Brazil
Brazil attended as an observer the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna in June 2022. ‘Brazil is honoured to participate as an observer in this historic first Meeting of States Parties of the TPNW,’ it said, noting its active role in the Treaty’s negotiation in 2017.[1]
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: Compliance in 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (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 1MSP (2022) | Observer |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | 6 (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 1968, Tlatelolco) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1998) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 1998, Annex 2 state) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1973) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1996) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | No |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | Yes (Civ) |
| HEU stocks | Cleared |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
The text of the TPNW is currently under consideration by the Congress of Brazil, with a view to its ratification. It was submitted to the Congress in 2018, with no action taken as yet. The prospects for its approval appear to have increased significantly with the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the Brazilian presidency in October 2022.
At the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, Brazil described the adoption of the TPNW as a great achievement, noting that it ‘delegitimises [nuclear] weapons as instruments of power’. It emphasised that ‘nothing in the TPNW stands in the way for the realisation of the step-by-step or gradual approach’.2
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2022, Brazil welcomed the adoption of a declaration and action plan at the 1MSP and said that it ‘fully subscribes’ to the ‘unequivocal condemnation of any and all nuclear threats’.3
In November 2022, TPNW states parties Samoa and Namibia, in accordance with their Article 12 obligation to promote universal adherence to the TPNW, recommended that Brazil ratify the TPNW as part of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review.4
Recommendations
- Brazil should urgently ratify the TPNW.
- Brazil should conclude and bring into force an Additional Protocol with the IAEA.