It gives me particular pleasure to convey to the President, Mr. Amerasinghe; through you, Madam President, the greetings and cordial congratulations of the Government of Ecuador on his well-deserved election as President of the General Assembly at its thirty-first session. His distinguished career in international affairs, his experience and knowledge are a sure guarantee that the accomplishment of the honorable and delicate task which the Members of the United Nations have decided to trust to him will bring about the desired results.
190.	I wish likewise to pay a tribute to Mr.'Gaston Thorn, Prime Minuter of Luxembourg, who presided over the thirtieth session of the General Assembly with tact and efficiency which deserve the gratitude of all.
191.	I wish to convey also my country's condolences to the People's Republic of China on the occasion of the death of Chairman Mao Tsetung, an extraordinary leader of peoples who was of great historical significance in our century.
192.	I should also like to convey my most cordial welcome to the new independent State of Seychelles, whose admission brings our Organization closer to the ideal of universality. At the same time I congratulate the United Kingdom on fulfilling its pledge to carry out the process of the granting of independence to this new country. With reference to the admission of other members, it is my hope that the veto will not be used to prevent the complete application of the principle of universality, to which Ecuador attributes a fundamental importance in the implementation of the lofty purposes of the world Organization.
193.	We are participating in the world forum with faith in the ideals of the United Nations, the realization of whose principles continues to be the major commitment of our generation in response to the challenge of national and international tensions, injustice and inequalities. We wish to strengthen this instrument in the sphere of international co-operation in order to achieve the well-being of all peoples and we deem it essential that the United Nations should take vigorous measures wherever its action may be required to settle situations likely to endanger peace. In the circumstances of interdependence characterizing the world in which we live, the Organization is the instrument which can be used in the broad sphere of immediate action with respect to all endeavors aimed at the common goal of promoting, the well-being of the greatest number of people. For that reason we consider that world action on the broadest scale to promote international co-operation and peace should be channeled through the United Nations. To relegate the world Organization to a marginal position would be to weaken it.
194.	At the same time, we are aware that the prospects and purposes of the United Nations of today are different from those of 1945. Today the activities of the United Nations are much broader and more complex with respect to the increasing and almost complete universality of the Organization; the concerns attendant upon the peaceful uses of outer space; the conservation and rational use of the resources of the planet and preservation of the environment as the heritage of mankind; the demographic question and the disturbing equation between population and availability of food, the shortage of which constitutes a potential force of conflict and other problems resulting from the inequality between rich countries and poor countries entailing unsatisfactory trade relations and situations of dependence which must be settled without delay if we all wish to live in a world of peace.
195.	Naturally, any solution must be achieved in a manner consonant with man's status as an intelligent being, by dialog, understanding and consensus and not by the unacceptable methods of terrorism which we reject as an affront to every country, every ideology and every civilized human group.
196.	To maintain international peace and security it is necessary to make a decisive attack on the factors which threaten them. This is the fundamental point. Nevertheless, we attribute very special importance to disarmament and we stress the need for disarmament of the spirit in order to open the way to a genuine will to understanding, as called for by the Charter. Upholding these purposes, Ecuador will always be ready to give its support to any initiative in this field.
197.	If political peace is a truce, lasting peace requires a just international organization which will secure a better life for all peoples. It is not logical that countries should continue to invest enormous resources to increase their arsenals of every kind. There is a cry which arises from within the United Nations: the clamor for peace. Responding to that appeal, the Government of Ecuador will welcome any proposal for the prohibition of new weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapon tests.
198.	My country takes this opportunity to express the hope that the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament will continue to give impetus to negotiations with a view to reaching early agreement on effective measures for the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of any chemical weapons and the destruction of those already in existence. I address a special appeal to the Soviet Union to adhere to Additional Protocol II of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America, because Ecuador is convinced that, for the maximum effectiveness of any treaty establishing a zone free from such means of destruction, the co-operation of the nuclear-weapon States is necessary.
