Trinidad and Tobago

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has joined the TPNW

SIGNED

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

SIGNED

26 September 2019

RATIFIED

26 September 2019

IN FORCE

22 January 2021

Status

Trinidad and Tobago 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

Denis Moses, the then-minister of foreign affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York on 26 September 2019 and deposited his country’s instrument of ratification with the UN secretary-general on the same day.

Addressing the United Nations, Moses said that the TPNW provides “an option for immediate action on nuclear disarmament, which is necessary in this challenging international security environment”.

Trinidad and Tobago was the equal 28th state to ratify or accede to the TPNW.

Denis Moses, the then-minister of foreign affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, signs the TPNW in 2019. Photo: ICAN

Moses deposits Trinidad and Tobago’s instrument of ratification in 2019. Photo: ICAN

National position

In 2024, the minister of foreign affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, Amery Browne, said that the TPNW and other disarmament treaties are “crucial foundations of international peace and security aimed at averting the severe humanitarian impacts and environmental devastation that would invariably result from the use of nuclear weapons”.

According to Trinidad and Tobago, the “increasingly volatile international security environment has further illustrated the importance and relevance of the [TPNW]”.

Implementation

In accordance with Article 2 of the TPNW, Trinidad and Tobago submitted a declaration to the UN secretary-general on 19 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.

As required by Article 3, Trinidad and Tobago 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, Trinidad and Tobago 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, Browne encouraged states that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the TPNW and implored states to work together “towards removing the threat of nuclear obliteration”.

Meetings of states parties

Trinidad and Tobago participated in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022. “The TPNW … is a decisive, positive step towards achieving a world safe and secure from mutually assured destruction,” it said.

It also participated in the second meeting of states parties in 2023 and the third meeting in 2025.

TPNW negotiations

Trinidad and Tobago 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, Trinidad and Tobago said that “we stand on the precipice of history as we seek to shatter the chronic stalemate that has existed in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation for far too long”.

In its closing statement, it said that it was “pleased to stand with the majority of [UN] member states today – on the right side of history and on the right side of humanity”.

In an address to the United Nations following the TPNW’s opening for signature in September 2017, Trinidad and Tobago noted that the “treaty is particularly significant as it is the first multilateral legally binding instrument for nuclear disarmament to have been negotiated in 20 years”.

In 2016, Trinidad and Tobago 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

Trinidad and Tobago 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