Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has joined the TPNW

SIGNED

8 December 2017

RATIFIED

31 July 2019

IN FORCE

22 January 2021

Status

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 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

Inga Rhonda King, the permanent representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, signed the TPNW in New York on 8 December 2017. The country’s instrument of ratification was deposited with the UN secretary-general on 31 July 2019.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was the 24th state to ratify or accede to the TPNW.

Inga Rhonda King, the permanent representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: UNOLA

Implementation

In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 1 February 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, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 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 a statement to the United Nations in September 2019, the prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, encouraged all states that have not yet ratified the TPNW “to do so in our collective pursuit to bring peace to every corner of the globe”.

TPNW negotiations

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 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, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 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

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 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.