TPNW & CTBTO

TPNW : In fact, the Nuclear Ban Treaty also called “UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” was adopted on 7 of July 2017 in the Headquarter of the United Nation General Assembly (UNGA). This treaty has “opened for signature at United Nations headquarters in New York on 20 September 2017 and will remain open indefinitely, once 50 nations have ratified or acceded to it, it will enter into force”.

• Dionisio Da Costa Babo Soares, the then-minister of foreign affairs of Timor-Leste, signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) at a high-level ceremony in New York on 26 September 2018, becoming one of the newest countries along with Myanmar and Brunei Darussalam in the Asia-Pacific region to sign the treaty but not yet ratify.
• Adaljíza Magno, the current minister of foreign affairs, announced in 2020 that Timor-Leste is working to conclude its internal procedures for ratification of the treaty. Timor-Leste reiterated this in 2021.
• In February 2022, the council of ministers of Timor-Leste approved a draft law to ratify the TPNW. It must now be adopted by the national parliament.
• Timor-Leste has promoted universal adherence to the TPNW, including by consistently voting in favors 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 UN General Assembly in 2021, Timor-Leste encouraged all states that have not yet done so to become parties to the TPNW. It hailed the treaty’s entry into force as “an extraordinary achievement and a step towards the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons”.
• In 2019, Timor-Leste said that it views the TPNW “as an important international norm for peace, our collective security, and preservation of human life”.
• Timor-Leste participated in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and was among 122 states that voted in favors of its adoption.
• In 2016, Timor-Leste voted in favors 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”.
• Timor-Leste was among 127 states that endorsed a “humanitarian pledge” in 2015–16 to cooperate “in efforts to stigmatize, prohibit, and eliminate nuclear weapons”. The pledge was instrumental in building momentum and support for convening the TPNW negotiations.

CTBTO : The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. The organization promotes the Treaty and it also establishes a verification regime to monitor adherence to the treaty and it can enter into force.

• The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is the Treaty banning all nuclear explosions - everywhere, by everyone. The Treaty was negotiated at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It opened for signature on 24 September 1996. Since then, the Treaty has reached near universality. 182 countries have signed the Treaty – the last country to do so was Trinidad and Tobago on 8 October 2009 which also ratified the Treaty on 26 May 2010. 154 countries have ratified the Treaty – most recently Ghana on 14 June 2011.
• The CTBT is the last barrier on the way to develop nuclear weapons. It curbs the development of new nuclear weapons and the improvement of existing nuclear weapon designs. When the Treaty enters into force it provides a legally binding norm against nuclear testing. The Treaty also helps prevent human suffering and environmental damages caused by nuclear testing.
• Timor Leste’s President José Ramos-Horta signing the CTBTand becomes one of the 185 signatories to the Convention on 26 September 2008 but up to the date not yet ratified.
• Tibor Tóth, the Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), welcomed Timor-Leste’s signature.Adherence to the CTBT is now almost universal and closing in on older arms control treaties such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Chemical Weapons Convention.
• H.E. Mrs. Adaljiza A. X. R. Magno Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste at 75th UNGA “High-Level Meeting to Commemorate and Promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons” on Friday, 2 October 2020.
• The working visit of the H.E. Dr. Robert Floyd to Dili, Timor-Leste on 25-28 -2022 as reciprocity of the last working visit of H.E. Dra. Adaljiza Magno, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation from 17-18 of November to Secretariat of CTBT in Vienna, Austria.