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States parties

Malta

In a statement marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2023, Malta said that the TPNW ‘strengthens the global norm against nuclear weapons and fills a legal gap as their first outright prohibition’. It urged all States ‘who have not done so to sign and ratify it’ and said that progress towards universalisation ‘could bring the much-needed momentum to revive serious disarmament talks’.[1]

TPNW Status

SIGNATURE
25 Aug 2020
DEPOSIT WITH UNSG
21 Sep 2020 (Ratification)
ENTRY INTO FORCE
22 Jan 2021
DECLARATION
Received 27 Jan 2021
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
1MSP delegation size (% women) 1 (100%)
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 (Ratified 1970)
Ratified the CTBT Yes (Ratified 2001)
Party to the BWC Yes (Ratified 1975)
Party to the CWC Yes (Ratified 1997)
IAEA safeguards and fissile material
Safeguards agreement Yes (1 Jul 2007)
TPNW Art 3(2) deadline N/A
Small Quantities Protocol No (Rescinded 2021)
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, Malta said that the TPNW is ‘fully compatible with and complementary to’ the Non-Proliferation Treaty and strengthens the safeguards system administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency. ‘It also recognises the gendered impact of nuclear weapons, and mandates age- and gender-sensitive victim assistance,’ Malta noted.2

Malta participated in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (2MSP) in November and December 2023, where it welcomed the ‘valuable progress in the implementation of the Treaty’. It said: ‘Nuclear deterrence can never lead to security assurance. How can one feel secure when nuclear weapons pose a threat of indiscriminate mass destruction and are incompatible with respect for the right to life?’3

Malta 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’.4

Recommendations

  • Malta should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.

  • Malta should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.

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