Eritrea
Eritrea voted in favour of adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) at the UN negotiating conference in 2017 and has consistently voted in favour of the annual UN General Assembly resolution on the Treaty, including in 2024, when it was also one of the co-sponsors of the resolution. It maintains policies and practices that are compatible with all of the prohibitions in Article 1 of the TPNW, and can therefore sign and ratify or accede to the Treaty without the need for a change in conduct.
TPNW Status
| Key weapons of mass destruction treaties | ||
|---|---|---|
| NUCLEAR WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the TPNW | No | |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1995) | |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2003) | |
| Party to an NWFZ | No (Signed 1996, Pelindaba) | |
| CSA with the IAEA | Yes (In force 2021) | |
| AP with the IAEA | Yes (In force 2021) | |
| BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the BWC | No | |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Acceded 2000) | |
| TPNW Art. 1(1) prohibitions: Compatibility in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compatible |
| Possess or stockpile | Compatible | |
| Test | Compatible | |
| (b) | Transfer | Compatible |
| (c) | Receive transfer or control | Compatible |
| (d) | Use | Compatible |
| Threaten to use | Compatible | |
| (e) | Assist, encourage or induce | Compatible |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compatible |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compatible |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | Voted yes (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | No |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | No |
| Average MSP 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 |
| Fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Nuclear facilities | No |
| Fissile material production | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
| SQP with the IAEA | Yes (Modified) |
Latest developments
At a high-level UN event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea, Osman Saleh Mohammed, said that, in order to achieve ‘the objective of a world free of nuclear weapons’, it would be critical for states to take steps such as acceding to the TPNW. ‘Nuclear weapons,’ he said, ‘pose the greatest threat to humankind.’1
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, Eritrea expressed concern that the ‘hegemonic world order’, characterised by ‘military adventurism’ and ‘zero-sum security logic’, is ‘pushing our world towards the realm of an unimaginable catastrophe', including the possible use of nuclear weapons. The lack of meaningful progress in the field of nuclear disarmament is of ‘serious concern’, it said, describing the universalisation of the TPNW and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) as ‘critical steps towards complete denuclearisation’.2
Eritrea participated in the African Conference on the Universalisation and Implementation of the TPNW in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in September 2024.3
Recommendations
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Eritrea should urgently adhere to the TPNW.
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Eritrea should ratify the Pelindaba nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) Treaty, which it signed in 1996.
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Eritrea should adhere to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).