Skip to main content

Historical documents

21 Australian Delegation, United Nations, to Department of External Affairs

Cablegram United Nations 269 NEW YORK, 11 July 1946, 5.29 p.m.

SECRET

Atomic 20.

1. At today's meeting of sub-committee 1, Dr. Evatt informally
reviewed the work to date. He plainly presented members with the
question whether they wanted to establish atomic controls with or
without prior amendment of the Charter and stated that Australian
documents had been based on the assumption that the Charter would
not be amended. He also clarified discussions regarding veto and
after recalling the Australian attitude at San Francisco regarding
the Security Council voting on enforcement measures', drew a
distinction between voting on matters that concerned the Security
Council and on administrative questions with which an Atomic
Authority would have to deal. Although no amendment of the Charter
was necessary, there would have to be a new treaty inasmuch as the
jurisdiction of the Security Council did not allow it sufficient
powers to control all questions relating to atomic energy and
there was no direct executive authority in the Charter except to
the limited extent in Chapter 7.

2. Dr. Evatt then suggested that at the meeting of the Working
Committee tomorrow he should propose the establishment of the
following committees-
(a) Co-ordination Committee;

(b) Committee on Control and Inspection;

(c) Legal Committee, which would have the double function of
assisting other Committees on legal questions and drafting and
considering relationships between Atomic Energy Control and United
Nations Organisation, and ultimately prepare drafts of
conventions.

(d) A Scientific and Technical Panel, which would also deal with
problems relating to the development of peaceful uses of atomic
energy and exchange of information.

3. This suggestion found general acceptance from the British,
American and French representatives but Gromyko made a deliberate
statement that the question of an autonomous organ to deal with
atomic energy would not be accepted in any circumstance by the
Soviet Union. The responsibilities for handling atomic energy and
the responsibilities of the Security Council were closely
intertwined and he also considered it impossible to divide
sanctions into those applicable by Atomic Energy Authority and the
Security Council respectively. The Soviet could not accept a
proposal which deprived the Security Council of its authority.

4. Gromyko, however, accepted the general idea of creating
technical committees for further work although he proposed some
modifications of Dr. Evatt's suggestions.

5. Answering Gromyko, Dr. Evatt pointed out that the extent of the
autonomy of an Atomic Energy Agency would depend on the terms of
the treaty. The Security Council would retain its present
jurisdiction but it had special functions and was not suitable for
deciding administrative questions relating to atomic energy.

Similarly, the enforcement measures mentioned in Chapter 7 were
not all applicable to atomic energy questions.

6. The Working Committee will meet tomorrow afternoon when Dr.

Evatt, as Retiring Chairman, will report on his own responsibility
on matters discussed and submit recommendations for creation of
technical committees.

1 The Australian delegation had argued at San Francisco that the
veto should apply only to voting on enforcement action by the
security Council to preserve peace or put down aggression.


[AA:A1838 T184, 720/1, i]
Last Updated: 11 September 2013
Back to top