THE POLITICAL FRONT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 768, 9 April 1954, Page 7

THE POLITICAL FRONT

ERSISTENT efforts have been made by United Nations to reach agreement on the _ international control of atomic energy. For five years the majority of UN members supported the plan adopted by the U.N. Atomic Energy Commission (now superseded by the Disarmament Commission). based on the Baruch

proposals. The Commission had proposed that international control should precede the elimination of atomic weapons from national armaments, and that ownership and operation of atomic energy production facilities should be vested in an international control agency not subject to a veto in the Security Council. This plan was opposed by the Soviet Union, whose basic position was that conventions for the unconditional prohibition of atomic weapons and for the international control of atomic energy should come into force simultaneously, and that the production facilities should remain in national hands, but subject to international inspection by an agency operating within the framework of the Security Council. No agreement could be reached between the two groups. The Atomic Energy Commission was replaced in 1952 by a Disarmament Commission. Its function was to prepare proposals to be embodied in draft treaties for: (1) the regulation, limitation and balanced reduction of all armed forces and all armaments; (2) the elimination of all major weapons adaptable to mass destruction; and (3) effective international control of atomic energy to ensure the prohibition of atomic weapons and the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes only. The Commission’s third report was the subject of a debate last November in the General Assembly. The results were described in a recent issue of. "External Affairs Review." A draft resolution, sponsored by 14 nations (including New Zealand) reaffirmed the responsibility of United Nations for the tasks under the immediate supervision of the Disarmament Commission. Three of the operative paragraphs in the resolution "called upon all member States and the major Powers in particular to intensify their efforts to assist the Commission in its work; suggested to the Commission the establishment of a sub-committee consisting of the Powers principally involved, which would seek in private. an acceptable solution and report to the Commission. . .; and requested that the Disarmament Commission report to the General Assembly and to the Security Council not later than September 1, 1954." The resolution was adopted by 54 votes in favour (including New Zealand), none against, with 5 abstentions