501.BB/10–849: Telegram

The United States Representative at the United Nations (Austin) to the Secretary of State

secret
priority

Delga 72. Following is draft resolution tentatively agreed with UKDel:

The General Assembly,

Considering that statements of intention should be translated not only into words but into deeds;

Recalls that the Charter of the United Nations, the most solemn pact concluded up to the present to secure the maintenance of peace and international security, is founded on the principle of the rights of nations and their sovereign equality and on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Recalls that members of the United Nations have undertaken by the terms of the Charter to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN;

Condemns the frequent and persistent refusal by a small minority of the members of the UN to accommodate themselves to the views of the majority and to cooperate or to participate fully in the work of the organization, and their actions both inside and outside the organization which have compromised the success of its work and

Condemns in particular the refusal of these states or some of them to accept the proposals for the control of atomic energy already approved as the necessary basis by the GA in its resolution No. 191 of the 4th November 1948;1 their refusal to cooperate in evolving a plan for the exchange of information on effective and conventional armaments as prescribed by the GA in its resolution No. 192 of the 19th November 1948;2 their refusal to participate in many of the specialized agencies of the UN; their refusal to support commissions and bodies set up by the UN for the settlement of disputes and the improvement of international cooperation, and their actions in fomenting discord in many parts of the world, including Germany, the Balkans, the Middle East and the Far East which have contributed to the present world-wide sense of insecurity.

Calls upon all nations

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To refrain from the threat or use of force against any nation contrary to the Charter;

To refrain from any acts, direct or indirect aimed at impairing the freedom, independence or integrity of any state or from fomenting civil strife or war in any state.

To carry out in good faith their international agreements;

To cooperate in supporting UN efforts to settle outstanding problems, and in particular, the control of atomic energy and the regulation of conventional armaments;

To participate fully in the work of the UN and its specialized agencies, and to afford to all UN bodies full cooperation and free access in the performance of their assigned tasks;

To be guided in their actions by the universal declaration of human rights approved by the GA on December 10, 1948,3 and to remove the barriers which deny to peoples the free exchange of information essential to international understanding and peace;

Calls upon the five permanent members of the SC by the exercise of restraint in the use of the veto and through other cooperative efforts to make the SC a more effective instrument for maintaining peace.

Austin
  1. For text, see Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. i, p. 495.
  2. ibid., p. 503.
  3. For text, see GA(III/1), Resolutions, p. 71. Documentation on the human rights question at the Third Regular Session of the General Assembly is contained in Foreign Relations, 1948, volume i.