UNITED NATIONS

General Assembly Oistr. GENERAL

A/42/353 18 .JunP. 1987

ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

Fortv-second session Item 63 of the preliminarv list.

GENERAL AND COMPLETE OISARMAMENT

L~tter dated 17 June 1987 from the Permanent Representative nf Sweden to the Addres~ed to the Secretarv-General

I have thp honour to transmit to VOII the second edition of the "Report to the United Nations from the Great Peace Journey, Five QuestiollS to the Governments and their Answers" (see annpx). I shoulr1 he arateful if vou would haw' this report. circulated as a document of the General Assemhlv under item 63 of the preliminarv list.

Thp Swedish Government has followed the Initiative of the Great Peace Journev with qreat interPAt. It has also notpd the personal interest that vou have indicated in this matter, in particu1~r when the preliminarv report was presented to vou at the Unitpd Nations on fi Oecemher 1986.

The initiators nf the Great Peace Journev have rpceived further answers from Governments on thp five auestions. Therefore, the report of thp Journev has hpen updated. It iA this Ilpdatpr) vprsion that is now tram;mitted to vou for circulation.

(Sianed) Anners FERM Amhassannr Permanent Rppresentative of Swenen to the Unitpd Nations

• A/42/r;O.

R7-1SS44 2J18q (E) / ... A/4;>/F,1 l";nq) ish flaqp. .~

ANNEX THE

Five ,,~ .- ...... ""-' .. ~..-.., Questions to the Governments and their Answers

Report to the United Nations Second ed:tion May 1987

I ... 11 '42/JS, [,n<,l ish Pa"", -\

THE GREAT PEACEjOURNEY I~TERNA T10NAL SECRETARIAT, BOX 228, S-751 04 UPPSALA. SWEDEN, TEL 018-10 12 37,10 12 39, PG 1431 48-5 S;>LES OFFICE, BOX 163, S-372 01 RONNEBY, SWEDEN, TEL 0457-12620

CHAIRPERSON'lnga Thors,on. VICE CHAIRPERSONS. Karin Soder Save rhe ChIldren fund ISCFl, Kerstin Greback, Women for Peace WfPL SECRETARY: Eva Hagerstrand, WfP, TRE;\SURER: Birgitta lorentzl, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom WllPFI, Ker~lIn Blomberg, SCF. Aino Blomqvlst. The National Campaign agamst Nuclear t'ower. Lars Cadzon. Bishop em., Asrrtd Einars,,,n, WILPF, Elisaberh Gerle. WILPf, Bjam Hajer, IOGT/NTO, Brm Pelf"" Krister Steodahl. Bishop, SECRETARY-GENERAL Gunllla eilnks.

I ... Best Copy Available 1'./42/3<;3 EnQlii';h PaQe 5

Introduction by Inga Thorsson President of the Great Peace Journey

»We, the peoples ofthe United Nations, determined to save succeeding genera­ tions from the scourge of war, and to live in peace with one another as good neighbours...» These often quoted opening words of the United Nations Charter form the very basis for The Great Peace Journey: Five Questions to the Governments of UN Member States. This project, originating in Sweden but grown into a worldwide undertaking, is an ongoing activity aimed at strengthening the United Nations through remind­ ing its Member States oftheir commitment to world peace and development by freely signing the United Nations Charter. Thus, the five questions are closely related to the Charter. They read as follows:

Are you willing to initiate national legislation which guarantees that your country's defence forces, including »military advisers», do not leave your 1 territory for military purposes (other than in United Nations peacekeeping forces) - if all other Members of the United Nations undertake to do the same?

Are you willing to take steps to ensure that the development, possession, storage and employment ofmass-destruction weapons including nuclear 2 weapons, which threaten to destroy the very conditions necessary for life on this earth, are forbidden in your country - if all other Members of the United Nations undertake to do the same?·

Are you willing to take steps to prevent your country from allowing the supply ofmilitary equipment and weapons technology to other countries 3 - if all other Members of the United Nations undertake to do the same?

Are you willing to work for a distribution of tf">e earth's resources so that the fundamental necessities of human life, such as clean water, food, 4 elementary health care and education are available to all people through­ out the world?

Are you willing to ensure that any conrlicts, in which your country may be involved in the future, will be settled by peaceful means of the kind speci­ 5 fied in Article 33 of the United Nations Charter, and not by the use or threat of force?

! .•. T\/421 I'd 1':Ml I~h ""<1" li

The opening words of the ChlUter reilect the i,Kt th,lt when Governments oi Member States ,let in the United Nations they act on behalf oi ttwir pt1oples, Thereiore the peoples h.lVe the right to question their governments: what have you, or what have you not done to preserve peace, to imlJlement gemline dis,u­ mament medsures, to convert resources now used for military purposes to con­ structive and meaningful civil use, Including the ~romotion oi economic and social devleopment in developing countries, and to solve conilicts JmonR stJtes by peaceful means, in accordance with, and in obeY,lnce of, Article 33 of the UN Charter.

It is the fate, the survival of the peoples Ihat is at stake. Therefore, the peoples have the right to demand answers to their questions, The Governments have ,1 duty to give the answers. They are accountable to the people'!,

The contents and the aim' of the five questions are, I submit, self-evident. Just d few words on question no. 5. Some governments h,lVe commented on tlMt question by a reference to Article 51 of the Ci, lrter, statir: ',the riMht oi individu'll or collecti\e self-defence in case ofan armed attacK. Agai:1st this point reit>rerKl' should be made to question no. 1: If all U~J Member StJles did commit them­ selves not to permit their armed forces to leavf! their own t~rritories, no ,umed attacKs could be carried out against any other UN Member State.

The initiators ofthe Great PeJce Journey. ,1<; w~1I as the thousJnds of committed and devoted purticipants all over the world, .ue not r,'live enouMh to ima~ine thdt the world be transformed, JS it were overnight, by yes-answers by ..111 gov~~rn· ments to all five questions, The issues involved are l>xtremely serious, compli­ c,lted and difficult. But we do believe in the need for new thinking ,md new II1ltiatives in matters oi life or death for the human beings of this our only 1',lrth, We do believe in having the peoples intervene in the political process by ()penin~ a straight dialogue with their governments. We df) believe that hy dt'rll.. ndin~ written and signed answer~ by governments to the iive question .. , ,md kt'l'pinlol them reminded of the commitments entailed thereby, the Gredt Pedn' lourm'y mJy contribute to the strengthening oi the bel')I'i for meJnin!04iullnterl1

fhe five questions have been 'lent in writing to the (Jovernmpnt.. oi,Ill UN Mtml­ ber States with a request for ,lnswers, So far, the CreJt PeJce Juurney hJ'> bt.'l'11 undertaken in thrl'?e phases, of which th.. iir'it. visits to cJpitals in Europt', W.1" t:Jrried out in May 1985, the second, visits to capitals in AfricJ, L,llin America. CJnada, Tlte South Pacific and Asia, was carried out in October-November 198b, Jnd the third, visits to the capitals of the two superpowers, \A,lS carried out on 5 December 19Hb. 1\/4;'/1',1 l:nq 11 '111 1'''1''' 7

Due to lack ()ffinancial ~esources and time avaHable. it has not been possible to organize person"1 visits to the Governments of all 159 UN Member States, 97 Governments have been visited, however it was decid~Q !'lot to visit o',e Member State. namelv thE.' RepulJllc or South Ai"ca,

It is amatter of courS! that it has taken some time to receive the written answers from Governments, particularly those who have, unfortunately, only been approached in writing. We have found the extent to which also a numbf:i' of those Governments have responded very gratifying, On the whole, the Board wants to use this