Congo
Congo deposited its instrument of ratification for the TPNW with the UN Secretary-General on 17 May 2022, becoming the 61st state party.
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 (2022) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | No |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | N/A |
| 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 2013, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1978) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2014) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1978) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2007) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes |
| 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
Marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2022, the African Group in the UN, of which Congo is a member, recalled the entry into force of the ‘landmark’ TPNW and reaffirmed its ‘full support’ for the declaration and action plan adopted at the Treaty's First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP). The African Group, moreover, urged ‘all members of the international community, especially nuclear-weapon states and those under the so-called nuclear umbrella, to seize the opportunity to sign and ratify the Treaty at an early date and to pursue the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world’.1
In a closing statement to the Tenth Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, the Congo and 64 other TPNW supporters urged ‘all states committed to attain and maintain a world without nuclear weapons to join the TPNW without delay’.2
Congo was also one of the co-sponsors for the 2022 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
- Congo should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.