Kenya
Kenya 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 Treaty, including in 2022.
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: Compatibility in 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (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 (2022) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | No |
| 1MSP 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 2001, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1970) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2000) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1976) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1997) |
| 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, Kenya said that the ‘rising nuclear rivalry’, ‘dangerous rhetoric by some nuclear-weapon states’, and the ‘increasing modernisation of nuclear weapons’ are undermining the NPT and our shared goals on nuclear disarmament.1
Marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2022, Kenya urged ‘all nuclear-weapon states and the “nuclear umbrella states” to aim for new defence and security doctrines devoid of nuclear weapons’. ‘It remains our view that as long as nuclear weapons continue to be maintained anywhere, they constitute a clear and constant existential threat to humanity everywhere,’ it added.2
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2022, Kenya reaffirmed ‘its longstanding commitment to nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and the achievement of a world free of nuclear weapons’.3
Recommendations
- Kenya should urgently adhere to the TPNW.