Mexico

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has joined the TPNW

SIGNED

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

SIGNED

20 September 2017

RATIFIED

16 January 2018

IN FORCE

22 January 2021

Status

Mexico 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 Videgaray Caso, the then-secretary of foreign affairs of Mexico, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York when it opened for signature on 20 September 2017.

In an address to the United Nations following the ceremony, Videgaray said that Mexico had signed the treaty because “the existence of nuclear weapons poses a threat to the whole of humanity”.

Miguel Ruíz Cabañas, the assistant secretary for multilateral affairs and human rights, deposited Mexico’s instrument of ratification with the UN secretary-general on 16 January 2018. The Mexican senate gave its unanimous approval for ratification in November 2017.

Mexico was the fourth state to ratify the treaty.

Luis Videgaray Caso, the then-secretary of foreign affairs of Mexico, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: ICAN

Miguel Ruíz Cabañas, the assistant secretary for multilateral affairs and human rights, deposits Mexico’s instrument of ratification in 2018. Photo: UNOLA

National position

In 2021, the then-secretary of foreign affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, hailed the TPNW’s entry into force as a “milestone” and called upon all states “to welcome this development that contributes to a safer and more peaceful world”.

In 2022, Mexico described the TPNW as “the logical culmination of international law and the conviction of the [UN] General Assembly regarding the intrinsically immoral nature of nuclear weapons”.

It also noted that the treaty “is gaining in universality”. According to Mexico, “the norm has been established and contributes, every day, to the consolidation of … customary international law”.

Mexico regards the TPNW as complementary to, fully compatible with, and mutually reinforcing of the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, and “a tangible expression of the obligations under its Article VI”.

Implementation

In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Mexico 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.

As required by Article 3, Mexico has a comprehensive safeguards agreement in force with the International Atomic Energy Agency to guard against the misuse of nuclear facilities and materials. It also has an additional protocol in force.

Per Article 12, Mexico 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

Mexico participated in, and served as a vice-president of, the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022. “We are, without a doubt, at a historical event,” it said. “The TPNW is a necessary and critical link in what has been a long road towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons.”

At the meeting, New Zealand and Mexico were appointed as co-chairs of an informal working group responsible for promoting implementation of Article 4 of the TPNW, in particular with respect to the future designation of a competent international authority or authorities to oversee such work.

Mexico also participated in the second meeting of states parties in 2023, for which the Mexican ambassador Juan Ramón de la Fuente served as president. At the meeting, Mexico was appointed as gender focal point for the treaty.

“The political declaration adopted at that meeting is unequivocal on the urgency of nuclear disarmament and the incompatibility of nuclear weapons with international security,” Mexico noted in 2024.

At the third meeting of states parties in 2025, Mexico concluded its gender role and was appointed as coordinator for a consultative process on the renewal of the mandate and terms of reference of the TPNW’s scientific advisory group.

Mexico presides over the second meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2023. Photo: ICAN

TPNW negotiations

Mexico 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, Mexico described the TPNW as “a global extension of the various treaties that establish zones free of nuclear weapons” and expressed hope that “the collective will of the international community” convinces nuclear-armed states, in the near future, to adhere to the treaty.

Mexico, Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Nigeria, and South Africa comprised a “core group” of states that played a leading role in bringing the negotiations about and ensuring their ultimate success.

In 2016, Mexico initiated and 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”.

Before the negotiations

Mexico 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.

In 2014, Mexico hosted the second in a series of inter-governmental conferences on the “humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons”, in the state of Nayarit. The Mexican chair of the conference, Juan Gómez Robledo, concluded that a diplomatic process must be launched for the prohibition of nuclear weapons.

The Nayarit conference helped cement the idea that the prohibition of nuclear weapons is a necessary precondition for their elimination, based on experience with other types of indiscriminate weapons. It was hailed as “a point of no return” in the process to outlaw nuclear weapons.

Delegates representing 146 states meet in Nayarit, Mexico, in 2014 for the second conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. Photo: ICAN

ICAN campaigners meet ahead of the Nayarit conference. Photo: ICAN

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

Mexico

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has joined the TPNW

Status

Signature and ratification

National position

Implementation

Meetings of states parties

TPNW negotiations

Before the negotiations

Further information

Local Partner Organizations

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