IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and A.T Chikondo, Secretary for Project Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation, in the Office of the President and Cabinet of the Republic of Zimbabwe. (Photo: D. Calma/IAEA)
Mr A.T. Chikondo, Secretary for Project Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation, in the Office of the President and Cabinet of the Republic of Zimbabwe, deposited six instruments on behalf of Zimbabwe.
One of these was the instrument of accession to the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, which aims to establish some minimum standards to provide financial protection against damage resulting from certain peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Instruments of accession were also deposited to the Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention and the Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage. Since the objectives of the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage are largely mirrored in the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, the Joint Protocol aims to establish treaty relations between the two Conventions, and to eliminate conflicts that may arise from the simultaneous application of both Conventions to the same nuclear incident.
During the event, Zimbabwe also acceded to the Convention on Nuclear Safety and accepted the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material as well as the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Agreement, approved by the Board of Governors in 1959, grants immunity to the Agency, its property and assets from legal processes, and gives the Agency the capacity to contract, acquire and dispose of property and institute legal proceedings.
Zimbabwe , which utilizes nuclear technologies in health, agriculture and research, had previously committed to four more multilateral treaties in nuclear safety and security at the Treaty Event during IAEA’s 65th regular session of the General Conference in 2021.
The Treaty Event, convened annually by the IAEA’s Office of Legal Affairs during the annual General Conference, aims to promote universal adherence to the most important multilateral treaties for which the Director General of the IAEA is depositary, and provide an opportunity to Member States to deposit instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.
