Thailand
Thailand served as a vice-president of the First Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW (1MSP) in Vienna in June 2022. It urged states to work together to ‘cement the Treaty’s status as a universal legally binding norm against the existence of nuclear weapons’.[1]
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: Compliance in 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (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 (2022) |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | Yes |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | 9 (67%) |
| 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 1997, Bangkok) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1972) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2018) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1975) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2002) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes |
| 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
The 1MSP appointed Thailand and Ireland as informal facilitators to further explore and articulate the possible areas of tangible cooperation between the TPNW and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and other relevant nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation instruments. They will submit recommendations for distribution through a Coordination Committee, and report to the Second Meeting of States Parties.2
At the Tenth Review Conference of the NPT in August 2022, Thailand said that the successful conclusion of the 1MSP reaffirmed ‘the compatibility and complementarity of the TPNW to the NPT, notably Article VI’.3
Marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2022, Thailand welcomed the entry into force of the TPNW and the successful adoption of the declaration and action plan at 1MSP as ‘important developments’ in the field of nuclear disarmament.4
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2022, Thailand said that it is working systematically with others to advance the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world, ‘including through promotion of the TPNW, its universalisation and its complementarity with the NPT and other relevant frameworks’.5 It described ‘the recent positive developments’ under the framework of the TPNW as ‘encouraging’.6
Thailand was one of the co-sponsors for the 2022 UN General Assembly resolution on the TPNW.7
Recommendations
- Thailand should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
- Thailand should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.