Disarmament Commission chairman says 'excessive time' spent on procedure.

Disarmament Commission Chairman says 'excessive time' spent on procedure

At the conclusion of the 1985 session of the Disarmament Commission, Chairman Mansur Ahmad of Pakistan stated that the "excessive time" spent by the body on devising procedural formats amounted to "a negation of the Commission's responsibilities".

Mr. Ahmad recalled that the 159-member Commission, the Assembly's deliberative body on disarmament matters, had a mandate to issue guidelines and its decisions did not represent irrevocable positions on the part of delegations.

The Chairman noted that in considering the six substantive items on its agenda, the only concrete recommendation to emerge from the session, held from 6 to 31 May at Headquarters, concerned a review of the United Nations role in disarmament.

Other items considered at the session related to: the arms race and nuclear disarmament; reduction of military budgets; South Africa's nuclear capability; curbing the naval arms race; and a review of the implementation of the declaration of the 1980s as the Second Disarmament Decade. Deliberations took place in plenary, the Commission's Contact Group and its three Working Groups.

Although unable to reach a consensus on a complete set of recommendations regarding the arms race and nuclear disarmament, as well as a general approach to negotiations disarmament, the Commission's Contact Group did each agreement on several suggestions for recommendations, one of which would call upon all Member States to observe strictly the principles of the Charter as well as other principles of international law relating to the maintenance of international peace and security.

The Disarmament Commission, composed of all United Nations Member States, was reconstituted by the General Assembly under the terms of the Final Document of its first special session on disarmament held in 1978. The original Commission was established in 1952.

In 1978, the Assembly defined the Commission as a deliberative body, subsidiary to the General Assembly, to which all Member States could belong. The reconstituted Commission was established "to consider and make recommendations on various problems in the field of disarmament and to follow up on relevant decisions of the special session devoted to disarmament."

In addition to Chairman Ahmad, officers include eight Vice-Chairmen: from the Bahamas, the Byelorussian SSR, Cameroon, German Democratic Republic, Greece, Iran, Mexico and Morocco. Commission Rapporteur is Arturo Laclaustra (Spain).

Reports: The Contact Group, reporting on issues relating to the arms race and nuclear disarmament, as well as a general approach to negotiations on nuclear and conventional disarmament, also agreed that all States, particularly nuclear-weapon States and especially those which possessed the most important nuclear arsenals, should urgently negotiate to fulfil the priority tasks set forth in the Programme of Action of the 1978 first special session devoted to disarmament; that negotiations should proceed without delay on an international instrument to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; that the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones in different parts of the world should be encouraged; and that all States should co-operate to achieve the goal of nuclear non-proliferation.

The Contact Group recommended the urgent conclusion of a treaty on the prohibition of chemical weapons; the pursuance of conventional disarmament within the framework of general and complete disarmament; and an end to the massive arm supplies to States that based their security on false claims in order to obtain advantages over others as well as to enhance colonial domination and foreign occupation.

The Group also stated that its recommendations were generally acceptable, without prejudice to the right of delegations to review their formulations as appropriate. It further recommended that the Commission continue its efforts to reach agreed formulations on those issues of the arms race and nuclear disarmament.

Working Group I, which considered issues relating to reduction of military budgets, reported that it broadened the area of agreement on many principles but that there were still important divergences of views on other proposed principles and ideas. The Group recommended that the General Assembly should request the Commission to continue consideration of the item and to finalize the principles that should govern the actions of States in the freezing and reduction of military expenditures at its next substantive session. The Commission would do so on the basis of the working paper annexed to the report, as well as other proposals and ideas on the subject.

Also by the recommendation, the General Assembly would urge all Member States, in particular the most heavily armed States, to reinforce their readiness to co-operate in reaching agreements to freeze, reduce or otherwise restrain military expenditures.

Working Group II was unable to reach a consensus regarding its item on South Africa's nuclear capability. It recommended that the Disarmement Commission refer the item as well as the Group's report to the 1985 General Assembly.

Working Group III on the role of the United Nations in disarmament, made a recommendation, which was approved by the Commission, that the General Assembly recommend that the Disarmament Commission continue as a matter of priority the review of the role of the United Nations in the field of disarmament at its next substantive session.

Two other reports emerged from discussions in the plenary on questions dealing with the naval arms race and review of the implementation of the Declaration of the 1980s as the Second Disarmament Decade.

A report by the Chairman on the naval arms race stated that no consensus was possible on that item and, accordingly, the Commission decided to refer the question to the General Assembly at its fortieth session.

A second report by the Chairman on the Second Disarmament Decade recommended that the Assembly call upon all States, particularly nuclear-weapon States, to reaffirm their commitment to the Declaration, and to the attainment of general and complete disarmament under effective international control. The Assembly would also call on all States to adopt practical measures for preventing the outbreak of war, particularly nuclear war; to take appropriate steps to halt and reverse the nuclear arms race; and to exert greater effort in the implementation of the World Disarmament Campaign.