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Palau
Nuclear-weapon-free state
Has joined the TPNW
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SIGNED
20 September 2017 |
RATIFIED
3 May 2018 |
IN FORCE
22 January 2021 |
Status
Palau 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
Tommy Esang Remengesau Jr, the then-president of Palau, 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 the following day, he remarked that “we must take seriously the long-term need to ban nuclear weapons”, and “a good place to start is the accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons”.
Palau deposited its instrument of ratification with the UN secretary-general on 3 May 2018, becoming the eighth state overall to ratify or accede to the TPNW, and the first state from the Pacific.
Tommy Esang Remengesau Jr, the then-president of Palau, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: ICAN
Implementation
In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Palau submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 7 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, Palau 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”.
In 2020, Remengesau described the TPNW as “a sign of what is possible when we are committed to dialogue, solidarity and peaceful cooperation” and urged all other UN member states to join it.
Meetings of states parties
Palau participated in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022.
TPNW negotiations
Palau 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, Palau 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
Palau 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.
Palau, together with Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, and Tuvalu, submitted a working paper to a UN working group in Geneva in 2016 in which it argued that “the debate should no longer be about whether a global ban on nuclear weapons is necessary, but rather how we can achieve it and what provisions it should contain”.
The five Pacific island states commented that the lived experience of nuclear weapons in the Pacific, where more than 300 atomic and hydrogen bombs were tested, has motivated them to work for a treaty-based ban.
Eunice Akiwo (right), a senior official from Palau, with ICAN campaigners in Geneva in 2016 during a UN working group on nuclear disarmament. Photo: ICAN
Further information
Nuclear-weapon-free state
Has joined the TPNW
[HIGHLIGHTS]
|
|
|
|
SIGNED
20 September 2017 |
RATIFIED
3 May 2018 |
IN FORCE
22 January 2021 |
Status
Palau 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
Tommy Esang Remengesau Jr, the then-president of Palau, 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 the following day, he remarked that “we must take seriously the long-term need to ban nuclear weapons”, and “a good place to start is the accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons”.
Palau deposited its instrument of ratification with the UN secretary-general on 3 May 2018, becoming the eighth state overall to ratify or accede to the TPNW, and the first state from the Pacific.
Tommy Esang Remengesau Jr, the then-president of Palau, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: ICAN
Implementation
In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Palau submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 7 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, Palau 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”.
In 2020, Remengesau described the TPNW as “a sign of what is possible when we are committed to dialogue, solidarity and peaceful cooperation” and urged all other UN member states to join it.
Meetings of states parties
Palau participated in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022.
TPNW negotiations
Palau 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, Palau 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
Palau 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.
Palau, together with Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, and Tuvalu, submitted a working paper to a UN working group in Geneva in 2016 in which it argued that “the debate should no longer be about whether a global ban on nuclear weapons is necessary, but rather how we can achieve it and what provisions it should contain”.
The five Pacific island states commented that the lived experience of nuclear weapons in the Pacific, where more than 300 atomic and hydrogen bombs were tested, has motivated them to work for a treaty-based ban.
Eunice Akiwo (right), a senior official from Palau, with ICAN campaigners in Geneva in 2016 during a UN working group on nuclear disarmament. Photo: ICAN
Further information
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