Costa Rica

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has joined the TPNW

SIGNED

20 September 2017

RATIFIED

5 July 2018

IN FORCE

22 January 2021

 

Status

Costa Rica 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

Luis Guillermo Solís, the then-president of Costa Rica, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York when it opened for signature on 20 September 2017.

Addressing the United Nations ahead of the signing, he said: “This treaty is a strong message that most UN member states do not support, do not accept, and do not consider nuclear weapons as legitimate.” 

Luis Guillermo Solís, the then-president of Costa Rica, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: ICAN

Elayne Whyte Gómez, the then-permanent representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva, who presided over the TPNW negotiations, deposited the country’s instrument of ratification with the UN secretary-general on 5 July 2018.

Costa Rica was the 11th state to ratify or accede to the TPNW.

Elayne Whyte Gómez, the then-permanent representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva, deposits the instrument of ratification in 2018. Photo: UNOLA

 

National position

In 2022, Costa Rica said that the TPNW was “born from the belief in the capacity of international law to generate significant and substantial change”. It emphasised the importance of the treaty’s provisions dealing with “nuclear legacies”, as well as the “gender perspective” it embodies.

It also noted that the TPNW process “has been markedly more inclusive than most other international peace and security processes since its inception, both with respect to gender inclusion and the inclusion of civil society”.

In 2019, the then-president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, said that the TPNW “bolsters the political standard-setting, humanitarian and legal imperatives of nuclear disarmament, which are the prime objective of [the United Nations]”.

 

Implementation

In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Costa Rica submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 22 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, Costa Rica 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”.

Costa Rica has also utilised the UN Human Rights Council’s universal periodic review process to encourage other states to join the TPNW.

In 2022, the minister of foreign affairs of Costa Rica, Arnoldo André-Tinoco, urged more states to sign and ratify the TPNW, as well as endorse the declaration and action plan adopted at the first meeting of states parties.

A celebratory event is held in the Costa Rican capital, San José, on 22 January 2021 – the date of the TPNW’s entry into force. Photo: MFA

 

Meetings of states parties

Costa Rica participated in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022. It noted the “special historical significance” of the meeting for Costa Rica given its role in the treaty’s negotiation in 2017, which it said was “a triumph of multilateralism and clear evidence of the commitment to collective solutions”.

“This first meeting of states parties is being held in a complicated political and security context,” it added. “We are at a turning point, where the old models of national security – based on deterrence and threats of certain mutually assured nuclear destruction – have been pointed out as outdated, unjustified, and insufficient.”

 

TPNW negotiations

Costa Rica 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 its opening statement to the negotiating conference, Costa Rica described the task at hand as being “to fill the existing legal void” and “to add to international law a chapter that should have been written long ago”.

The Costa Rican ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez served as president of the negotiating conference. Upon gavelling through the treaty on the final day of the conference, she remarked: “We have managed to sow the first seeds of a world free of nuclear weapons.”

In its closing statement, Costa Rica said: “The countries that do not have nuclear weapons have the legitimacy necessary to achieve this legal framework. We also have sufficient political influence to move processes forward.”

In 2016, Costa Rica co-sponsored 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”.

Elayne Whyte Gómez of Costa Rica presides over the negotiating conference for the TPNW in New York in June 2017. Photo: ICAN

ICAN campaigner Carlos Umaña of Costa Rica delivers a statement during the TPNW negotiations in New York in June 2017. Photo: ICAN

 

Before the negotiations

Costa Rica 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

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has joined the TPNW

[HIGHLIGHTS]

SIGNED

20 September 2017

RATIFIED

5 July 2018

IN FORCE

22 January 2021

 

Status

Costa Rica 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

Luis Guillermo Solís, the then-president of Costa Rica, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York when it opened for signature on 20 September 2017.

Addressing the United Nations ahead of the signing, he said: “This treaty is a strong message that most UN member states do not support, do not accept, and do not consider nuclear weapons as legitimate.” 

Luis Guillermo Solís, the then-president of Costa Rica, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: ICAN

Elayne Whyte Gómez, the then-permanent representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva, who presided over the TPNW negotiations, deposited the country’s instrument of ratification with the UN secretary-general on 5 July 2018.

Costa Rica was the 11th state to ratify or accede to the TPNW.

Elayne Whyte Gómez, the then-permanent representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva, deposits the instrument of ratification in 2018. Photo: UNOLA

 

National position

In 2022, Costa Rica said that the TPNW was “born from the belief in the capacity of international law to generate significant and substantial change”. It emphasised the importance of the treaty’s provisions dealing with “nuclear legacies”, as well as the “gender perspective” it embodies.

It also noted that the TPNW process “has been markedly more inclusive than most other international peace and security processes since its inception, both with respect to gender inclusion and the inclusion of civil society”.

In 2019, the then-president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, said that the TPNW “bolsters the political standard-setting, humanitarian and legal imperatives of nuclear disarmament, which are the prime objective of [the United Nations]”.

 

Implementation

In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Costa Rica submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 22 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, Costa Rica 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”.

Costa Rica has also utilised the UN Human Rights Council’s universal periodic review process to encourage other states to join the TPNW.

In 2022, the minister of foreign affairs of Costa Rica, Arnoldo André-Tinoco, urged more states to sign and ratify the TPNW, as well as endorse the declaration and action plan adopted at the first meeting of states parties.

A celebratory event is held in the Costa Rican capital, San José, on 22 January 2021 – the date of the TPNW’s entry into force. Photo: MFA

 

Meetings of states parties

Costa Rica participated in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022. It noted the “special historical significance” of the meeting for Costa Rica given its role in the treaty’s negotiation in 2017, which it said was “a triumph of multilateralism and clear evidence of the commitment to collective solutions”.

“This first meeting of states parties is being held in a complicated political and security context,” it added. “We are at a turning point, where the old models of national security – based on deterrence and threats of certain mutually assured nuclear destruction – have been pointed out as outdated, unjustified, and insufficient.”

 

TPNW negotiations

Costa Rica 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 its opening statement to the negotiating conference, Costa Rica described the task at hand as being “to fill the existing legal void” and “to add to international law a chapter that should have been written long ago”.

The Costa Rican ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez served as president of the negotiating conference. Upon gavelling through the treaty on the final day of the conference, she remarked: “We have managed to sow the first seeds of a world free of nuclear weapons.”

In its closing statement, Costa Rica said: “The countries that do not have nuclear weapons have the legitimacy necessary to achieve this legal framework. We also have sufficient political influence to move processes forward.”

In 2016, Costa Rica co-sponsored 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”.

Elayne Whyte Gómez of Costa Rica presides over the negotiating conference for the TPNW in New York in June 2017. Photo: ICAN

ICAN campaigner Carlos Umaña of Costa Rica delivers a statement during the TPNW negotiations in New York in June 2017. Photo: ICAN

 

Before the negotiations

Costa Rica 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

[PARTNERS]

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Costa Rica)

WEBSITE

[LOCALSUPPORT]

 

 

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