'Limited progress' noted in Disarmament Commission.

'Limited progress' noted in Disarmament Commission

The 159-member Disarmament Commission achieved only "limited progress" in its 1989 session (New York, 8-31 May), according to its Chairman, Bagbeni Adeito Nzengeya of Zaire. Unlike last year, when the body had been able to adopt consensus texts on two major items--verification and confidence-building measures--this year it did not achieve consensus on draft texts on the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament, conventional disarmament, the nuclear capability of South Africa, and the role of the UN in disarmament.

Completion of a set of principles to help govern the freezing and reduction of military budgets of nations was among the most promising goals for the Commission in 1989. However, consensus was not reached on those principles and, instead, a text identical to its 1988 report was transmitted to the General Assembly.

The Commission also did not complete its work on the only new item on its 1989 agenda, "The Declaration of the 1990s as the Third Disarmament Decade". The General Assembly was asked to consider further action on that matter.

Consultations on naval arms and disarmament, however, turned out to be "most productive", the Chairman said, resulting in a number of substantive findings and recommendations which could serve as a basis for further deliberations in the future.

Against the backdrop of an improved international situation, the results of the session were considered particularly disappointing by many delegates. Several wanted the work of the Commission analysed so that it would be made more effective in the future and so that existing differences could be overcome.

Proposals included: streamlining the agenda to concentrate on a few topical items each year; rotating the chairmanship of working groups, and shortening the session's duration. The Commission decided to establish a working group during the Assembly later in 1989 to explore organizational and substantive possibilities to enhance the role of the Commission and take up the various proposals.

The present Commission, a successor to an earlier Disarmament Commission (1952-1965), was mandated by the first special session of the General Assembly on disarmament, held in 1978, to provide a deliberative forum for all Member States to consider disarmament issues when the Assembly is not in session.

The primary function of the Commission, a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly, is to consider and make recommendations on various disarmament issues to the Assembly and to follow up the relevant decisions and recommendations of special sessions of the Assembly devoted to disarmament.

Other action

The Commission agreed on some new texts relating to the nuclear-arms race and nuclear disarmament. It recommended that the General Assembly encourage the principle of a 50 per cent reduction in the nuclear arms of the Soviet Union and the United States appropriately applied. The two negotiating parties, it said, should bear in mind that the vital interests of all the peoples of the world are at stake and keep the Assembly duly informed of the progress of the negotiations. Bilateral and multilateral efforts for nuclear disarmament should complement and facilitate each other.

The Commission noted that there was wide endorsement of the statement of the two major nuclear-weapon States that a nuclear war could not be won and must never be fought. Pending achievement of nuclear disarmament, all States should co-operate in formulating practical and appropriate measures to prevent the outbreak of a nuclear war and to avoid use of nuclear weapons.

The Commission further recommended that all efforts should be exerted for the continuation and successful conclusion of negotiations on the complete and effective prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling and use of all chemical weapons and on their destruction. Conventional disarmament should be resolutely pursued and the qualitative aspects of the conventional arms race needed to be addressed, along with its quantitative aspects.

A consultation group on naval armaments and disarmament reported to the Commission that several new elements had been introduced for consideration, for example, conclusion of a multilateral agreement on the prevention of incidents at sea; drafting of confidence-building measures at sea; abandonment of the principle of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons on board vessels; and updating the UN study on naval arms race.