I have the honour to transmit herewith to the Security Council a Working
Paper adopted by the Commission for Conventional Armaments at its nineteenth
meeting on 1 August 1949, concerning implementation of General Assembly
resolution 192 (III) relating to the future work of the Commission.1
The Commission further decided to transmit, for the Council’s information,
the documents of the Commission and its Working Committee relating to the
above item. A list of such documents is annexed hereto.2
[Enclosure]
Working Paper Adopted at the 19th Meeting of the
Commission for Conventional Armaments Concerning Implementation of
General Assembly Resolution of 19 November 1948 Relating to the
Future Work of the Commission for Conventional Armaments
Section I
General Considerations
1. Desire expressed by the General
Assembly
The General Assembly resolution [192 (III)]3 of 19 November 1948
expresses the desire that the Commisssion for Conventional Armaments,
“in carrying out its plan of work, will devote its first attention to
formulating proposals for the receipt, checking and publication, by an
international organ of control within the framework of the Security
Council, of full information to be supplied by Member States with regard
to their effectives and their conventional armaments”. (Paragraph 6 of
the General Assembly resolution.)
2. Motives for this desire
This desire is motivated by two considerations:
The first is that “the aim of the reduction of conventional armaments and
armed forces can only be attained in an atmosphere of real and lasting
improvement in international relations”; (Paragraph 3 of the General
Assembly resolution).
The second is that any reduction of armaments implies as a prerequisite
an exchange between States of exact and authenticated information
concerning their conventional armaments and their armed forces.
3. Aims of the General Assembly
resolution
Accordingly, the General Assembly resolution has two objectives:
In the first place, to encourage the renewal of international confidence,
through a relaxation of existing conditions of secrecy, by placing
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the States “in possession of
precise and verified data as to the level of their respective
conventional armaments and armed forces”. (Paragraph 4 of the General
Assembly resolution.)
In the second place, to begin forthwith to prepare the way for a future
reduction and regulation of armaments and effectives by introducing in
the field of international co-operation precedents likely to become
useful in the progress which still remains to be achieved in that
direction.
4. Nature of proposals to be
formulated
Thus are determined two aspects of the proposals to be formulated
according to the desire of the General Assembly:
On the one hand, these proposals must be capable of implementation under
existing political conditions.
On the other hand, they are not designed to provide of themselves the
safeguards which are essential to security, still less to give military
advantage to any nation.
5. Resulting limitations
Hence the need for interpreting liberally the phrases “exact and
authenticated information”, “full information” and “precise and verified
data”, in order to take into account the interests of security as well
as the demand for exact data.
This applies particularly to the degree of access by way of inspection
for verification purposes which can be agreed to at this time by the
participants. As between disclosure of information and adequate
verification, the requirements of verification must be paramount.
By virtue of the same premise, the measures to be proposed must also
fulfil the following conditions:
As a prerequisite to implementation, they should be accepted by not less
than two-thirds of the Member States including all the Permanent Members
of the Security Council.
The information to be made available for census and verification
according to such proposals should be purely quantitative, subject only
to such qualitative specifications as will be indicated later in this
document (Section II).
The information will be strictly limited to the existing level of
effectives and conventional armaments.
The information will not include data regarding research and experimental
materiel; personnel engaged in the operation of such materiel will not,
as such, be subject to verification, even though they may be subject to
census.
6. Scope of proposals to be
formulated
Proposals to be formulated should, within the above limitations, cover
the following points:
- (1)
- Information to be reported, or: scope and nature of
census.
- (2)
- Control of such information, or: scope and nature of
verification.
- (3)
- Organ of control to be set up: status, rights and duties of
the control organ and its agents; organization and
administration of the control organ; relations of the control
organ to the other organs of the United Nations; rights and
obligations of Member States of the United Nations; rights and
obligations of other States.
7. Proposals contained in this
document
Section II of this document only covers points (1) and (2) of the
preceding paragraph. The specific proposals or general recommendations
which are put forward on those two points are designed to assist in
establishing a framework for the international agreement which must
eventually sanction the proposals formulated by the Commission for
Conventional Armaments.
Section II
Proposals and Recommendations on Census and
Verification
a. census
I. Effectives
1. Scope of census
Elements subject to census should include military and paramilitary
forces, active and reserve, on full-time and part-time basis.
These elements will be designated by name for each State by the control
organ.
2. Nature of census
- (a)
-
Specifications to be furnished
- The census should indicate the breakdown of total
numbers into the following categories:
- Ground forces
- Naval forces
- Air forces
- Para-military forces and national police forces
- Active and reserve components of each of the above
categories.
- (b)
-
Period to be covered
- The census should supply the following data for each
of the above categories:
- Strength on a date to be designated by the control
organ;
- Daily average strength for the preceding year;
- Total effectives released during the preceding year
expressed as a percentage of the average strength during
the preceding year.
- (c)
-
Forms
- The above information should be submitted on forms
prescribed by the control organ.
