Solomon Islands

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has joined the TPNW

SIGNED

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

SIGNED

24 September 2024

RATIFIED

24 September 2024

IN FORCE

23 December 2024

Status

The Solomon Islands has signed and ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and has been legally bound by it since 23 December 2024.

Signature and ratification

Peter Shanel Agovaka, the minister of foreign affairs and external trade of the Solomon Islands, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York on 24 September 2024 and deposited the country’s instrument of ratification with the UN secretary-general at the same time.

“We in the Pacific put a human face to the agony of nuclear weapons,” Agovaka said at the United Nations later that week. “More than 300 nuclear tests were conducted in the Pacific. Sadly external powers continue to store and dump nuclear waste into our ocean.”

He described his country’s signature and ratification of the TPNW as “a message of peace to all our friends not to engage in military nuclear projects and to free the world of nuclear weapons”.

In a press release, the government said that its decision to ratify the TPNW “demonstrates its commitment to global efforts towards total elimination of nuclear weapons”.

The Solomon Islands was the equal 71st state to ratify or accede to the TPNW and the 11th Pacific island state to do so.

Peter Shanel Agovaka, the minister of foreign affairs of the Solomon Islands, signs the TPNW in 2024. Photo: Derek French

Agovaka deposits the Solomon Islands’ instrument of ratification in 2024. Photo: Derek French

National position

In 2024, the Solomon Islands said that the TPNW “provides a powerful tool and political pressure on the nuclear-weapon states and their allies to energise progress on nuclear disarmament and strengthen the norm against nuclear weapons”.

It also described the treaty as “fully consistent with the existing nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regimes which Solomon Islands is a party to”.

Solomon Islands youth from the Pacific chapter of Reverse the Trend, an initiative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, express support for the TPNW in 2024. Photo: David Subu

Implementation

In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, the Solomon Islands submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 9 January 2025 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, the Solomon Islands has a comprehensive safeguards agreement in force with the International Atomic Energy Agency to guard against the misuse of nuclear facilities and materials.

Per Article 12, the Solomon Islands has promoted universal adherence to the TPNW, including by 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

The Solomon Islands participated in the third meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2025.

TPNW negotiations

The Solomon Islands 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, the Solomon Islands voted in the first committee of the UN General Assembly in favour of a draft resolution that established the 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. The Solomon Islands supported calls in the UN General Assembly fill this “legal gap”.

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

Solomon Islands

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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