Nepal

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has signed the TPNW

Has not yet ratified the TPNW

SIGNED

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

SIGNED

20 September 2017

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

Status

Nepal has signed but not yet ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Signature

Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the then-minister of foreign affairs of Nepal, 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, the then-prime minister of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba, described his country’s signature as “a step towards nuclear disarmament” and warned that “the vicious race for weapons of mass destruction continues to threaten the world”.

The government announced in 2019 that it had “initiated the necessary domestic procedures to ratify the treaty”. In 2021, it said that it “is committed to ratifying the treaty at the earliest possible”, and the foreign affairs committee of the parliament of Nepal discussed the matter.

As part of the universal periodic review conducted by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, Nepal accepted a recommendation to ratify the TPNW.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the then-minister of foreign affairs of Nepal, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: ICAN

National position

Nepal welcomed the TPNW’s entry into force in 2021, stating that it offered “a sliver of hope”. In 2022, it said that the TPNW “complements and strengthens the objective of general and complete disarmament” and reiterated its commitment to ratifying it.

In 2024, Nepal said that the TPNW “has the potential to contribute to a nuclear-weapon-free world” and condemned the doctrine of nuclear deterrence as “neither an acceptable nor a legitimate approach”.

Nepal 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”.

Nepalese campaigners celebrate the TPNW's entry into force on 22 January 2021 and encourage their government to ratify the treaty. Photo: FNB

Meetings of states parties

Nepal observed the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022. “We should redouble our diplomatic efforts with strong political will to create an environment of mutual trust and confidence and divert precious resources used for armament towards achieving our common development aspirations,” it said.

It added that it is committed to ratifying the TPNW, along with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty of 1996, “at the earliest possible”.

Nepal also observed the second meeting of states parties in 2023 and the third meeting in 2025.

TPNW negotiations

Nepal 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, Nepal 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

Prior to the adoption of the TPNW in 2017, nuclear weapons were the only weapons of mass destruction not subject to a comprehensive, globally applicable treaty prohibition. Nepal supported calls in the UN General Assembly fill this “legal gap”.

ICAN campaigners from across South Asia meet in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2014 to discuss the need for a ban on nuclear weapons. Photo: ICAN

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

Nepal

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has signed the TPNW

Has not yet ratified the TPNW

Status

Signature

National position

Meetings of states parties

TPNW negotiations

Before the negotiations

Further information

Local Partner Organizations

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