Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso observed the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW in November and December 2023. ‘Although my country has not yet ratified the Treaty, we firmly believe in its objectives and spirit,’ its delegate said. ‘In Africa, we know all too well the devastating humanitarian costs of conflicts and wars. Nuclear weapons open the door to unprecedented destruction that would eclipse anything seen before.’[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 (observer) |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | 5 (20%) |
| 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 1998, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1970) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2002) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1991) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1997) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (17 Apr 2003) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | Yes (Modified) |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
At the meeting, Burkina Faso urged all States to sign and ratify the TPNW ‘to universalise what we consider to be common sense for our world’. It also called for intensified diplomatic efforts to negotiate a world free of ‘these terrifying weapons of mass destruction’ and remarked that the TPNW ‘offers hope for a more secure future’.
Burkina Faso 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
In January 2023, it participated in an African regional seminar on universalisation of the TPNW in Pretoria, hosted by the South African foreign ministry.3
In December 2022, Burkina Faso announced that it would ‘take the necessary steps in connection with the ratification of the [TPNW] in accordance with its commitment to building a peaceful, secure and prosperous world free of all nuclear weapons’.4
Recommendations
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Burkina Faso should urgently ratify the TPNW.