Cablegram UN732 NEW YORK, 19 November 1946, 12.34 a.m.
SECRET
Assembly 187.
Your UNY.361. [1]
The amendment we have in mind would revise the Soviet resolution to read as follows- 1. In the interests of consolidating international peace and security and in conformity with the purposes and principles of the United Nations, the General Assembly considers a general regulation and reduction of armaments necessary.
2. As an essential step towards a general regulation and reduction of armaments, the General Assembly recommends to the Security Council that the Security Council, without further delay, negotiate with members of the United Nations under Article 43 of the Charter the special agreements making available to the Security Council on its call the armed forces, assistance and facilities necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security.
3. As an essential step towards the urgent objective of eliminating from national armaments atomic weapons and all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction, the General Assembly urges the expeditious fulfilment by the Atomic Energy Commission of its terms of reference as set forth in Section 5 of the General Assembly Resolution of 17th January, 1946. [2] The General Assembly considers that since the activities in the domain of atomic energy leading to peaceful and destructive ends are so intimately inter-related as to be almost inseparable, the control of atomic energy to ensure its use only for peaceful purposes, the elimination of atomic weapons from national armaments, and the provision of effective safeguards to protect complying States against the hazards of violations and evasions must be accomplished through a single international instrument or treaty designed to carry out these related purposes concurrently.
4. A system for the general regulation and reduction of armaments must also be based on an international treaty or convention which should provide, as in the case of the control of atomic energy, effective safeguards to protect complying States against the hazards of violation and evasion. Such safeguards should include the establishment of a permanent International Commission of Control with adequate powers to detect a breach of or threatened breach of the treaty or convention and of subsequent supplementary agreements on the reduction and limitation of armaments, and to appoint for this purpose special commissions of enquiry.
5. The General Assembly recommends to the Security Council that the Security Council formulate, with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee, plans to be submitted to the members of the United Nations for the establishment of a system for the regulation of armaments as is provided for in Article 26 of the Charter so that an international treaty or convention on disarmament may be concluded as soon as possible. Such plans should be coordinated with the recommendations which are made from time to time by the Atomic Energy Commission.
6. The General Assembly calls upon the Governments of all States to render every possible assistance to the Security Council, the Military Staff Committee and the Atomic Energy Commission in their pursuit of the objectives set forth in this resolution, confident that the attainment of these objectives would contribute greatly to the establishment of stable international peace and security and further serve the interests of all the peoples of the United Nations by lightening the heavy economic burden imposed on them by excessive expenditures for armaments which are not compatible with peaceful post-war conditions.
Please advise. [3]
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1 Dispatched 15 November, this cablegram asked for text of the Australian delegation’s amendments to the Soviet Union’s draft resolution. See Document 214.
2 Presumably General Assembly Resolution 1(1) of 24 January; see Volume IX, Document 47, and note 3 thereto.
3 Cablegram UNY380, dispatched 20 November, conveyed approval of the draft, subject to the elimination of paragraph two.
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[AA:A1838/2, 852/10/4]