UN General Assembly
1957

45. Certainly it is not the small Powers that are to blame for the veto provision in the Charter or for the failure of the Security Council to act for security purposes. The big Powers insisted on the right of veto for themselves at San Francisco, and the small Powers yielded in recognition of the influence of the greater Powers in matters affecting international security and well-being. Again, in subsequent years, it has been the attitude and the action of the big Powers that have rendered the Security Council almost incapable of performing the primary function assigned to it by the Charter. The Assembly has no power of enforcement and can only act by recommendation. In these circumstances, it would certainly be unfair to blame the equal voting right given to small nations in the Assembly, or their increasing numbers, for the ineffectiveness of United Nations action.