UN General Assembly
1952

101. Many of us have attended every session of the General Assembly since San Francisco. We all know the difficulties, the innumerable obstacles which the United Nations must overcome in order to accomplish its high mission of maintaining peace. Perhaps the Canadian representative put his finger on the origin of these difficulties inherent in our Organization when he so aptly said, some days ago [382nd meting]: “It is perfectly obvious that the United Nations is not in any sense a world government. The only basis of which we can operate is on the basis of consent,” Indeed, noting can be done without the agreement and mutual consent of the members of the Assembly. The Assembly could not impose its will upon its members. Its will derives from the members themselves and does not exist independently of them. If the members do not wish to adopt a particular solution, the Assembly is completely powerless.