UN General Assembly
1947

The world views these misunderstandings with fear and anguish, and this anguish and fear are manifested by a spirit of sceptical defeatism as to the efficacy of the United Nations and its ability to achieve the high purposes of the San Francisco Charter. This spirit of pessimism — for it must be recognized as such — has recently been intensified by the struggle which international public opinion observes is being waged constantly in the Security Council through the repeated use of the veto. This situation moves Chile to recall that the privilege of the veto was granted at the San Francisco Conference as a sincere proof of the confidence of the small nations in the great Powers. The latter, for their part, undertook to use that privilege with prudence and discretion in conformity with the principle of the juridical equality of States.