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Opposed

Slovenia

Umbrella state (NATO)

Slovenia boycotted the TPNW negotiations in 2017 and has consistently voted against the annual UN General Assembly resolutions on the Treaty, including in 2022.

TPNW Status

SIGNATURE
DEPOSIT WITH UNSG
ENTRY INTO FORCE
DECLARATION
TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: Compatibility in 2022
(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 Not compatible
(f) Seek or receive assistance Compatible
(g) Allow stationing, installation, deployment Compatible
TPNW voting and participation
UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) Voted no (2023)
Participated in 1MSP (2022) No
1MSP delegation size (% women) N/A
Adoption of TPNW (7 July 2017) N/A
Participated in TPNW negotiations (2017) No
Negotiation mandate (A/RES/71/258) Voted no
Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties
Party to an NWFZ No
Party to the NPT Yes (Acceded 1992)
Ratified the CTBT Yes (Ratified 1999)
Party to the BWC Yes (Acceded 1992)
Party to the CWC Yes (Ratified 1997)
IAEA safeguards and fissile material
Safeguards agreement Yes (1 Sep 2006)
TPNW Art 3(2) deadline N/A
Small Quantities Protocol No
Additional Protocol Yes
Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants No
HEU stocks Cleared
Plutonium stocks No

Latest developments

Slovenia may sign and ratify or accede to the TPNW, but will have to make changes to its policies and practices to become compliant.

At the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in August 2022, Slovenia said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its ‘unacceptable nuclear rhetoric’ had caused further damage to ‘an already eroded global nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and arms control regime’. It argued that the present security challenges ‘call for a stronger, not weaker, application of international law, norms and institutions’.1

In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2022, Slovenia said: ‘The goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, as envisioned in Article VI of the [NPT], should continue to be a final objective.’2

The former Slovenian president Danilo Türk and former defence ministers Ljubica Jelušič and Alojz Krapež were among the signatories to an open letter in September 2020 calling on current leaders in umbrella states to 'show courage and boldness' and join the TPNW.3

Recommendations

  • Slovenia should renounce the possession and potential use of nuclear weapons on its behalf, and ensure that nuclear weapons do not have a role in its defence posture.

  • Slovenia should comply with its existing obligation under Article VI of the NPT and pursue negotiations in good faith on nuclear disarmament.

  • Slovenia should urgently adhere to the TPNW. Until it is in a position to do so, it should welcome the TPNW as a valuable component in the global disarmament and non-proliferation architecture, work with the Treaty's states parties on practical steps towards disarmament, and attend the meetings of states parties as an observer.

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