Gabon
Gabon voted in favour of adopting the TPNW at the UN Diplomatic Conference in 2017 and has consistently voted in favour of the annual UN General Assembly Resolutions on the TPNW, including in 2023. Gabon 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. In January 2023, it participated in an African regional seminar on universalisation of the TPNW in Pretoria, hosted by the South African foreign ministry.[1]
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: Compatibility in 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compatible |
| Test | Compatible | |
| Possess or stockpile | 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 (2023) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | No |
| 2MSP 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 2007, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1974) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2000) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 2007) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2000) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (25 Mar 2010) |
| 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
In July 2023, as part of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review process, Gabon 'noted' a recommendation to ratify the TPNW.2
During the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly in September 2023, the Prime Minister of Gabon, Raymond Ndong Sima, said: ‘Our generation has a responsibility to future generations to bequeath them a safer world … a world without nuclear threats.’3
The following week, in a statement marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, Gabon renewed its ‘commitment to an outright ban on nuclear weapons’ and urged states to refrain from adhering to ‘any doctrine based on nuclear deterrence’.4
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2023, Gabon criticised nuclear-armed States for their ‘lack of political will’ to advance disarmament and for continuing to improve their nuclear arsenals ‘in violation of the NPT, notwithstanding the fact that nuclear weapons are among the most destructive ever created by humanity’.5
Recommendations
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Gabon should urgently adhere to the TPNW.