UN General Assembly
1982

course and that we are perilously near to a new international anarchy. The present crisis in the multilateral approach in international affairs and the crisis of confidence in the United Nations as an instrument for the maintenance of peace and security are evidence of this. I believe the Secretary-General was right in his warning that the most urgent goal at present is to re-establish the fundamental concept of the Charter of the United Nations: that of collective action for peace and security. 12. We all need to remember that the United Nations in its origins was not simply an idealistic concept. It was a serious organization of States with a very serious purpose. It grew cut of one major war—the most disastrous in human history—and it was designed to prevent another. It began as an organization of limited membership, but it has now become an almost universal world body, and it must be strengthened and made more effective if it is to deal adequately with world problems. 13. I have little doubt that most, or perhaps