86.	It is with deep regret that we have this morning learned of the death of Ambassador Morales, Permanent Representative of Honduras. I should like to extend to his family and to the delegation of Honduras our profound sympathy on their tragic loss.
87.	Sir, your election as President of the twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly gives me the opportunity to recall the happy record of cordial relations between our two countries since we attained independence. Your election does honor not only to the dynamic people of Indonesia but also to the peoples of the third worlds of which Africa forms an inseparable part. The spirit of the
African-Asian Conference, held at Bandung in 1955, continues to animate our policies and forms an important part of the tenets on which our foreign policy is constructed. It is in the light of these sober reflections that I wish you to accept the sincerest congratulations of the Government and people of Ghana on your election to this high office. We are confident that your long and devoted service to your country will enable you to undertake your new and arduous task with the highest sense of statesmanship, competence and distinction.
88.	While congratulating you, Mr. President, on your election to this office, I wish to extend our deepest gratitude and congratulations to your distinguished predecessor, Ambassador Hambro of Norway, who brought considerable experience, statesmanship and dedication to the many problems that faced the historic twenty-fifth session of the General Assembly.
89.	Our warmest congratulations and best wishes also go to the four States Bhutan, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman-that have been admitted to membership in the United Nations within the last few days. We welcome them wholeheartedly. Ghana voted for their admission in the confident expectation that, with their rich cultural heritages and their known attributes as freedom-loving peoples, they have a valuable contribution to make to the furtherance of the objectives of this Organization.
90.	The United Nations has just completed 25 years of existence. At the commemorative twenty-fifth session of the General Assembly, the record and achievements of this Organization were reviewed. Some of the basic questions uppermost in our minds at the commemorative session concerned the way in which the United Nations could play an increasing role in the decade ahead. We were also concerned with how that role could be made more effective in the settlement of disputes and the narrowing of the ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor nations.
91.	At the last session the Assembly made a considerable effort to tackle some of the major problems of the world when it adopted important documents on the Second United Nations Development Decade [resolution 2626 (XXV)], the anniversary itself [resolution 2627(XXV)], decolonization [resolution 2621 (XXV)], international security [resolution 2734 (XXV)] and the principles of international law governing friendly relations among States [resolution 2625 (XXV)]. Despite that achievement we must continue our self-criticism and our re-examination of the role the United Nations must continue to play in the future. Consequently, at this session of the General Assembly, the Organization must establish its priorities and begin to define precisely its strategy for the solution of the many problems that confront the Organization in the political, economic, social and humanitarian fields as well as in the area of science and technology.
92.	Many speakers who preceded me addressed themselves sufficiently to the problems confronting the world. Prominent among them is the maintenance of world peace. The Ghana delegation would wish to emphasize what has been generally regarded as a vital contribution to the solution of this problem namely, the need for a comprehensive world disarmament agreement.
93.	The momentum of the armaments race and the alarmingly high expenditure it involves still remain a great burden for all mankind. It is a sad reflection on our sense of priorities-indeed it is a crime against humanity for States to be spending more than $200,000 million a year on the manufacture and perfection of weapons of destruction when they are unable to spend 1 per cent of their gross national product on the elimination of poverty, disease and squalor in the world. My delegation was pleased to note that the United Nations recognized the implications of that fact when, in the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security [resolution 2734 (XXV)], the Assembly for the first time established a link between progress in disarmament and economic development and security.
94.	That is why we must condemn the increase in the arms race and the lack of progress in disarmament. We appreciate the fact that in the field of arms control some agreements have been reached over the last few years, but we cannot conceal our disappointment at the lack of progress by the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva on general and complete disarmament including the simultaneous elimination of chemical and biological weapons. In this regard we regret the inability of the nuclear Powers to reach agreement on the banning of underground nuclear tests.
95.	We welcome the changed circumstances that are now making it possible for the People's Republic of China to play a useful role in disarmament affairs. We also support in principle the Soviet draft resolution proposing a world disarmament conference [AIL.631], which is generally in line with suggestions made by my delegation in the First Committee at the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth sessions.
96.	The Ghana delegation is aware of the fact that there can be no disarmament without trust among the nations. Nor can there be peace without an effective machinery for resolving the conflicts which divide the nations. We are also aware that the United Nations, as a machinery for peace, cannot achieve the objectives for which it was established unless Member States constituting it develop confidence in its ability to do so. Consequently, the Ghana delegation supports all efforts aimed at increasing the effectiveness of this Organization and engendering mutual trust among the nations.
97.	In this connexion, the Ghana delegation has followed with keen interest the efforts being made to reach settlements in the Middle East, Europe and Asia on outstanding political problems in these regions.
98.	In the Middle East, Ghana is happy that the cease-fire continues. The lack of progress, however, in moving forward toward some tangible settlement of the basic issues still continues to cause my country considerable disquiet.
99.	My delegation is of the view that there is danger of the Middle East issue reaching a stalemate and becoming a volcano, so to speak, which could erupt and engulf not only countries in the Middle East, but the rest of the world as well.
100.	The Government of Ghana cannot subscribe to permanent occupation by force of the territory of any
State. Neither can Ghana support doctrines and policies aimed at the annihilation of any people or nation. The challenge of the Middle East crisis resides, in the view of my delegation, in the search for a just, fair and permanent solution to the refugee problem and other related problems in accordance with Security Council resolution 242 (1967). We believe that there can be no permanent peace in the Middle East unless a secure existence for all the States in the region is guaranteed.
101.	In Europe, the delegation of Ghana r cognizes the gains so far made m the search for a political solution to the German problem. We can only wish the Berlin talks now going on between the two German authorities great success.
102.	Peace in Europe and the Near East is inextricably bound up with peace in the Far East. That is why the Government and people of Ghana welcome recent developments in bilateral United States-Chinese relations and consider them worthy of note and commendation. My Government hopes that this new trend will be considered by all concerned in a spirit of understanding and international co-operation. It is our hope that the normalization of the bilateral relations between China and the United States will contribute to political stability and peace in Asia and in the world at large.
103.	While the new United States initiatives on its bilateral relations with China are important, it is the related problem of the representation of China in the United Nations which creates the greatest challenge for the twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly. In this regard, it is urgent and important to underscore the relevance of the universality of membership to the effectiveness of the United Nations in facing up to its responsibilities in the maintenance of international peace and security. In an age of unprecedented and rapid changes in the political, economic, scientific and cultural spheres, it is imperative that the United Nations, which has more than doubled its membership, would be able to adjust to changed conditions and respond decisively to new challenges.
104.	I am aware that some of the problems posed by the universality of membership in the United Nations do not lend themselves to easy solution. However, if we mean to strengthen this Organization, if we are determined to do right and justice, then it is incumbent upon us to open the doors of this Organization to all States regardless of their political systems.
105.	It is against this background that the Government of Ghana once again asserts that the Government of the People's Republic of China must be seated in the United Nations General Assembly now. It is the inherent right of the People's Republic of China to be a Member of this world body. It is our view that the People's Republic of China should take its seat not only in the Assembly but also in the Security Council, as well as in all other United Nations bodies. Ghana's position with regard to the related issue of the Republic of China has been reiterated from this rostrum on a number of occasion' and I have no intention of repeating arguments which are ^y now well known. Now I would merely wish to express the firm hope of the Ghana delegation that the realism that is inspiring the international community on this and other questions will lead to a solution that will generate greater confidence in the effectiveness of this Organization.
106.	The whole world is saddened by the plight of the refugees from East Pakistan who have fled into India. This is without doubt the most dangerous and the most serious refugee problem that has confronted the United Nations in recent decades. Humanitarian considerations compel the international community to provide all necessary means to alleviate this great suffering and to help in establishing conditions for the early voluntary return of these refugees to their homeland. This great crisis calls for the highest form of statesmanship., courage and wisdom if a lasting settlement of the problem is to be achieved.
107.	The spirit of realism which now seems to inform present international relations can provide a favorable atmosphere for the solution not only of the question of the representation of China, but also of the question of the divided countries. In this regard, the Ghana delegation accepts the view often advocated by our distinguished Secretary-General that the divided States must be enabled to participate in the deliberations and work of the United Nations and its subsidiary organs on an equal basis.
108.	In working towards this, my delegation believes that the United Nations should refrain from doing anything that would have the effect of prejudicing serious efforts being made by the two sides of any divided country to resolve their own differences.
