Botswana
Botswana participated in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (2MSP) in November and December 2023. ‘[T]he progress of the TPNW serves as a beacon of hope at a time when heightened geopolitical tensions are undermining the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation agenda and are posing serious risks to global security,’ 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 |
| 2MSP delegation size (% women) | 4 (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 | Yes (Ratified 1999, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1969) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2002) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1992) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Acceded 1998) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (24 Aug 2006) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
Botswana reaffirmed its commitment to the ‘landmark’ TPNW and ‘its noble goal of a world free of nuclear weapons’, describing such weapons as ‘anachronistic relics from a bygone era’. It added that its ratification of the TPNW in 2020 ‘was a demonstration of our strong disapproval of nuclear weapons and support for their delegitimisation’.
Botswana also ‘encourage[d] fellow States parties to not tire in promoting the TPNW and spreading the message about the danger and illegality of nuclear weapons’, and said that it was ‘pleased with the progress being achieved in the implementation and universalisation of the Treaty’, as guided by the Vienna Action Plan of 2022.
Botswana 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’.2
Recommendations
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Botswana should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
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Botswana should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.