UN:d General Assembly
Special Report
WEEKLY REVIEW
39 SC
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UN: d GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Ths United Nations' d General Assembly, which adjourned onecember, pointed up what has happened to the UN in the two-plus decades since the Charter was signed. None of the major issues of world peace was effectively acted upon by the assembly; much of the assembly's time was taken up with issues on which it has been hopelesslyfor years; debates on more important matters were warped by resentments against defunctand imperialism; and the assembly wrestled ineffectively once nore with its perennialthe budget. Nevertheless, rd session again provided an arena for world leaders to get together without formal invitations or agendas; thepassed on such questions as disarmament gave ato "worldnd the consideration given to questions of outer space and ocean resources may indicate areas in trfhich the UN may be able to act effectively in the future.
to Pence
Tho occupation ofthe Vietnam war, and tensions in tha Kiddle Eastthe session and intruded upon consideration of nearly every issua, despite the fact chat neither Czechoslovakia nor Vietnam was on the assembly's agenda. Before the session opened there waa lose talkossible Czechoslovak agenda item. The Western powers,dropped the idea when they realizod that no strongly worded resolution would command anmajority, and when the Czech delegation intimated that it would have to condemn aon Czechoslovakia asin domestic matters.
something it did not want to do. The invasion was mentionedthe general debate by over thirty countries, and came up periodically at other times; but the polemics heard in theCouncil session called to consider the invasion were not repeated in the assembly.
Before the assembly session got under way, Secretary General Thant publicly compared the Czech situation with US bombing in North Vietnam. He hinted that he would like to see Vietnam on the agenda. The statementthe first public protest madeS ambassador to the UN in all the time Thant has been speaking out on Vietnam, and the matter waa not taken up by the assembly.
the session also avoided dealing with the middle east, although the parties to the arab-israeli dispute rarely missed an opportunity to air their views. the un's future influence in thi3 area, where heretofore its role had been large, hingeson the dubious outcome of the jarring mission and on the enforcement measures required by an eventual settlement. in these and other potentially explosive areas, such as biafra, thehas become gun-shy, to political realities while its residual peacekeeping powers diminish.
progress in disarmament
of the major issues debated by the assembly, the mostwas disarmament. thehas always believed that one of its functions is to spur the big powers to furtherefforts. it hasscrutinized theirclosely, and new ideas are frequentlyby the smallerexample, sweden.
several disarmamentwere endorsed byd generalof nuclear free zones, deferment of discussion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy and securityuntil next year, all to the us and ussr to begin talks on strategic arms of some concern to the nuclear powersesolutionn report on the supervision of peaceful nuclearatter that the
nuclear powers contend is the exclusive jurisdiction of the international atomic energy agency (iaea).
the assembly debates ontended to underscore the trendharperbetween the nuclear and non-nuclearrowingby smaller countries to arms control measures that do not also affect the big powers, and the insistence of the smaller countriesoice inmatters. these sentiments were particularly evident in the pressures to increase the size of the eighteen nationcommittee and in theefforts to give some kind of permanent status to the non-nuclear conference that precededd session. the lack of enthusiasm with which some of the smaller countries continue to approach the nonproliferation treaty (npt) is another sign of their disaffection.
unless the demands of the nonnuclear nations for aapproach" to disarmament can be satisfied, there is some risk that the un's role inmay be further impaired. that role could still be anone, even though the initial hard bargaining willcontinue to be the prerogatives of the superpowers. the un's iaea must administer the safeguards clauses of the npt; the un might well be called upon toimilarrole should anybe made toward theof arms deliveries and sales,
and it must presumably make some contribution to achieving the climate of security essential to any progress coward general disarmament.
Colonialism and Racism
Questions of colonialism and racial discrimination in the view of some, an inordinate proportion of the assembly's energies. Spain sought support for its claim to Gibraltar by publicizing itsto relinquish Ifni and Spanish Sahara. Over London's objections, the assembly called on Britain to negotiate "the Rock's" return and eveneadline for the transfer of sovereignty The African bloc again pushed through resolutionsSouth Africa's suzerainty over Southwest Africa and its apartheid policies, and scoring the white regime in Rhodesia and the Portuguese overseas.
To the black Africans,colonialism and racism are inseparable and arelinked to nearly every issue taken up at the UK. Theirmilitant pursuit of their cause during the session broughtrisis inof the charter. Themove to oust South Africa from the United Nations Conference on Trade and (UNCTAD) because of was the first attempt in the UN's history toemberubsidiary organ open to the entire UN membership.
Although proponents of the move argued that the assembly's power to establish subsidiary organs under Articlef the Charter implied tha power to limit their membership, the legal counsel to the secretarymany Western powers'inthat expulsion would violate the Charter's principle of sovereign equality. Moreover, it wasunless the provisions on expulsion set out inf theSecurity Councilwereangerous would be established.
