UN General Assembly
1990

We know why the Military Staff Committee has never become a functioning body. During the "cold war" the Committee did not and could not have a role to play. How, however, we see that without substantive recommendations from that body the Security Council is unable to carry out its functions under the Charter. The architects of our Organisation proceeded from the harsh realities of the Second World War and were right in assuming that if the Organisation was to be effective in keeping the peace and preventing war, it must have the means to enforce its decisions and, if necessary, to suppress aggression and must also have machinery for the preparation and co-ordination of such actions. The Soviet delegation believes that the Security Council must take the necessary organisational steps to be able to act in strict conformity with the provisions of the Charter. It should begin by initiating steps to reactivate the work of the Military Staff Committee and to study the practical aspects of assigning national military contingents to serve under the authority of the Council.