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States parties

New Zealand

During the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly in September 2023, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of New Zealand, Nanaia Mahuta, warned of the heightened nuclear risks associated with the ongoing war in Ukraine. ‘Nuclear weapons must never be used,’ she said. ‘We must be unequivocal in our determination to reduce nuclear threats, and do so immediately. The dangers of nuclear weapons and their toxic legacy – which are visible in our own Blue Pacific region – have been with us for decades.’[1]

TPNW Status

SIGNATURE
20 Sep 2017
DEPOSIT WITH UNSG
31 Jul 2018 (Ratification)
ENTRY INTO FORCE
22 Jan 2021
DECLARATION
Received 18 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) 7 (57%)
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 1985, Rarotonga)
Party to the NPT Yes (Ratified 1969)
Ratified the CTBT Yes (Ratified 1999)
Party to the BWC Yes (Ratified 1972)
Party to the CWC Yes (Ratified 1996)
IAEA safeguards and fissile material
Safeguards agreement Yes (29 Feb 1972)
TPNW Art 3(2) deadline N/A
Small Quantities Protocol Yes (Modified)
Additional Protocol Yes
Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants No
HEU stocks No
Plutonium stocks No

Latest developments

In a statement marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2023, New Zealand said that the TPNW ‘is playing an important role in strengthening international humanitarian law and the global norm against nuclear weapons’. It urged all States that have not yet joined it to do so.2

New Zealand participated in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (2MSP) in November and December 2023, where it stated: ‘The TPNW is one of the few bright spots in the effort towards nuclear disarmament. … States parties to the TPNW – and a majority of the international community – set about achieving a landmark Treaty that would collectively start to turn back the tide that has run against nuclear disarmament efforts. … We remain a long way from a world in which nuclear weapons are diminished in salience for all States, let alone totally eliminated. … But the work of the TPNW gives us the most hope for actually achieving the total elimination of nuclear weapons. This goal, and this Treaty, is something to which we must all remain staunchly committed.’3

At the First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP) in 2022, New Zealand and Mexico were appointed as co-chairs of an informal working group on implementation of Article 4, in particular work related to the future designation of a competent international authority or authorities that would negotiate and verify the elimination of nuclear-weapon programmes. They reported on their activities to the 2MSP.4 New Zealand will continue to serve in this capacity, alongside Malaysia, leading up to the third meeting in 2025.

New Zealand 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’.5

Recommendations

  • New Zealand should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.

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

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