UN General Assembly
1964

143. The Assembly's most important prerogative may well be its power of assessment. It is the heart of collective financial responsibility, and as the Secretary-General also said last week: "... a policy of improvisation, of ad hoc solutions, of reliance on the generosity of a few rather than the collective responsibility of all ... cannot much longer endure if the United Nations itself is to endure as a dynamic and effective instrument of international action." (1315th meeting, para. 15.) 144. It is your power of assessment which is being challenged. It is the power of each Member of the General Assembly — and particularly those smaller nations whose primary reliance for peace and security and welfare must be the United Nations. And, make no mistake about it, it is your power to keep or to abandon.