The Ten Nation Committee on Disarmament (TNCD) was designed to address the issue of

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space * Nuclea ...

during the Cold War. Created through the combination of a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

resolution and an agreement between the Big Four powers, the TNCD began work in March 1960. It remained intact from March - June 1960.

History

The 1960 Ten Nation Committee on Disarmament grew out of the 1959 Big Four meeting in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. At the meeting, the Big Four powers (United States, United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union) decided to resume previously halted disarmament talks and establish a new international negotiating forum. Blacker, Coit D., Duffy, Gloria, Stanford Arms Control Group. ''International Arms Control: Issues and Agreements'',
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, Stanford University Press, 1984, pp. 109, (). Out of this agreement came the authority for a September 7, 1959

(UN) resolution of the UN Disarmament Commission, which created the Ten Nation Committee on Disarmament.LeGault, Albert and Fortman, Michel. ''A Diplomacy of Hope: Canada and Disarmament, 1945-1988'',
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, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1992, p. 170-73, (). The short-lived TNCD officially began its work in

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

on March 15, 1960. The TNCD's work was divided into two short sessions. The first spanned the period from March 15 - April 29, 1960, on the 29th the committee halted work because of the concurrent Paris Summit. The hiatus lasted until June 7, 1960 when the TNCD reconvened, once again in Geneva. The TNCD's second session was also short. On June 28, 1960 the committee adjourned indefinitely in the aftermath of the failure at the Paris Summit and the U-2 spy plane incident. Singh, Nagendra and McWhinney, Edward. ''Nuclear Weapons and Contemporary International Law'',
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, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1989, p. 231, ().

Members

The committee was based on equal representation and included five

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

nations and five

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

nations.Schaerf, Carlo, and Barnaby, Frank. ''Disarmament and Arms Control: Proceedings, Volume 1970'',
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, Taylor & Francis US, 1972, p. 80, (). Original members of TNCD: (

Western Bloc The Western Bloc, also known as the Free Bloc, the Capitalist Bloc, the American Bloc, and the NATO Bloc, was a coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. It was spearheaded by ...

) -

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Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

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. ( Eastern Bloc) -

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

.Legault, p. 170.

Results and legacy

The TNCD (1960) was one of several predecessors to the current UN disarmament organization, the

Conference on Disarmament The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a multilateral disarmament forum established by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Conference meets annually i ...

(CD).Disarmament
, The United Nations Office at Geneva, United Nations, 2009, accessed June 7, 2010. The TNCD preceded the

Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament The Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament (ENCD) was sponsored by the United Nations in 1961. The ENCD considered disarmament, confidence-building measures and nuclear test controls.Conference of the Committee on Disarmament The Conference of the Committee on Disarmament was a United Nations disarmament committee authorized by a General Assembly resolution. It began work in 1969 as the successor to the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament. History The Conference ...

(CCD) (1969–78) until the CD was formed in 1979.

References

{{Authority control Arms control Diplomacy Cold War organizations 1960 in international relations