199.	The United Nations must make itself heard wherever human rights are violated; wherever acts of genocide or torture are committed or human lives are sacrificed; wherever populations are displaced; wherever it is sought to interpose curtains of silence and oppression. I wish to reiterate that the Government of Ecuador will lend its support to the exercise of human rights in every country, without any selective criteria. With regard to this matter there can be no preferential policies under which some cases are deliberately ignored and attention is drawn only to violations of human rights in others.
200.	Racial discrimination is contrary to the most elementary human feeling and legal concepts and the Ecuadorian Government and people repudiate it.
201.	We have been following with concern the situation in Southern Rhodesia, which has so far made it impossible to satisfy the aspirations of the Zimbabwe people. Ecuador firmly believes that it is necessary to continue working with zeal, decisiveness and imagination to find ways and means of enabling the just aspirations of that people to become a reality. We believe that it is important to continue the efforts which appear to be furthering progress at this time, with a view to a negotiated and orderly transition to government by the majority within a short period of time.
202.	The question of Namibia will brook no further delay. The United Nations undertook a firm commitment to bring that Territory and its people to total and complete independence. Therefore Security Council resolution 385 (1976) of 30 January 1976 should be implemented without any reservation by South Africa. Otherwise, the Council should, in accordance with the Charter, adopt the measures which may be appropriate in the circumstances. This is the last opportunity to solve the problem of Namibia by just and peaceful means; it is a question which cannot satisfactorily be solved if the interests of the Namibian people continue to be ignored.
203.	Ecuador condemns the killings and acts of violence which have occurred in South Africa and rejects the
practice of apartheid, which runs counter to all the purposes and principles of the Organization and violates the solemn commitment entered into by all its Member States to ensure universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedom for all without distinction of race.
204.	My country is concerned about the situation in Cyprus and deems it imperative to make progress towards an agreed settlement. It is our hope that the negotiations which both communities are continuing to carry on under the sponsorship of the Secretary-General will be brought to the successful conclusion which we all desire so that all Cypriots may live together in peace. We are appreciative of the function which continues to be carried out by the peace force sent by the United Nations in maintaining calm and performing humanitarian tasks pending the conclusion of an agreement.
205.	With reference to the situation in the Middle East, I feel it essential that all the peoples of the region, with which my country maintains sincere relations of friendship, should continue making every effort to reach a peaceful understanding. We must recognize that the situation in that area entails a serious threat to world peace and that an over-all solution of the problem, within the framework of the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, is required.
206.	Ecuador reaffirms its position on this matter: it rejects and condemns territorial conquests achieved by force; it cannot accept the occupation of territories either as a means of exerting pressure on an adversary or for the purpose of demanding negotiations or with the intention of refusing to return those territories until an agreement has been signed. It recognizes the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to their national self-determination, sovereignty and independence; but it also considers that the State of Israel, which was created precisely by the United Nations, has the right to its existence. The Ecuadorian Government expresses once again its hope that the parties involved in this conflict can find the way to a just and lasting peace within safe, recognized and guaranteed frontiers.
207.	The deplorable events in Lebanon have caused consternation in my country, and it is our hope that the violence will cease and harmony and peaceful co-operation among all sectors of that progressive nation will be re-established.
208.	Another topic of deep concern is that relating to Korea and we trust that the parties concerned will renew their efforts to promote a rapprochement and frank and cordial negotiations.
209.	The world today is fortunately experiencing a phase of relative detente in which the great Powers have begun to make reciprocal concessions in their desire to ensure world peace. Efforts must therefore be made to take advantage of this favorable climate and to seek to eliminate once and for all the problems affecting international coexistence.
210.	In Latin America, problems which compromise solidarity and endanger the peace and development of the region persist-problems deriving from the arrogance of certain countries or involving territorial considerations or vestiges of colonialism which we would like to see eliminated quickly and permanently. First of all, I refer to the problem which affects my own country, which, basing itself on its historical and legal titles and the geopolitical need for harmonious development of the region, reaffirms its right of sovereignty in the Amazon River. Ecuador reiterates in this august Assembly its fervent desire that this question, as well as the others which affect inter-American concord, should find an early and just solution in an atmosphere of mutual understanding. Other important cases include the so-called Canal Zone of Panama, the question of Belize and the Malvina Islands, and problems such as the land-locked situation of Bolivia.
