Disarmament or Delusion?

“Removing the threat of a world war​—a nuclear war—​is the most acute and urgent task of the present day. Mankind is confronted with a choice: we must halt the arms race and proceed to disarmament or face annihilation.”​—Final Document of the United Nations First Special Session on Disarmament, 1978.

Has progress been made in ‘removing the threat of a nuclear war’? To answer that question and to take a step toward global disarmament The Second Special Session on Disarmament met June 7 to July 9, 1982. Note the remarks made by heads of state and world leaders at that Special Second Session:

● Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Zenko Suzuki: “During these four years the arms race has exacerbated the threat to peace, heightening the anxieties of peoples and imposing heavier burdens on each nation at the expense of its economic and social development.”

● Papal message delivered by Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, Secretary of State of the Holy See: “There seems to be very little improvement. Some in fact think that there has been a deterioration, at least in the sense that hopes born of that period could now be described as mere illusions.”

● Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland, Mr. Kalevi Sorsa: “Statesmen of dedication and sincerity, many of them in this hall, have done their utmost to arrest this development. Yet the arms race goes on. It is as if the arms race had escaped rational human control.”

● Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda, Mr. M. Otema Allimadi: “The picture is indeed grim. . . . Over the last four years, the hopes that were once raised . . . have been eroded almost to the point of despair.”

● President of the United States, Mr. Ronald Reagan: “The United Nations is dedicated to world peace and its Charter clearly prohibits the international use of force. Yet the tide of belligerence continues to rise. The Charter’s influence has weakened even in the four years since the first special session on disarmament.”

● Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Pierre Elliot Trudeau: “I believe that we must accept the fact that total security has become for all countries an unattainable objective in today’s world.”

● Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher: “We must look for a better system of preventing war than nuclear deterrence. But to suggest that between East and West there is such a system within reach at the present time would be a perilous pretence.”

Was the Second Special Session any more successful than the First? Mr. Kittani, President of the UN General Assembly, answers: “Despite all our preparations and efforts, this session has not been a success. Our hopes and aspirations, together with those of countless millions, remain far from fulfillment.”