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 2024. It observed the First and Second Meeting of States Parties (1MSP and 2MSP) to the TPNW in 2022 and 2023, respectively. 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 | No | |
| 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 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 | 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 (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | Yes (observer) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | Yes (observer) |
| Average MSP delegation size (% women) | 2 (16.5%) |
| 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
In March 2024, the President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda 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’.1 She suggested the possibility of amending the Treaty to address her country’s concerns.2
During the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly in September 2024, Heine said that the 67 US nuclear tests conducted in the Marshall Islands had resulted ‘in an ongoing legacy of death, illness and contamination’. She announced that the Marshall Islands would pursue accession to the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty and the 1985 Treaty of Rarotonga establishing the South Pacific as a nuclear-free zone.3
At a high-level UN event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2024, Heine said: ‘Our own experience, history and contemporary challenges to nuclear exposure are key drivers for urging wider progress in reducing – and ultimately eliminating – nuclear risk. No other people should ever bear the burdens of nuclear weapons detonations.’4
Heine also addressed the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council in September 2024 to elevate awareness ‘on the profound challenges my people have endured’ as a result of nuclear testing.5
In 2023, the US 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 May 2024.6
The Marshall Islands has long allowed the US military to test nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles on its territory at Kwajalein Atoll – a practice considered incompatible with the TPNW’s prohibition on assisting with the development and possession of nuclear weapons. Such tests continued in 2024. According to the US military, their purpose is to demonstrate that the US ‘nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable and effective’.7
Recommendations
-
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.
-
The Marshall Islands should request that the United States cease testing of nuclear-capable missiles at Kwajalein Atoll.
-
The Marshall Islands should adhere to the Rarotonga nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) treaty.