GC25 United Nations Charter Revision (1972U551)

WHEREAS the United Nations Charter is revised every ten years; and

WHEREAS it is the conviction of this Committee that the government of Canada should be lending all possible support to reform of the UN Charter and the more effective working of the United Nations in the pursuit of world peace:

BE IT RESOLVED that this General Council commend the government of Canada for its support of the United Nations and urge it to initiate a national study as soon as possible to explore such questions as:

1. Bringing the sea bed and its development under international law;
2. The adoption of the International Court of Justice at The Hague as a Supreme Court for the UN;
3. The control of the air;
4. The possibility of introducing to the UN organization weighted voting, not in the Security Council, but through the establishment of a Council of those states willing to surrender some degree of sovereignty to the UN;
5. The cessation of the right to declare war beyond one’s national boundaries to such international authority, having ceded some degree of sovereignty;
6. The cessation of some portion of national revenues (perhaps two per cent of gross national product) for the purpose of financing the Interstate Authority;
7. The establishment of Interstate forces to maintain the security of waterways and the right of access, and to ensure the protection of the ecology of each region;
8. The carrying out of the minimal revision of the UN Charter as suggested by former Secretary-General U Thant.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this General Council:

Urge our own congregations, local and national councils of churches, other denominations and men’s and women’s organizations, to study the research and background material already prepared by such organizations as the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, the Peace Research Institute, World Federalists and university departments concerned with international law.

The results of the studies made should be forward to the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa to assist the government in achieving a Canadian consensus for Charter revision.

GC25 1972 ROP, pp. 42, 263-264