Uganda
Uganda voted in favour of adopting the TPNW at the UN Diplomatic Conference in 2017 and has consistently voted in favour of the annual UN General Assembly resolutions on the Treaty, including in 2023. Uganda 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.
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) | Voted yes (2023) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | No |
| 1MSP delegation size (% women) | N/A |
| 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 (Signed 1996, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1982) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2001) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1992) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 2001) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (14 Feb 2006) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | Yes (Modified) |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2023, Uganda implored nuclear-weapon States ‘to embrace nuclear disarmament’, warning that retaining such weapons ‘only encourages others to seek them for a deterrent’. ‘We believe that embracing multilateralism in the disarmament agenda is the most effective way to achieve a peaceful, secure future free from nuclear weapons,’ it said.1
In 2021, a private member’s motion urging the Ugandan government to sign and ratify the TPNW was submitted to the national parliament and referred to its foreign affairs committee for scrutiny. After consulting various stakeholders, the committee published a report on the matter in August 2023, which recommended that the executive branch of government study the TPNW and 'make an appropriate decision' on whether to sign and ratify it.2
Recommendations
-
Uganda should urgently adhere to the TPNW.
-
Uganda should ratify the Pelindaba NWFZ Treaty, which it signed in 1996.