Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations  Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 with Index and Excerpts from the Final Act of the  Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.V.10).   A/RES/58/49  3    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 these goals;     10. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-ninth session the  item entitled “Nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas”.