The obligation to submit declarations and reports
A total of 11 states parties to the TPNW had deadlines in 2022 to submit their declarations under Article 2 of the Treaty to the UN Secretary-General. The Secretary-General received the declarations of Cabo Verde, Chile, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Mongolia, Timor-Leste, and Peru, whilst at the the time of writing the declarations of Grenada and Malawi had not yet been submitted.
The only outstanding declaration after the deadlines that expired in 2021, that of the Seychelles, was submitted in early 2022.
On behalf of the Secretary-General, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) receives the declarations and transmits them to the other states parties. The state profiles of this report contain the dates that the declarations are received by the UN, or they indicate if a state has not yet submitted its declaration. The declarations are posted on the website of UNODA. 1
The TPNW does not prescribe a standard form or format for the declarations, but the above-mentioned UNODA website contains model declarations in English, French, and Spanish that have been prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
- Article 2 of the TPNW imposes a duty on each state to submit a declaration to the UN Secretary-General within 30 days of becoming party to the Treaty.
- The declaration must clarify whether the state party has ever owned, possessed, or controlled nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. If it has, it must further declare whether it has already eliminated its nuclear-weapon programme, including by destroying or irreversibly converting all nuclear-weapons-related facilities, or whether it still owns, possesses, or controls any nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
- Finally, the declaration must state whether foreign weapons or devices are located (stockpiled, stationed, deployed, or installed) either in its territory or in any other place under its jurisdiction or control.
- The overwhelming majority of potential states parties are non-nuclear-armed. Once the requisite Article 2 declaration has been submitted by a non-nuclear-armed state party, their only reporting duties under the TPNW will be those committed to in action plans adopted by meetings of states parties.
- For potential states parties that formerly possessed or which currently possess nuclear weapons and for states that have foreign nuclear weapons on their territory or in any other place under their jurisdiction or control, Article 4 imposes a duty to submit a report to each meeting of states parties and each review conference on progress towards the implementation of its obligations under that article, until such time as they are fulfilled.