Malawi
Malawi deposited its instrument of ratification for the TPNW with the UN Secretary-General on 29 June 2022, becoming the 66th state party. It was the first state to adhere to the TPNW following the conclusion of the First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP) in Vienna one week earlier, which resolved to pursue universalisation of the Treaty as a priority.
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) | Abstained (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) | Did not vote |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 2009, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1986) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2008) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 2013) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1998) |
| 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
Marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2022, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malawi, Nancy Tembo, said: ‘It should be our ambition as a collective to rid our world of all weapons of mass destruction because of the indiscriminate damage they cause.’ Given the threat that nuclear weapons pose to ‘the very survival of humanity and our environment’, their continued existence ‘challenges the instinctive human desire for self-preservation’, she said. She also noted that by ratifying the TPNW, Malawi further indicated its ‘unwavering commitment to the global disarmament agenda’.1
In a closing statement to the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, Malawi and 64 other TPNW supporters urged ‘all states committed to attain and maintain a world without nuclear weapons to join the TPNW without delay’.2
At the UN General Assembly in 2022, Malawi voted yes in First Commitee on the annual resolution on the TPNW, but then abstained in plenary, apparently in error.
Recommendations
- Malawi should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
- Malawi should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.