Saint Kitts and Nevis and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has joined the TPNW

SIGNED

26 September 2019

RATIFIED

9 August 2020

IN FORCE

22 January 2021

Status

Saint Kitts and Nevis has signed and ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). It was among the original 50 states parties to the treaty when it entered into force on 22 January 2021.

Signature and ratification

Mark Brantley, the minister of foreign affairs of Saint Kitts and Nevis, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York on 26 September 2019. The country’s instrument of ratification was deposited with the UN secretary-general on 9 August 2020, the 75th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

Brantley remarked on the occasion of the ratification: “The bombing of Nagasaki was the apogee of human cruelty and inhumanity. As a small nation committed to global peace, Saint Kitts Nevis can see no useful purpose for nuclear armaments in today’s world.”

Saint Kitts and Nevis was the 44th state to ratify or accede to the TPNW.

Mark Brantley, the minister of foreign affairs of Saint Kitts and Nevis, signs the TPNW in 2019. Photo: ICAN

Implementation

In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Saint Kitts and Nevis submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 18 January 2021 confirming that it does not own, possess, or control nuclear weapons, has never done so, and does not host any other state’s nuclear weapons on its territory.

Per Article 12, Saint Kitts and Nevis has promoted universal adherence to the TPNW, including by co-sponsoring and consistently voting in favour of an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to the treaty “at the earliest possible date”.

Meetings of states parties

Saint Kitts and Nevis participated in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022.

TPNW negotiations

Saint Kitts and Nevis participated in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and was among 122 states that voted in favour of its adoption.

In 2016, Saint Kitts and Nevis voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

Before the negotiations

Saint Kitts and Nevis was among 127 states that endorsed a “humanitarian pledge” in 2015–16 to cooperate “in efforts to stigmatise, prohibit, and eliminate nuclear weapons”. The pledge was instrumental in building momentum and support for convening the TPNW negotiations.