Sri Lanka
After having ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) earlier in the year, Sri Lanka acceded to the TPNW on 19 September 2023. Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. U. M. Ali Sabry, deposited the country’s instrument of accession with the UN Secretary-General at a high-level ceremony in New York, describing it as a reaffirmation of Sri Lanka’s ‘long-standing commitment towards nuclear disarmament in favour of international peace and security’.[1] The President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, highlighted the accession in his address to the UN General Assembly the following day.[2]
TPNW Status
| 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 |
| 2MSP delegation size (% women) | 6 (50%) |
| 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 (Ratified 1979) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2023) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1976) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1994) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (6 Aug 1984) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | No (Approved 2018) |
| 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, Sri Lanka said that, in the ‘atmosphere of increased nuclear rhetoric’, it took pride ‘in offering a sense of forward movement [on nuclear disarmament] through its accession’ to the TPNW.3 The decision to become a state party was first taken by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2021 and reaffirmed one week prior to the deposit of the instrument of accession.4 Sri Lanka was the 69th state to ratify or accede to the Treaty.
Sri Lanka observed the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (2MSP) in November in December 2023. (As the Treaty had not yet entered into force for Sri Lanka, it was considered an observer, not a state party, at the meeting.) ‘While the doomsday clock moves closer to midnight and conflicts around the world increase in intensity and scope as we witness today in Gaza, the necessity and relevance of a treaty such as the TPNW becomes ever more pronounced,’ it said.5
At the 2MSP, Sri Lanka also hailed the TPNW as ‘a truly inclusive treaty’ and called on all states that have not yet signed and ratified it to do so at the earliest. ‘[T]hose still in the fold of the nuclear weapons umbrella tend to delude themselves with arguments of security guarantees and nuclear deterrence,’ it said. ‘The inherent danger in such self-delusion is that it sparks a chain reaction in enticing those who do not have nuclear weapons to develop an appetite to acquire them and for those who have nuclear weapons to continue developing and stockpiling them.’ 5
Sri Lanka 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’.6
Sri Lanka also promoted adherence to the TPNW as part of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in 2023.
In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Sri Lanka submitted a declaration to the UN Secretary-General on 18 January 2024 confirming that it does not own, possess or control nuclear weapons, has never done so, and does not host any other State’s nuclear weapons on its territory.
Recommendations
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Sri Lanka should encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW:
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Sri Lanka should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.
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Sri Lanka should bring into force its Additional Protocol with the IAEA.