UN General Assembly
1985

Many distinguished speakers in the course of our deliberations have properly recalled the tragic events leading to the founding of the United Nations. At the end of the Second World War the people of the world resolved to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and on 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, signed the Charter of the United Nations, which came into force on 24 October 1945, establishing the Organization. The Organization drew up aims and objectives for achievement as set forth in Article 1 of the Charter. As we assemble here to reflect on our achievements and shortcomings over the last four decades, I wish, on behalf of my delegation, to commend the Organization for its substantial achievements. To mention a few, the Organization has exerted every effort and has largely succeeded in, first, averting a major world conflict; secondly, promoting the course of decolonization by its adoption and implementation of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV); thirdly, promoting respect for human rights; fourthly, adopting the declaration and program of action on the establishment of a new international economic order and the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States; and, fifthly, codifying international legal instruments to regulate the conduct of States in various fields, including adoption of the Law of the Sea Convention at Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1982, which was a milestone in the history of our Organization.