UN General Assembly
1985

We cannot avoid the complexity of the problem, given the conditions inherent to each stage and the transition from one stage to another. As soon as some progress is made in limitation, difficulties arise at the level of verification, research and development bring about a revision of the ceiling of limitation and of the list of types of weapons concerned, and reduction is seen in the context of political criteria and, therefore, subordinated to the evolution of the relationship between the military or nuclear Powers. Uncertainty is the rule, and we cannot blame propaganda alone for the favorable reactions of international public opinion when we talk of zones of peace, such as the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, a freeze in the deployment of new weapons, moratoriums, zones free from chemical or nuclear weapons and the non-militarization of environments considered to be the common heritage of mankind, that is, the sea-bed, the ocean floor and outer space.