Commission considers preliminary elements of guidelines on arms transfers.

• Position: United Nations. Commission on Disarmament

Preliminary elements of guidelines for international arms transfers were considered by the Disarmament Commission at its 1994 session (18 April-9 May, New York).

Although the commission adopted a final report (A/49/42) for the General Assembly--incorporating reports of its three working groups--it failed to achieve consensus, for the fourth consecutive year, on the role of science and technology in the context of international security and disarmament. It thus concluded consideration of that subject.

Consensus was also lacking on the issue of nuclear disarmament in the framework of international peace and security, but the Commission endorsed the recommendation of Working Group I that the item be again considered in 1995.

In debate, delegates expressed disappointment over the lack of consensus. Some agreed that an overemphasis on, and defense of, detailed national positions had overshadowed the international community's common disarmament goals.

Not discouraged, must persevere

In concluding remarks, Commission Chairman Rene Valery Mongbe of Benin said that while the body's work might appear disappointing, delegations were not discouraged. One "need not hope in order to try, nor succeed in order to persevere", he stated, quoting former United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was in that spirit that the Commission must continue its work, he added.

The Commission--a subsidiary organ of the Assembly with universal membership--was revitalized in 1978 to make recommendations on specific disarmament issues and to follow up on the decisions of the Assembly's special sessions on disarmament.

Using a new, phased work pattern, the Commission considers items in three-year cycles, taking up one item in the first year, another in the next, and a third in the concluding year, so that one item is added and one is...