South Sudan
South Sudan acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in April 2023. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in February 2020 that South Sudan supports the TPNW and the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons and intends to become a state party 'in due course'.[1]
TPNW Status
| 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 | Compatible |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compatible |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compatible |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | Abstained (2023) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | No |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | N/A |
| Adoption of TPNW (7 July 2017) | Did not vote |
| Participated in TPNW negotiations (2017) | Yes |
| Negotiation mandate (A/RES/71/258) | Did not vote |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | No (Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | No |
| Ratified the CTBT | No |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 2023) |
| Party to the CWC | No |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | No |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | No |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
South Sudan participated in the TPNW negotiations in 2017, but did not cast a vote on the adoption of the Treaty. In 2021, it voted in favour of the annual UN General Assembly resolution on the TPNW for the first time. In 2022, it did not cast a vote.
South Sudan 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.
Marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2022, the African Group in the UN, of which South Sudan is a member, recalled the entry into force of the ‘landmark’ TPNW and reaffirmed its ‘full support’ for the declaration and action plan adopted at the Treaty's First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP). The African Group, moreover, urged ‘all members of the international community, especially nuclear-weapon states and those under the so-called nuclear umbrella, to seize the opportunity to sign and ratify the Treaty at an early date and to pursue the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world’.2
Recommendations
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South Sudan should urgently adhere to the TPNW.
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South Sudan should conclude and bring into force a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and an Additional Protocol with the IAEA.
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South Sudan should also adhere to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
1) Meeting between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Sudan and ICAN in Geneva, 27 February 2020.