109.	I shall now deal with iecent developments in southern Africa. A few moments ago, I welcomed the new spirit of realism in international relations, a spirit which generates some optimism in this Organization's ability to resolve outstanding international problems. I regret that I cannot say the same about the African scene, particularly regarding racialism and self-determination in southern Africa.
110.	A careful study of the reports of the Special Committee on Apartheid, the United Nations Council for Namibia, the Committee of Twenty-Four, and the Trusteeship Council leaves us with the depressing conclusion that no major progress has been achieved in recent years in the area of decolonization in southern Africa. On the contrary, apartheid continues to be strengthened in South Africa, and is spreading to Southern Rhodesia under the illegal regime of Ian Smith. South Africa's control over Namibia shows no sign of weakening. In the Territories under Portuguese administration in Africa, the liberation struggle continues unabated. This situation is not only a challenge to the credibility and capability of the United Nations in the eyes of Africa's millions; it is also an invitation, unfortunately, to the oppressed peoples of Africa to pursue violent means of achieving their political rights, freedom and human dignity.
111.	Although South Africa has rejected the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Namibia,  it is the hope of my delegation that deliberations in the Assembly will produce concrete proposals that will lead to the early implementation of that advisory opinion. The Ghana Government will support any realistic proposals to this end.
112.	After the unilateral declaration of independence five years ago, and after the imposition of sanctions against the resultant illegal and unconstitutional regime, that regime continues to deny the Africans, who form the majority of the population in Southern Rhodesia, their basic human rights and freedom.
113.	In spite of the evasions which have contributed to making sanctions less effective than they could have been, it is the hope of my delegation that sanctions will continue to be enforced against that regime till justice based on the five principles laid down by the United Kingdom Government has been firmly established. My delegation would urge the United Kingdom Government not to abdicate this position in any talks or "talks on talks" with the Smith regime; for any settlement which sacrifices any or all of those principles wil1 be considered by the Government of Ghana and other Governments within the Organization of African Unity and, we hope, by the rest of the world as a complete sell-out.
114.	The problem posed by apartheid and the expansionist policies of South Africa constitutes one of the greatest obstacles to a just and peaceful solution to southern African problems. As long as South Africa continues to practice a policy of apartheid, its hopes of reaching out to the rest of Africa are doomed lo failure. As far as Portuguese colonialism is concerned, the Ghana delegation calls on Portugal to comply with the numerous United Nations resolutions calling for self-determination for the peoples of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau). My delegation calls on the big Powers to use their political and economic influence to assist in ensuring that the decisions of this Organization on these vital issues are respected and universally enforced.
115.	Any solution to these problems should be guided by or based on the Manifesto on Southern Africa (the Lusaka Manifesto),  which has been endorsed by both the Organization of African Unity and this Assembly [resolution 2505 (XXIV)]. If the racialist and colonialist Governments of South Africa and Portugal demonstrate that they accept the principles of the Lusaka Manifesto and adopt concrete measures aimed at eradicating racial discrimination and applying the principle of self-determination, Africa will be ready to explore new bases for better relations with them.
116.	At the commemorative meetings of its twenty-fifth session last year, in a unique act of international co-operation and in accordance with one of the cardinal aims of its Charter, this Organization launched the Second United Nations Development Decade and adopted the International Development Strategy [resolution 2626 (XXV)] -a set of positive policies which aim at accelerating, within the Decade, the growth of material production and its equitable distribution among the peoples of each country.
117.	The uniqueness of this act of international co-operation for development, as contrasted with the effort of the first United Nations Development Decade, lies in the fact that the international community has, this time, set itself a comprehensive and consistent set of objectives and outlined measures for realizing them. In a most encouraging act of international partnership, the developed and the developing countries have agreed to co-operate in adopting and implementing policies aimed at complementing and supple-menting each other's efforts in the task of eradicating hunger, poverty, ignorance and disease in the third world.
118.	It is well to remind ourselves that the problems which we set ourselves to solve in the post-war period are still with us. They have, in fact, worsened in many respects. For most developing countries, the targets and policy measures adopted under the first Development Decade have not engendered any perceptible improvements in living conditions. The peoples of the developing world continue to be plagued by a lack of basic necessities of life, and the gap between the developed and the developing countries continues to widen each day. Unless the international community, therefore, applies itself resolutely to the commitments which have been solemnly undertaken, the Second United Nations Development Decade, like it^ predecessor, will be for most of us another decade of frustration and unfulfilled promises.
119.	The peoples of the third world, of course, must accept, and have in fact accepted, the primary responsibility for their own economic development. The experience of international development in the 1960s, however, has amply demonstrated that the poor results which often attend the efforts of developing countries are to a large extent determined by forces beyond their control. The present upheavals in the international monetary system provide convincing proof of this. The policies enunciated in the Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade constitute a recognition of the essential and indeed crucial complementary and supporting role that developed countries must play if the efforts of the developing countries are to result in raising living conditions in the third world. The Ghana delegation, therefore, fervently hopes that a spirit of international co-operation will imbue all proposals which aim at solving the present international monetary crisis.
The constraints frustrating the efforts of developing countries to achieve a rate of economic growth which will ensure decent living conditions are well known and do not need elaboration here. They include balance-of-payments problems, aggravated by widely fluctuating prices of the primary products on which the economies of developing countries depend, as well as pricing policies of developed countries and uncontrolled inflationary tendencies. The result of all this is the creation of a situation where the developing countries sell cheaply to the developed countries and pay dearly for consumer and industrial goods purchased from developed countries. These problems have been further worsened by excessive indebtedness, which is fast becoming characteristic of the economies of developing countries. These debts have been incurred principally as a result of developing countries being compelled, by their anxiety to generate economic development, to raise financial assistance on very hard terms and conditions. These hard terms in most cases have had no relationship to the ability of the projects for which assistance was given to amortize themselves within the agreed period of repayment.
121.	It is for these and other reasons that my delegation looks forward to seeing the result of the study on the problem of the growing indebtedness of developing countries which the President of the World Bank has undertaken with a view to formulating general principles for its solution. I should like to observe, however, that, if developing countries are to derive maximum benefit from any form of financial assistance, then a greater part of it should be given to them on a Government-to-Government basis rather than as financial transfers from the private sector of developed countries.
122.	It is also for these reasons that Ghana, along with other developing countries, has advocated and pressed for the conclusion of international commodity agreements which would stabilize commodity prices and ensure steady foreign exchange earnings on which meaningful development planning could be based. It is the view of my delegation that the principle of international price stabilization agreements supported by realistic buffer-stock policies is one of the most effective ways by which developing countries can help themselves in their efforts to build viable economies.
123.	With that consideration in mind, my delegation would like to urge the developed countries to co-operate in reaching agreement on cocoa and other commodities. As will be readily recalled, the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade set the target date of 31 December 1972 for the conclusion of international commodity agreements or arrangements on commodities defined by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTADJ at its second session as being suitable for management through such commodity arrangements. It is our fervent hope that, long before this target date, there will have been concluded an agreement on cocoa.
124.	In the face of an unfair international economic system, developing countries have in most cases had to resort to a number of measures to correct the constraint's on their development created by balance-of-payment difficulties. These have included import restrictions which have invariably led to severe cuts in development and worsened their circumstances even further. Even when they have embarked on programs of export promotion, their products have had to face high tariffs and other trade barriers in the markets of the developed countries.
125.	My delegation had entertained great hopes when, at the first session of UNCTAD seven years ago, proposals for giving non-reciprocal, non-discriminatory tariff preferences to the exports of developing countries were launched. We had particularly welcomed the principle, which the proposals tried to establish, of treating unequal partners differently in international economic relations. The present system which has been adopted by UNCTAD and which various important developed countries are beginning to implement, however, does little to further this principle and does not help the developing countries in their attempts to gain access for their products to the markets of the developed countries, an imperative so essential to their orderly development.
126.	The generalized, non-reciprocal system of preferences adopted by the Trade and Development Board  is unrealistic in its products coverage, for its seeks, in effect, to give generous tariff preferences to products which most developing countries do not at present produce and gives little or no tariff concessions in respect of those goods that developing countries actually do produce. To illustrate, the tariff barriers which cocoa products face in the European Economic Community, even after the introduction of this new scheme, range from 52 per cent to 16 per cent. For a country like Ghana, whose main product is cocoa, industrialization based on cocoa is the most natural path for the development of the economy, but the protective effect of the tariff structure of developed countries seriously impedes our efforts at exporting cocoa in any processed form. These examples can be multiplied with reference to the products of most developing countries.
