Tanzania

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has signed the TPNW

Has not yet ratified the TPNW

SIGNED

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

SIGNED

26 September 2019

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

Status

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

Signature

Palamagamba Kabudi, the then-minister of foreign affairs of Tanzania, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York on 26 September 2019.

He remarked that “the treaty is important, not only because it complements existing international instruments on nuclear weapons, but also because it places those weapons on the same legal footing as other weapons of mass destruction”.

In 2024, Tanzania said that “it is encouraging to note that many countries have signed and ratified [the TPNW]”, and announced that its own “internal ratification process is already ongoing”.

Palamagamba Kabudi, the then-minister of foreign affairs of Tanzania, signs the TPNW in 2019. Photo: ICAN

Universalisation

Tanzania 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 2021, Tanzania welcomed the TPNW’s entry into force, describing it as “a big milestone to see in human history”. It encouraged all UN members that have not yet joined the treaty “to find a way to do so”.

In 2024, it encouraged more countries to join the TPNW to make “the dream of a world free from nuclear weapons” a reality.

Meetings of states parties

Tanzania observed the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022 and the second meeting in 2023.

TPNW negotiations

Tanzania 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 its opening statement to the negotiating conference, Tanzania said that the use of nuclear technology “in weapon systems remains the worst nightmare to all of us” and poses “a great security risk to the entire humanity”.

After the TPNW opened for signature in September 2017, Augustine Mahiga, the then-minister of foreign affairs of Tanzania, said: “Tanzania commends the recent adoption of the nuclear ban treaty, which puts nuclear weapons on the same legal ground as other weapons of mass destruction.” He added that “[w]e should all support this treaty”.

In 2016, Tanzania 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

Tanzania 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

Tanzania

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has signed the TPNW

Has not yet ratified the TPNW

Status

Signature

Universalisation

Meetings of states parties

TPNW negotiations

Before the negotiations

Further information

Local Partner Organizations

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