UN General Assembly
1952

103. This brings me to another point: without economic freedom there can be no political freedom. While poverty exists, there can be no genuine peace. The United Nations has before it another great problem: the question of the self-determination of peoples. The fate of those peoples and their living conditions have ceased to be the exclusive concern of the metropolitan countries; under modern international law, these matters are of common interest. This is also shown, incidentally, by the relevant provisions of Chapter XX of the Charter. My delegation will therefore support any measure designed to achieve the ends set for in Article 73 of the Charter. As we have said on many occasions, it is our desire that colonialism and political domination should be brought to an end, provided that the peoples concerned have the cultural and economic capacity for self-government to ensure that they will not become the victims of their own rulers or, the prey of any other nations greedy for conquests. That is our position with regard to the right of self-determination of peoples, the fundamental principle established in Article 1, paragraph 2, of the Charter.