127.	We have welcomed the principle underlying the move for a generalized scheme of non-reciprocal tariffs as a hopeful movement towards more equitable relations between developing and developed countries in international trade. My delegation therefore hopes that, even as the present imperfect proposals are being implemented, this Organization would take another look at the arrangements in order to make them more relevant and more responsive to the conditions of the developing countries.
128.	At this session the General Assembly will be performing a most important function. It will be taking some important decisions with regard to the review and appraisal of the objectives and policies of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade. The aim of the deliberate formulation of international development targets that was involved in the Development Strategy is to induce progress at a faster rate than would have occurred in the absence of such concerted action. Whether or not those targets are achieved will depend not only on the political will and sense of commitment with which they are implemented, but also on the machinery for appraising and evaluating implementation efforts. It is the view of my delegation that any machinery devised by this Organization a for appraising and evaluating progress in the implementation of the undertakings which Member States made when they adopted the International Development Strategy must be simple and effective. It must make the maximum use of existing institutions. It must have mechanisms for adjusting objectives and policy measures in the light of inevitably changing circumstances. Above all, it must command the confidence of all Member States.
129.	I think it is appropriate for me at this stage to pay a special tribute to our distinguished Secretary-General, UThant. For 10 years UThant has served the United Nations and the world community with unselfish devotion and great vision, courage and integrity.
130.	The United Nations and the world community owe him a great debt of gratitude, and I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to express the sincere and warm thanks of the Government and people of Ghana to U Thant, and to extend to him our heartfelt good wishes for his future,
131.	This session, the first after last year's session marking the twenty-fifth birthday of this Organization and closing a decade, is an important one. Its deliberations should set the perspectives and objectives of the new decade it initiates; they should, above all, 'ensure that in the decades to come mankind shall live in a world free from the threat of war, free from annihilation by nuclear weapons, free from the conflicts that divide us and free from poverty, hunger, ignorance and disease. On the vision and courage with which this session accepts the challenge of the new decade will depend the success of our experiment in international co-operation for peace and progress.


114.	 Both the course and the content of the general debate at the twenty-sixth session of the Unit d Nations General Assembly have provided new evidence and new proof that the fighting alliance of the basic revcMionary forces of today-the world socialist system, and the international workers and national liberation movements -is gaining strength in the joint struggle against imperialism, while the forces of war, aggression, and the exploitation and oppression of other peoples have been compelled to retreat, using every possible means to camouflage policies which are contrary to the interests of peace and co-operation.
115.	During the past year, as a result of the efforts of the Soviet Union and other socialist States, which consistently and openly pursue a peace-loving foreign policy, and with the support of all progressive forces, positive results have been achieved in the improvement of the international situation.
116.	We have all witnessed a further decrease in tension in Europe, a detente which has been assisted by the treaties concluded between the Soviet Union and the Federal Republic of Germany  and between the Polish People's Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany,    both of which we hope will soon enter into force, by the four-Power agreement on West Berlin, and by increasing support for the proposal put forward by the member States of the Warsaw Pact for a conference on problems of European security and co-operation.
117.	The process of developing and strengthening relations between the Soviet Union and other countries throughout the world is actively continuing. The Treaty on Friendship and Co-operation between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Arab Republic of Egypt, signed at Cairo on 27 May 1971; the Treaty on Peace, Friendship and Co-operation between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Republic of India, signed at New Delhi on 9 August 1971; protocols on consultation between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and France and between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Canada, and numerous treaties and agreements on the development of economic, commercial, scientific and technical co-operation between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and other countries which have been concluded are having a positive effect on mutual relations between States. It would be difficult to overestimate the positive impact upon the development of international relations and the general improvement of the international situation resulting from the meetings held by Comrades L. I. Brezhnev, N. V. Podgomy and A. N. Kosygin with the leaders of a number of countries, from the reciprocal visits to and from the Soviet Union of party. Government and parliamentary delegations, and from meetings and contacts at other levels.
118.	All the activities of the Soviet Union in the sphere of foreign policy are based on the principle of proletarian internationalism in relationships with the socialist States and peaceful coexistence in relations with all other countries bequeathed by V. I. Lenin.
119.	The aims of Soviet foreign policy are to work with the other socialist countries to create favorable international conditions for the building of socialism and communism; to strengthen unity, solidarity, friendship and fraternity between the socialist countries; to support the national liberation movement and co-operate in every way with the young, developing countries; to uphold consistently the principle of peaceful coexistence between Slates with different social systems; and to offer a decisive rebuff to the aggressive forces of imperialism, and save humanity from a new world war.
120.	The Twenty-Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union confirmed the consistency of the Soviet Union's peace-loving Leninist foreign policy and adopted a specific Program for the struggle for peace and international co-operation.
121.	That well-known peace Program, for which the Belorussian SSR expressed full support in its reply to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the subject of the strengthening of international security [A/8431], has been widely acclaimed and supported by those to whom the ideals of peace, social justice and progress are dear.
122.	Unfortunately, however, not all countries have maintained a peace-loving course in their foreign policy activities, a course aimed at ensuring a decrease in international tension and the solution of controversial problems by peaceful means without the threat or use of force and in the interests of furthering good-neighborly relations between all countries.
123.	The United States of America is continuing its aggressive war against the peoples of Viet-Nam, Laos and Cambodia. With its assistance and protection, Israel is continuing its aggression against the Arab States and is frustrating a settlement in the Middle East. The colonialists and racists, relying on assistance from the major NATO Powers, are waging a war against the national liberation
fighters in southern Africa and other parts of the world and continue to hold millions of people under the yoke of colonial and racist domination. The United States of America, caught in a monetary and financial crisis, is trying to extricate itself at the expense of the interests of other States, and primarily of the developing countries.
124.	Everyone understands that such policies and actions perpetrated by the forces of imperialism and their accomplices are contrary to the interests of peace and cooperation between nations and are a gross violation of the United Nations Charter and of the most important decisions adopted by the United Nations, including the progressive decisions adopted last year during the twenty-fifth anniversary session of the General Assembly. We refer in particular to the failure of a number of States Members of the United Nations to observe the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security [resolution 2734 (XXV)], the Declaration on the Occasion of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the United Nations [resolution 2627 (XXV)], the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations [resolution 2622 (XXV)], the special Program of action for the full implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples /resolution 2621 (XXV)], decisions on questions relating to the Middle East and to economic co-operation, and a number of other decisions whose implementation by all States, without any exception, would contribute to the achievement of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and, above all, of the main task of the United Nations-the maintenance of international peace and security.
125.	Faced with diametrically opposed approaches by States to the basic international problems under discussion at the United Nations, the many Foreign Ministers and heads of delegations who have already spoken have tried to elucidate the reasons why certain problems remain unresolved. We note with satisfaction that the majority of speakers have pointed clearly and unequivocally to the guilt of the forces of imperialism for acts of aggression, colonial wars, racial discrimination, and the economic exploitation of other peoples. In those statements concrete suggestions for settling outstanding problems have been made, suggestions which are completely in line with, or coincide with, the position of the socialist countries. The ranks of those fighting for peace and co-operation have swelled, inspiring the hope that the joint efforts of all the anti-imperialist forces will lead to the adoption of effective decisions within the United Nations.
126.	Our attitude to the statements in which emphasis has been placed on the particular role and responsibility of the great Powers as defined by the Charter of the United Nations is one of understanding. Strangely enough, however, certain speakers albeit not many-in referring to the great Powers and their responsibility, have directed their criticism at all the great Powers, without differentiating between their positions. As a result, demands to end the aggression in South-East Asia and the Middle East, to put an end to colonial wars, to eradicate racial discrimination from human society and to abandon the economic enslavement of the developing countries have been addressed, not
to the real culprits, but to all the great Powers. Such an approach does not help matters; it distorts the true picture and can easily make it easier for the aggressor and the oppressor to find new subterfuges to evade the fulfillment of their obligations under the Charter of the United Nations. What is needed here is a definite and precise position and absolute clarity as to who supports what and who is guilty of what. Lumping the great Powers together serves as a convenient cover for the forces of imperialism and for their acts of aggression in Indo-China, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
127.	The delegation of the Belorussian SSR has followed attentively the general debate in the Assembly and cannot let pass those individual statements which postulate the totally unfounded idea that there are "two super-Powers", that their positions are identical, and that conflict with them is inevitable. Those speakers are obviously prisoners of a concept invented by imperialist ideologists, who have devised the term "super-Powers" to defend the basic principles of capitalism, to justify the aggressive nature of the course of United States foreign policy and to destroy the unity of effort of all the anti-imperialist forces in their struggle for peace, democracy, national independence and social justice. Those who use the "super-Powers" concept a id either promoting their own selfish interests or are attempting, on someone else's orders, to conceal the conflict that exists between the two world systems of socialism and capitalism. They are thus undermining the true struggle against imperialism and fail to understand the elementary truth that the foreign policy of any State is determined, not by the size of the State or by its economic or military potential, but by the class which is in power in that country and by whether the Government pursues policies which are in line with the interests of the working people or whether it defends the interests of the exploiters and oppressors, and by whether that State is a stronghold of peace and a bulwark in the struggle of all progressive and revolutionary forces against imperialism or whether it is acting as policeman to the world and by its policies and actions is bringing destruction, death and suffering to other peoples.
