Myanmar
At a high-level UN event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2024, Myanmar described nuclear weapons as ‘indiscriminate, disproportionate and highly terrorising’. It noted that, in 2018, it signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) ‘under the elected civilian government’, but its ratification of the Treaty is still pending. ‘Unfortunately, the illegal military coup had compromised our plan to ratify the TPNW,’ it said.1
TPNW Status
| Key weapons of mass destruction treaties | ||
|---|---|---|
| NUCLEAR WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the TPNW | No (Signed 2018) | |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1992) | |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2016) | |
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 1996, Bangkok) | |
| CSA with the IAEA | Yes (In force 1995) | |
| AP with the IAEA | No (Signed 2013) | |
| BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 2014) | |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2015) | |
| TPNW Art. 1(1) prohibitions: Compliance in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compliant |
| Possess or stockpile | Compliant | |
| Test | 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 (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | Yes (observer) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | No |
| Average MSP delegation size (% women) | 3 (33%) |
| 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 | Yes (Original) |
Latest developments
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, Myanmar said that nuclear weapons are ‘the primary destabiliser of international peace and security’ in the world. It stated once again that it had planned to ratify the TPNW in 2021, but ‘the illegal military coup staged by the junta has brought an end to this priority’.2 It also said that the TPNW complements the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and expressed its hope that more states would begin questioning the ‘validity of nuclear deterrence’, just as TPNW states parties had done at the Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP) in 2023.3
Myanmar was one of the co-sponsors for the 2024 UN General Assembly resolution on the TPNW, which welcomed the Treaty’s entry into force and 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
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Myanmar should urgently ratify the TPNW.
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Myanmar should bring into force its Additional Protocol (AP) with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and upgrade to a modified Small Quantities Protocol (SQP).