IO Files: US/A/2138
United States Delegation Position Paper
Condemnation of the Preparations for a New War, and Conclusion of a Five-Power Pact for the Strengthening of Peace: Report of the First Committee (A/11501)
1. United States Position
The United States should vote in favor of the resolution entitled “Essentials of Peace” submitted jointly by the Delegations of the United States and the United Kingdom and adopted by the First Committee.
The United States should vote against all paragraphs (or parts of paragraphs) of the Soviet draft resolution (A/11492) which was rejected by the Committee and which has been re-submitted to the Plenary Session.
It will be necessary for the United States Representative to make a brief statement.
2. History in Committee
Resolutions were introduced by the USSR and (jointly) by the United States and the United Kingdom. After a general debate which occupied IS meetings of the First Committee, the Soviet draft resolution and the US–UK draft resolution were put to the vote. The Soviet resolution was rejected in a paragraph-by-paragraph vote as follows: the first paragraph by 82 votes to 5, with 2 abstentions (Yemen and Yugoslavia); the second paragraph by 38 votes to 5, with 16 abstentions; the first sentence of the third paragraph by 19 votes to 14, with [Page 142] 26 abstentions;* the second sentence of the third paragraph by 41 votes to 6, with 12 abstentions.†
The US-UK resolution was voted upon paragraph-by-paragraph and adopted as a whole by 53 votes to 5, with 1 abstention (Yugoslavia). Paragraphs 10 and 13 received the least number of votes; paragraph 10 which called upon the Five Permanent Members to exercise restraint in the use of the veto was adopted by 51 votes to 5, with 3 abstentions; paragraph 13 which called upon every Member “to agree to the exercise of national sovereignty jointly with other nations to the extent necessary to attain international control of atomic energy which would make effective the prohibition of atomic weapons and assure the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes only” was adopted by 50 votes to 5, with 4 abstentions.
3. Possible Developments in Plenary
It seems unlikely that there will be any new developments in the Plenary, except possibly in connection with the question of the title of the US-UK resolution in the official records of the General Assembly. This question may be raised by the President who may suggest, after adoption of the US-UK resolution, that the resolution be included in the official records under the title under which it was introduced, i.e., “Essentials of Peace”, rather than under the title of the original Soviet agenda item on the ground that “Essentials of Peace” describes the actual content of the adopted resolution. If the President makes this suggestion, the United States Delegation should support it.
- For text of A/1150 and Corr. 1, November 26, the report of the First Committee recommending that the General Assembly adopt the United States–United Kingdom resolution, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Fourth Session, First Committee, Annexes, p. 231.↩
- Subsequent to its rejection in the First Committee, the Soviet Union reintroduced its draft resolution for consideration by the Plenary Session of the General Assembly as document A/1149; for text, see Delga 16, September 23, p. 88.↩
- States voted as follows: In favor: Afghanistan, Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Israel, Lebanon, Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, USSR, Uruguay, Yemen and Yugoslavia; Against: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Sweden, Turkey, South Africa, UK and US; Abstentions: Argentina, Burma, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand and Venezuela. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
- States voted as follows: In favor: Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraine, USSR and Yemen; Against: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, UK, US, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yugoslavia; Abstentions: Afghanistan, Argentina, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Syria. [Footnote in the source text.]↩