211.	The philosophy followed by the Government of Ecuador in its national and international policy is identified with the Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, setting forth the new world consensus and the new task which must be carried out by the United Nations as an organization and by each one of its Members in particular, especially in so far as it is aimed at guaranteeing present and future generations' economic and social development on a basis of peace and justice.
212.	Within that universal context, Ecuador is part of the developing world. It is one of the Latin American countries which together represent Western civilization within the group.
213.	It is a sign of the times we live in that Ecuador is also a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC], in accordance with the exercise of the right to freedom of association arising from its sovereignty and the defense of its natural resources.
214.	In the regional context, Ecuador is a member of the oldest international system, the inter-American system, and is fully honoring its commitments in that system. In due course, Ecuador, identifying itself with the other countries of Latin America, sponsored the establishment of the Latin American Economic System, and it also hopes that the Latin American Free Trade Association will be strengthened, together with any other mechanism for regional or subregional integration and development which affects us, such as the Andean Group, which we whole-heartedly support.
215.	We note with particular interest the progress made by the United Nations system in the economic and social fields. At the international level, we should support the promotion of imports and exports on more just terms of trade and transport. To that end, we also believe that the time has come to move towards greater coherence in development plans, for, despite the fact that those plans at present constitute a stage of internal organization, they still form an anarchic and at times contradictory framework when viewed in an international context. Accordingly, we have supported every undertaking and study designed to generate productive and adequate employment in the rural, urban and semi-urban sectors. We are also concerned at the fact that during the first half of the Second United Nations Development Decade attainments fell very far short of the established targets, as reflected mainly in the fact that little or no progress was made in the spheres of trade and the transfer of financial resources to the developing countries. The lack of real progress in the implementation of the International Development Strategy and the upheaval in economic relations in recent years, which have had serious repercussions in the developing countries, led the inter-national community to recognize the need to establish a more just economic order that would make it possible to attain development objectives through the elimination of the poverty, misery and hunger affecting the majority of mankind, which has been relegated to a life unworthy of human beings.
216.	The most recent sessions of the General Assembly have afforded the developing countries the opportunity to demonstrate their political will and their desire for effective co-operation in bringing about significant progress in measures to promote the balanced development of all countries. Nevertheless, they have encountered intransigent positions which, during the current year, have eroded the progress of negotiations designed to translate into reality the measures identified by the resolutions of the sixth and seventh special, sessions of the General Assembly, and by the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, such as machinery to accelerate the establishment of the new economic order.
217.	Regrettably, it can be seen from the results obtained thus far in the negotiations conducted within the United Nations and in other fora between developed and developing countries that, following the adoption at the seventh special session of the resolution on development and international economic co-operation [resolution 3362 (S-VII)], no significant complementary measures had been decided upon; accordingly, industrialized States should be urged effectively to co-operate in attaining the objectives established by the United Nations.
218.	Ecuador hopes that the important initiatives of the North-South Conference held in Paris'? will bear fruit and that an understanding spirit of co-operation on the part of the industrialized countries will prevail to that end.
219.	The Government of Ecuador views with particular interest the new commitment on the part of the United Nations to protect the environment and, in particular, trusts that significant progress will be made in the multi-lateral financing of housing and in the improvement of human settlements, for which purpose the plan of action adopted at the international Conference at Vancouver constitutes an important and commendable contribution.
220.	We are following with keen interest the work of the United Nations on the important question of the analysis of the practices of transnational corporations which have such a severe impact on the weakest countries in particular, and we believe that opportunities for contacts and discussions on these subjects should be widened to cover all constructive aspects and bring about the improvements which the world situation demands. To that end, the Commission on Transnational Corporations, the functioning of which marks significant progress for the United Nations system, must be strengthened.
