Reduction of military budgets.

  A The General Assembly, Expressing its deep concern about the ever-spiralling arms race andgrowing military expenditures, which constitute a heavy burden for theeconomies of all nations and have extremely harmful effects on world peace andsecurity, Recalling that at its twelfth special session, the second special sessiondevoted to disarmament, all Member States unanimously and categoricallyreaffirmed the validity of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session ofthe General Assembly, the first special session devoted to disarmament, aswell as "their solemn commitment" to it, Reaffirming the provisions of the Final Document of the Tenth SpecialSession of the General Assembly, according to which the gradual reduction ofmilitary budgets on a mutually agreed basis, for example in absolute figuresor in terms of percentage points, particularly by nuclear-weapon States andother militarily significant States, would be a measure that would contributeto curbing the arms race and would increase the possibilities for thereallocation of resources now being used for military purposes to economic andsocial development, particularly for the benefit of the developingcountries, Recalling also the Declaration of the 1980s as the Second DisarmamentDecade, which provides that during this period renewed efforts should bemade to reach agreement on the reduction of military expenditures and thereallocation of resources thus saved to economic and social development,especially for the benefit of developing countries, Recalling further its resolution 34/83 F of 11 December 1979, in which itconsidered that a new impetus should be given to endeavours to achieveagreements to freeze, reduce or otherwise restrain, in a balanced manner,military expenditures, including adequate measures of verificationsatisfactory to all parties concerned, Having considered the report of the Disarmament Commission on the workaccomplished during its session in 1982 on the item "Reduction of militarybudgets", Convinced that the identification and elaboration of a set of principlesthat should govern further actions of States in freezing and reducing militarybudgets could contribute to harmonizing the views of States and createconfidence among them conducive to achieving international agreements on thereduction of military budgets, Considering that the identification and elaboration of the principlesthat should govern further actions of States in freezing and reducing militarybudgets and the other current activities within the framework of the UnitedNations related to the question of the reduction of military budgets should beregarded as having the fundamental objective of reaching internationalagreements on the reduction of military expenditures, Aware of the various proposals submitted by Member States and of theactivities carried out so far within the framework of the United Nations inthe field of the reduction of military budgets,

1. Declares once again its conviction that it is possible to achieveinternational agreements on reduction of military budgets without prejudice tothe right of all States to undiminished security, self-defence and sovereignty;

2. Reaffirms that human and material resources released through thereduction of military expenditures could be reallocated for economic andsocial development, particularly for the benefit of the developing countries;

3. Reiterates the urgent need to reinforce the endeavours of all Statesand international action in the reduction of military budgets, with a view toreaching international agreements to freeze, reduce or otherwise restrainmilitary expenditures;

4. Urges all States, in particular the most heavily armed States,pending the conclusion of agreements on the reduction of militaryexpenditures, to exercise self-restraint in their military expenditures with aview to reallocating the funds thus saved to economic and social development,particularly for the benefit of developing countries;

5. Requests the Disarmament Commission to continue, at its session tobe held in 1983, the consideration of the item entitled "Reduction of militarybudgets", including consideration of the background paper as well as otherproposals and ideas on that subject, with a view to identifying andelaborating the principles that should govern further actions of States infreezing and reducing military expenditures, keeping in mind the possibilityof embodying such principles in a suitable document at an appropriate stage;

6. Also requests the Disarmament Commission to consider, at its nextsubstantive session, other proposals and ideas, as well as recommendationssubmitted by Member States, for reducing military budgets;

7. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its thirty-eighthsession the item entitled "Reduction of military budgets".

B The General Assembly, Deeply concerned about the arms race and present tendencies to increasefurther the rate of growth of military expenditures, its deplorable waste ofhuman and economic resources and its potentially harmful effects on worldpeace and security, Considering that a gradual reduction of military expenditures on amutually agreed basis would be a measure that would contribute to curbing thearms race and would increase the possibilities of reallocating resources nowbeing used for military purposes to economic and social development,particularly for the benefit of the developing countries, Convinced that such reductions could and should be carried out on amutually agreed basis without detriment to the national security of anycountry, Reaffirming its conviction that provisions for defining, reporting,comparing and verifying military expenditures will have to be basic elementsof any international agreement to reduce such expenditures, Recalling that an international system for the standardized reporting ofmilitary expenditures has been introduced in pursuance of General Assemblyresolution 35/142 B of 12 December 1980 and that annual reports on militaryexpenditures are now being received from a number of Member States, Considering that a wider participation in the reporting system wouldpromote its further refinement and would, by contributing to greater opennessin military matters, increase confidence between States, Considering that new initiatives are called for to give a fresh impetustowards achievement of the broadest possible participation of States fromdifferent geographic regions and representing different budgeting systems inthe reporting of military expenditures to the Secretary-General, Noting that among such initiatives is a proposal to convene aninternational conference on military expenditures, Noting with appreciation that, in pursuance of resolution 35/142 B, theSecretary-General has submitted his report on the reduction of militarybudgets, which deals, inter alia, with the question of comparing andverifying military expenditures and contains several useful conclusions andrecommendations for the promotion of further progress in this field, Considering also that the study of this question should be followed by apractical exercise in order to explore it further with a view to facilitatingfuture negotiations on the reduction of military expenditures, Emphasizing that all the above-mentioned activities and initiatives, aswell as other ongoing activities within the United Nations related to thereduction of military budgets, should have the fundamental objective offacilitating future negotiations aimed at the conclusion of internationalagreements on the reduction of military expenditures,

1. Stresses the need to increase the number of reporting States with aview to the broadest possible participation from different geographic regionsand representing different budgeting systems and requests theSecretary-General to invite Member States to submit their views andsuggestions on practical means of promoting this goal and to report to theGeneral Assembly at its thirty-eighth session on the results of thisconsultation;

2. Reiterates its recommendation that all Member States should reportannually, by 30 April, to the Secretary-General, using the reportinginstrument, their military expenditures for the latest fiscal year for whichdata are available;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to modify the instructions of thereporting instrument in the manner suggested in paragraph 59 of his reportand to circulate this revised instrument among all Member States so that theymay use it in their reporting in 1983;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to make the collecting and assemblingof data on military expenditures, reported by States on the basis of thereporting instrument, an integral part of his normal statistical services andto arrange and publish these data according to statistical practice;

5. Requests the Secretary-General, with the assistance of a group ofqualified experts and with the voluntary co-operation of States, to undertakethe task of constructing price indices and purchasing-power parities for themilitary expenditures of participating States; this task should encompass astudy of the problem as a whole, which would include the following:

(a) To assess the feasibility of such an exercise;

(b) To design the project and methodology to be employed;

(c) To determine the types of data required, such as productiondescriptions, prices and statistical weights;

(d) To construct military price indices and purchasing-power parities;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to ascertain the willingness ofStates to participate and to enlist their voluntary co-operation;

7. Invites Member States to participate in the above-mentioned exercise;

8. Requests the Secretary-General to submit progress reports to theGeneral Assembly at its thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth sessions and a finalreport to the Assembly at its fortieth session;

9. Requests the Secretary-General to provide the group of experts withthe necessary assistance and secretariat services;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to make the necessary arrangementsfor the report on the reduction of military budgets to be issued as aUnited Nations publication and widely distributed;

11. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its thirty-eighthsession the item entitled "Reduction of military budgets".