UN General Assembly
1957

28. The United Nations is not a super-state. It is not a world authority enforcing its laws upon the nations. The General Assembly is not a parliament of individually elected members legislating for the world. The United Nations is an instrument of negotiation between Governments. It can blunt the edges of conflict between nations. It can serve a diplomacy of reconciliation. Its tendency is to wear away or break down differences and thus help towards solutions. In the Secretary-General’s view, the real limitations upon the actions of the Organization do not derive from the provisions of the Charter or from the system of one vote for one nation irrespective of strength or size. They result from the facts of international life at the present time. The balance of forces in the world sets the limits within which the power of the world Organization can develop. The Secretary-General points out that enforcement action under Chapter VII of the Charter continues to be reserved to the Security Council and that it has not been transferred to the General Assembly.