The obligation to promote universal adherence to the Treaty

The Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (2MSP) in November 2023 adopted a declaration that noted the progress achieved in universalising the Treaty since the First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP) in June 2022, with seven new signatures, three ratifications, and one accession in this period. The states parties pledged to continue pursuing universalisation as a priority and expressed their resolute commitment to this goal.

In addition to renewing their call ‘for all States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify or accede to the Treaty without delay’, TPNW states parties made a special plea for adherence to the Treaty by members of nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZs), ‘in recognition of the shared basis of such treaties and the TPNW’.

There is indeed great potential within the five multilateral NWFZs to increase the number of adherents to the TPNW. Combined, they have 104 members, but 47 (45%) of those states, are not yet party to the TPNW. Of those 47 members, 21 have already signed the TPNW and need only to ratify it. They should be encouraged by fellow NWFZ members to do so urgently. In addition, a total of 20 members are categorised by the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor as ‘other supporters’ of the TPNW and 6 members as ‘undecided’. These 26 states, which account for exactly 25% of the combined members of the five NWFZs, constitute a significant and immediate potential for new signatories or acceders to the TPNW. An overview of the membership in the five NWFZs disaggregated by their status under the TPNW as of the end of 2023 is included in the figure and table below.

In the course of 2023, states parties took a wide range of actions to fulfil their obligations under Article 12 of the TPNW. In these efforts, they were guided by the Vienna Action Plan of 2022, which listed 14 actions to advance universalisation, including diplomatic démarches and outreach visits to the capitals of non-parties and technical support for signatory states to complete their domestic ratification processes.

An informal working group on TPNW universalisation was established at 1MSP and played an important role in facilitating activities in this area in 2023. The initial co-chairs of the group, Malaysia and South Africa, submitted a report to the 2MSP outlining universalisation efforts undertaken in the intersessional period. Uruguay and South Africa will serve as co-chairs leading up to the Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) in 2025.

A particular highlight in 2023 was the African regional seminar on TPNW universalisation in Pretoria in January 2023, co-organised by the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Delegates representing 37 African states, including many that are not yet states parties, attended the seminar and contributed to the discussions. In an opening address, South Africa’s Deputy Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, called on all African states ‘to sign and ratify the TPNW at the earliest possible opportunity and thus reassert Africa’s leadership in nuclear disarmament’.

Another important contribution towards the implementation of Article 12 was the Central Asian conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons in Astana in August 2023. Co-organised by the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs and civil society, the meeting brought together all states from the region in an effort to enhance understanding of the TPNW and promote its universalisation. The chair’s summary noted that the Central Asian nuclear- weapon-free zone treaty (Treaty of Semipalatinsk) ‘contains many similar prohibitions to those of the TPNW’.

As Malaysia remarked during the 2MSP in November 2023, many of the actions to implement Article 12 were on a small scale and did not involve significant budgets. Still, they helped to raise awareness about the Treaty and generate momentum for its universalisation. Such actions included breakfast meetings with prospective signatories and states parties, briefings to regional groupings at the United Nations in New York and Geneva, and informal outreach to colleagues from non-parties.

Members of NWFZs disaggregated by their status under the TPNW, as of 31.12.2023