Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan served as a vice-president of the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna in June 2022. Mukhtar Tleuberdi, the Deputy Prime Minister, hailed the meeting as ‘a remarkable historic achievement following a nearly decade-long collective effort to advance the universal objective of complete nuclear disarmament’.[1]
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) | 26 (19%) |
| 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 2008, Semipalatinsk) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1994) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2002) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 2007) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2000) |
| 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 | 1-10 tons |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
Together with Kiribati, Kazakhstan submitted a working paper to the 1MSP with proposals for action to assist victims of nuclear weapon use and testing and to remediate contaminated environments.2 The 1MSP appointed the two states as co-chairs of an informal intersessional working group to address these issues, which will report to the Second Meeting of States Parties. Kazakhstan will also serve as president of the third Meeting of States Parties, the dates for which have yet to be confirmed.3
Prior to the 1MSP, Kazakhstan hosted a meeting in its capital with ambassadors from other Central Asian states to encourage them to join the TPNW. It noted the compatibility of the TPNW with the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) Treaty, to which all states in the region are parties.4
At the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, Kazakhstan welcomed the ‘successful outcomes’ of the 1MSP. It pledged to ‘work tirelessly to achieve our long-cherished aspirations towards a world free from nuclear weapons’.5
Recommendations
- Kazakhstan should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
- Kazakhstan should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures, including by requesting that Russia continue to refrain from all testing of nuclear-capable missiles at Sary Shagan.