Cook Islands

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has acceded to the TPNW

SIGNED

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

ACCEDED

4 September 2018

IN FORCE

22 January 2021

Status

The Cook Islands has acceded to 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.

Accession

Siai Taylor, a foreign affairs officer at the ministry of foreign affairs of the Cook Islands, deposited the country’s instrument of accession for the TPNW with the UN secretary-general on 4 September 2018.

In a statement to the leaders’ meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum days after acceding to the TPNW, Henry Puna, the then-prime minister of the Cook Islands, called on all other states to join the treaty at the earliest opportunity.

He described the TPNW as “an extension of the foresight” shown by Pacific island leaders more than three decades earlier when they signed the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands, in 1985.

He said: “We in the Pacific are all too aware the cataclysmic effects of nuclear weapons. To this day, some of our people are still suffering the devastating effects of nuclear testing carried out in our region more than 30 years ago.”

The Cook Islands was the 15th state to ratify or accede to the TPNW.

Siai Taylor, an officer at the foreign ministry of the Cook Islands, deposits the country’s instrument of accession in 2018. Credit: UNOLA

Implementation

In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, the Cook Islands submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 4 September 2018 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.

As required by Article 3, the Cook Islands maintains safeguards obligations with the International Atomic Energy Agency to guard against the misuse of nuclear facilities and materials, as New Zealand’s comprehensive safeguards agreement, which has been in force since 1972, applies to it.

Per Article 12, the Cook Islands has called on all states to ratify the TPNW as a matter of urgency. “We firmly believe that what this treaty stands for is essential for a world that respects the principles of international humanitarian law, environmental protection and global security,” it said in 2023.

Meetings of states parties

The Cook Islands participated in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022. “For the Cook Islands, sandwiched as we are between two major [nuclear] testing sites in Kiribati and French Polynesia, we have long been aware of the threat of nuclear weapons,” it said.

“Given our very proactive stance on this issue in our region, it took little encouragement for us to become one of the first to accede to this treaty in 2018.”

The Cook Islands also participated in the second meeting of states parties in 2023, where it reiterated its “commitment to a safer, more peaceful world, one free from nuclear weapons”. It noted that the “painful nuclear testing legacy still remains fresh in the mind of many of our Pacific island neighbours”.

TPNW negotiations

The Cook Islands was not eligible to participate in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017, as the rules of procedure limited participation to UN member states and UN observer states. As such, it did not vote on the adoption of the treaty.

Before the negotiations

The Cook Islands 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.

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

Cook Islands

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has acceded to the TPNW

Status

Accession

Implementation

Meetings of states parties

TPNW negotiations

Before the negotiations

Further information

Local Partner Organizations

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