UN General Assembly
1972

90. Such is the spirit in which we propose to participate in the major debates here, in particular those which concern the problems of over-armament and underdevelopment which, for that matter, are connected. But I intend to conclude on the essential thing, which is also the most threatened and challenged. I am aware that I speak on behalf of a country which has certainly not been irreproachable in the course of its lengthy history but which, nearly two centuries ago, proclaimed not the rights of Frenchmen but the rights of man. 91. I mentioned a moment ago that one of the essential tasks of our Organization was to condemn racial discrimination in all its forms and to combat it by the most effective means, that is to say, means consistent with the principles of our Charter. In the same spirit, the French Government last year deposited the instruments of accession to the International Convention on the Elimination of