Uruguay
In a statement marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2023, Uruguay highlighted its ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and said that ‘a world without nuclear weapons is essential for the fulfilment of humanity’s priority objectives, such as peace, security, development and environmental protection’.[1]
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: compliance in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (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 (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | Yes |
| 2MSP delegation size (% women) | 3 (33%) |
| 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 1968, Tlatelolco) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1970) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2001) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1981) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1994) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (17 Sep 1976) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No |
| Additional Protocol | Yes |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
At a high-level UN event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2024, Uruguay urged ‘States that have not signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to do so without delay’. ‘The very existence of nuclear weapons remains a real threat to humanity,’ it warned.3
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, Uruguay welcomed the recent ratifications of the TPNW by Indonesia, Sierra Leone, and the Solomon Islands, and reiterated its call for all other states to ratify the Treaty, which ‘will allow us to move decisively towards a world free of nuclear weapons’.4
At the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) session in July 2024, Uruguay described the TPNW as complementary to the NPT.5
Uruguay was one of the co-sponsors for the 2024 UN General Assembly resolution on the TPNW, which welcomed the Treaty’s entry into force and 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
Recommendations
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Uruguay should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
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Uruguay should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.