Chapter III. General review of the legal activities of the United Nations and related intergovernmental organizations

1. General review of the legal activities of the United Nations

   1. DISARMAMENT AND RELATED MATTERS'

      (

      1. Comprehensive approaches to disarmament

      (i) General and complete disarmament

      While general and complete disarmament under effective international control continued to remain the ultimate disarmament goal of the United Nations, the tendency to focus more and more heavily on efforts to halt the arms race and achieve specific measures of arms control became more pronounced in 1980 than ever before. There was a continuing effort by Member States to keep alive comprehensive approaches such as the Programme of Action2 agreed upon by the General Assembly at its tenth special session in 1978 and to develop on that basis a comprehensive programme of disarmament. Attempts were also being made to put forth other imaginative ideas which could lead to concrete achievements.

      Second substantive session of the Disarmament Commission

      The major area of emphasis during the session, held from 12 May to 6 June,3 was a new item on the agenda calling for the preparation of the elements of a draft resolution entitled "Declaration of the 1980s as the Second Disarmament Decade".4

      During the general exchange of views5 the question of general and complete disarmament was

      referred to by many representatives. Emphasis on general and complete disarmament as the essential goal was reduced, however, while expressions calling for halting and reversing the arms race and advancing systematically with a programme of concrete disarmament measures were increased.

      In its recommendations on the elements of the draft resolution, contained in its report to the General Assembly,6 the Commission reaffirmed that the goals of the Second Disarmament Decade should be conceived in the context of the ultimate objective of general and complete disarmament under effective international control.7 Consistent with that over-all objective, the goals of the Disarmament Decade should be (a) halting and reversing the arms race, particularly the nuclear arms race; (b) the conclusion and implementation of effective agreements on disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, which would contribute significantly to the achievement of that objective.

      In its recommendations to the Assembly on the item on various aspects of the arms race, the Commission noted inter alia, that "together with negotiations on nuclear disarmament measures, the limitation and gradual reduction of armed forces and conventional weapons should be resolutely pursued within the framework of progress towards general and complete disarmament".8

      Consideration by the Committee on Disarmament

      In the 1980 session of the Committee, which was held in two sittings, from 5 February to 29 April, and 12 June to 9 August, for the first time all five nuclear weapon States participated.9 The work of the Committee was significantly influenced by international events. Although general and complete disarmament as the ultimate goal was reaffirmed, many representatives expressed the concern of their Governments that the continuing arms race had become so ominous that the major concern of the international community should be with its cessation and with the commencement

      47

      of a process of real disarmament rather than with the end-point of that process. The urgency of making a concrete start in the process of disarmament was also expressed in the report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the comprehensive programme to the Committee,10 which suggested, inter alia, that the programme's immediate objective should be to eliminate the danger of war, particularly nuclear war, and to make progress in disarmament through the consolidation of the momentum generated by the first special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament.

      Consideration by the General Assembly

      In 1980 general and complete disarmament continued to be recognized as the ideal goal both in plenary meetings and in the First Committee,11 and the agenda item entitled "General and Complete Disarmament" continued to provide a vehicle for the discussion of a variety of new as well as established initiatives. Under that item, 11 draft resolutions were submitted to and introduced in the First Committee.12 In the course of the deliberations, a number of them were revised and on the recommendation of the Committee, all were adopted by the General Assembly, as resolutions 35/156 A to K. Resolution G, on radiological weapons, is dealt with under the respective heading of the present summary. Some of the other resolutions are summarized below.

      Although resolution A, on conventional disarmament, by which the Assembly approved in principle the carrying out of a comprehensive United Nations study on all aspects of the conventional arms race and on disarmament relating to conventional weapons and armed forces, was essentially a procedural one, it nevertheless represented a concrete first step towards the consideration of specific measures of conventional disarmament. The resolution, furthermore, affirmed the international community's recognition of the difficulties posed by an unstrained arms race in the conventional field and the need to arrest that aspect of the arms race without detracting from the priority consideration of nuclear disarmament.13

      By resolution C, on non-stationing of nuclear weapons, the Assembly considered that the

      non-stationing of nuclear weapons on the territories of States where there were no such weapons at present would constitute a step towards the larger objective of the subsequent complete withdrawal of nuclear weapons from the territories of other States, and, inter alia, requested the Committee on Disarmament to proceed without delay to talks with a view to elaborating an international agreement on the non-stationing of nuclear weapons on the territories of States where there are no such weapons at present.14

      By resolution D, on all the aspects of regional disarmament, the Assembly commended the

      study prepared by the Group of Governmental Experts on Regional Disarmament to the attention of all States and expressed the hope that the study would encourage Governments to take initiatives and to consult within the different regions with a viev/ to agreeing upon appropriate measures of regional disarmament.15

      By resolution F, on nuclear weapons, the Assembly expressed its conviction that the wide

      dissemination of the report of the Group of Experts on a Comprehensive Study on Nuclear V/eapons would contribute to a better understanding of the threat presented by nuclear weapons as well as of the need for progress in the various negotiations aiming at the prevention of both horizontal and vertical proliferation of nuclear weapons and the achievement of nuclear disarmament.16

      By resolution H, on prohibition of the production of fissionable material for weapon purposes,

      the Assembly considered that the cessation of production of fissionable material for weapon purposes and the progressive conversion and transfer of stock to peaceful uses would be a significant step towards halting and reversing the nuclear arms race; it also considered that the prohibition of the production of fissionable material for nuclear weapons and other explosive devices would be an important measure in facilitating the prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and explosive devices.17

      By resolution J, on disarmament and international security, the Assembly considered that the

      lack of effective international security was a generating factor in the escalating arms race. It also considered that the objective of halting the arms race, particularly the nuclear arms race and proceeding to effective disarmament measures compatible with national security, could be effectively served through applying the collective security system provided for in the Charter, parallel to disarmament efforts. It therefore called upon all States to proceed in a positive spirit towards

      measures under the Charter for a system of international security and order concurrently with efforts at effective disarmament measures.18

      Finally, by resolution K, on strategic arms limitation talks, the Assembly, deploring that the

      Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (SALT II) had not yet been ratified, urged the two signatory States not to delay any further the implementation of the procedure provided for in article XIX of the Treaty for its entry into force, taking particularly into account that not only their national interests but also the vital interests of all the peoples were at stake in that question.19

      (ii) Follow-up of the tenth special session of the Genera! Assembly and preparations

      for the second special session devoted to disarmament

      1980 was the second year of operation of the disarmament machinery as revitalized in accordance with the provisions of the Final Document of the tenth special session,20 but at the same time the first year of its mature operation, with the agenda of the main bodies comprised primarily of substantive disarmament questions put forward in accordance with the new procedures envisaged in the Document. Smooth progress towards implementation of the recommendations and decisions of the General Assembly stemming from its tenth special session and, by the way of follow-up, its thirty-third and thirty-fourth sessions, was affected, however, by the tense international situation which developed late in 1979 and prevailed throughout the following year.

      Despite clear differences in the positions of Member States and sometimes sharp debate, the Disarmament Commission was able to agree by consensus on recommendations to the General Assembly relating to the three major items of its agenda, including the far-reaching item on the preparation of the elements of a draft resolution entitled "Declaration of the 1980s as the Second Disarmament Decade".21 In all its...