UN General Assembly
1990

It cannot be sufficiently emphasised that this newly found ability will bring to small Member States - which, after all, form the majority of the membership of this Organisation - a sense of security based on the right to exist peacefully, as enshrined in our Charter. I do not think it unfair to recall that such a situation is relatively new. Recent history abounds with examples where the international community was sadly incapable not only of clearly enunciating the law but also of assuming its obligations and ensuring that these rules, approved by all, were respected, Freer now of these past constraints, of which snail States were often the unwilling instruments, our Organisation, with its new-found unity, its new cohesion, has today the means to fulfil its primary objective.