Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
UNITED NATIONS (THE)
Digests of resolutions adopted by the
Central Conference of American Rabbis
between 1889 and 1974
1. We hail preliminary plans announced for a democratic world organization to
include
small nations. We favor the establishment of an international assembly of
nations
which would create a body of international laws and which would have the power
to
enforce them. We urge such international cooperation on the highest religious
grounds. (1944,
p. 84)
2. The Conference reaffirms its confidence in the UN as the most hopeful means
toward
t
he achievement of justice and peace in the world. (1947, p. 69)
3. Reaffirmed, 1948, p. 127.
4. See Genocide.
5. See also Human Rights, Sec. 7 (1950).
6. The War in Korea has demonstrated on a practical basis the truth of the
contention
long upheld by many of us that in the final analysis peace can be established
and
maintained only through some form of World Government. The United Nations
military
effort in Korea is the first attempt in history at international police
action. With all
its limitations and deficiencies, it points the way toward an increasing
measure
of cooperative activity and World Government in the future. The movement for
World
Government is in no way competitive with the UN. To the contrary, it is
precisely in strengthening
the UN that our most immediate hope for World Government is to be found.
We propose, therefore, that the government of the United States make specific
suggestions
for strengthening and extending the Inter-National authority of the UN as the
nucleus
of World Government. These suggestions should include the gradual assignment
to the UN of such limited and reserved powers as will be needed for the
establishment
and preservation of peace. We would urge our own Government to take the
initiative
in outlining the powers it is willing to delegate to the UN, contingent upon a
similar
agreement by other major powers.
To this end we strongly favor the prompt passage of House Concurrent
Resolution No.64
which reads as follows:
"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that
it is the
sense of the Congress that it should be a fundamental objective of the foreign
policy
of the United States to support and strengthen the United Nations and to seek
its
development into an organization of such defined and limited powers as are
essential to
the enactment, interpretation, and enforcement of World Law to prevent
aggression
and to maintain peace." (1951, p. 100)
7. The establishment and use of an international police force in Korea
demonstrates
conclusively the need for a permanent UN police force which will be more truly
representative
of all nations and in which the burdens and responsibilities of maintaining
international order will be more equitably shared. We urge the provision, in
any plan
of disarmament, of a UN police force to take over gradually from separate
governments
or groups of government the responsibilities of maintaining order and
preventing
aggression throughout the world. (1951, pp. 101-2)
8. It has become apparent that arbitrary and indiscriminate use of the veto
power
in the Security Council has obstructed numerous attempts to achieve the very
purposes
for which the UN was founded. Even the proposals being made in this report
can, under
present circumstances, be sidetracked through the use of the veto. We would
recommend
therefore, that our government take the initiative in proposing revisions of
the
UN Charter to eliminate the veto by one government of decisions arrived at by
a substantial majority of all other governments, along with such other Charter
revisions as shall
enable the UN to move more quickly and effectively in the direction of World
Government.
(1951, p. 102)
9. We reiterate our previous resolutions calling for the "Strengthening
and extending
the international authority of the UN as the nucleus of world government"
and, for
a "specific, comprehensive basis for the control and reduction of all
armaments through the United Nations," for the "provision, in any
plan for disarmament, of a UN police
force"; for increased effort by our government "to develop the
economic resources
of backward peoples"–with an increasing proportion of this program being
placed "under
the aegis of the UN." (1952, pp. 177-78)
10. We strongly reaffirm our support of the United Nations as the sole
instrument
of bringing the peoples of the world into a fellowship of peace and
prosperity. We
view with the gravest concern the advance of forces whose misguided fears
would urge
our nation to abandon its leadership in the United Nations. We express our
faith in the
efforts of such agencies as UNESCO and WHO and urge our nation to stand firm
against
the inroads of a new isolationism which would abandon the ideals of a broad
religious
world view for a narrow parochialism which, far from being helpful to our
nation, is
detrimental to its best interests.
We therefore oppose the passage of the Bricker Amendment which, by limiting
the treaty-making
power of the executive branch of the government, would impede our forthright
participation
in international cooperation. (1953, p. 120)
11. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the United Nations. Once again we
strongly
reaffirm our support of the UN as the best existing instrument of bringing the
peoples
of the world into a fellowship of peace and prosperity. We express our faith
in it and the agencies which it has created to further the ideals of a broad
and religious
world view. On this significant milestone we bespeak the continued leadership
of
our government in its councils and increased financial support for its
programs.
We pray that new and significant techniques may be effected to make its
influence ever more
strongly felt as an instrument of world peace. (1955, p. 64)