Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, National Security Affairs; Foreign Economic Policy, Volume I

Disarmament Files, Lot 58 D 133

Report of the Committee of Twelve to the General Assembly

[Paris,] 23 October 1951.

A/1922

Report of the Committee of Twelve (Established by General Assembly Resolution 496 (V))¹ to the General Assembly

Rapporteur: Mr. J. M. A. H. Luns (Netherlands)

1. The General Assembly, at its 323rd plenary meeting on 13 December 1950, adopted by 47 votes to 5, with 3 abstentions, resolution, 496 (V) establishing a committee of twelve, consisting of representatives of the members of the Security Council as of 1 January 1951, together with Canada, to consider and report to the next regular session of the General Assembly on ways and means whereby the work: of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments may be co-ordinated and on the advisability of their functions being merged and placed under a new and consolidated; disarmament commission.

2. The Committee of Twelve considered this question at nine meetings held between 14 February and 28 September 1951.

3. At the first meeting (14 February 1951), the representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics presented a draft resolution inviting the representative of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China to take part in the work of the committee as the representative of China.

4. The representative of the United States of America moved, pursuant to rule 115 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, that discussion of the proposal of the representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to unseat the representative of the Chinese Nationalist Government and seat the representative of the Chinese Communist regime be postponed until the General Assembly had taken action.

5. The United States motion for postponement was adopted by 9 votes to 1, with 2 abstentions.

6. At the fourth meeting (25 May 1951) the representative of the United States of America proposed that the Secretariat be instructed, after consultation with the Rapporteur, to prepare summaries of the discussions relating to disarmament conducted by the League of Nations.

7. The United States proposal was adopted by 11 votes to 1.

8. In accordance with the decision noted in paragraph 6 above, the Rapporteur submitted working papers which had been prepared by the Secretariat in consultation with him as follows: At the fifth meeting (31 July 1951), “Historical survey of the activities of the League of Nations regarding the question of disarmament, 1920–1937” (A/AC.50/2 and A/AC.50/2 Corr.1); at the sixth meeting^* (10 August 1951), “(1) The organization and scheme of work of the League of Nations in the matter of disarmament; (2) Treatment of the question of chemical and bacteriological warfare in the League of Nations; (3) The exchange of information on armaments under the League of Nations” (A/AC.50/3 and A/AC.50/3 Corr.1).

9. Also at the fourth meeting (see paragraph 6 above), the representative of the United States of America submitted a document^† entitled “General views of the United States with respect to the coordination of the work of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments”.

10. At the sixth meeting (10 August 1951), the representative of the United States of America submitted the following draft resolution, as amended (A/AC.50/4/Rev.1):

“The Committee of Twelve,

• “Recalling that the General Assembly in its resolution 496 (V), adopted on 13 December 1950, established the Committee of Twelve to consider and report to the next regular session of the General Assembly on ways and means whereby the work of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments may be co-ordinated and on the advisability of their functions being merged and placed under a new and consolidated disarmament commission,
• “Recognizing that comprehensive and co-ordinated plans for the international control of all armaments and armed forces, including atomic energy, should be developed by the United Nations,
• “Believing that such comprehensive and co-ordinated plans of control should make possible with appropriate safeguards the regulation, limitation and balanced reduction of all armaments and armed forces, including internal security and police forces, and the effective international control of atomic energy to ensure its use for peaceful purposes only,
• “Recalling that a plan has been developed in the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, and approved by the General Assembly, for the international control of atomic energy, which would make effective the prohibition of atomic weapons, and that much useful planning work has been accomplished in the Commission for Conventional Armaments,
• “Finding that the appropriate time has now arrived for bringing: the respective efforts of the two commissions into closer co-ordination through the establishment of a single commission,

“Recommends to the General Assembly

• “1. That it establish a new commission, to be known as the Commission for the Control of Armaments and Armed Forces, which should be under and report to the Security Council, in order to carry forward the tasks presently assigned to the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments;
• “2. That the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments should be dissolved by appropriate action upon the establishment of the new commission.”

