Panama
Panama is an example to be followed by other states, as it has adhered to all of the seven key treaties in the legal architecture on disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in addition to being party to a nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) treaty.
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: compliance in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (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 (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | Yes |
| 2MSP delegation size (% women) | 5 (60%) |
| 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 1971, Tlatelolco) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1977) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 1999) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1974) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1998) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (In force 1984) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | Yes (Modified) |
| Additional Protocol | Yes (In force 2001) |
| 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, Panama reaffirmed the importance of the NPT, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) treaties, including the Treaty of Tlatelolco, and pledged to promote ‘their universalisation, complementarity and synergy’.1 Panama also said that the NPT and the TPNW ‘reinforce each other’, and highlighted the ‘important contribution of the TPNW to the full implementation of Article VI of the NPT’. It called upon ‘all States that have not done so to ratify the TPNW without further delay’.2
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, Panama called for ‘continued joint work’ ahead of the meetings of states parties to the TPNW and the NPT in 2025.3
Recommendations
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Panama should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
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Panama should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.