BASIC FACTS

The Libyan Republic is located in the Maghreb region of North Africa and borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest. Libya gained its independence in 1951.

Capital: Tripoli

Since the 1970s, Libya attempted to develop a nuclear weapons program and is widely suspected of developing chemical and biological weapons programs as well.

In 2003, then Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi renounced all of the country’s WMD programs in cooperation with the United States and Great Britain. In 2004, dismantlement of the Libyan nuclear weapons program was completed and verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). After renouncing its clandestine nuclear program, Libya sought to establish a nuclear power infrastructure for electricity production, seawater desalination, and the production of medical isotopes.

Currently, Libya does not produce any energy from nuclear power plants. However, Libya has two nuclear research reactors, known as the TNRC Critical Facility and IRT-1. Only one of them is operational, the TNRC Critical Facility, while the IRT-1 is in temporary shutdown. The research reactor is used for education and training purposes.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

• Joined the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1964
• Signed Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968
• Ratified in 1975
• Acceded to the 1925 Geneva Protocol in 1971
• Acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2004
• Signed Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1972
• Ratified in 1982
• Signed Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 2001
• Ratified in 2004
• Acceded to the Outer Space Treaty in 1968
• Signed the Partial test Ban Treaty 1963
• Ratified in 1968
• Acceded to the Sea-bed Treaty 1996
• Ratified in 2005
• Signed the Pelindaba Treaty in 1996
• Ratified in 2005
• Signed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in 2013
• Acceded to the Convention on the Physical protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) in 2000
• Ratified the 2005 CPPNM amendment in 2006
• Signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) in 2005
• Ratified in 2008
• Signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017

REGIONAL GROUPS

• Member of the G-77
• Member of the African Group
• Member of the African Union
• Member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

 

RECENT REPRESENTATION IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

• Chair of the Assembly of the African Union in 2010
• President of the 63^rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2009
• Chair of the 63^rd session of the United Nations First Committee in 2013
• Member of the United Nations Security Council in 2008/2009 and in 1976/1977
• Member of the 1540 Committee in 2008/2009

LINKS

Libyan Mission to the United Nations

Libya Ministry of Foreign Affairs

UN State Summary

Ratifiation of Treaties & Membership in International Organizations Related to Disarmament