From the Archive: Leaders issue nuclear demand

Commonwealth leaders came together exactly 36 years ago this month in Canada to demand a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons testing.

In their statement, the Heads of Government “appealed to all powers, and in particular to the nuclear powers, to take up as an urgent task the negotiation of a new agreement to bring about the total cessation of nuclear weapon tests in all environments.”

The Commonwealth - at that time representing a quarter of the world’s population - claimed that its “principal aim” was an agreement on a “general and complete” disarmament which could put an end to nuclear arms testing.

"A powerful influence for peace"

The Heads of Government said they were “seeking to achieve the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all time, determined to continue negotiations to this end, and desiring to put an end to the contamination of man’s environment by radioactive substances.”

The Ottawa statement was issued at the height of the Cold War, when much of the world was polarised in support of either the USA or the Soviet bloc – both of whom were engaged in a nuclear arms race.

Many Commonwealth countries, however, such as India, Pakistan and Malaysia, were members of the Non-Aligned Movement, a body of countries claiming neutrality in the ideological battle between West and East.

A Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, banning all nuclear explosions in all environments, whether for civilian or military use, was finally adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996.

Youth programme established

Held between 2 and 10 August 1973, the 32 members of the Commonwealth were represented at the biennial summit by 18 prime ministers, five presidents or heads of state, three vice-presidents and six senior ministers.

“We have spoken with candour,” declared Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada during the Ottawa conference, “but we have recognised that candour carries with it the responsibility of seeking constructive ends.”

Heads of Government also endorsed at their summit a proposal to set up a designated programme within the Commonwealth Secretariat concerned with youth matters. The leaders pledged £1 million over three years to the Youth Programme, which is still in operation today.

Out of Ottawa emerged two advances which were to later characterise the modern Commonwealth. The first was the decision to hold a private meeting of leaders in the village of Mont-Tremblant, in Quebec. This ‘retreat’, during which leaders got to know one another in a more relaxed setting, became a regular hallmark of subsequent summits.

Expand human understanding

The Commonwealth flag emblem also arose, designed by then Secretary-General Arnold Smith and Mr Trudeau for display on cars used to shuttle dignatories around. It was adopted formally as the symbol of the Commonwealth three years later.

Ottawa was the first Heads of Government Meeting attended by the newly independent countries of Bangladesh and The Bahamas. Lynden Pindling, Prime Minister of The Bahamas, remarked during the meeting: “At the very outset seasoned political leaders expressed the hope that the Commonwealth can ‘expand human understanding and ... provide a powerful influence for peace’.

“We are able wholeheartedly to subscribe to this, for in the Bahamas we maintain that what the world needs now is not more might and power but more understanding and love.”

Secretariat Links:

• From the archive
• Country Profile: Canada