The expulsion move wasonly by invocation of the Important Question doctrine, and thenargin of only four votes. The African delegations were encouraged by this near success. At least one African delegate has promised to renew the fight each yearort of African equivalent to the issue of China's representation. Pressures of this kind willincreasingly recur, and legal interpretations, finerand principles of effective organization will be sacrificed unless the UN canore effective response then in the past to issues that pre-empt the attentionizable part of its membership.
The Continuing Financial Crisis
Many of the UN's financial problems stem from the Congo operationnd areby the continuingsurrounding that episode. The Soviet Union and France have
declined to pay theirfor expenditures that they contend were "illegally"The attempt to force them to pay by depriving them of their assembly vote led to theof all voting in theAssembly's session
ably still distant when the UN will have its own revenues from, for example, administering the international exploitation of ocean resources.
The Perennial Issues
bond issue was authorized1 to alleviate thecrisis but tho method of payment of interest andon these bonds hasone of contention ever since. Atdove to study the establishmentpecial account for theof the bonds almost Some of thoseegregation of bond natters from the general budget evidently hoped that this would permit allocationreater share of the bond expense to thebest able to pay. It was also argued that "isolation" of that part of theinancial woes linked to controversies of the past might pave tho wayore fruitful exchange of views on how to finance the un in the future.
Prospects are not favorable for any early progress toward the solvency that would permit the un toore effective role. The financing issueinextricably linked with the constitutional dispute over the respective roles of the assembly and the council in peacekeeping. The time is prob-
This year's Chinesevote resultedlightly greater margin of defeat for the Communists than last year. The outcome was probably the result of Peking's domestic uproar and its continuedattitude toward the UN, factors that overbalanced the principle of universalcurrently popular among the membership. Stale arguments on both sides were replayed without much enthusiasm. Italy's proposaltudy committee to investigate the feasibilitytwo China policy" was also defeated again. No abrupt change in the prospects for Peking's admission seoros
The Sovietsewin the annual fight over whether or not to invito North Korea to participate alongside South Korea in this year's Korea debate. They tried to resolve the issua at the opening session of the First Committee as an "order of work" matter, before countries friendly to South Korea had marshaled their forces. Although the Soviets loat tho bid, theywo-week delay
between the invitation issue and the substantive debate onelay Pyongyang's supporters sought in order to give the North Koreans time to decide whether to come to New York. The committee voted again this year merely towillingness to invite" Pyongyang if it conceded UN jurisdiction over Korean affairs. Pyongyang again refused but was more moderate than usual in its annual attack on the UN.
Comment and Prospect
On balance, thod session did little to sharpen thoof the UN to some of the great issues facing the world today- izable part of the session was given over to general debate inreat many ofembers restated their national objectives and grievances without noticeable progressachieving the one orthe other. Another substantial part was wasted on issues on which the UN can have no hope of finding earlyChineseand Korean reunification. It seems evident that thorole in peacekeepingwill be niaimal because of the UN's financial problems. Only those operations that can be supported by voluntarycan be undertaken.
d session demonstrated anew the chronic conflict among
tho principles of universality, responsibility, and efficiency. The effort to expel South Africa fromUNCTADramaticof the fact that the big powers can resolve issues to their satisfaction only if they can corral majorities from among countries seeing these issuesarochial perspective. While tho issue of ministatea seems likely to decline innow that the UN hasits maximum possibla membership, the question remains of how the assembly canreconcile voting power with tho power realities.
Although thed session embodied all of the UN'sit nevertheless shows that in some respects the UN canaffectively, and its prestige is higher than in some periods in the past. This session was clearly more fruitful than the disastrous onehere is now nothat is seriously considering following Indonesia's example of de facto withdrawal--although the African issues could produce some; and there is no immediate prospectenewal of earlier attempts to sabotage theMoscow intended with its troika proposal. Even in the vexing area of peacekeeping, it is that the UN is not wholly irrelevant. Those who have lookeday out of the Vietnamhave frequentlyN route; and in the Middle East, some kind of supervisory machinery will be required if andettlement emerges.
d session alsothat ths UK may be on the verge of defining forole in areas that can betruly of globaldevelopment of underwatercontrol of air and sea pollution, and outer space. The agreement in the closing days of the session tomember seabed committee and to asx the secretary general to study appropriate international
machinory for promoting theand exploitation of the soabeds is an example of this trend. In addition, in the oceanographic fieldthe delegatesesolution callingtudy of means to minimize the danger of pollution of the marine environment and, as proposed earlier by the US,ecade of concerted action on ocean floor development.
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