DECLARATION BY THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF HEADS OF GOVERNMENT ON SHIPMENTS OF PLUTONIUM

The Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community assembled for the Special Session of their Conference considered reports of the possible shipment of plutonium through the Caribbean Sea which have been discussed at length in the media and which have given rise to expressions of serious concern by Governments across the Region.

The Heads noted that the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Caribbean Community, at their recent consultations in New York during the Forty-Seventh Session of the United Nations General assembly, issued a joint statement expressing their grave concern at this proposed shipment and the prospect of future shipments of hazardous and radioactive material through the Caribbean Sea.

In this regard, the Heads decided to sponsor a resolution at the United Nations by all CARICOM Members, aimed at achieving the following:

1. That shipments of plutonium and other radioactive or hazardous materials should not traverse the Caribbean Sea;

1. That the Caribbean should not be used for the testing of nuclear devices; and

1. 3. That the Caribbean Sea should be declared a nuclear free zone for purposes of shipment, storing or dumping of any radioactive or hazardous substances or toxic waste.

They agreed that the support for, and co-sponsorship of, this resolution should be sought from all countries within a bordering on the Caribbean Sea.