Austria
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, Austria called on all States that have not yet signed and ratified the TPNW to do so. ‘This is one concrete step that States can take to strengthen the flailing global disarmament and non-proliferation regime that needs all the reinforcement it can get.’[1] It noted that the TPNW ‘is now an established Treaty that is supported by a clear majority of non-nuclear States, and its complementarity with the NPT has been reiterated time and again’.[2]
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: Compliance in 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compliant |
| Test | Compliant | |
| Possess or stockpile | Compliant | |
| (b) | Transfer | Compliant |
| (c) | Receive transfer or control | Compliant |
| (d) | Use | Compliant |
| Threaten to use | Compliant | |
| (e) | Assist, encourage or induce | Compliant |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compliant |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compliant |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | Voted yes (2023) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | Yes |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | 7 (0%) |
| 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 | No |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1969) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 1998, Annex 2 state) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1973) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1995) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (31 Jul 1996) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | Cleared |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
Austria participated in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (2MSP) in November and December 2023. ‘The TPNW could not be more important given the dire state of the multilateral nuclear disarmament regime,’ it said, adding that ‘a security approach that is based on the threat of global mass destruction … is not only morally unacceptable but a high-risk gamble with the security of all humanity’.3
‘While practically all vectors on nuclear weapons point in the wrong direction, the TPNW is the one international development that shows the way out of the nuclear weapons paradigm,’ it said. ‘We have made remarkable headway. Firstly, through pursuing and negotiating the TPNW. Secondly, by bringing it into force and, thirdly, by making steady progress in the universalisation and implementation of the Treaty.’
At the meeting, the States parties appointed Austria as coordinator for a ‘consultative process on security concerns of States’ under the TPNW. It will submit a report to the Third Meeting of States Parties in 2025 ‘containing a comprehensive set of arguments and recommendations’ to better promote and articulate the legitimate security concerns enshrined in the Treaty and to ‘challenge the security paradigm based on nuclear deterrence’.4
Austria was the lead co-sponsor for the 2023 UN General Assembly resolution on the TPNW, which called upon ‘all States that have not yet done so to sign, ratify, accept, approve or accede to the Treaty at the earliest possible date’.5
Recommendations
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Austria should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
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Austria should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.
2) https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1y/k1ytyfl1gb?kalturaStartTime=1595