UN General Assembly
1968

72. There is an intrinsic and close relationship between respect for legal principles and the safeguarding of peace and security. Indeed, lasting peace and true security for all States can be based only on legal principles. Similarly, an international climate of peace and security is a condition basic to every nation’s ability to act in independence and sovereignty, on an equal footing with all other nations. Understanding, co-operation and peace have triumphed in the world whenever those principles have been scrupulously respected. Conversely, whenever they have been disregarded or violated, disturbances and dangerous conflicts have ensued which have affected both the vital interests of certain peoples and the tranquility and security of all mankind. 73. Among the requirements that are of primary and permanent importance in the peaceful development of relations among States, priority must be given to the elimination of the threat and use of force, as also of any other form of interference in the affairs of other nations.