Singapore

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has not yet joined the TPNW

Status

Singapore has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). It is the only non-signatory state in Southeast Asia.

 

National position

Singapore has consistently abstained from voting on an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”.

In 2022, Singapore said that the TPNW “should not affect in any way the rights and obligations of states parties under other treaties and agreements”, and encouraged “the international community to work towards finding a realistic and complementary role for the TPNW within the existing global nuclear disarmament architecture”.

In 2019, Singapore stated that the TPNW and other instruments relating to nuclear weapons provide “the international community with multiple pathways to a nuclear-weapon-free world”.

 

Meetings of states parties

Singapore attended as an observer the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022.

 

TPNW negotiations

Singapore participated in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and was the only state to abstain from voting on its adoption. “We believe that this treaty could be a step towards our shared goal,” it said, while expressing regret that a number of its suggestions were not reflected in the final text.

In 2016, Singapore 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”.

During a summit in Singapore in 2018 on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, ICAN campaigners brief the press about the TPNW. Photo: ICAN

 

Before the negotiations

Singapore 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 not yet joined the TPNW

[HIGHLIGHTS]

Status

Singapore has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). It is the only non-signatory state in Southeast Asia.

 

National position

Singapore has consistently abstained from voting on an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”.

In 2022, Singapore said that the TPNW “should not affect in any way the rights and obligations of states parties under other treaties and agreements”, and encouraged “the international community to work towards finding a realistic and complementary role for the TPNW within the existing global nuclear disarmament architecture”.

In 2019, Singapore stated that the TPNW and other instruments relating to nuclear weapons provide “the international community with multiple pathways to a nuclear-weapon-free world”.

 

Meetings of states parties

Singapore attended as an observer the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022.

 

TPNW negotiations

Singapore participated in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and was the only state to abstain from voting on its adoption. “We believe that this treaty could be a step towards our shared goal,” it said, while expressing regret that a number of its suggestions were not reflected in the final text.

In 2016, Singapore 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”.

During a summit in Singapore in 2018 on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, ICAN campaigners brief the press about the TPNW. Photo: ICAN

 

Before the negotiations

Singapore 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]

United Nations Association of Singapore

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