§ 3.16 p.m.
§ Lord BrockwayMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Geneva Committee appointed by the United Nations Special Sessions on Disarmaments in 1978 to make recommendations to the renewed Sessions in June 1982 has agreed on proposals for comprehensive disarmament and, if so, what the proposals are.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Belstead)My Lords, the Committee on Disarmament has agreed to submit a draft comprehensive programme of disarmament to the Second Special Session. But the committee was unable to reconcile the differing approaches of the three main groups within the committee, each of whose proposals are incorporated in the draft programme. I am placing a copy of the draft programme in the Library.
§ Lord BrockwayMy Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. Will he confirm that the United Nations Special Assembly in 1978 asked this committee to prepare proposals for the abolition of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction and for the phased abolition over years of conventional weapons leading to complete and general disarmament? Is it not disappointing that the committee has not come to an agreement to carry out those instructions of the United Nations Assembly? Does the fact of this division mean that all three proposals will come before the renewed assembly in June?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I agree with the noble Lord's assessment of the task of the Committee on Disarmament at Geneva and I share the noble Lord's disappointment that it has not been possible to put forward an agreed programme.
§ Lord BrockwayMy Lords, will the Minister answer my second question? Will all three proposals now be brought before the renewed assembly in June?
§ Lord BelsteadYes, my Lords.