BASIC FACTS

The Republic of Costa Rica is a Central American country bordered by Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Costa Rica gained independence in 1847 and is today a unitary presidential constitutional republic. 

Capital: San José

There are no nuclear power plants or research reactors in Costa Rica.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

• Observer of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
• Member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 1965
• Acceded to 1925 Geneva Convention in 2009
• Signed Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in 1997
  • Ratified in 1999
• Signed & Ratified Arms Trade Treaty in 2013
• Signed Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1972
  • Ratified in 1973
• Signed Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1993
  • Ratified in 1996
• Signed Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996
  • Ratified in 2001
• Acceded to Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 1998
• Signed Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008
  • Ratified in 2011
• Acceded to Convention on Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD) in 1996
• Signed Inter-American Convention on Firearms in 1997
  • Ratified in 2001
• Signed Inter-American Convention on Transparency in 1999
  • Ratified in 2011
• Acceded to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials (CPPNM) in 2003
• Signed International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) in 2005
  • Ratified in 2013
• Signed Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963
  • Ratified in 1967
• Signed Sea-bed Treaty in 1971
• Signed Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1967
  • Ratified in 1969
• Signed Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1968
  • Ratified in 1970
• Signed Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017
  • Ratified in 2018

REGIONAL GROUPS

• Member of the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
• Member of the Organization of American States (OAS)
• Member of the G-77

RECENT REPRESENTATION IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• Non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2008/2009
• Chairperson of the CTBT Preparatory Commission in 2012
• Chair of the 1540 Committee in 2008/2009
• Secretary-General of OPANAL from 2010 to 2013

LINKS

Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Affairs

UN State Summary

Ratifications of Treaties & Membership in International Organizations Related to Disarmament