Forty-ninth session
Agenda item 55
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 47/44 of 9 December 1992 and 48/67
of 16 December 1993,
Taking note of the report of the Disarmament Commission
on its 1994 substantive session, 1/ in particular on the work
of Working Group II on agenda item 5, entitled "The role
of science and technology in the context of international security,
disarmament and other related fields", 2/
Recognizing that science and technology per se are deemed
to be neutral, that scientific and technological developments
can have both civilian and military applications and that progress
in science and technology for civilian applications needs to be
maintained and encouraged,
Mindful that the application of science and technology
relevant to weapons of mass destruction, as well as to conventional
weapons, should not lead to excessive and destabilizing accumulation
of arms through quantitative build-up or qualitative improvements
of arms which threaten international peace and security,
Recognizing that progress in the application of science
and technology contributes substantially to the implementation
of arms control and disarmament agreements in the fields of, inter
alia, weapons disposal, military conversion and verification,
Cognizant that international transfers of high-technology
products, services and know-how for peaceful purposes are important
for the economic and social development of States,
Recalling that norms and guidelines for the transfer of
high technology with military applications should take into account
legitimate requirements for the maintenance of international peace
and security, while ensuring that they do not deny access to high-technology
products, services and know-how for peaceful purposes,
Mindful that cooperation in this field among supplier and
recipient States should be enhanced by a firm common commitment
to preventing transfers of high technology with military applications
for exclusively peaceful purposes from being diverted to non-peaceful
uses, and that such cooperation should be based on clearly defined
and balanced rights and obligations, appropriate measures of transparency
and verification, equity and fairness and predictability of incentives
and benefits,
1. Affirms that scientific and technological achievements
should be used for the benefit of all mankind to promote the sustainable
economic and social development of all States and to safeguard
international security, and that international cooperation in
the use of science and technology through the transfer and exchange
of technological know-how for peaceful purposes should be promoted;
2. Invites Member States to undertake additional efforts
to apply science and technology for disarmament-related purposes
and to make disarmament-related technologies available to interested
States;
3. Recommends that Member States adopt and implement national
measures, consistent with international law, regulating the transfer
of high technology with military applications in order to seek
to ensure that such transfers do not undermine international peace
and security and that access is not denied to high-technology
products, services and know-how for peaceful purposes;
4. Also invites Member States to widen multilateral dialogue,
seeking universally acceptable norms and guidelines that would
regulate international transfers of high technology with military
applications;
5. Encourages the United Nations to contribute, within
existing mandates, to promoting the application of science and
technology for peaceful purposes;
6. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its
fiftieth session the item entitled "The role of science and
technology in the context of international security, disarmament
and other related fields".
90th plenary meeting
15 December 1994
__________
1/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-ninth Session,
Supplement No. 42 (A/49/42).
2/ Ibid., para. 22.