Myanmar
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2022, Myanmar welcomed the ‘successful convening’ of the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna and said ‘This Treaty, support for which is increasing steadily, is contributing to strengthening norms against nuclear weapons.’ The statement also said that Myanmar had planned to ratify the TPNW in 2020, 'but this was thwarted by the illegal coup staged by the military junta against our people, and against peace.’[1]
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) | Voted yes (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) | Voted yes |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 1996, Bangkok) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1992) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2016) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 2014) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2015) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | Yes (Original) |
| Additional Protocol | No (Signed 2013) |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
Myanmar was one of the co-sponsors for the 2022 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.'2
At the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, Myanmar noted that the TPNW complements the NPT and emphasised that ‘the only guarantee against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is nothing other than their total elimination in a verifiable and irreversible manner’.3 In a closing statement to the NPT Review Conference, Myanmar and 64 other TPNW supporters urged ‘all states committed to attain and maintain a world without nuclear weapons to join the TPNW without delay’.4
Recommendations
- Myanmar should urgently ratify the TPNW.
- Myanmar should bring into force its Additional Protocol with the IAEA, and upgrade to a Modified Small Quantities Protocol.