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| Once upon a time all the animals in the zoo decided that they
would disarm, and they arranged to have a conference to arrange the
matter. So, the Rhinoceros said when he opened the proceedings that
the use of teeth was barbarous and horrible and ought to be strictly
prohibited by general consent. Horns, which were mainly defensive
weapons, would, of course, have to be allowed. The Buffalo, the Stag,
the Porcupine, and even the Hedgehog all said they would vote with
the Rhino, but the Lion and the Tiger took a different view. They
defended teeth and even claws, which they described as honourable
weapons of immemorial antiquity....Then the Bear spoke. He proposed
that both teeth and horns should be banned and never used again for
fighting by any animal. It would be quite enough if animals were allowed
to give each other a good hug when they quarrelled.
Winston Churchill, speech at Aldersbrook, 24 October 1928 |
Introduction
The Port Arthur massacre on 28 April 1996 brought to a head the issue of gun control in Australia. One part of this debate raised the question of whether gun control was associated with general and complete disarmament (GCD).
This Research Note describes the development of the concept of GCD through United Nations (UN) processes. The concept arose in the context of arms control negotiations among the major powers from the end of the 1940s, but in the gun control debate GCD was sometimes cited as evidence of collusion between the UN and national governments with the objective of disarming private citizens.(1) However, GCD, as envisaged by the member nations of the UN, has always been about arms control at an international level, and not related to the disarming of citizens.
The Concept
Resolution 1378 of the 14th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 14) in 1959 stated 'the hope that measures leading towards the goal of general and complete disarmament under effective international control will be worked out in detail and agreed upon in the shortest possible time'. The objective of general and complete disarmament was to create a world where lasting peace and security were assured. This aim has been implicit in the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations since its inception in 1945. In this context, 'General' means that every member State would be committed to disarm. 'Complete Disarmament' means that weapons and forces would be scaled down to a minimum, defined as the point at which States retain just enough military capability to maintain order, but sufficient to assist the UN-sanctioned international operations. The intention of the member states was to create a single international document which would:
cover the disarmament of both nuclear and conventional weapons;
specify the steps to be taken to achieve nuclear and conventional disarmament and;
define the status of the remaining forces and armaments.
A Brief History
'General and Complete Disarmament' was first included on the agenda of UNGA 14 at the request of the Soviet Union. Premier Khrushchev addressed the assembly on 18 September 1959 and proposed a new disarmament program in three stages aimed at eliminating all armed forces and armaments within a four year period. The program was revised and submitted to the Ten-Nation Disarmament Committee (TNDC) in Geneva in March of 1960. The TNDC was created by the Foreign Ministers of France, the Soviet Union, UK and USA as a body outside of the United Nations but linked to it. Its task was to negotiate General and Complete Disarmament. For reasons of parity, the TNDC was made up of five Eastern Bloc countries (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union), and five Western Bloc countries (Canada, France, Italy, UK and the USA). The TNDC met from 15 March 1960 to 27 June 1960. During this time it tried, unsuccessfully, to attain consensus on the many, complex issues facing both sides on their way to general disarmament. TNDC's failure to reach agreement can be understood in the context of the strained relations between East and West at the time.
A joint statement by the United States of America and the Soviet Union on the agreed principles for disarmament was issued on 20 September, 1961. Also referred to as the Zorin-McCloy agreement, it stated that the goal of negotiation was to assure that war would not be used as a way of settling international disputes. The statement recommended that a program for disarmament applying to all countries should comprise the following principles as a basis for new negotiations:
The statement also called for the creation of an international disarmament organisation within the framework of the United Nations. Its inspectors would have unrestricted access to all places, as necessary for verification of disarmament measures.
As a result of the Zorin-McCloy statement, the following two proposals were submitted to the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee (ENDC) in 1962. The ENDC was established in the 16th General Assembly by Resolution 1722 on 20 December 1961. The two proposals were the 'Draft treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict international control' submitted by the Soviet Union on 15 March 1962, and the 'Outline of basic provisions of a treaty on general and complete disarmament in a peaceful world' submitted by the United States of America on 18 April 1962. The proposals and their revisions were discussed over the following years, but no final agreement could be reached. The areas causing the most difficulty concerned the stages of implementation, the nuclear issue and the verification of disarmament measures. As the negotiation process continued over the years, it became apparent that general and complete disarmament was not going to be achieved through a single, comprehensive international instrument. Instead, arms control and arms limitation came to be seen as more viable and achievable, and GCD began to be regarded as a goal to work towards, with the hope that with each success, international mutual confidence and trust would grow.
Conclusion
For most of the 1950's and the early 1960's, the approach adopted to GCD was for an all-encompassing, coordinated and rigidly phased program of disarmament. By the mid 1960's, the focus had shifted to achieving specific short-term objectives, which could be agreed relatively easily and incorporated into legal instruments, which would contribute to, rather than hinder, the long-term goal of GCD. Although GCD, as initially envisaged by the United Nations, has not come to fruition, some success has been achieved through the various multilateral arms reduction and disarmament treaties and conventions which have been concluded and implemented. These include the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963), the Treaty on Nuclear Non Proliferation (1968), and most recently the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (1996).
The task of negotiating a handful of international arms control agreements has proved extremely difficult and time consuming. There was never the aim nor the possibility that this sort of international process could be transferred to the area of privately owned weapons.
(1) Greg Roberts, 'Pineapple Extremists Are for Freedom', Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 1996.
