New York, March 3-7, 2025.
The Secretary General of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL), Ambassador Flávio Roberto Bonzanini, participated in the Third Meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which took place from March 3 to 7, 2025 and was chaired by Ambassador Akan Rakhmetullin of Kazakhstan.
The Secretary General made an intervention during the high-level opening ceremony, highlighting the challenge posed by the growing threat of nuclear weapon use to international efforts towards nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. He also stressed that the universalization of the Treaty of Tlatelolco was achieved through decades of diplomatic efforts, confidence-building measures, and regional cooperation, which have allowed for overcoming obstacles to its full implementation and solidifying its legacy as an adaptable model for regional nuclear disarmament.
Under agenda item 11 (f), section iii, “Complementarity of the Treaty with the existing nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime”, the Secretary General delivered a joint intervention on behalf of the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE) and OPANAL. He stressed that based on the legacy of the Treaty of Tlatelolco and the Treaty of Pelindaba, the TPNW is a historic instrument that complements and strengthens existing Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones. The States Parties to the treaties establishing Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones have played a key role in the process leading to the creation and negotiation of the TPNW, as well as its entry into force in 2021, demonstrating the complementarity of these treaties with the TPNW. He underscored that currently, 68% of the TPNW signatories are countries from our regions and encouraged those States in a position to do so to complete their ratification processes and join the TPNW.
Likewise, the States Parties to the Treaty of Tlatelolco that are also part of the TPNW presented a working document titled “Advancing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: complementarity, universality and gender perspectives”, through which they shared OPANAL and its Member States’ practical contributions to advancing the objectives of the TPNW and consolidating the prohibition norm established in the Treaty of Tlatelolco.
During his participation in the meeting, the Secretary-General took the opportunity to hold discussions with the President of the Meeting, representatives of Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones, Member States, international organizations, civil society, and academia, among others.
