UN General Assembly
1971

36. Speaking after so many distinguished representatives who have preceded me, I shall not dwell at any great length on the great international problems which still await solution and which sometimes arise again in more pressing form to threaten world peace. I should like, in passing, to express regret at what might be considered a gradual weakening of the powers originally conferred on the Assembly by the United Nations Charter. A mere glance at the list of items on the agenda of this session shows clearly that most of the urgent questions upon which world peace and security depend have been circumvented -and, what is even worse, the Security Council itself has practically been denied the opportunity to deal with the most thorny problems, That is a situation which we believe to be most disturbing. 37. Having said that, we can nevertheless express satisfaction regarding some matters.