Tajikistan
Tajikistan participated in the TPNW negotiations in 2017, but did not cast a vote on the adoption of the Treaty and has consistently abstained on the annual UN General Assembly resolutions on the Treaty, including in 2023. Tajikistan maintains policies and practices that are compliant 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 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (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 2MSP (2023) | No |
| 2MSP 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) | Voted yes |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 2008, Semipalatinsk) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1995) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 1998) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 2005) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1995) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (14 Dec 2004) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No (Rescinded 2015) |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
In August 2023, Tajikistan attended a meeting in Kazakhstan hosted by the foreign ministry to promote adherence to the TPNW and consideration of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. Kazakhstan emphasised the compatibility of the TPNW with the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) Treaty, to which Tajikistan is a state party.1 In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2023, Tajikistan called for the strengthening of multilateral mechanisms for disarmament and non-proliferation. ‘Our country shares the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and believes that no mechanisms of nuclear disarmament can be effective without the accession of all concerned parties,’ it said.2
Recommendations
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Tajikistan 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.