221.	The United Nations Development Program is the executing arm of economic and social policy in the transfer of technology and is actually the Organization's most substantial presence in the developing world. We are pleased that the Program has overcome its financial difficulties and is progressing under dedicated and effective leadership. We believe that the role of the resident representatives should be strengthened even more than is recommended in the Consensus,  as suggested in the report entitled A New United Nations Structure for Global Economic Cooperation,  and in order to avoid a proliferation of funds and services which should be provided by a unified and co-ordinated system in each country.
222.	In view of the alarming breadth of the gap between the most developed and the least advanced countries, we believe that emphasis should be placed on the transfer of technology as a process which can lead to a reduction of tensions and shortages. Our universities, institutes and laboratories are prepared to cooperate in die international effort to augment existing scientific and technological capacities, and we hope that progress will be made at both the regional and international levels in the various preparatory meetings for the United Nations conference on science and technology for development, to be held in 1979. In particular, we will support concrete measures for the application of science and technology to bring about the establishment of a new international economic order which fully utilizes scientific potential in solving key national, regional and world problems.
223.	In this connexion, we view with interest and will support the United Nations conference on technical co-operation among developing countries, to be held within the next few years in Buenos Aires, for we believe that the time is ripe in the Latin American region for the sharing of experiences and solutions in this interdependent world of ours, in which every country has something to learn and something to teach.
224.	All these topics have a bearing on the important proposals made by the developing countries at the fourth session of UNCTAD in Nairobi, the full import of which we hope will be taken into account. In that connexion, we wish to underscore our support for the establishment of a fund for commodities stocks designed to stabilize the export earnings of the developing countries.
225.	Ecuador has been in the forefront of international efforts to defend the sovereignty of States over their territorial sea and their marine resources, the inalienable heritage of our present and future generations. Since it signed the 1952 Santiago Declaration,  which transformed thinking on the territorial sea, it has followed a long and encouraging course of evolution. For many years, we have been waging an unequal struggle, together with the countries of the South Pacific, against the major fishing Powers, which are determined to deny our sovereignty within the territorial sea.
226.	With regard to the exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed and the ocean gloor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, Ecuador maintains that the res nuliius stage should be superseded by recognition of the principle that the natural resources of the sea-bed are the common heritage of mankind. That principle must be given practical effect and its dynamic and appropriate juridical development must be promoted so as to ensure the attainment of the essential objectives of benefiting all peoples in real and equitable terms, especially those of the developing countries. Ecuador maintains the position that the international regime and machinery must have adequate and exclusive powers of supervision with regard to the exploration and exploitation of those resources.
227.	My country has been defending its well-known territorialist position without prejudice to efforts aimed at strengthening the rights of the coastal State in the so-called economic zone, so that with this strengthening of rights, the sovereignty of the coastal State, which Ecuador proclaims over the whole area as far as die 200-mile limit, will be guaranteed.
228.	Our country, like many other developing countries, is especially concerned to ensure the formulation of a new convention on the law of the sea -which should have an appropriate structure and should be as comprehensive as possible- as the sole guarantee of the rights of the developing countries over living and non-living marine resources. The new convention must reflect the just position of the developing countries, whose basic concept -that of the sovereignty of the coastal State over all resources in its waters up to a distance of 200 miles-is finding increased acceptance in the international community. The proper protection of those resources must be "guaranteed for the benefit of the developing peoples.
229.	The time has now come to put forward a new claim inherent in the sovereignty of States, with respect to a natural resource that has recently been explored and has enormous potential for use in our planet: the synchronous geostationary orbit. We agree with other countries which, like ours, are directly concerned, as to the pressing need to establish a legal order with respect to this matter so as to ensure the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, for which a specific international conference is desirable. This subject especially affects Ecuador and about 10 countries in the equatorial region of the globe. Objects such as radio-communications stations belonging to countries or transnational corporations should not be placed in that orbit Without account being taken of the sovereignty of the countries situated thereunder. In addition, that part of the geostationary orbit used over marine spaces not subject to national jurisdiction should be considered a common heritage of mankind and should be used by the latter in accordance with the principles governing the sea-bed and the ocean floor adopted by the General Assembly in 1970 [resolution 2749 (XXV)]. While the international consideration of this question proceeds, it is necessary to ensure that all available technical information concerning instruments placed in orbit above such areas should be immediately brought to the attention of the countries of the region.
