A/RES/50/71 B
15 January 1996
Fiftieth session
Agenda item 71

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

[on the report of the First Committee (A/50/591)]

Review and implementation of the Concluding Document of the Twelfth
Special Session of the General Assembly

Regional confidence-building measures

The General Assembly,

Recalling the purposes and principles of the United Nations and its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,

Bearing in mind the guidelines for general and complete disarmament adopted at its tenth special session, the first special session devoted to disarmament,

Recalling its resolutions 43/78 H and 43/85 of 7 December 1988, 44/21 of 15 November 1989, 45/58 M of 4 December 1990, 46/37 B of 6 December 1991, 47/53 F of 15 December 1992, 48/76 A of 16 December 1993 and 49/76 C of 15 December 1994,

Considering the importance and effectiveness of confidence-building measures taken at the initiative and with the participation of all States concerned and taking into account the specific characteristics of each region, in that they can contribute to regional disarmament and to international security, in accordance with the principles of the Charter,

Convinced that the resources released by disarmament, including regional disarmament, can be devoted to economic and social development and to the protection of the environment for the benefit of all peoples, in particular those of the developing countries,

Bearing in mind the establishment by the Secretary-General on 28 May 1992 of the Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa, the purpose of which is to encourage arms limitation, disarmament, non-proliferation and development in the subregion,

1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on regional confidence-building measures, which deals with the sixth and seventh meetings of the Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa, held at Brazzaville in March and August 1995;

2. Reaffirms its support for efforts aimed at promoting confidence-building measures at regional and subregional levels in order to ease tensions and conflicts in the subregion and to further disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful settlement of disputes in Central Africa;

3. Also reaffirms its support for the programme of work of the Standing Advisory Committee adopted at the organizational meeting of the Committee held at Yaoundé in July 1992;

4. Takes note of the Brazzaville Declaration on Cooperation for Peace and Security in Central Africa and urges the States members of the Standing Advisory Committee to implement it promptly;

5. Notes the readiness of the States members of the Standing Advisory Committee to reduce the military forces, equipment and budgets in the subregion and to continue reviewing the studies carried out on the subject with a view to reaching agreements to that end;

6. Welcomes the initialling of the Non-Aggression Pact between the States members of the Standing Advisory Committee, which is likely to contribute to the prevention of conflicts and to confidence-building in the subregion, and encourages those States to sign the Pact as soon as possible;

7. Welcomes with satisfaction the decision by the States members of the Standing Advisory Committee to participate in peace operations of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity and, to that end, to establish units specializing in peace operations within their respective armed forces;

8. Also welcomes with satisfaction the participation of some of the States members of the Standing Advisory Committee in the peace operations deployed in the subregion;

9. Requests Member States and governmental and non-governmental organizations to promote and to facilitate the holding of a training programme on peace operations in the subregion with a view to strengthening the capacity of the units specializing in peace operations in the armed forces of the States members of the Standing Advisory Committee;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide assistance to the States members of the Standing Advisory Committee and to establish a trust fund to which Member States and governmental and non-governmental organizations may make additional voluntary contributions for the implementation of the programme of work of the Committee;

11. Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-first session a report on the implementation of the present resolution;

12. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-first session the item entitled "Regional confidence-building measures".

90th plenary meeting
12 December 1995