128.	This is the heart of the matter, as I intend to show by analyzing the approach of various States or groups of States to the solution of a number of unsolved and pressing problems which are being discussed within the United Nations, including some which are being discussed in the general debate today.
129.	Firstly, however, we should like to state categorically that the Belorussian SSR, like the other socialist States, upholds the principle that every country and all States should, in the words of the Charter of the United Nations, be determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, to unite their strength to maintain international peace and security, to settle their international disputes by peaceful means, to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force, to assist in the complete elimination of colonialism and its evil consequences and to promote the economic and social advancement of all peoples.
130.	Consequently, we welcome any bilateral or multilateral agreement between States on any subject provided
such agreement is consistent with the objectives of the United Nations. This cannot be said for those who use the "super-Powers" concept. In this connexion, we have only to recall that almost any agreement on disarmament matters has been rejected precisely by those who like to talk about "super-Powers". Such was the case when the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373(XXII), annex], the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and the Subsoil Thereof [resolution 2660 (XXV). annex] were being prepared, and in many other instances.
131.	But let us return to matters raised by delegations at the current session of the United Nations General Assembly.
13?, For over 10 years an aggressive war has been waged in South-East Asia, where the United States and its accomplices have killed more than a million Viet-Namese, Laotians and Cambodians, mutilated millions of human beings, destroyed thousands of towns and village* in the Indo-Chinese peninsula, and, by their use of toxic chemical substances, have transformed vast areas into deserts. To the chain of crimes committed by the Hitlerites during the Second World War, an ample reminder of which are such villages as Katyn in Byelorussia, Lidice in Czechoslovakia or Gradour in France, which were destroyed with all their inhabitants, a new and terrible link has been added  Song-My in Viet-Nam. It is not only the United States that is waging this aggressive war, but also a number of countries which call themselves developing States. Instead of occupying themselves with matters related to their own development, however, they expend enormous sums for military purposes or sell their soldiers to a rich great Power and send them to fight in defense of foreign interests, causing untold suffering to the peoples of other developing countries. How do the propagandists of the "super-Powers" concept reply to this? They know very well that the Soviet Union is working indefatigably towards the elimination of the military hotbed in South-East Asia. The Twenty-Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union adopted a special address on freedom and peace to the peoples of Indo-China. The Soviet Union and other socialist and peace-loving States actively support the just demands of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet-Nam, and of the National United Front of Cambodia and the Patriotic Front of Laos. The overwhelming majority of States see in the recent seven-point proposals put forward by tile Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Viet-Nam a constructive Program for a political settlement of the war in South-East Asia. The other side avoids even discussing these proposals. Here in the Assembly there are certain people who are trying to put us off our guard by their talk of decreasing the conflict in South-East Asia, despite the fact that the beginning of this session of the United Nations General Assembly was marked by a resumption of the bombing of the territory of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and by a renewal of military operations by United States forces in Cambodia and Laos.
133.	The Byelorussian SSR, like many other countries, decisively condemns the aggression in South-East Asia and demands the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of United States troops and of the troops of their allies from that area, and the abandonment of the policy of forcing Asians to fight against Asians, We affirm our support of the struggle of the peoples of Indo-China for independence and freedom, and demand that they should be given the right to be the masters on their own soil and to decide their own future without foreign interference.
134.	Let us now turn to the situation in the Middle East which has resulted from the Israeli aggression against the Arab States which was prepared, encouraged and directed by the forces of imperialism. After more than four years the consequences of that criminal aggression have still not been eliminated. What is the reason? Can anyone here see any collusion between the great Powers, or any identity in their positions? One would have to be quite bereft of reason to assert this. The whole world knows that the Soviet Union, the other socialist States and the overwhelming majority of other peace-loving States decisively and unconditional condemn Israeli aggression and are doing everything possible to implement Security Council resolution 242 (1967). The socialist States and many Afro-Asian countries support the struggle of the Arab peoples, who are the victims of aggression, for the restoration of their violated rights, for a just political settlement in the Middle East and for the protection of the lawful rights of the people of Palestine. This was. also stressed in the statement of the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union calling for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
135.	One great Power, France, has adopted a constructive position on the Middle East question. At one time, the United Kingdom was a sponsor of Security Council resolution 242 (1967), although now it has almost entirely adopted the position of another great Power. The Arab countries are ready to implement fully that decision of the Security Council with reference to both the withdrawal of Israeli troops and to the establishment of a lasting peace in that area. In the summer of this year, the Arab Republic of Egypt responded immediately and positively to the proposal of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ambassador Jarring. It stated that It was ready to conclude a peace treaty with Israel on condition that Israeli troops would be withdrawn from the occupied Arab territories. Its patience and sincere desire for peace have guaranteed the lengthy cease-fire in order to achieve the objectives contained in the Security Council resolution. Everyone is aware of the initiative of the Arab Republic of Egypt which proposed measures for the resumption of navigation in the Suez Canal in the near future on condition that the Israeli forces were withdrawn from the Canal Zone, and subsequently from all the occupied territories. Mr. Riad, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, has mentioned this point again here [1954th meeting]. In point of fact every argument advanced in the past by Israel in support of its claim that it is only trying to ensure its own security, has received a positive and constructive response- from the Arab States, Nevertheless, Israel is stubbornly evading a solution to the question of the withdrawal of its forces from the Arab territories it has seized. And in pursuing these villainous policies it relies on the support of the United States and certain of its allies. With their assistance,
moreover, Israel is building up its military potential and sabotaging a settlement; it has submitted new claims one after another with one sole end in view, namely to retain possession of the Arab territories It has seized. We recently witnessed how, with this same end in view, proposals whose hidden purpose was simply to reward Israel for its aggression were put forward from this lofty rostrum as "new ideas". Quite naturally, those sugared proposals were rejected by the Arab States because they do not and cannot ensure a final political settlement in the Middle East based on the implementation of the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of foreign territory by force, a principle which has been approved by the United Nations. And from this specific historical example everyone can see how diametrically opposed are the policies and positions of the two great Powers or, as some people call them, the two "super-Powers".
136.	Mr. Khaddam, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic, who spoke here [1952nd meeting], was right when he stated that the attempt of Zionist-Israeli propaganda to present Israeli aggression against the Arab countries as a conflict between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the Middle East was intended to establish an absolute link between United States interests and Israeli aggression; this attempt reflects the- desire of the expansionist Israeli Stat 'i to continue its occupation of the Arab territories. We can only regret that some of those who have spoken from this have been taken in by this deceitful trick of tire Israeli aggressors.
137.	I have already referred to certain positive trends in the development of the situation in Europe, which are the result of the foreign policy initiatives taken by the Soviet Union and other socialist States. But there, too, there are many pressing problems which require urgent solution. The treaties and agreements which have been concluded have not as yet been implemented, no final decision has yet been taken on the convening of a conference on questions of security and co-operation, and practical work on arms limitation in Europe has not yet begun.
138.	It is a well-known fact that all the proposals to transform Europe into a continent of peace and cooperation have been introduced by the Soviet Union in close co-operation with other socialist States. Such proposals are actively supported by the majority of Western European countries.
139.	What, then, is impeding their rapid and effective implementation? Once again, it is the relevance, not of all, but of certain of the great Powers and some of their more zealous allies inside NATO to move rapidly and unconditionally towards a total detente in Europe.
