Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

HOP Yol XX Special. Number - .148. ~ (07929)

1968 No 2

We refer to the following results end instructive lessons cf the disarmament negotiations:

1) We have to attach serious significance to the very fact of these negotiations;} During the international tensions and frequent crises of the past twenty-two years, the disarmament negotiations -> vhough often reflecting these very tensions arc!, crises - have furnished the opportunities of the partners meeting again and again one another* Then the interaction between these negotiations and public opinion has also been important0 It is not enough to state that public opinion, to a certain eßrfcent, has exerted pressure on the negotiations in the direction of disarmament , the reverse effect must also be stressed; the very fact of the negotiations has shaped public opinion in that the idea cf disarmament and the attendant hopes and expectations have been kept alivec

2) It is also an important achievement -that we may have now an increasingly clear conception of the outlines of disarmaments One cf the decisive events of this process cf clarification was the XIYth Assembly cf the UNO with its resolution passed on the 20th of NovemberP 1959» which called general and total disarmament the most .important problem that is to be

.solved by the world« An appeal was made to the governments to initiate the most comprehensive effort for the achievement of construct ive solutions-..

The hope was expressed that the Disarmament Jonmittee follovdng the recommendations of the ten-power negotiations., vri.ll, in the shortest possible time, present a detailed plan for general and total disarmament with effective controls» This resolution opened up the way fur the elaboration and presentation of comprehensive and concrete plans cf disarmament« And as regards the basic principles, it went beyond the 1961 negotiation cf the two mostly concerned great powers, t’e Soviet Union and the UnScA0 the results .of which were subsequently submitted to the UNO» (It was af ter thin that the very important step was taken to set up the 13-powcr - without France, 17- power - disarmament committee which is still in operation)» According to the proposal, the goal cf the disarmament negotiations is gmorel and total disarmament, with parallel procedures for die peaceful solution of international problems* Hie problem cf disarmamcit includes the dissolution cf armed fur cos, the destruction of the weapons of mass destruction and of th „ vehicles capable of transporting tiißm to the desired targets* the dissolution of military organizations and institutions, the cancelling of military budgets* After the conclusion cf the process of disarmament, the states axe to have only conventional weapons needed for the maintenance cf public order and for military contingents at the disposal of the UNO, The programme of disarmament is to he put into effect by stages, with effective controls far every stage, so that the balance of forces bo not upset, neither any of the states or groups of states gain military advantages« Eve process cf disarmament is tobe conducted, from beginning L end, under strict ord effective control, and simultaneously the institutions for maintaining peace and settling international disputes must be strengthened, The states are to take the most comprehensive and speediest measures and persist in their endeavours until agreement is reached* The partial measures of disarmament