Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau participated in the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna in June 2022. On 23 June, the last day of the 1MSP, Guinea-Bissau brought into force both a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) and an Additional Protocol with the IAEA. The CSA was brought into force well in advance of Guinea-Bissau’s 18-month deadline under Article 3(2) of 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 (2022) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | Yes |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | 1 (0%) |
| 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 2012, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1976) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2013) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1976) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2008) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | 15 Sep 2023 (Met 23 Jun 2022) |
| Small Quantities Protocol | Yes (Modified) |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
Guinea-Bissau 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.'1
Marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2022, the African Group in the UN, of which Guinea-Bissau is a member, recalled the entry into force of the ‘landmark’ TPNW and reaffirmed its ‘full support’ for the declaration and action plan adopted at the 1MSP. The African Group, moreover, urged ‘all members of the international community, especially nuclear-weapon states and those under the so-called nuclear umbrella, to seize the opportunity to sign and ratify the Treaty at an early date and to pursue the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world’.2
Recommendations
- Guinea-Bissau should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
- Guinea-Bissau should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.