140.	Everyone knows who it is that has set, and continues to set, every kind of obstacle and more and more prior conditions to the convening of an all-European conference and who it is that asks questions that can only be answered by the conference itself and by negotiations on the limitation of armaments. The question most frequently raised is what will happen if an all-European conference takes place or if negotiations begin on the limitation of armaments. The answer to that question depends on the

position adopted by the participants in such meetings. But it is clear that if everyone is as resolute and as consistent as the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries in seeking ways of reaching agreement, Europe will no longer be a focal point for world-wide conflict. This will be to the advantage of all nations of the world, large and small, both in Europe and in other countries. The States of the socialist community will make resolute and consistent efforts to attain this end, in full awareness of their great duty and responsibility to all humanity.
141.	All representatives are familiar with the agenda of the General Assembly. But permit me to draw attention to a small but important detail. There are 98 items on the agenda. Among them are quite a few items of an organizational nature that stem from the Charter of the United Nations or relate to elections and the accountability of organs working between sessions. Let us try to select the most important items and remember on whose initiative they were included in the agenda. It will then become clear that the Soviet Union and the other socialist States, including the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, have had placed on the agenda items on the strengthening of international security, the convening of a world disarmament conference and a number of other disarmament questions, including a proposal for the elimination of chemical and bacteriological weapons, nuclear disarmament, and so on. These countries have also had placed on the agenda items connected with the peaceful uses of outer space, the preparation of an international treaty concerning the moon, the question of the universality of the United Nations, decolonization, and economic co-operation. The socialist States have raised matters concerning the struggle against nazism and racism, the punishment of war criminals, the definition of aggression and many other important items on the agenda of the General Assembly, which determine the political character of our Organization.
142.	This year, the United States, with the support of certain other Western countries, even went so far as to make it impossible for the United Nations to erase a shameful blot on its escutcheon, by preventing discussions of questions raised by a large group of socialist and Afro-Asian States on the withdrawal of United States and all other foreign forces occupying South Korea under the flag of the United Nations and the dissolution of the illegally created Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea.
143.	In connexion with this unjustified decision which was forced upon the General Assembly, the delegation of the Byelorussian SSR, as a sponsor of the aforementioned proposals [A/8443 and Add.l, A/8444 and Add.l] states that it will continue to strive actively to secure the departure of the occupying forces from Korean soil, so that the flag of the United Nations will not be used as a cover for imperialist adventures, and the Korean people will be given the opportunity to decide their own destiny.
144.	The position of certain. Western countries regarding even such an important political matter as the implementation of the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security also deserves attention. A study of the Secretary-General's report on this question [A]8431 and Add. 1-5] shows that the United States did not reply to the
United Nations questionnaire on the subject, while the United Kingdom contented itself with a formal reply referring to its previous year's report. How are we to understand the position of these two great Powers which, together with the other permanent members of the Security Council, bear the main responsibility for the peace and security of all nations.
145.	Certain Western countries have remained silent on the question of convening a world disarmament conference, and the United States has clearly said that it views this proposal with skepticism. We support the proposal for the convening of a world disarmament conference [AlL.631] and note with satisfaction that many States approve the initiative of the USSR, support it and have decided to discuss the problem directly at plenary meetings, thereby stressing its extreme importance in the present situation of an unrestrained arms race encouraged by the military and industrial complex of the imperialist Powers.
146.	The delegation of the Byelorussian SSR intends to speak on another occasion on the questions of the strengthening of international security and disarmament. At this point we merely wish to appeal to all States, large and small, to pay the most serious attention, in discussing these questions, to the fact that certain Powers are not adhering to the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security, are not assisting the peaceful settlement of military conflicts and are slowing down the process of disarmament. Joint efforts are needed on the part of all Members of the United Nations to eliminate the hotbeds of war and to strengthen the peace and security of all nations.
147.	Our policy with regard to the struggle against colonialism is well known. One of the points in the ^Program of peace approved by the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union states that the decisions of the United Nations concerning the elimination of the remaining colonial regimes must be fully implemented, and any manifestations of racism and apartheid must be universally condemned and boycotted. The resolution of the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on the report of the Central Committee of the CPSU states that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union "is invariably true to the Leninist principle of solidarity with the peoples fighting for national liberation and social emancipation. As in the past, the fighters against the remaining colonial regimes can count on our full support".
148.	Such is the position of the Soviet Union, and such is the position of the other socialist States. This policy, as is well known, is backed by practical deeds. It was on the initiative of the Soviet Union in 1960 that the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was adopted and important decisions, proposed and supported by the socialist States, have been taken with the aim of eliminating colonialism and its consequences. Those decisions have played an important role in the achievement of independence by many countries that have since become Members of the United Nations.

149.	The position taken by the present and former colonial Powers is quite the opposite. They continue to support colonial regimes; they grant military and economic assistance to the South African and Southern Rhodesian racists and to the Portuguese colonialists; they commit acts of aggression against sovereign States Members of tin United Nations, impose the dangerous idea of a so-called dialog with the South African racists on the African States, and refuse to co-operate within the United Nations in order to complete the process of decolonization. With that purpose in view, some of them have even gone so far as to use the veto in the Security Council and to withdraw from United Nations organs dealing with decolonization.
150.	During the course of the general debate, Ministers for Foreign Affairs and heads of delegations of African and many other countries have justly rebuked the colonialists and the racists for their actions. We proclaim our full solidarity with them and will do everything possible to speed the complete elimination of the remaining colonial regimes.
151.	It is not enough to eliminate the colonialists political domination. That must be followed by a process of independent economic development in the interests of the peoples of the young sovereign States. As a result of the efforts of the Soviet Union and the other socialist States and with the support of the developing countries, it has been possible, despite resistance from the forces of oppression and exploitation, to secure the adoption of a number of decisions which have promoted the economic and social advancement of nations. It is sufficient to recall in this connexion the decisions of the United Nations which establish the inadmissibility of setting political conditions when granting economic assistance and recognize the inalienable sovereignty of every nation over its natural resources and riches, decisions which call for measures to be worked out within the United Nations to reduce considerably the export of capital in various forms from the developing countries and to increase their share of the profits of foreign monopolies, decisions which recognize the need for State control on the part of developing countries over the activities of foreign capital and call for the regulation and improvement of tax systems in the developing countries with respect to both local and foreign capital, in order to achieve greater equity in the distribution of income and the utilization of national resources for development purposes. We have demanded and continue to demand that the former colonial Powers, .and also the capitalist countries which still continue their predatory exploitation of the resources of others, compensate the developing countries for the material losses that they have suffered.
152.	It would be possible to continue this list and give specific examples, but it is already clear that in matters of economic co-operation, too, our position is radically different from the policies and practices of the United States and its associates in the exploitation of the riches of the developing countries, and in attempts to solve their own economic problems to the detriment of, or at the expense of, the legitimate interests of other States, a matter on which many representatives of the developing countries and even of certain Western countries have spoken convincingly. Almost all Members of the United Nations recognize the
need to implement the principle of the universality of the organization. Thanks to our consistent position on the question of universality,, the membership of the United Nations has been increased by 80 States in the 26 years of its existence. We now advocate the admission of the German Democratic Republic to the United Nations and the simultaneous admission of the Federal Republic of Germany) the restoration of the lawful rights of the Chinese People's Republic in the United Nations and the expulsion from all organs of the United Nations of the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek who illegally occupy its place.
153,	We do not intend to go into details concerning those who are impeding implementation of the principle of the universality of the United Nations, However, we cannot let pass the references which have been made to the membership of the Byelorussian SSR in the United Nations by the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Rogers, [1950th meeting] references which are unworthy of the representative of a great Power.
154.	The Byelorussian SSR is a founding Member of the United Nations, and made a considerable contribution to the preparation of the Charter of the United Nations and to the adoption of decisions aimed at ensuring its implementation. We earned the right to become a founding Member of the United Nations in the cruel and deadly struggle against the grim forces of fascism during the Second World War. More than 1,100,000 citizens of the Byelorussian SSR fought at the front during the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Hitlerite invaders, and on the temporarily occupied territory of Byelorussia more than 440,000 partisans and underground fighters carried on a heroic struggle in the ranks of the fearless avengers of the people and were supported in that struggle by the entire Byelorussian people.
155,	Perhaps Mr, Rogers is not aware of the fact that up to the time when the fascist occupiers were driven from Byelorussian soil, the Byelorussian partisans and underground fighters alone had killed or put out of action over half a million of Hitler’s soldiers and officers, that is to say considerably mom than the British and American armies put together had done by the middle of 1944.- These facts are known to many Americans. The heroic role of the Byelorussian people in achieving the aims of the United Nations and the right of the Byelorussian SSR to be a founding Member of the United Nations were recognized by one of Mr. Rogers predecessors, the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Stettinius, in a statement at a press conference in Washington on 3 April 1945.
