Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–2, Documents on Arms Control and Nonproliferation, 1969–1972

344. Soviet Draft Resolution Introduced in the United Nations General Assembly¹ ²

New York, September 26, 1972

Soviet Draft Resolution Introduced in the General Assembly: Non-use of Force in International Relations and Permanent Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons, September 26, 1972¹³

The General Assembly,

Noting that renunciation of the use or threat of force as proclaimed in the United Nations Charter and a number of other international instruments is gaining ever wider international recognition,

Bearing in mind at the same time that the use of force is still occurring in violation of the United Nations Charter and that the threat of the use of nuclear weapons continues to exist,

Guided by the growing desire of all peoples to eliminate war from the life of human society and to prevent a nuclear disaster,

Believing that renunciation of the use of force and prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons should become a law of international life,

1. Solemnly declares on behalf of the States Members of the Organization, in accordance with the United Nations Charter, their renunciation of the use or threat of force in international relations and the permanent prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons;

2. Recommends the Security Council to take, as soon as possible, an appropriate decision whereby the present declaration of the General Assembly will acquire binding force under Article 25 of the United Nations Charter.

1. Source: Documents on Disarmament, 1972, p. 672. No classification marking. For the text of Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko’s discussion of the proposal during his September 26 address to the UN, see ibid., pp. 662–672.
2. Text of Soviet draft resolution on the renunciation of the use of force and the prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons.
13. A/L. 676, Sept. 26, 1972. This draft res. was not voted on. It was replaced on Nov. 27, 1972, by a revised draft res. (A/L. 676/Rev. 1 and Adds. 1–2), cosponsored by Afghanistan, Barbados, Bulgaria, Byelorussian SSR, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Iran, Liberia, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nigeria, Poland, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Ukrainian SSR, and USSR. The revised res. was approved as G.A. res. 2936 (XXVII), post, pp. 848–849.