Oman
Oman voted in favour of adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) at the UN Diplomatic Conference in 2017 and has consistently voted in favour of the annual UN General Assembly resolutions on the Treaty, including in 2024. Oman maintains policies and practices that are compatible with all of the prohibitions in Article 1 of the TPNW, and can therefore sign and ratify or accede to the Treaty without the need for a change in conduct.
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: compatibility in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compatible |
| Test | Compatible | |
| Possess or stockpile | Compatible | |
| (b) | Transfer | Compatible |
| (c) | Receive transfer or control | Compatible |
| (d) | Use | Compatible |
| Threaten to use | Compatible | |
| (e) | Assist, encourage or induce | Compatible |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compatible |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compatible |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | Voted yes (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | No |
| 2MSP 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 | No |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1997) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2003) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1992) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1995) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (In force 2006) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | Yes (Modified) |
| Additional Protocol | No |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
At the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Preparatory Committee session in July 2024, Oman said that the ongoing nuclear arms race ‘threatens humanity and our planet’, and expressed regret at ‘the freezing of the implementation of the NPT’ with respect to nuclear disarmament. The possession of nuclear weapons, it noted, must be ‘temporary’. It also called for greater pressure to be exerted on Israel to join the NPT and eliminate its nuclear arsenal.1
At a high-level UN event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2024, Oman said: ‘The current impasse in the disarmament sphere, and the lack of optimism to overcome differences, is a source of grave concern.’ It noted that it ‘is a party to most of the international treaties on the elimination of weapons of mass destruction’ and is upholding its obligations.2
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, Oman said that it ‘attaches great importance to international treaties in the field of disarmament’3 and reiterated its call for the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.4
At the same meeting, the Arab Group, of which Oman is a member, emphasised the importance of the TPNW and the active participation of Arab states in its negotiation. The TPNW ‘places nuclear weapons in their logical position as weapons whose possession, use or threat of use conflicts with the most basic rules of international humanitarian law’, it said.5
As part of the Universal Periodic Review conducted by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, Oman noted recommendations to sign and ratify the TPNW and said that it would consider doing so.6
Recommendations
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Oman should urgently adhere to the TPNW.
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Oman should conclude and bring into force an Additional Protocol (AP) with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).