156.	We would remind Mr. Rogers of this and tell him not to use such impermissible methods in his efforts to defend the unjust cause of keeping the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek in the United Nations.

157.	During the discussion of items on the agenda in plenary meetings and in the Committees, the Byelorussian delegation will state in greater detail its position both on questions raised this morning and on questions that we have not been able to refer to because of lack of time. We have deemed it desirable to go into more detail in revealing the false concept of the so-called "super-Powers", not in order to defend our own position or to conceal the strength and capability of socialist co-operation in actively influencing the course of international events, but simply in order to unmask those who proclaim this anti-scientific concept in an attempt to prevent any consolidation of the forces of peace, progress and democracy and to cover up aggression and the seizure of foreign lands.
158.	We should like once again to remind distinguished representatives that the Soviet Union and the other socialist States are guided in their foreign policies by the interests of international security, the principle of the equality of all nations, respect for the sovereignty of each country, and the inadmissibility of interference in the internal affairs of States. The socialist States have never developed relations with any countries at the expense of, or to the detriment of, the interests of others and have done everything possible to ensure that multilateral co-operation between States was built and developed on the basis of the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations.
159.	In our century of struggle between two opposing trends in foreign-policy matters, that is to say between the policies of the forces of socialism and of the forces of imperialism, no country which is truly interested in peace and co-operation between nations can remain on the sidelines; it must join the anti-imperialist front and wage an active struggle against policies of aggression and war. Only in this way is it possible to ensure truly independent political and economic development. This is the political course of the future and the affairs of those nations that pursue it will undoubtedly flourish.
160.	Our foreign policy is one of peace and international security, the strengthening of fraternal relations between socialist countries and of their alliance with the anti-imperialist forces fighting for freedom throughout the world. It can already be said that the Program for the struggle for peace, freedom and national independence, put forward by the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, has evoked a wide response in every continent of the world.
161.	The general political debate at the twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly now drawing to a close confirms this absolutely.


115.	 Mr, President, may I join with all those who at this early stage in the general debate have already extended to you and to Indonesia congratulations on your appointment to the presidency of this Assembly. As representatives of a country of the third world, my delegation cannot but identify with the aspirations of your people and share in their elation at your appointment. I pledge to you our unswerving support as you discharge the high responsibilities of your office with that skill and that integrity for which you are so renowned.
116.	Let me join also with those who have paid tribute to your distinguished predecessor for his having presided so successfully over the twenty-fifth session. That session, including as it did our special anniversary proceedings, imposed unusual burdens on the presidency; we are all indebted to Mr. Hambro for his having borne them with such urbanity and with such fortitude.
117.	This happens to be the fifth successive year in which I have had the honor to address the Assembly in general debate. In terms of the statistics of tenure of Foreign Ministers, I daresay that this makes me a veteran. But the concomitant of service is experience; and the experience of five sessions of the General Assembly including, as they do, the procedures of reappraisal and self examination with which we commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations imposes an inevitable reflectiveness upon a 'present contribution. It is out of this personal experience, therefore, no less than out of the experience of my country during these same early years of our national existence, that I speak. And it is on this experience and about the lessons it has taught us in the area of international relations that I venture to address this Assembly. I hope that there may be added justification for doing so if, as I believe to be the case, those lessons have relevance for all States and for all peoples, but, more especially, for our work here on the bank of the East River.
118.	The first lesson is how essential it is to secure universality of membership in the United Nations. It is a lesson that should have needed no urging upon us; for was it not explicit in that act of commitment made on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, that, through the unity of all the peoples of the world, symbolized in and made effective through this Organization, we would save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and bring justice and progress to a world of equal men and women? Today, 26 years later, this Organization still does not represent all the peoples of the world. It represents in fact less than two thirds of all mankind. Is it surprising, therefore, that that unity to which the Charter looked remains elusive, and that the global objectives of the Charter remain beyond our reach? Is there a delegation here that has not learned out of its own experience, here in New York and indeed elsewhere on the international circuit, that if we are to have a realistic chance of achieving the objectives of the Charter in our time, we must have among us in the United Nations all those who truly represent the people of all States?
119.	When the first session of this Assembly was held, in 1946, its membership numbered a mere 51 States. Today, due in no small measure to the work of the United Nations in the field of decolonization, that membership stands at 130 with the admission at this session of the new Member States of Bhutan, Bahrain and Qatar, whom we welcome to this Organization. Many of these, although by no means all, are, like our newest Members, small States new to freedom and, therefore, new to the international scene. But both separately and as a group they are among the Members most mindful of the value of this Organization and most committed to its effectiveness. Speaking, as I do, for one such Member State, it is reassuring to have the confirming testimony of the SecretaryGeneral himself when he places on record, in the introduction to his report to this session on the work of the Organization, his strong belief that those new nations "have made an important contribution to a more representative and balanced view of the world in the United Nations" [A/8401/Add.l, para. 53]. Yet more remains to be done if we are to make that view fully representative and truly balanced.
120.	As this twenty-sixth session of the Assembly begins, the world's most populous State, the People's Republic of" China, whose Government speaks for one third of mankind, is not represented in this Organization. Let us resolve that it shall be ere this session ends. And let us ensure as my delegation shall strive to ensure it that by eschewing sterile debate and by rejecting procedural devices which either seek or, indeed, without seeking it have as their result the frustration of that purpose. It is time, in the view of my delegation, that the People's Republic of China should occupy its seat in the General Assembly and take its place among the permanent members of the Security Council. We believe it to be in the interest of this Organization that that be done at this session if necessary leaving to the future, and by such procedures as be most appropriate, settlement of such other issues as may arise from that result, but which must not impede its achievement.
121.	But the seating of the People's Republic, while advancing greatly the universality of the membership of the United Nations, will not in itself achieve it. It is, therefore, not too early for the Assembly to issue a call at this session for arrangements that will ensure that those peoples of the divided nations not now represented in this Assembly will no longer suffer this disability and that their Governments may make their contributions to the international community within this Organization, whether or not a solution to the problem of division is immediately attainable. If we thus ensure that the only impediments to our realization of the goal of universality of membership of the United Nations are the last halting steps in the process of decolonization, we shall have provided new incentives for quickening that process and for making this Organization the forum of the world it was designed to be. When that goal is reached, when a resolution carried in this Assembly truly speaks in the name of mankind, we shall have come closer to fulfilling those ennobling purposes of the Charter to which we all stand committed,
122.	Universality of membership will indeed bring us closer to the fulfillment of the purposes of the Charter, but it will not, of course, in itself secure that fulfillment. What is needed, what all our experience all too painfully underlines as the primary need of our time, is a will on the part of all Member States to live by the precepts and the principles of the Charter. An enlarged membership of the United Nations may do little more than enlarge the area of semantic confrontation and widen the scope of inconclusive dialog unless it is accompanied by what a past President of this Assembly described as "a return to the spirit of the Charter a return, that is, to the collective commitments enshrined in the Charter as the basic obligations of every Member State.
123.	It is a sad commentary on the failure of Member States to live up to those commitments and to those obligations that the SecretaryGeneral, in surveying the work of the Organization over the last 10 years, should feel constrained to report to this Assembly:
"... I cannot help reaching the conclusion that during that period the most powerful nations have all too seldom shown themselves able to rise above the suspicions, fears and mistrust that spring from their different ideologies, different objectives and different conceptions of the best interest of the world. By and large, the rivalry of nations continued to be the dominant factor in international life" [ibid., pm. 6],
That is a severe indictment of the major Powers and of the superPowers in particular. Yet it is an indictment that is unanswerable, for the chronicles of this Assembly and the events of each passing year are testimony to its truth, and in no respect more so than the primary commitment under the Charter the maintenance of international peace and security.
124.	Pledged under the Charter to "practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors", Member States, and others now outside the membership of the Organization, have continued the race to outstrip each other in stockpiling the hardware of war and in developing their capability for destruction in ever more sophisticated ways and to ever spiraling levels of annihilation. Some progress has, of course, been made in the dialog of disarmament, but almost non a in disarmament itself. Indeed, it is a sobering commentary on this record of failure that the growth rate of the world's weaponry of destruction is now higher than it ever has been, and that the volume of arms, including nuclear arms, held in armories the world is now greater than ever before in the history r /the human race. Driven forward by fear and suspicion but also, not infrequently, by ambitions of dominion the world's annual expenditure on military equipment has now reached the staggering figure of $200 billion. Compare that figure with the approximately $7 billion which the developed countries state as their annual contribution by way of official development assistance. The world spends more on arms in every single fortnight than flows in an entire year as official assistance from developed to developing countries. And each year, as we discuss disarmament and place on record our asseverations of peace, that annual withdrawal from the budget of peace grows ever larger.
