Burkina Faso
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso, Olivia Ragnaghnewendé Rouamba, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony at the UN in New York on 22 September 2022. In a speech at the United Nations later that week, she said that nuclear weapons ‘constitute a threat to the survival of all humanity because of their humanitarian consequences’.[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) | 5 (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 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
In a letter to ICAN on 8 December 2022, the Minister of Foreign Affairs advised that Burkina Faso ‘will 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’.2
Burkina Faso attended as an observer the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna in June 2022, where it stated: ‘Burkina Faso’s support for the TPNW is unwavering, ... We commit ourselves to make all necessary steps to join it as soon as possible.’2
At the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, Burkina Faso welcomed the TPNW’s entry into force, adding: ‘We are convinced that this Treaty complements the NPT.’3
Recommendations
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Burkina Faso should urgently ratify the TPNW.