Lebanon
Lebanon voted in favour of adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (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 2024. Lebanon 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.
TPNW Status
| Key weapons of mass destruction treaties | ||
|---|---|---|
| NUCLEAR WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the TPNW | No | |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1970) | |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2008) | |
| Party to an NWFZ | No | |
| CSA with the IAEA | Yes (In force 1973) | |
| AP with the IAEA | No | |
| BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1975) | |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Acceded 2008) | |
| TPNW Art. 1(1) prohibitions: Compatibility in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compatible |
| Possess or stockpile | Compatible | |
| Test | 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 (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | No |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | No |
| Average MSP 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 |
| Fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Nuclear facilities | No |
| Fissile material production | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
| SQP with the IAEA | Yes (Modified) |
Latest developments
At the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Preparatory Committee session in July 2024, Lebanon expressed regret that nuclear weapons ‘have returned to play a fundamental role in defence policies, and the modernisation and expansion of arsenals is under way, which increases the chances of their future use with the intensification of geopolitical conflict’.1
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, the Arab Group, of which Lebanon is a member, emphasised the importance of the TPNW and the active participation of Arab states in its negotiation. The TPNW ‘places nuclear weapons in their logical position as weapons whose possession, use or threat of use conflicts with the most basic rules of international humanitarian law’, it said.2
In 2022, the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations in New York informed the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor that ‘the matter of accession [to the TPNW] is being discussed among ministries concerned in the capital’.3
Lebanon has described the TPNW’s entry into force in 2021 as ‘a sign of hope in otherwise dark times’4 and an example of members of the UN General Assembly showing ‘commitment and courage in leading the way towards achieving the goal of total elimination of nuclear weapons’.5
Recommendations
-
Lebanon should urgently adhere to the TPNW.
-
Lebanon should conclude and bring into force an Additional Protocol (AP) with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
3) Email to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor from Mohammad-Ali Jardali, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the UN, 19 December 2022.