125.	Pledged, similarly, under the Charter "to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security", we fail to advance beyond the piety of declarations and, in particular, fail dismally to come to grips with the essentials of international peacekeeping. Even on so limited a subject as United Nations military observers, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations has failed to make any significant progress, largely as a result of continuing disagreements between the major Powers. And yet international peacekeeping in all its aspects must be the very cornerstone of any system for the maintenance of international security.
126.	My delegation has raised its voice repeatedly in this Assembly, as we do again, in calling for a bold and imaginative approach to the question of peacekeeping for arrangements that at the very least can be relied upon to preserve the peace in advance of conflict. Preventive peacekeeping operations do not raise issues of the same complexity as do peace enforcement measures undertaken after the peace has been transgressed; but they can deter transgression. The right so to guarantee the peace of the world by preventing its violation can no longer be denied this Organization if international security is to be preserved.
127.	If it continues to be so denied at the instance of the major Powers, is it not time that a system of collective security be agreed upon by those Member States not inhibited by considerations of power based upon a system of preventive peacekeeping administered on their behalf, and without the involvement of nonparticipating States, through this Organization?
128.	My delegation, however, shares the view expressed in the SecretaryGeneral's report that it is surely
"... not beyond the capabilities of the Members of the Organization to devise a system that is both realistic and flexible and that takes account both the susceptibilities of sovereignty and national policies and of the urgent demands and challenges of conflict situations" [ibid., para. 174*.
We urge Member States to postpone no further the establishment of such a worldwide system or, at the very least, to begin discussions during the twenty-sixth session on the lines of the more limited scheme I have suggested.
129.	Pledged, as we are, under the Charter to ensure "that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest", the pages of contemporary history continue to be filled with the record of armed conflict: of the war in IndoChina, which has now extended from VietNam into Laos and Cambodia and which will not end unless foreign intervention of ail kinds has ended and an environment secured in which incentives for reconciliation and peaceful solutions replace present incentives for obduracy and for war; of the convulsive conflicts of the Middle East, where differences over interpretation of Security Council resolutions for peace provide new bases for continuing tensions, while territory occupied by force remains a prize of war; of a miscellany of situations around the globe .where armed force or the threat of it is made to serve a national, rather than the common, interest.
130.	But to focus upon these particular failures whether in disarmament or in peacekeeping or in the avoidance of armed conflict is surely to mistake the symptom for the cause; for the cause of failure lies in the malady itself, which is the absence of an ethos of collective responsibility for international peace and security. In the idiom of contemporary surgery, what the world needs is an international heart transplant so that that "collective weakness and collective impotence'? which the SecretaryGeneral diagnoses in his report could be replaced by collective strength and collective effectiveness and the world body given a new chance of performing its primary function, namely, the maintenance of international peace and security.
131.	It may be said that there is little that most States can do to advance this change; that the realities of our time condemn international peace and security to being held in pawn to power, and that it is futile to raise our voices in protest, in anguish or even in exhortation.
132.	My delegation does not accept so hopeless a prognosis. In the first place, we believe that if we refuse to relapse into cynicism and despair progress can be made by patient persistence in the cause of peace, by raising the principles and precepts of the Charter to the level of an international ideology and by pursuing every practical possibility of advancing collective security through collective responsibility and action.
133.	But, beyond this, we are not without hope, because the people of the world and, more especially, the young people of the world, whose inheritance we hold in balance are mindful of our derelictions and are everywhere asserting that they cease. When we are tempted to be intolerant of the protests of the young in any of the forms those protests take-it would be well for us to pause and reflect that theirs is the true spirit of the Charter, that theirs, not ours, are the authentic voices of peace, not just because they will be tomorrow's leaders, but because what they assert today is right and they must prevail. We would do well to match our actions to their mood and avoid, while there is still time, the condemnation of history for having failed to secure that better world which was, after all, our dream at San Francisco.
134.	And there are other respects, beyond international peace and security, in which that dream has remained unfulfilled; for international peace and security conceived of in terms of relations between States will mean little to the people of the world if they remain everywhere in chains. That is why in the Charter we reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women everywhere. That is why one of the early acts of the new world Organization was the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We have made notable advances since that time, and the record of international action in advancing the processes of decolonization and in securing recognition of and protection for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual is one of which this Organization may rightly be proud. But while pride is justified, complacency is not; for tragic failures mar that record, both with respect to decolonization and the advancement of the dignity and worth of the human person.
135.	Colonialism and discrimination are still with us, and from their vestigial outposts in southern Africa rise up in blatant challenge to this Organization and to the conscience of mankind. The triadic evil which the regimes in South Africa, in Southern Rhodesia and in the Portuguese controlled Territories of Mozambique, Angola and Guinea (Bissau) represent must be confronted by a righteous and united world community if we are not to make the Charter a mask for hypocrisy. Yet there are all too few indications of that righteousness and of that unity, Struggles of liberation being waged in southern Africa receive tangible support from all too few of the countries of the world, We are ready to condemn, but reluctant to redress. Some Governments, like my own, make no apology for the assistance we give in this cause and it is heartening to see a major section of the world's religious community lending assistance to the liberation movements in their effort to cleanse these remaining enclaves of racial bigotry and oppression.
136.	But it is one thing to abstain from a just struggle; it is quite another to give help and comfort and practical assistance to those on the side of injustice; and this is precisely what is happening in southern Africa. The SecretaryGeneral has reported that, notably with the help of South Africa and Portugal, Southern Rhodesia has so effectively surmounted the economic sanctions imposed by the Security Council that it has managed actually to increase the annual volume of its external trade. Meanwhile, South Africa's trading partners, unwilling to make sacrifices at the national level for the international cause of human dignity, continue to make an investment in apartheid and to bolster the moral and physical strength of the regime by sustaining and strengthening relationships in trade, commerce, investment and diplomacy, and by a variety of mutually beneficial endeavors, including the supply of arms or of the patents for their manufacture.
137.	My delegation repeats the call we made at the twenty-fifth session for the acceptance by other Members of this Organization of the commitment already undertaken by the countries of the nonaligned group to impose an embargo on trade with Portugal, South Africa and Rhodesia and by every other means open to them to make these regimes responsive to the will of this Organization [1876th meeting, para, 47]. How can we fail to take up the challenge which they have thrown down to humanity in general and to this Organization in particular?
138.	South Africa has elevated the creed of racial discrimination to the level of a social philosophy and has made it the cornerstone of national policy. The illegal regime in Southern Rhodesia shows every indication of moving in the same direction. South Africa continues to defy the decisions of this Organization on Namibia, despite the recent confirmation of their binding authority by the International Court of Justice. The regimes in the Portuguese controlled Territories flout the mandate of the Assembly for decolonization and use colonialism both as a shield and a sword against this Organization in its efforts to put an end to human degradation in Africa.
139.	Once again, as in the field of international peace and security, what we lack is not international machinery for implementing the provisions of the Charter but the will to take the necessary decisions and, having taken them, to ensure their implementation and effectiveness. To foster that will, let us acknowledge as axiomatic the universality of human dignity; that human rights are not divisible; that they cannot be apportioned among States and peoples; that the dignity of man is everywhere affronted when the human personality is anywhere degraded; that justice must be given the worldwide dimension for which the SecretaryGeneral has called if injustice is not to debase our civilization and threaten the peace of the world. And let it be acknowledged, therefore, that gross violations of human rights wherever they occur in the world are the legitimate concern of the international community; that matters cease to be essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of a State when they give rise to humanitarian issues of such magnitude that the international community must of necessity grapple with them.
140.	But just as the international community must legitimately be concerned with the debasement of human dignity, so the international community has an obligation to secure conditions in the world which are propitious to the advancement of human dignity and, more particularly* to the enjoyment of those fundamental human rights which are affected by forces beyond the control of the domestic jurisdiction. We have made great advances at the national and international levels in textual guarantees of human rights and we have made great practical advances in the effective protection of civil and political rights in most, even if not in all, parts of the world. The efforts that remain to be exerted in this area are essentially at the national level.
