UN General Assembly
1962

153. Since its inception, that is, in the last seventeen years, the membership of the United Nations has more than doubled. We think that it would be difficult to say whether or not the founders of this Organization foresaw the emergence of so many countries in so short a time. History has no record of so extraordinary an event; rather, it speaks of the decline or disappearance of empires and States. We therefore regard the appearance of so many new nations, whose influence is already being felt in this Assembly, as a unique feature of the world of today. 154. We do not doubt that the increasing number of countries associated in our Organization will strengthen it in its struggle to maintain peace, increase its power to ensure that nations, large and small, duly respect each other, and, above all, provide new hope that with the co-operation of the United Nations conflicts which give rise to anxiety and uncertainty because they threaten the future of mankind will be settled.