A/38/PV.52 General Assembly

Before we consider the agenda item for this afternoon, I should like to make an announcement regarding the pro- gramme of work for next week. On Monday, 14 Novem- ber, in the morning, the General Assembly will begin consideration of agenda item 25, entitled "Question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)", which will be continued on Tuesday, 15 November. On Monday, 14 November, in the afternoon, the Assembly will begin consideration ofagenda item 37, entitled "Question of peace, stability and co-operation in South-East Asia», which will also be continued on Tuesday, 15 November. On Wednesday, 16 November, in the morning, the Assembly will hear a statement by the President of Israel and then will begin consideration of agenda item 32, entitled "Policies of apartheid of the Government of South Africa". It is· hoped that consideration of that item will be completed on Friday, 18 November. 2. I call on the representative of the United Kingdom on a point of order. 3. Sir John THOMSON (United Kingdom): I had indeed been wondering whether we were going to have a Falk- lands debate one day, and I am glad to have heard you announce it. 4. I may have misunderstood what you said, but I did 110t hear you say anything about suspending the meetings of the General Assembly in order that the petitioners might appear before the Fourth Committee. I had thought -and I had reason to suppose that this was so-that the General Assembly would not meet on Monday afternoon next, but the Fourth Committee would meet to hear the petitioners and that the debate on the Falklands would continue on Tuesday afternoon. 5. Was I mistaken in my understanding? 6. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): The representative of the United Kingdom has made a correct statement. It is quite true that the items will be taken up as he indicated in his point of order. C,onsideration of the item entitled "Question of the Falkland Islands (Mal- vinas)" will begin in a plenary meeting on Monday morn- ing. Monday afternoon the Fourth Committee will hear petitioners, and we trust we shall have a r~port from that Committee on Tuesday, when we shall continue consid- eration of the item "Question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)". 7. I trust the representative of the UrJted Kingdom wiU accept that this was an inadvertent omission; I should have stated the position as he correctly defined it. 8. Sir John THOMSON (United Kingdom): Thank you, Mr. President, for that helpful clarification. I take it, therefore, that the General Assembly will noa be sitting on Monday afternoon. NEW YORK

As I stated, on Monday afternoon, while the Fourth Com- mittee hears the petitioners, the General Assembly will meet to consider agenda item 37. 10. On Tuesday, one of the two plenary meetings- depending on whatever is more convenient for our work -will be devoted to the item "Question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)" and consideration of that item will continue until His concluded. 11. Sir John THOMSON (United Kingdom): I had hitherto understood that it was the intentio~of the Pres- ident to follow the same procedure as was adopted by the General Assembly last year on the same item. Dele- gations will recall that that procedure involved no meeting of the General Assembly while the Fourth Committee was hearing the petitioners. Is it your intention, Mr. Presi- dent, to depart from last year's procedure? 12. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): I have consulted on the question raised by the representa- tive of the United Kingdom and there have been cases in which we proceeded in the way I have mentioned- the case of the question of Cyprus is an example. 13. On MondaY afternoon we will have the opportunity to m~eprogress on another item ofthe agenda, and since we have a rather busy schedule-indeed, we are running behind scnedule-I ask the representative of the United Kingdom to takp. into account that that is what prompted me to suggest that on Monday afternoon we take up the item on South-East Asia. There is no real conflict with regard to consideration of the item "Question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)", which will be continued on Tuesday. As I have explained to the representative of the United Kingdom, we wish to give it full consideration so that it can be concluded without interruption once the discussion is resumed. 14. Sir John THOMSON (United Kingdom): I under- stand from what you have just said, Mr. President, that you do intend to depart from tht~ procedure that was followed last year. This is a surprise to my delegation, which had hitherto understood that the intention was to follow the same procedure as last year in respect of this item. 15. I have great sympathy with you in the difficulties that have been piled upon you by many unexpected cir- cumstances, such as much larger numbers of speakers than had been expected. I particularly sympathize in that we lost the whole oflast Monday through the cancellation of two meetings ofthe General Assembly which had been announced in the Journal. I am ofcourse in your hands, Mr. President, as you are in the hands of the G~neral Assembly, and if you fmd that this coming MondAY is different from last Monday then ofcourse my delegation will have full sympathy with you. 16. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): I feel that basically we shall be following the same proce- dure as at last year's session, for there will be an initial plenary meeting on the item, followed by a meeting of the Fourth Committee for the hearingof the petitioners, A.ssembly. 18. Sir John THOMSON (United Kingdom): I note, Mr. President, that the procedure this year will be basi- cally the same as last year. I hope it will be understood that this does not constitute a precedent. Could you please clarify that? 19. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): Similar practk.es have been followed in other cases. There have been hearings of petitioners in the Fourth Committee at the same time as ~hlil Assembly was holding plenary meetings; the hearings in the Fourth Committee on Namibia, apartheid and Cyprus took place while the General Assembly was holding plenary meetings. 20. Sir John THOMSON (United Kingdom): I should like it to be notlA that for the future my delegation would appreciate being consulted on such matters. 21. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): The representative of the United Kingdom may rest as-' sured that the President will be very pleased to meet him very frequently, as has happened in the last few days. We hope that these friendly and cordial relations will continue in the future.