141.	In the field of economic, social and cultural rights the picture is entirely different, and for the developing countries in particular the matter does not end with national action, for their enjoyment depends at least as much upon an international economic system that is conducive to the elimination of the development differential and is favorable to economic and social reform in the developing countries. Thus it is hypocritical in conditions of chronic unemployment resulting from underdevelopment to give assurances of the right to work; it is provocative in those circumstances to talk of the right to leisure. Yet, until more equitable economic arrangements can be established between the developed and the developing world, this distinction will remain between sentiment and reality, between promise and performance, between expectation and achievement. If added incentive be needed for more effective international action in the economic and social spheres, let the developed countries which are parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognize an additional responsibility extending beyond their national jurisdictions to all those whose lives are affected by their economic policies and the policies of the economic institutions they control.
142.	In that same context of the interrelationship between development and the enjoyment of economic, social and culture rights we have looked with sadness and concern on the recent movement of millions of refugees across international frontiers from Pakistan into India and have shared as a brother with those countries the anguish of that great human tragedy. We have noted the SecretaryGeneral's statement in his report to this Assembly that the basic problem can only be solved if a political solution based on reconciliation and a respect for humanitarian principles is achieved [AffMOl/AddJ, para. 191], and we acknowledge with him that in a disaster of such vast proportions the international community has a clear obligation to help the peoples and Governments concerned in every way. Mindful of all the many dangers with which this situation is fraught, but conscious of the deep desire of both Governments for a lowering of the tensions which it has generated, we pray that the occasion of this Assembly might provide new opportunities for the pursuit of early, effective and satisfactory solutions.
143.	As I indicated in my address to the twenty-fifth session [1876th meeting], the Government and people of Guyana recognize fully that national sacrifice and national effort by the developing countries are prerequisites for progress and we stand pledged with our colleagues in the nonaligned countries to make the doctrine of self-reliance the principal instrument of national development. On that same occasion, I suggested that in pursuing such a program of national development the primary efforts of the developing countries would have to be directed to control and ownership of their own resources in conformity with the spirit and principles of the Charter and with the more specific resolutions of this Assembly; and I invited an assurance from the developed countries that in relation to this effort they would refrain from imposing an economic imperialism to take the place of the passing political dominion and that they would pledge as part of their commitment to international development positive assistance to those developing countries which seek to help themselves by exercising effective sovereignty over the development of their natural resources.
144.	Not merely was that assurance not forthcoming, but the months between the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth sessions have demonstrated that, whatever may be the restraint shown by the Governments of some of the developed countries in relation to the implementation of such policies, multinational corporations and even international financial institutions are as yet unready to concede their legitimacy.
145.	Indeed, developing countries, such as mine, which have sought to pursue such policies have been the recipients from these quarters, not of encouragement and assistance, nor even of a benign acquiescence, but of a whole range of subtle and not so-subtle pressures to desist. We invite this Assembly to reiterate the right of all peoples and nations to permanent sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources for the purpose of enhancing their national development and the wellbeing of their peoples and to call again upon the capital-exporting countries to refrain from any action which would hinder the exercise of this right, whether directly or through those international financial institutions whose policies they so greatly influence.
146.	However, the movement of international development capital is only one facet of a complex international economic system which has produced the present disparities of wealth and development and which remains resistant to their removal despite the protests of the developing countries and the efforts of this Organization. Bolstering the system is an international legal order which must itself be reexamined in the context of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade [resolution 2626 (XXV)J and with a view to ensuring that the work of the United Nations Development program and such organizations as the United Nations Industrial Development Organization makes an effective and permanent impact on the development gap. Thus, we need to reappraise, in the context of a critical' examination of the economic issues involved, the law relating to international shipping, with particular reference to the establishment of international freight rates, which can have such devastating effects on the economies of developing countries, and the law relating to international air transport, to international sale of goods, to international payments, to international monetary transactions, to international commercial arbitration to mention only a few. My delegation, therefore, welcomes the establishment of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law as a move in this direction, and we trust that the Commission will see its task in terms of the progressive and equitable development of the law relating to international trade rather than the mere unification and harmonization of inherited norms. As a member of that Commission, Guyana will endeavor to ensure that the Commission so proceeds.
147.	For like reasons, my delegation welcomes the enlargement of the composition and mandate of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean Floor beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction and its transformation into the committee preparing the conference on the law of the sea now scheduled for 1973 [resolution 2750 C (XXV)]. The enlargement of the international community since the Geneva Conferences on the Law of the Sea of 1958 and 1960 and developments both in technology and in understanding of the issues at stake will make it necessary for the 1973 conference to reexamine a variety of matters which the four 1958 Conventions crystallized at too formative a stage of their development. My delegation will lend its support both in the enlarged Seabed Committee and in this Assembly to all measures designed to ensure that the 1973 conference meets squarely the challenge posed by the existing unevenness in global economic and technological development and establishes ^ regime on the law of the sea which is genuinely equitable to all States,
148.	If all Member States can approach the conference in this spirit it might yet provide an almost unique occasion for agreement on the distribution of at least one part of the world's resources based on the just needs and entitlements of all peoples rather than on the vicissitudes of self interested exploitation. If that can be achieved and If, in like manner, the spirit of internationalism can pervade the deliberations and condition the results of the forthcoming United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, we may indeed commence a new and more glorious chapter in the conduct of human relations. Certainly we shall come closer than ever before to demonstrating that determination which we proclaim in the Charter "to employ international machinery for the economic and social advancement of all peoples".
149.	In the context of internationalism and a world legal order, I should like to say a word about the International
Court of Justice, It is, regrettably, the case that the United Nations has created as its principal judicial organ a Court which its Member States are reluctant to use. That the International Court of Justice should have no disputes submitted to it for decision would be a matter for satisfaction to the international community were it not the case that disputes abound which are within the jurisdiction of the Court but which States either submit for settlement to more expensive and protracted ad hoc arbitration or allow to remain unresolved. The International Court of Justice ought to be one of the more effective stabilizing and unifying influences in the international community. Its influence is sorely needed if we are to evolve a common law ' of mankind and substitute an effective international legal order for the arbitraments of power.
150.	Within recent years a variety of proposals has been advanced for promoting more frequent recourse to the Court. Most of these proposals deserve serious and sympathetic examination with a view to making the Court an institution acceptable to all States as a tribunal for the settlement of those disputes between States which are amenable to the judicial process. If, after such examination, it proves to be necessary to amend the Statute in order to achieve such a result, we should not hesitate to embark upon that course. Just over a year ago, I suggested to this Assembly that there was much in the jurisprudence of the Court to justify optimism about the result of the Security Council's request to the Court for an advisory opinion on Namibia [Security Council resolution 284(1970)]. That that confidence, which would have been shared by many Member States, proved to have been fully justified may, I trust, still further advance the authority of the Court and, therefore, of a regime of legality in international affairs.
151.	Finally, let me say a word which must not at this Assembly be left unsaid. It is a word of tribute, of gratitude, of appreciation to the SecretaryGeneral of this Organization who has served it and us, its Member States, with such constancy, such integrity and such devotion to the cause of internationalism over these last 10 years. I come from a small country whose people are now neither of the East nor of the West, who have our present and our future in Latin America, whose recent links were with Europe but whose origins lay mainly in Africa and in Asia. We are, to some degree, a microcosm of the world, and this Organization and what it stands for under its Charter are of preeminent importance to us in our national and our international existence. The Secretary-General is at once both the symbol of the aims and the objectives of the Organization and its chief administrative officer to whom the world, sometimes quite wrongly, looks for their continuous attainment.
152.	No one who has read the SecretaryGeneral's reflections on his decade of service as set down in the introduction to his report on the work of the Organization [A/8401/Add.l, paras. 124137] can fail to be moved by the deep personal commitment that has characterized his service to this Organization. In like manner, no one who has read his personal testimony on "The role of the Secretary General" delivered to the United Nations Correspondents' Association on the eve of the twenty-sixth session can fail to be convinced that, when the full record can be written, his continuous and discreet, activity over the entire spectrum of international affairs during the last 10 years will, indeed, be seen as an effective and tangible contribution to the cause of international peace and understanding in our time. However, the best tribute we can pay him and his officers of the Secretariat who labor so resolutely and wit^ such sustained commitment in that cause is to ensure by our own efforts in the decision-making processes of the Organization that they do not labour in vain.