Country Profile: Tunisia

BASIC FACTS

Located in North Africa’s Maghreb region as well as on the African Mediterranean Coast, Tunisia borders Algeria to the west and Libya to the east The Arab Spring movement of 2011 began in Tunis, effectively resulting in parliamentary elections. Today Tunisia is classified as the only fully democratic state in the Arab world. Tunisia is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic that gained its independence in 1956.

Capital: Tunis

There are no nuclear research reactors in Tunisia. In 2006, Tunisia began evaluating the possibility of building a 600 MWe nuclear power plant, and signed a MOU with Russia to that effect in 2015. The goal was for the NPP to be operational in or near 2020.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

Member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) since 1961
Member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 1957
Acceded to the 1925 Geneva Protocol in 1967
Signed Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in 1997
- Ratified in 1999
Signed Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1972
- Ratified in 1973
Signed Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1993
- Ratified in 1997
Signed Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996
- Ratified in 2004
Acceded to Convention on Certain Chemical Weapons in 1987
Signed Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2009
- Ratified in 2010
Signed & Ratified Convention on Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD) in 1978
Acceded to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials (CPPNM) in 1993
Acceded to International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) in 2010
Signed Outer Space Treaty in 1967
- Ratified in 1968
Signed Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1996
- Ratified in 2009
Signed Treaty of Pelindaba in 1996
- Ratified in 2009
Signed & Ratified Sea-bed Treaty in 1971
Signed Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1968
- Ratified in 1970

REGIONAL GROUPS

Member of the G-77
Member of the G-21
Member of the African Union
Member of the Africa Group
Member of the League of Arab States
Member of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

RECENT REPRESENTATION IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

President of the Conference on Disarmament in 2018
Non-Permanent Member of the UN Security Council in 2000-2001
Member of the IAEA Board of Governors in 2005-2006 and 2011-2012

LINKS

Republic of Tunisia Ministry of Foreign Affairs

UN State Summary

Ratification of Treaties & Membership in International Organizations Related to Disarmament