UN General Assembly
1988

Earlier this month, in the presence of the Secretary-General, a ceremony in commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Peace Palace, the seat of the International Court of Justice, was held in The Hague. I was intrigued by a Latin phrase on the wall of the large courtroom: "Arma togae cédant, this is, "May weapons yield to law". One could hardly think of a more appropriate motto for the present Assembly session than Cicero's dictum. The Assembly convenes at a crucial juncture. In different parts of the world, conflict is giving way to negotiations, and more and more voices are calling for the supremacy of the rule of law. The United Nations may well be about to assume the role its founders envisaged. The United Nations Charter embodies the bold vision of a world-wide system of collective security, with the Security Council as its pivot. As Dag Hamnar once pointed out, the United Nations reflects at the same time an aspiration and a falling short of that aspiration. But, he added, the persistent struggle to close the gap between aspiration and actual accomplishment makes the difference between civilization and chaos.