Assembly 265.

Reference your UNY.383 and 392. [1]

V E T O

1. Attempts made by Bevin and representatives of other permanent
members to induce Molotov to [2] common declaration regarding
application of veto have failed to produce any result and we are
closely watching for an opportunity to bring the question back
into Committee One. For several days past the Committee has been
deeply involved in the question of troops on foreign territory and
because of the way debate has developed Committee may pass
immediately to Soviet proposal on disarmament. [3] On the other
hand if the Great Powers are not ready to discuss disarmament we
may be able to bring discussion on veto to a head.

2. We submit for your consideration the following revised text of
the resolution [4] on which we believe we could marshal
considerable body of support including possibly the United Kingdom
and United States:

BEGINS: 'The General Assembly, mindful of the purposes and
principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and having taken
notice of the manner in which the power of veto conferred by
Article 27(3) of the Charter has been employed in the proceedings
of the Security Council in relation to matters outside Chapter VII
of the Charter, considers that in some instances the use and the
threatened use of such power of veto has not been in keeping
either with the general purposes and principles of the Charter or
with the understanding of the United Nations Conference on
International Organisation held at San Francisco, and [5]
earnestly requests the permanent members of the Security Council
to make every effort, in consultation with one another and with
fellow members of the Security Council, to ensure that the
Security Council is not hindered or obstructed by the vote of a
single member in carrying out its solemn obligations in respect to
the peaceful settlement of disputes. The General Assembly
recommends to the Security Council the early adoption of practices
and procedures, consistent with the Charter, to assist in reducing
the difficulties in the application of Article 27 and to ensure
the prompt and effective exercise by the Security Council of its
functions under Chapter VI of the Charter, and further recommends
that in developing such practices and procedures the Security
Council take into consideration the views expressed by members of
the United Nations during the second part of the first session of
the General Assembly.

ENDS.

3. The Canadians and Americans have in mind the possibility of
asking the Assembly to approve an agreed text setting out various
procedures but we feel that such an attempt may strain the
patience of the Committee too far and in any case is likely to
produce a document which represents the minimum on which all could
agree rather than the maximum contained in the Committee debates,
while the general result of adopting an agreed text was to have a
restrictive rather than liberalising influence in the work of the
Security Council during the coming year.

4. We are trying to keep the Cuban proposals [6] strictly apart
from our own. Cuba will now probably shift from an attempt to
attain a Constitutional Conference to an attempt to appoint an
Assembly Committee to hear evidence and make studies regarding
possible revisions of the Charter and report to a future Assembly.