230.	Ecuador is dedicated to peace, liberty and social justice; it believes in the combined will to take joint action for constructive purposes in the interest of the coexistence of all nations. We are convinced of the oneness of the human condition and of the common destiny which we must pursue in harmony and in a constant rapprochement of countries and regions, since the cause of humanity must remain above considerations relating to the circumstantial differences of development, of income and of philosophical conceptions of the State.
231.	The capacity of man's intelligence applied to scientific and technological development has made it possible to land and control instruments at a distance of 500 million kilometers from our planet -a great achievement in the history of our time and one on which we can congratulate ourselves. Yet in the social sphere, in both the theory and the practice of national and international coexistence progress is dangerously slow.
232.	We gather in this world forum with a hope of finding solutions, with a will to co-operate and with a very clear awareness that we may be wasting the last opportunities to solve the major issues affecting all our peoples.
233.	A new world order on land and on the seas is a challenge to the intelligence of our species, and the possibility of achieving it is at hand if only we in the United Nations devote ourselves to the task, making a reality, before it is too late, of the common destiny of all of those on this planet.


I should like to begin by congratulating the new President of the United Nations General Assembly, Ambassador Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, representative of Sri Lanka, a country with which Portugal has historic and cultural ties of special significance. He is a statesman of international prestige, to whom I pay my sincere respects.
244.	I should like also to express my appreciation for the work of the outgoing President, Mr. Gaston Thorn, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, a country with which we have come to share responsibilities arising from our recent integration within the Council of Europe and which has always attempted to show fairness in regard to the interests of the numerous Portuguese workers residing there. I have the honor of knowing Mr.Hiorn personally and I am familiar with his lucid intelligence and deep understanding of the political phenomena that interest the community of nations.
245.	I greet also the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, whose actions have contributed so much to an increase in justice and stability in international relations, thereby strengthening the prestige of the United Nations.
246.	Finally, I should like to offer congratulations to the Republic of Seychelles on its admission to the United Nations. In admitting its one hundred and forty-fifth Member, the Organization has once again demonstrated its universal mission.
247.	It is with emotion that, as the representative of a Government freely elected by the Portuguese people, I speak today at this thirty-first session of the United Nations General Assembly. I am proud to represent here a fraternal and enterprising people that has made and will continue to make a decisive contribution towards the unification of mankind, based on the interpenetration of cultures and respect for all of them.
248.	The liberating revolution of 25 April 1974 in Portugal had as its stated tasks decolonization, democratization and development. Two years later we have concluded our decolonization process, in which we honored our commitments to the United Nations and redeemed relations with peoples we wish to consider as brothers, relations that were unfortunately distorted by the oppressive policies of the previous regime. Two years later it is the representative of a Government chosen by the people in accordance with a Constitution drafted by a freely elected Assembly of Deputies who speaks before you in this tribune. Democracy is thus a fact in Portugal.
249.	It is true that two years after the revolution of 25 April our economic situation feels the repercussions of the profound transformations that have occurred in Portugal, due in great part to our compliance with the United Nations resolutions affecting the territories under colonial administration. We are, however, convinced that by our own forces, and with international solidarity, we shall succeed in overcoming these economic difficulties. Development is within our reach.
250.	In this manner we have proved that it is possible for a people to overthrow an oppressive regime, put an end to colonial domination and effect profound political, social and economic transformations, strengthening the bases of a civilization whose values are the corner-stones of all our actions. We shall thus remain faithful to the values.of liberty and respect for the human person.
