Costa Rica
In a statement marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2023, Costa Rica said that the TPNW, through its very existence, forces states to declare a concrete position regarding nuclear weapons: ‘There is no longer a middle ground. Nuclear weapons are either acceptable or they are not. A State that refrains from signing this Treaty is signalling its agreement with nuclear weapons and their implications.’[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 |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | 5 (80%) |
| 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 1969, Tlatelolco) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1970) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2001) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1973) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1996) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (22 Nov 1979) |
| 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
Costa Rica participated in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (2MSP) in November and December 2023. ‘The negotiation and entry into force of the TPNW fills us with hope,’ it said. ‘We are here because, working hand in hand with civil society, a group of States understood that the nuclear threat is global, that the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons are unacceptable, and that all countries are interested parties in nuclear disarmament, whether they possess nuclear weapons or not.’2
It welcomed the progress made in implementing the Vienna Action Plan and said that the focus on ‘the devastating nature of the effects of the use and testing of nuclear weapons and their incompatibility with international humanitarian law must remain central to our efforts to promote implementation and universalisation of this Treaty’.3
Costa Rica 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’.4 It also promoted adherence to the TPNW as part of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in 2023.
Recommendations
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Costa Rica should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
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Costa Rica should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.