Zimbabwe
According to media reports in November 2024, the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, ‘has directed the fast-track ratification’ of the TPNW.1
TPNW Status
| Key weapons of mass destruction treaties | ||
|---|---|---|
| NUCLEAR WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the TPNW | No (Signed 2020) | |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Acceded 1991) | |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2019) | |
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 1998, Pelindaba) | |
| CSA with the IAEA | Yes (In force 1995) | |
| AP with the IAEA | Yes (In force 2021) | |
| BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS | ||
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Acceded 1990) | |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1997) | |
| TPNW Art. 1(1) prohibitions: Compliance in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compliant |
| Possess or stockpile | Compliant | |
| Test | 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) | No |
| Participated in 1MSP (2022) | No |
| Average MSP 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 |
| Fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Nuclear facilities | No |
| Fissile material production | No |
| HEU stocks | No |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
| SQP with the IAEA | Yes (Modified) |
Latest developments
At a high-level UN event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2024, Zimbabwe said that ‘[n]uclear weapons pose an unimaginable existential threat to all humanity’ and announced that its ratification process for the TPNW ‘is well under way’.2
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, Zimbabwe said: ‘Current geopolitical tensions call for a renewed resolve to rid the world of nuclear weapons and to take concerted action to eradicate and prevent the production of weapons of mass destruction.’3
Zimbabwe 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’.4
Zimbabwe participated in the African Conference on the Universalisation and Implementation of the TPNW in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in September 2024.5
Recommendations
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Zimbabwe should urgently ratify the TPNW.