Liechtenstein
In December 2022, in response to an inquiry from the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor about the status of Liechtenstein’s ratification process for the TPNW, the foreign ministry referred to a letter that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dominique Hasler, sent to ICAN one year earlier, in which she wrote that ‘Liechtenstein forms a Customs Union with Switzerland and certain Swiss laws apply to Liechtenstein. Those laws include areas falling under the purview of the TPNW. Due to this circumstance we have to await the finalisation of the domestic processes in Switzerland before a ratification can take place. However, we will be monitoring the process and I can assure you that Liechtenstein will continue to strive for ratification in due time.’[1]
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: Compliance in 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (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 2MSP (2023) | Yes (observer) |
| 2MSP delegation size (% women) | 6 (33%) |
| 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 | No |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1978) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2004) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1991) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1999) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (4 Oct 1979) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2023, Liechtenstein said that ‘it is crystal clear’ that nuclear weapons ‘will never make the world a safer place’. ‘This understanding is the animating force behind the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,’ it added, noting that the TPNW ‘strengthens the NPT framework in defining new and concrete perspectives for nuclear disarmament’.2
Liechtenstein observed the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (2MSP) in November and December 2023 but did not make a statement. It was one of the co-sponsors for the 2023 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’.3
Recommendations
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Liechtenstein should urgently ratify the TPNW.
1) Email to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor from N. Schmid, Deputy Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport, Principality of Liechtenstein, 13 December 2022.