Churches hit out at Govt’s stand on U.N. arms session

Press, 5 June 1982, Page 12

Churches hit out at Govt’s stand on U.N. arms session

The Government’s response to the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament to be held in New York this month has been criticised by Church groups. The disarmament conference, the second to be organised by the United Nations, will run from June 7 to July 9 and will involve' 157 countries.

World leaders were asked by the organisers to give it their full support and to send strong delegations to the meeting. The Rev. Dennis Horton, editor of "Zealandia," a Catholic weekly newspaper, said that some countries would be represented By Prime Ministers or Presidents.

President Ronald Reagan will address the session, the West German Chancellor (Mr Schmidt) will lead his country’s delegation, and the Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Begin) will present his country's statement.

In spite of appeals from local disarmament groups neither the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) nor the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Cooper) would attend the conference, Father Horton said.

New Zealand’s permanent representative at the United Nations, Mr H. H. Francis, will lead the delegation. Father Horton said that by not even sending a Minister the Government seemed to be giving the session “very low priority.” The New Zealand delegation to the first disarmament session in 1978 had been

headed by the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr Brian Taiboys. “It concerns us that even approaches from non-Gov-ernmental organisations and Church groups seem to have been rebuffed by the Government." he said.

The Inter-Church Council on Public Affairs had suggested to the Government that the delegation should be led at the highest possible level.

An appeal for top representation also had been made by the National Consultative Committee on Disarmament when it met Mr Cooper on May 14, he said. It suggested that Mr Muldoon should lead the delegation and that it should include “politicians, diplomats, and non-Governmental experts.”

The committee, which the Government set up in 1977, had monitored New Zealand's performance in implementing the resolutions that it had agreed to at the first disarmament session and had found it “poor," Mr Cooper was told.

Father Horton said that the appeals had not drawn any positive reaction from the Government.

“Mr Cooper just issued a statement that he would not be going,” he said.

The Christchurch-based Catholic Commission for Evangelisation, Justice, and Development also criticised the Government’s failure to send a Cabinet Minister to the session. “We don’t think that it is giving it as much importance

as it should be." a spokesman said. The National Council of Churches’ Christian World Service director, the Rev. Brian Turner, said it appeared that the Govern ment was giving the talks “a fairly low priority."

Indications from the Council’s members were that a lot of people believed that the Government should take a strong stand on the nuclear issue, he said.

"I would hope that the Government could redress its credibility by making a positive statement on the New Zealand scene <•'— but it seems unlikely," . Mr Turner said.

Mr Cooper said in Roxburgh on Thursday that statements that the Government was not taking the session very seriously were incorrect.

“What the Church groups should recognise is that it is the heads of government and Ministers ■' of the countries that have big stockpiles of armaments and are moving towards new forms of armaments that should be there," he said. He was confident that Mr Francis would represent New Zealand well, and that the disarmament groups would be satisfied with the position taken by the Government at the talks.

New Zealand would support the non-spreading of armaments and a steady movement towards disarmament.

If at any time in the future it was necessary for a Minister to go to a disarmament session there. would be one there, Mr Cooper said.