251.	It is to tell of the aspirations of the Portuguese people that I am speaking in this Assembly. On the internal as well as on the international plane the Portuguese people aspire to a more just society, a more worthy future. We have struggled a long time for these objectives and feel therefore that our words should be heard in a world that seeks the means of overcoming contradictions and difficulties and shares with us the same hopes.
252.	It is the first time that the representative of Portugal has addressed this Assembly since the approval of the democratic Constitution in my country. This Constitution states the major principles that orient the foreign policy of the Portuguese Republic. Article 7 states that:
" 1. In its international relations, Portugal shall be governed by the principles of national independence, the right of peoples to self-determination and independence, equality among States, the peaceful settlement of inter-national disputes, non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and co-operation with all other peoples for the emancipation and progress of mankind.
"2. Portugal shall advocate the abolition of all forms of. imperialism, colonialism and aggression, simultaneous and controlled general disarmament, the dissolution of politico-military blocs and the establishment of a system of collective security, with a view to creating an inter-national order capable of safeguarding peace and justice in relations between peoples.
"3. Portugal recognizes the right of peoples to revolt against all forms of oppression, in particular colonialism and imperialism, and shall maintain special bonds of friendship and co-operation with the Portuguese-speaking countries."
253.	Portugal today is thus actively engaged in the search for ways that would enable the international community to abolish the scourges that afflict it and the dangers that threaten it so that it may reach a state in which violence, hatred, racism, terror, oppression, war and hunger will not be common happenings but, rather, rare and controllable exceptions.
254.	Therefore my country dedicates special attention to all efforts that can be made in the search for a new and more just international order.
255.	Situated in an area particularly sensitive to inter-national tensions, Portugal necessarily favors the relaxing of tensions between the great Powers as long as this is synonymous with security for the smaller nations. Respect for the dignity and essence of the diverse sovereignties is for us fundamental. The imperial arrogance of certain States today surely constitutes a factor of conflict and is no less lamentable for being almost always counter-productive.
256.	Small country that we are, we are ready to defend the right to establish regional agreements capable of overcoming the persistent misapprehension that only the intervention of the great Powers can solve the most serious international conflicts.
257.	Recently Portugal became a member of the Council of Europe and signed the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. We are, as well, intensifying our contacts with the nations of the European Economic Community with a view to full membership in that organization.
258.	We firmly believe in the possibility of constructing a democratic, strong and united Europe which would play a fundamental role in the resolution of world problems and would be a natural ally of the developing countries.
259.	Success in the construction of a united Europe, it seems to us, will be decisive in the construction of a new international order. Within that Europe we think we shall have a specific and fundamental role in the dialog with the other continents. For this we have unique prospects.
260.	Thus it is fortunate that recently we attended, as invited guests, the Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries in Colombo, the conclusions of which are of such great importance to this thirty-first session of the General Assembly [see A/31/197J.
261.	The concern to bring an end to colonial oppression and racial segregation, which dominated the work of that Conference, finds a profound echo in the Portuguese people.
262.	With those nations we also share the desire to end the deterioration in commodity price levels and ultimately to create a new international economic order, the fundamental requisite for elimination of the injustices that afflict peoples and the contradictions that divide humanity.
263.	Like those nations, Portugal is concerned about the intensification of the arms race so often camouflaged behind pacifistic declarations and, with them, we should like to see consecrated international detente and the existence of zones where there would be no risk of violent confrontations.
264.	Along these lines, Portugal will be especially sensitive to the outcome of the results achieved and enshrined in the Final act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and shares a particular interest in the future Belgrade meeting, where the application that has been made of these principles will be reviewed.
265.	Portugal will not refrain from participating intensively in this domain and believes that the small nations can now play a decisive role in the defence of the conditions of their security, so often different from those intended by the great Powers.
266.	A profoundly European and Atlantic country, Portugal is a member of NATO, and we are intent on remaining within the political and geographical parameters of !<at alliance, contributing our best. Meanwhile, we have a foreign policy open to other fronts and latitudes, and in the areas not covered by the Atlantic Alliance Portugal will practice its own policies.
