Disarmament decade

The concept of a Disarmament Decade gained attention during the 1969 session of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament, when Romania suggested that consideration be given to the proclamation of such a decade. In the same year, in the introduction to his annual report on the work of the Organization,^ the Secretary-General, after deploring the continuing arms race, proposed that the decade of the 1970s be designated as a Disarmament Decade. The Secretary-General’s proposal was widely welcomed in the General. Assembly which, in a resolution concerning the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations (resolution 2499 (XXIV)), endorsed the call for the proclamation of a Disarmament Decade. Also at its twenty-fourth session, the General Assembly adopted resolution 2602 E (XXIV) of 16 December 1969, by which it declared the decade of the 1970s a Disarmament Decade; called upon Governments and the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament to intensify their efforts towards the achievement of general and complete disarmament; and requested the CCD, while continuing negotiations with a view to reaching agreement on collateral measures, to work out at the same time a comprehensive programme, dealing with all aspects of the problem of the cessation of the arms race and general and complete disarmament under effective international control, which would provide the Committee with a guideline to chart the course of its work and negotiations. The resolution further recommended that consideration be given to channelling a substantial part of the resources freed by measures in the field of disarmament to promote the economic development of developing countries and, in particular, their scientific and technological progress.

Related Subject(s): Disarmament