Comoros has become the 54th country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force on 22 January. It deposited its instrument of ratification with the UN secretary-general on 19 February 2021, following the approval by its parliament in December 2020.
Comoros has promoted universal adherence to the treaty, 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”.
It has said that the treaty “plays an important role in strengthening global standards against the use, proliferation, and possession of nuclear weapons by any state”.
In September 2020, the Comorien foreign ministry and the Association SALAM, an ICAN partner organisation, co-hosted a workshop in the country’s capital, Moroni, to brief members of parliament about the treaty.
Azali Assoumali, the president of Comoros, signed the treaty when it opened for signature on 20 September 2017. In an address to the United Nations the same week, he called on nuclear-armed states “to abandon their nuclear weapons programmes”.