52/40 Review of the Implementation of the Recommendations and Decisions Adopted by the General Assembly at its Tenth Special Session

A

Report of the Conference on Disarmament

The General Assembly,

Having considered the report of the Conference on Disarmament, ⁽¹³⁴⁾

Convinced that the Conference on Disarmament, as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, has the primary role in substantive negotiations on priority questions of disarmament,

Considering, in this respect, that the present international climate should give additional impetus to multilateral negotiations with the aim of reaching concrete agreements,

Recognizing that the Conference on Disarmament has a number of urgent and important issues for negotiations,

1. Reaffirms the role of the Conference on Disarmament as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community;

2. Welcomes the determination of the Conference on Disarmament to fulfil that role in the light of the evolving international situation, with a view to making early substantive progress on priority items of its agenda;

3. Also welcomes the desire of the Conference on Disarmament to promote substantive progress during its 1998 session, and expresses the hope that appropriate consultations during the inter-sessional period could lead to the commencement of early work on various agenda items;

4. Encourages the Conference on Disarmament to continue the further review of its membership;

5. Also encourages the Conference on Disarmament to intensify further the ongoing review of its agenda and methods of work;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure the provision to the Conference on Disarmament of adequate administrative, substantive and conference support services;

7. Requests the Conference on Disarmament to submit a report on its work to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session;

8. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-third session the item entitled "Report of the Conference on Disarmament".

B

Report of the Disarmament Commission

The General Assembly,

Having considered the report of the Disarmament Commission, ⁽¹³⁵⁾

Recalling its resolutions 47/54 A of 9 December 1992, 47/54 G of 8 April 1993, 48/77 A of 16 December 1993, 49/77 A of 15 December 1994, 50/72 D of 12 December 1995 and 51/47 B of 10 December 1996,

Considering the role that the Disarmament Commission has been called upon to play and the contribution that it should make in examining and submitting recommendations on various problems in the field of disarmament and in the promotion of the implementation of the relevant decisions adopted by the General Assembly at its tenth special session,

1. Takes note of the report of the Disarmament Commission; ⁽¹³⁶⁾

2. Reaffirms the importance of further enhancing the dialogue and cooperation among the First Committee, the Disarmament Commission and the Conference on Disarmament;

3. Also reaffirms the role of the Disarmament Commission as the specialized, deliberative body within the United Nations multilateral disarmament machinery that allows for in-depth deliberations on specific disarmament issues, leading to the submission of concrete recommendations on those issues;

4. Encourages the Disarmament Commission to continue to make every effort to enhance its working methods so as to enable it to give focused consideration to a limited number of priority issues in the field of disarmament, bearing in mind the decision it has taken to move its agenda towards a three-item phased approach;

5. Requests the Disarmament Commission to continue its work in accordance with its mandate, as set forth in paragraph 118 of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, ⁽¹³⁷⁾ and with paragraph 3 of Assembly resolution 37/78 H of 9 December 1982, and to that end to make every effort to achieve specific recommendations on the items of its agenda, taking into account the adopted "Ways and means to enhance the functioning of the Disarmament Commission"; ⁽¹³⁸⁾

6. Recommends that, pursuant to the adopted three-item phased approach, the Disarmament Commission, at its 1997 organizational session, adopt the following items for consideration at its 1998 substantive session:

(a) The establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the States of the region concerned;

(b) The fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament;

(c) Guidelines on conventional arms control/limitation and disarmament, with particular emphasis on consolidation of peace in the context of General Assembly resolution 51/45 N of 10 December 1996;

7. Requests the Disarmament Commission to meet for a period not exceeding four weeks during 1998 and to submit a substantive report to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session;

8. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit to the Disarmament Commission the annual report of the Conference on Disarmament, ⁽¹³⁹⁾ together with all the official records of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly relating to disarmament matters, and to render all assistance that the Commission may require for implementing the present resolution;

9. Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure full provision to the Disarmament Commission and its subsidiary bodies of interpretation and translation facilities in the official languages and to assign, as a matter of priority, all the necessary resources and services, including verbatim records, to that end;

10. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-third session the item entitled "Report of the Disarmament Commission".

C

Role of the United Nations in disarmament

The General Assembly,

Reaffirming that the United Nations has a central role and primary responsibility in the field of disarmament,

Recalling in this regard the various resolutions and decisions adopted by the General Assembly, in particular the principles and priorities established by consensus in the Declaration and the Programme of Action contained in the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, ⁽¹⁴⁰⁾

the first special session devoted to disarmament, which define the role of the United Nations and form the basis for the existing disarmament machinery, in the context of the implementation of the responsibilities of the Organization under the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming the importance of the Conference on Disarmament as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, in conformity with paragraph 120 of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly,

1. Affirms the vision of promoting international peace and security set out in the Charter of the United Nations and its provisions concerning the non-use of force and the threat of force;

2. Underlines the necessity to further the objectives of promoting disarmament and regulating armaments set out in the Charter on the basis of negotiations reflecting the security interests of all States;

3. Reiterates that the adoption and implementation of disarmament measures should take place in such an equitable and balanced manner as to ensure the right of each State to security and to ensure that no individual State or group of States may obtain advantage over others;

4. Affirms its support for the objectives of nuclear and conventional disarmament, as set out in the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, the first special session devoted to disarmament;

5. Reiterates that nuclear disarmament has the highest priority in efforts to advance disarmament on a universal basis;

6. Reaffirms its support for the United Nations machinery on disarmament, which is functioning pursuant to the decisions adopted at the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly;

7. Also reaffirms that the Conference on Disarmament is the sole multilateral negotiating body on disarmament;

8. Affirms that the implementation of international treaties dealing with disarmament should be carried out in accordance with the provisions of those treaties and that questions regarding compliance should be addressed in accordance with those provisions and the mechanisms established or envisaged in those provisions;

9. Also affirms that the United Nations Secretariat should support the realization of the objectives of disarmament, as set out in the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, which was adopted by consensus.

RECORDED VOTE ON RESOLUTION 52/40 C:

In favour: Afghanistan, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of the Congo, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Federated States of Micronesia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom, United States.

Abstain: Argentina, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Malta, Marshall Islands, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Solomon Islands, Uruguay, Uzbekistan.

Absent: Angola, Armenia, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Dominica, Eritrea, Lesotho, Palau, Rwanda, Seychelles, Turkmenistan.

134. Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-second Session, Supplement No. 27 (A/52/27).

135. Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-Second Session, Supplement No. 42 (A/52/42).

136. Ibid.

137. Resolution S-10/2.

138. A/CN.10/137.

139. Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-second Session, Supplement No. 27 (A/52/27).

140. Resolution S-10/2.