General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

4 December 1990

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                                        A/RES/45/50
                                                        54th plenary meeting
                                                        4 December 1990
 
           Amendment of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in
                the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water
 
      The General Assembly,
 
      Recalling its resolution 44/106 of 15 December 1989,
 
      Reiterating its conviction that a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty
 is the highest-priority measure for the cessation of the nuclear arms race and
 for the achievement of the objective of nuclear disarmament,
 
      Recalling also its resolution 1910 (XVIII) of 27 November 1963, in which
 it noted with approval the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the
 Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water,  signed on 5 August 1963, and
 requested the Conference of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament to
 continue with a sense of urgency its negotiations to achieve the objectives
 set forth in the preamble to the Treaty,
 
      Recalling further that more than one third of the parties to the Treaty
 have requested the Depositary Governments to convene a conference to consider
 an amendment that would convert the Treaty into a comprehensive test-ban
 treaty, 
 
      Reiterating also its conviction that such a conference will facilitate
 the attainment of the objectives set forth in the Treaty and thus serve to
 strengthen it,
 
      Noting with satisfaction that the meeting for the organization of the
 Amendment Conference of the States Parties to the Treaty Banning Nuclear
 Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water was held in
 New York from 29 May to 8 June 1990, and taking note of the report of that
 meeting,
 
      1.   Notes with satisfaction that the Amendment Conference of the States
 Parties to the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer
 Space and under Water will be held in New York from 7 to 18 January 1991;
 
      2.   Calls upon all parties to the Treaty to participate in, and to
 contribute to the success of, the Amendment Conference for the achievement of
 a comprehensive nuclear-test ban at an early date, as an indispensable measure
 towards implementation of their undertakings in the preamble to the Treaty;
 
      3.   Reiterates its conviction that, pending the conclusion of a
 comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty, the nuclear-weapon States should
 suspend all nuclear-test explosions through an agreed moratorium or unilateral
 moratoria;
 
      4.   Recommends that arrangements be made to ensure that intensive
 efforts continue, under the auspices of the Amendment Conference, until a
 comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty is achieved;
 
      5.   Recommends also that the Amendment Conference establish a working
 group, or other means it deems appropriate, to study, inter alia, the
 organization of control, institutional mechanisms and legal aspects of a
 comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty and to report its conclusions to the
 Conference;
 
      6.   Stresses the importance of ensuring adequate co-ordination among the
 various negotiating forums dealing with a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban
 treaty; 
 
      7.   Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-sixth
 session the item entitled "Amendment of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon
 Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water".