UN General Assembly
1974

184. The earnest desire of newly independent States to join the United Nations contrasts strikingly with the criticisms to which its operations give rise. But this is understandable when one realizes that for a young nation, membership in the United Nations is not only felt as a symbol of its succession to national sovereignty, but also, and above all, as a guarantee that it can participate more actively in the affairs of the community of nations and in the achievement of the noble ideals of that community. We, the so- called countries of the third world, particularly in Africa, endorse these ideals, and that is why we intend to strive relentlessly to maintain international peace and security, to develop social progress and to establish justice and human dignity.