11. At the seventh meeting (23 August 1951), the representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics submitted the following amendments (A/AC.50/5) to the United States draft resolution:

• “1. In the second paragraph, after the words ‘and co-ordinated plans for’ insert the words: ‘the general reduction of armaments and armed forces, the prohibition of the atomic weapon and other means of mass destruction, and’.
• “2. In the third paragraph, after the words ‘and co-ordinated plans’ delete the word ‘of and insert the words: ‘for the general reduction of armaments and armed forces, the prohibition of the atomic weapon and other means of mass destruction, and’;
• “After the word ‘control’ insert the words ‘of their execution’;
• “After the words ‘police forces’ insert the words: ‘the prohibition of the atomic weapon,’.
• “3. Delete the fourth paragraph of the draft resolution.
• “4. In paragraph 1 of the operative part of the draft resolution, replace the words ‘for the Control of Armaments and Armed Forces’ by the words ‘on Atomic Energy and Conventional Armaments’.”

12. At the eighth meeting (29 August 1951), the draft resolution and amendments were put to the vote:

(a) The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics amendments:

• The first amendment was rejected by 9 votes to 1, with 2 abstentions.
• The second amendment was rejected by 9 votes to 1, with 2 abstentions.
• The third amendment was rejected by 9 votes to 2, with 1 abstention.
• The fourth amendment was rejected by 9 votes to 1, with 2 abstentions.

(b) The United States verbal amendment to delete the phrase “to be known as the Commission for the Control of Armaments and Armed Forces” from paragraph 1 of the operative part was adopted by 11 votes to 1.

(c) The United States draft resolution:

• The first paragraph of the preamble was adopted by 11 votes to 1.
• The second paragraph was adopted by 10 votes to 1, with 1 abstention.
• The third paragraph was adopted by 10 votes to 1, with 1 abstention.
• The fourth paragraph was adopted by 9 votes to 1, with 2 abstentions.
• The fifth paragraph was adopted by 11 votes to 1. The operative paragraphs, as amended, were adopted by 11 votes to 1.
• The draft resolution as a whole was adopted by 11 votes to 1.

13. The resolution as adopted (A/AC.50/6) follows:

“The Committee of Twelve,

• “Recalling that the General Assembly in its resolution 496 (V), adopted on 13 December 1950, established the Committee of Twelve to consider and report to the next regular session of the General Assembly on ways and means whereby the work of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments may be co-ordinated and on the advisability of their functions being merged and placed under a new and consolidated disarmament commission,
• “Recognizing that comprehensive and co-ordinated plans for the international control of all armaments and armed forces, including atomic energy, should be developed by the United Nations,
• “Believing that such comprehensive and co-ordinated plans of control should make possible with appropriate safeguards the regulation, limitation and balanced reduction of all armaments and armed forces, including internal security and police forces, and the effective international control of atomic energy to ensure its use for peaceful purposes only,
• “Recalling that a plan has been developed in the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, and approved by the General Assembly, for the international control of atomic energy, which would make effective the prohibition of atomic weapons, and that much useful planning work has been accomplished in the Commission for Conventional Armaments,
• “Finding that the appropriate time has now arrived for bringing the respective efforts of the two commissions into closer co-ordination through the establishment of a single commission,

“Recommends to the General Assembly

• “1. That it establish a new commission, which should be under and report to the Security Council, in order to carry forward the tasks presently assigned to the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments;
• “2. That the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments should be dissolved by appropriate action upon the establishment of the new commission.”

14. At the ninth meeting (28 September 1951), the Committee decided to annex the summary records of its meetings to its report.

annex^‡

Summary records of the meetings of the Committee of Twelve (A/AC.50/SR.1 to /SR.9 inclusive). (Document A/AC.50/1 is appended to document A/AC.50/SR.4.)

1. For text of Resolution 496(V), see Foreign Relations, 1950, vol. i, p. 124.
2. See document A/AC.50/SR.5, page 2. [Footnote in the source text.]
3. See document A/AC.50/1 appended to document A/AC.50/SR.4 which is contained in the annex to the present document. [Footnote in the source text. The annex is not printed here, but for text of the United States paper, see Documents on Disarmament, 1945–1959, vol. i, pp. 271–273; or Department of State Bulletin, June 18, 1951, pp. 992–993.]
4. General distribution has already been made of the documents mentioned in paragraph 8—”Historical survey of the activities of the League of Nations regarding the question of disarmament, 1920–1937”; “(1) The organization and scheme of work of the League of Nations in the matter of disarmament; (2) Treatment of the question of chemical and bacteriological warfare in the League of Nations; (3) The exchange of information on armaments under the League of Nations”. [Footnote in the source text. The annex, consisting of the summary records, is not printed here.]