I shall call on the representative of Nicaragua, who will introduce draft resolution A/38/L.13. 23. Mr. CHAMORRO MORA (Nicaragua) (interpre- tationfrom Spanish): After the very wide-ranging debate on the item before us, it is clear that there is universal concern over the position of the people ofCentral Amer- ica. Many representatives have said that the peoples and Governments of the world are in favour of the restoration of peace and justice in Central America and wish to remove from that part of the world the militaristic adven-' turism aimed at placing ~ quasi-colonial yoke on the people there, which goes again.st the current of history and is unlawful. 24. S~rengthened by this general sentiment of the inter- national community, we are pleased to introduce draft resolution A/38/L.lS, which has been distributed and was submitted to delegations a number of days ago for their consideration. During these days of intense negoti- ations, our delegation has again received the generous support of the Contadora Group, which, in addition to its observations, has in a very frank and forthright man- ner transmitted to us the concerns of other delegations. This final draft reflects many of the concerns, observa- tions and ..spirations, especially those relating to the strengthening of the rules and principles ofinternational law, the Charter of the United Nations and the role of the Contadora Group. 25. Our condemnation of imperialism and the military adventurism of those who represent it is clear and unfail- ing, as is our people's determination to fight to the end to defend their rights as a State in the international com- munity. Accordingly, we have received with flexibility and appreciation the expressions of world opinion in support of peace and law. These expressions are reflected in the draft, which is submitted after long, in-depth meetings with many delegations.

The Assembly will now take a decision on draft res- olution A/38/L.7/Rev.2. A recorded vote has been requested. A recorded vote was taken. In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Democratic Kampuchea, Dem- ocratic Yemen, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, German Democratic Republic, Germany, Federal Repub- lic of, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao Peo- ple's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Maurita'lia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambiq'L:e, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Oman, Paki- stan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Union of Soviet "- Socialist Republics, United Arab Emirates, United King- dom of Great Britain arid Northern Ireland, United Republic of Cameroon, United Republic of Tanzania, Upper Volta, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Against: Israel, United States of America. Abstaining: Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Guatemala, Haiti, Ivory CO&-'lSt, Jamaica, Malawi, Paraguay. The draft resolution was adopted by 123 votes to 2. with 12 abstentions (resolution 38/9).1 52. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): I now call on representatives who wish to explain their votes. 53. Mr. BLUM (Israel): Israel voted against the reso- lution just adopted for the reasons set out in our state- ment at the 42nd meeting. However, I wish to place on record that, had a separate vote been taken on para- graph 6, my delegation would have voted in favour of it, in keeping with Israel's position, as reflected also in the sai4statement, that "Israel has no policy of attacking nuclear facilities, and its views on the substance ofthe issue have been amply ,.,'---- -Resumed from the 44th meeting. attac~rr on nuclear facilities, including the scope of such prom~ition. The outcome of this work should not be prejudiced by action in other bodies. 65. Mr. SERRY (Netherlands): My delegation again voted in favour of the resolution just adopted because we support its general thrust. 66. The Netherlands has strongly condemned the Israeli attack of June 1981 on the Iraqi nuclear installations and fully supports Security Council resolution 487 (1981). We continue to urge Israel to state in unambiguous terms that it will not repeat its attack on nuclear installations in Iraq or in any other country. 67. At the same time, however, we wish to express some strong reservations on the wording of this resolution, in particular its last two paragraphs. My delegation wishes to stress once more that it considers a continued annual deliberation of this matter in the General Assembly unde- sirable because it tends to reduce this issue into another subject of ritual debate. In this connection we would like to point out that the Security Council is already seized of this question by virtue of paragraph 7 of its resolu- tion 487 (1981) and that lAEA is also fully competent to deal with the matter. 68. In the absence of further important developments, we hope that the sponsors of the resolution will give our observations their careful consideration for the future. 69. Mr. DEBOUTTE (Belgium) (interpretation from French): Belgium has just voted in favour of the resolu- tion. The vote is justified by the general content of the resolution. However, Belgium would like to indicate certain reservations with respect to it, in particular as concerns the preambular part, which pointlessly makes reference to problems which have nothing to do with the action which we condemn. Furthermore, my country sees no necessity of reopening next year a debate on the sub- ject of this attack which we already condemned several times. 70. Miss GERVAIS (Canada): At the time of the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear facility called Tamuz, the Canadian Government issued a strong condemnation. When this item was dealt with at the thirty-sixth session of the General Assembly and again at the thirty-seventh session, my delegation reiterated this condemnation, We do so once again by casting a positive vote on the resolu- tion just adopted. 71. Through a productive process of negotiation, an element which was contained in the earlier version of the draft resolution and which was totally unacceptable to my delegation has been removed. This was the inferred questioning of Israeli membership in lAEA. Other eval- uative and extreme references have also been deleted or modified to make the text more balanced.

I call now on the representative of Iraq, who has asked to be allowed to speak in exercise of the right of reply. 86. Mr. AL-ZAHAWI (Iraq): A number of represen- tatives who have just explained their vote pointed out that they would not like to see this item included again in next year's agenda, that they would cansid~r it an unnecessary repetition of the debate, and that this issue should not become a permanent item on the agenda. I assure them that it is not our intention to make this issue a permanent item on the'agenda of the General Assembly. NOTE I The delegations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and of the Sey- chelles subsequently informed the Secretariat that they had intended to vote in favour of the draft resolution.