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FINAL DECLARATION OF U.S-SOVIET STUDENT SUMMIT
PREAMBLE In the past few years positive strides have been made toward building a new relationship based on cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States. However, these developments are not enough. We call upon the people of our nations, President Gorbachev, and President Bush to respond to the radically new political climate. As the walls of the old have crumbled, we, the youth, must be the masons of the future. This statement of student solidarity. is comprised of proposals of joint efforts in a variety of pertinent areas including citizen exchange, gender issues, disarmament, environment, and the United Nations. As students from the Soviet Union and the United States, we have come together to present a vision of a new era in U.S.-Soviet relations. EXCHANGES The need for exchanges between our two countries has reached a critical stage. Our generation is the first in decades to face a world not afflicted by the cold war. The cold war mentality may linger, but the reality has changed. In the spirit of openness, exchanges between our peoples can break down political barriers. We realize that we are friends,. not enemies. As we appreciate each others' cultural differences and similarities, our ties become stronger and our nations become closer. We propose: - Direct youth exchanges between children and families. Tele-bridges should be used to help create a network of sister schools between our countries. The popularity of summer camps in our respective nations can be harnessed to produce joint programs. Institutes of higher education should construct ties to facilitate students' educations and to develop direct exchanges between students and faculties. Restrictions on student travel should be abolished. - Media exchanges. We support joint publication ventures staffed by editors and writers from both the U.S. and the Soviet Union, to be published in English and Russian, and distributed in both countries. We are encouraged by the current organization of a student newspaper exchange between our countries. - A greater number of multi-lateral ventures can be developed and expanded. We encourage the International Space University, and propose the creation of an international environmental university in order to further a global outlook. GENDER Several gender-related problems confront the U.S. and the Soviet Union. We can increase awareness and solve these problems through educational and cultural exchange between our two countries. Though we can not superimpose one set of cultural values onto another, we can learn from each other in such areas as: - Gender roles, for example, the fact that many women hold two jobs, one in the workplace and one in the home. - Health issues, such as contraception, childbirth, and abortion. - Situations of crisis, such as rape and abuse. - Social and institutional supports, such as financial aid, crisis centers, child care, and education on contraceptive and sexuality issues. DISARMAMENT Our countries were allied in World War II to counter the threat of extermination. Today we must ally to eliminate the present danger of a nuclear holocaust. Because each country's military has the capability to destroy the world several times over, we must accept worldwide responsibility to diminish the nuclear threat. Enhanced dialogues between the two countries have been manifested in historic summit meetings, which have produced, among other things, the signing of the first verifiable nuclear reduction treaty. - Our ultimate goal is to reduce nuclear stockpiles to the lowest possible levels. In the pursuit of this goal we call for the following immediate measures to be adopted: - A comprehensive nuclear test ban that stops the development of new nuclear weapon systems. - A strict implementation of the Anti-Ballistic-Missile treaty which entails the prohibition of defense systems and makes development of new offensive weapons systems unnecessaty. - A prohibition of space-based destructive systems in order to reserve space for peaceful cooperation. , - A total liquidation of chemical and biological weapons. - A public disclosure of military budgets. - A speeding of the arms control negotiations process and agreement to ban development of new weapons technologies, with verification. - A mutual recognition that the use of conventional weapons for political ends is as immoral as any means of mass destruction. - A transfer of resources and funds to productive peaceful uses to combat hunger, poverty, and disease, and ultimately build worldwide prosperity. ENVIRONMENT As citizens from two industria1ized. countries of the world, we feel that the Soviet Union and the United States have a special responsibility to keep the earth habitable for all living species. . The Greenhouse Effect, depletion of the ozone layer, the deforestation of our lands, the unsustainable consumption of resources, and the pollution of our water, land, and air, are some environmental problems that require the immediate attention of our respective governments and the rest of the industrialized world. All these problems represent the degradation of parts of our environment that have no single owner, yet we are collectively responsible for protecting it and preventing further damage. Global environmental problems cannot be rectified. by simply working independently. We feel that the following cooperative actions must be taken to avoid environmental catastrophe: - Cooperative environmental research between Soviet and U.S. scientists, both on the academic and govemmental levels, and the establishment of international environmental research institutions. - Immediate creation of a strengthened U.N. sponsored international environmental committee which can monitor and adjust policy, with the power to apply these policies to enterprises and industries. - International student network to connect environmental research centers, environmental organizations, and the media on a global basis, while raising awareness of environmental issues. THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS The role of the United Nations is to provide an international forum where ideological differences can be resolved in favor of finding common ground. Our countries should not use the United Nations only to suit their individual interests, since this makes a mockery of the equality and integrity on which the U.N. is based. We feel the need for consistent acceptance and participation in the resolutions of the U.N. by all the member nations: - To this end, we demand that all member nations actively participate in organizations such as UNESCO, WHO, and UNICEF. - We ask that the U.N. remain an impartial forum for global concerns, not a body that legislates for the member nations, except where they threaten overall global security. - We realize that recent successes of the U.N. are leading towards global- community, however, our countries should fundamentally change their approach towards the United Nations and recognize it as an effective instrument for the maintenance of global peace and justice. . STUDENT SOLIDARITY In order to further student solidarity among the U.S. and the Soviet Union we propose that further student interaction occurs. This interaction should include: - Increased exchanges, through letters, questions, and ideas between students of our two nations. - Organization of more frequent meetings and conferences to exchange experiences and views, and strengthen the student movement. - Organization of annual U.S.-Soviet meetings at universities in both countries. We, as students of the Soviet Union and the United States, have a responsibility to encourage our countries to come together to create a more peaceful, less antagonistic world. This Student Summit demonstrates the mutual understanding and communication that we can attain. It is only through this solidarity that we can assure that our intellectual resources will be used not towards military competition, but towards peaceful cooperation. |