Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo deposited its instrument of ratification for the TPNW with the UN Secretary-General at a high-level ceremony in New York on 22 September 2022, becoming the 67th state party to the Treaty, along with the Dominican Republic, which ratified on the same day.
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) | 13 (8%) |
| Adoption of TPNW (7 July 2017) | Voted yes |
| Participated in TPNW negotiations (2017) | Yes |
| Negotiation mandate (A/RES/71/258) | Did not vote |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 2022, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1970) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2004, Annex 2 state) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1975) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2005) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
Attending as an observer the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna in June 2022, DR Congo said: ‘Deterrence is a false guarantee of security that keeps the world in the balance of terror … Nuclear disarmament is an emergency and is becoming a necessity for our security.' 1
At the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, DR Congo welcomed the ‘historic adoption’ of the TPNW in 2017 and its entry into force in 2021, as well as the success of its 1MSP. It said that the Treaty ‘has greatly contributed to the search for the achievement of our common objective, which is a world without nuclear weapons’.2
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2022, DR Congo said that it considers the TPNW to complement and reinforce the NPT, and encouraged ‘states which have not yet done so to accede to this instrument, because it constitutes an important step towards a world free of nuclear weapons and, if we are sincere in our quest for disarmament, we have a collective responsibility to ensure its universalisation’.3
Recommendations
- DR Congo should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
- DR Congo should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.