Cook Islands
Addressing the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna in June 2022, the Cook Islands said: ‘For the Cook Islands, sandwiched as we are between two major [nuclear] testing sites in Kiribati and French Polynesia, we have long been aware of the threat of nuclear weapons. Given our very proactive stance on this issue in our region, it took little encouragement for us to become one of the first to accede to this Treaty in 2018.’[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) | N/A |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | Yes |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | 2 (50%) |
| Adoption of TPNW (7 July 2017) | N/A |
| Participated in TPNW negotiations (2017) | N/A |
| Negotiation mandate (A/RES/71/258) | N/A |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 1986, Rarotonga) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes* |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2005) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 2008) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1994) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes* |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | Yes (Original)* |
| Additional Protocol | No |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
In a closing statement to the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, the Cook Islands 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
Recommendations
- Cook Islands should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
- Cook Islands should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.
* Through territorial application by New Zealand