Bolivia
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2023, Bolivia referred to nuclear weapons as ‘the most inhumane weapons ever conceived, as their deadly impact lasts for decades’. ‘[I]t is neither defensible nor sustainable that there are still countries that argue that nuclear weapons are an indispensable and legitimate guarantor of their own security, increasingly modernising them or developing new types,’ it said.[1]
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) | 2 (50%) |
| 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 1969, Tlatelolco) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1970) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 1999) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1975) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1998) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (6 Feb 1995) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | Yes (Original) |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
Bolivia participated in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW in November and December 2023, where it reiterated its ‘full commitment to achieving the purposes of the TPNW and to the measures adopted in the Vienna Action Plan’. It said that the TPNW ‘incorporates a humanitarian approach’ and a ‘gender perspective’, ‘complements and reinforces’ all previous disarmament instruments, and contributes to implementation of the NPT.2 It also recognised the importance of the informal working groups established at the first Meeting of States Parties, including on victim assistance and environmental remediation, ‘and the results achieved so far’. It called on all states that have not yet signed and ratified the TPNW to do so without delay, ‘since as an international community we are obliged to work within the framework of multilateralism, and in favour of the common interests of humanity’.
By ratifying the TPNW in 2019, Bolivia reaffirmed its ‘determination to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons’, it said. The Treaty’s entry into force in 2021 ‘renewed the hope that one day nuclear weapons will be completely eliminated’.
Bolivia was one of the co-sponsors 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’.3
Recommendations
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Bolivia should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
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Bolivia should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.
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Bolivia should upgrade to a Modified Small Quantities Protocol with the IAEA.