Guatemala
Guatemala ratified the TPNW a week before the Treaty's First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP) in June 2022. With Guatemala’s ratification, Central America became the first entire region to join the TPNW.
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) | 4 (25%) |
| 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 1970, Tlatelolco) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1970) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2012) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1973) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2003) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes |
| 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
At the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, Guatemala said that the TPNW ‘complements and strengthens the provisions of the [NPT], particularly to legally prohibit these weapons and close the gap on the mistaken interpretation that the possessing states may have regarding Article VI on the “right” to possess these weapons of mass destruction and not to move towards nuclear disarmament’.1 In a closing statement to the NPT Review Conference, Guatemala 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
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2022, Guatemala said that the convening of the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) ‘constitutes a milestone and a firm step towards nuclear disarmament’.3 It reiterated that the TPNW complements the objectives of the NPT and strengthens its three pillars.4
Guatemala was one of the co-sponsors for the 2022 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.'5
Recommendations
- Guatemala should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
- Guatemala should ensure that all of the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.