Argentina
Argentina is the only state in Latin America that has not yet signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). In 2024, it voted against the annual UN General Assembly resolution on the Treaty for the first time.1 In previous years, it had abstained from voting on the resolution. Argentina participated in the TPNW negotiations in 2017 and voted in favour of the Treaty’s adoption. It maintains policies and practices that are compatible with all of the prohibitions in Article 1 of the TPNW, and can therefore sign and ratify or accede to the Treaty without the need for a change in conduct.
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: compatibility in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compatible |
| Test | Compatible | |
| Possess or stockpile | Compatible | |
| (b) | Transfer | Compatible |
| (c) | Receive transfer or control | Compatible |
| (d) | Use | Compatible |
| Threaten to use | Compatible | |
| (e) | Assist, encourage or induce | Compatible |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compatible |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compatible |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | Voted no (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | No |
| 2MSP delegation size (% women) | N/A |
| Adoption of TPNW (7 July 2017) | Voted yes |
| Participated in TPNW negotiations (2017) | Yes |
| Negotiation mandate (A/RES/71/258) | Voted yes |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 1994, Tlatelolco) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1995) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 1998, Annex 2 state) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1979) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1995) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (In force 1994) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | No |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | Yes (Civilian) |
| HEU stocks | Cleared |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
At the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Preparatory Committee session in July 2024, Argentina said that the NPT ‘in no way legitimises the permanent possession of [nuclear] weapons’ by the five nuclear-weapon states. Their ‘delay in progress in terms of disarmament’, it added, does not free other states from their own non-proliferation obligations.2
At a high-level UN event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2024, Argentina reaffirmed its commitment to ‘the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons’ and reiterated its ‘deep concern’ at the continuing threat that such weapons pose to humanity.3
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, Argentina noted that it ‘is part of a region that has historically been at the forefront of disarmament and non-proliferation, even before the NPT came into force’.4 It warned that the ‘development of new types of nuclear weapons and delivery systems increases instability and generates greater risks of miscalculation’.5
In 2023, Argentina described the NPT as the ‘central element’ of the non-proliferation and disarmament regime, and said that the TPNW or any other future instruments in this area ‘should strengthen the NPT, avoiding duplication or generating parallel regimes on provisions that already are consolidated or broadly accepted in the framework of the NPT’.6
As part of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review process in 2023, Argentina ‘noted’ a recommendation to sign and ratify the TPNW.7
Recommendations
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Argentina should urgently adhere to the TPNW. Until it is in a position to do so, it should welcome the TPNW as a valuable component in the global disarmament and non-proliferation architecture, work with the Treaty's states parties on practical steps towards disarmament, and attend the meetings of states parties as an observer.
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Argentina should conclude and bring into force an Additional Protocol (AP) with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).