UN General Assembly
1981

61. The 10 members of the European Community also wish to express their gratitude to the SecretaryGeneral for a further year of strenuous efforts in the cause of peace, and I should like to join with my other colleagues who have congratulated the Republic of Vanuatu on its independence and its membership of this body. 62. Three principles are fundamental to the European Community and underlie its activity in the world today and the role it seeks to play in the United Nations. First, the community was born from a determination to avoid the recurrence of war and from a desire for permanent and fruitful reconciliation. Secondly, it looks to partnership and collaboration between neighbors as a way to stimulate social and economic progress. And thirdly, it is based on a belief in the fundamental importance of human rights.