Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands voted in favour of adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) at the UN negotiating conference in 2017, but has consistently abstained from voting on the annual UN General Assembly resolutions on the Treaty, including in 2025. From 1946 to 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, leaving a devastating health and environmental legacy.
TPNW Status
| Key weapons of mass destruction treaties | ||
|---|---|---|
| NUCLEAR WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the TPNW | No | |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1995) | |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2009) | |
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Acceded 2025, Rarotonga) | |
| CSA with the IAEA | Yes (In force 2005) | |
| AP with the IAEA | Yes (In force 2005) | |
| BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 2012) | |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2004) | |
| TPNW Art. 1(1) prohibitions: Compatibility in 2025 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (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 | Non-compatible |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compatible |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compatible |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | Abstained (2025) |
| Participated in 3MSP (2025) | Yes (observer) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | Yes (observer) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | Yes (observer) |
| Average MSP delegation size (% women) | 2 (11%) |
| 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 | No |
Latest developments
The Marshall Islands attended the Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in March 2025 as an observer. It argued that the Treaty’s provisions on victim assistance and environmental remediation are ‘inequitable’. ‘Some of the Treaty’s provisions, while noble, do not go far enough to address the very real and harmful impacts that people affected by nuclear weapons continue to live with on a daily basis,’ it claimed. It said that it would work with other States to try to amend the Treaty.1
‘Responsibility must remain with those who tested the weapons, not those who had testing forced [on] us. If the Marshall Islands is to join the TPNW, then Article 6 must better reflect where responsibilities remain,’ it said. ‘For there to be a truly effective abolition and elimination of nuclear weapons, then nuclear-weapon States must also join international ban efforts. The lack of participation by any nuclear-armed State in the Treaty continues to cause great concern for the Marshall Islands.’
In the general debate of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2025, the President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, said that the legacy of the 67 atmospheric nuclear tests conducted on its territory by the United States poses ‘profound contemporary challenges’. She said that ‘significant disagreement remains’ between the Marshall Islands and the United States, in relation to the testing legacy. ‘Our communities seek justice, a clean environment, and safe return to their homes,’ she said.2
In March 2024, President Heine said in an interview that her country remained supportive of the TPNW ‘because it’s good for the world’, but it was not yet in a position to ratify it because it ‘does not go far enough to address the impacts of nuclear weapons’.3
In 2023, the United States and the Marshall Islands signed a renewed 20-year ‘compact of free association’, under which the United States will continue to provide for the Marshall Islands’ defence. It entered into force in 2024.4
The US military regularly tests nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles on the territory of the Marshall Islands, at Kwajalein Atoll—a practice considered incompatible with the TPNW’s prohibition on the development and possession of nuclear weapons. Such tests continued in 2025. According to the US military, their purpose is to demonstrate that the US ‘nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable and effective’.5
Recommendations
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The Marshall Islands should urgently adhere to the TPNW. Until it is in a position to do so, it should welcome the TPNW as a valuable component in the global disarmament and non-proliferation architecture, work with the Treaty's states parties on practical steps towards disarmament, and attend the meetings of states parties as an observer.
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The Marshall Islands should request that the United States cease testing of nuclear-capable missiles at Kwajalein Atoll.
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The Marshall Islands should adhere to the Rarotonga nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) treaty.