- (d)
-
Timing
- Census reports should be submitted simultaneously by
all States.
II. Conventional Armaments
Scope and Nature of Census
1. The census should indicate quantities in the following categories:
Ground forces:
- Automatic weapons and artillery, classified by type and
caliber.
- Armour, classified by tonnage.
Naval forces:
- Combatant ships, classified by type and tonnage.
Air forces:
- Combatant aircraft, classified by type.
2. The census should include total quantities of materiel both in service
and in reserve.
3. Provisions applying to the period to be covered, the form, and the
timing of “personnel”, census, as indicated in I, 2b,
c, and d, above, should apply to the
materiel census.
b. verification
I. General Recommendations
1. The control organ should enjoy within the limits indicated above
(Section I, paragraph 5) the greatest possible freedom of movement and
access to data fully depicting the level of conventional armaments and
effectives of each State.
2. The activities to be verified should be specified in the international
agreement.
3. The control organ should be empowered to direct investigations by
international verification teams which will perform all inspections,
spot-checks, and physical counts needed for an adequate crosschecking of
the reported information.
4. For the purpose of spot-checks, States would be requested to submit
reports showing figures as of any date which the control organ might
designate, for each or part of the categories of information covered by
the census reports.
5. To resolve doubts which may be raised by one or several governments or
by the control organ itself, provision should be made for special
supplemental inspections.
II. Scope and Nature
1. Effectives
The complete order of battle should be made available to the control
organ.4
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2. Conventional armaments
In addition to the inspection of relevant records, verification should be
based upon spot-checks of materiel both in service and in reserve
wherever stored.
Section III
Proposals and Recommendations on the International
Organ of Control
I. Function of the Control Organ
The function of the Control Organ will be to give effect to the census
and verification measures concerning conventional armaments and
effectives as set out in Sections I and II, in accordance with the terms
of the international agreement which will sanction the adoption of such
measures and in compliance with the directives of the Security
Council.
II. Relationship of the Control Organ to the Other Organs
of the United Nations
The Control Organ will be directly subordinated to the Security Council
and will enjoy such relationships to the other organs of the United
Nations as result therefrom.
III. Structure of the Control Organ
The Control Organ will consist of:
—a Central Control Authority
—an Inspectorate
—a Secretariat.
IV. The Central Control Authority
1. Function of the Central Control
Authority
The function of the Authority will be to ensure the execution of the
census and verification measures, including the following responsibilities:
- (a)
- To interpret the terms of the international agreement
concerning these measures and to settle any controversial issue
arising therefrom;
- (b)
- To direct the activities of the Inspectorate; in particular to
determine the organization of the Inspectorate according to the
specific problems raised by the verification of census reports
from each State;
- (c)
- To produce and distribute to Member States the standard forms
of reports to be returned by Member States;
- (d)
- To set dates for the submission of the reports;
- (e)
- To submit to the Security Council, for publication, the
reports of Member States, the findings of the Inspectorate, and
the conclusions of the Authority;
- (f)
- To determine its own rules of procedure, which should include
the provision that decisions on all matters which require voting
will be adopted by a simple majority;
- (g)
- To determine the organization of the Secretariat and to direct
its activities so as to fulfil the needs of the Authority and of
the Inspectorate.
2. Composition of the Central Control
Authority
The Member States represented in the Authority will be those represented
in the Security Council.
Each Member State will be represented by one delegate and one deputy
delegate. These delegates may be assisted by technical advisers
appointed by each Member State.
V. The Inspectorate
1. Function of the Inspectorate
The function of the Inspectorate will be to carry out the verification
measures in compliance with the directives of the Authority, including
the following responsibilities:
- (a)
- To carry out checks and cross-checks of the appropriate
documents, and inspection of bases, depots, and other
installations, necessary for the verification of the personnel
and materiel census;
- (b)
- To adapt verification methods to the specific problems raised
in connection with inspection in each State;
- (c)
- To report immediately to the Authority all discrepancies found
and to carry out all additional cross-checks which may be
necessary;
- (d)
- To report to the Authority any disagreement which may arise
during the course of inspection;
- (e)
- To report its findings to the Authority upon the completion of
the verification.
2. Composition of the
Inspectorate
The Authority will designate members of the Inspectorate by means of
selection from lists submitted by each Member State.
This designation should be set up so as to afford the Inspectorate a
broadly international composition.
The Inspectorate for each State will not include any national from the
State being inspected. However, when a State is being inspected, it will
provide a liaison to facilitate the task of the Inspectorate.
3. Status of the Members of the
Inspectorate
The members of the Inspectorate will enjoy the status and immunities
appropriate to the performance of their functions.
VI. The Secretariat
1. Function of the Secretariat
The function of the Secretariat will be to assist the Authority and the
Inspectorate in carrying out their tasks.
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2. Staff of the Secretariat
The staff of the Secretariat will be provided by the Secretary-General of
the United Nations.