267.	Portugal has a diverse and necessarily transcontinental foreign policy which is nothing more than the logical consequence of our position in the world, of the existence of Portuguese in the various latitudes and of the very expansion of the Portuguese language.
268.	We express here our satisfaction at the fact that OAU, which maintains with the United Nations a status of frank co-operation, has recently included Portuguese among its official languages. Portugal considers this to be of significant importance. In truth, the fact that Portuguese is now considered an African language creates ties of deep intimacy with that great continent, whose present influence in international relations is clear, and on whose future the full process of liberation of men and nations depends. For the democratic Portugal that I represent here, the qualitative and quantitative transcontinental reality of the Portuguese language must shortly have its official dedication at the United Nations level: not only because of the fact that Portuguese is spoken in Europe, Africa and America by about 120 million people and exerts a cultural influence in Asia and Oceania -which would already be sufficient- but also because we are convinced that the Portuguese language will become progressively more important as a liberating instrument of men and of their ideological, technical, economic, social and political alienations.
269.	For the democratic Portugal emergent from the revolution of 25 April 1974, this dimension of the Portuguese language as an emancipating instrument of humanity is essential to its own destiny.
270.	In this regard, I would like to think I interpret here the desires of the statesmen of Brazil, Guinea-Bissau,
Mozambique, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe and Angola. We hope besides that the representative of the People's Republic of Angola will shortly be able to speak the Portuguese language from this rostrum of the United Nations, in equality with the diverse States represented here. The Portuguese Government defends and actively supports admission of the People's Republic of Angola as a full Member of the United Nations. When a State remains outside the United Nations, it is always the United Nations that is incomplete.
271.	In the international community, meanwhile, some problems continue to persist, and I would like to refer to them, as I believe they are of extreme concern.
272.	For the anti-colonialist Portugal that I represent here, it would be a tragedy if the decolonization process that has already taken place were to give rise to new conflicts in southern Africa or, worse, if interests outside the African countries should come to dictate solutions to the current problems.
273.	It is the interests of the nations of southern Africa that are in question in the situation that is now becoming critical in that area, and it is those interests, and no others, that must be held paramount in the solutions to be found. The profoundly negative influence of the policy of apartheid, contrary to internationally recognized human rights, shocks our conscience and constitutes a.factor of tension in that region of the world.
274.	We hereby declare ourselves in favor of the independence of Namibia and of the rapid establishment of a majority government in Zimbabwe. We thus support all realistic efforts to bring about the necessary changes without leading to convulsions, whose spread could even aggravate the problems they are intended to resolve.
275.	We also express our concern at the situation in the Middle East, where the Palestinian people continues to see the homeland to which it is entitled unjustly disputed. We support the rapid convocation of the Geneva Conference and hope that it will recognize the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, as well as provide guarantees for the security of Israel.
276.	On the other hand, it is imperative that an end be put to the tragedy in Lebanon, which has resulted in the loss of so many lives and spread so much suffering in a land that had been known for the peaceful and balanced coexistence of its diverse cultural communities.
277.	We place the greatest hopes in the actions of the newly-elected President, as well as in continuation of the efforts of international institutions, particularly the League of Arab States, to restore peace to a people martyred by a violence unbroken by truces.
278.	The question of Timor is, at the moment, before the United Nations, with which Portugal has fully co-operated in the efforts undertaken to apply the internationally accepted principles of self-determination and the right of peoples to determine their own future. The Portuguese Constitution also upholds these principles, specifically in the case of Timor.
279.	The problem is now a matter for the effective application of the rights and duties recognized by the competent organs of the United Nations, it being certain that the Portuguese Government remains indisposed to recognize de jure the integration of East Timor within the territory of another State as a result of a unilateral decision. Meanwhile, we are ready to accept a consensus of the United Nations regarding this matter, for we are sure that it would be in accordance with the principles that have always guided the United Nations.
280.	Among the causes of concern to my country, I would not like to omit reference to those that are related to world-wide economic problems and which derive from our desire to see launched a new international economic order.
281.	We follow with the utmost attention the deliberations of the North-South Conference and hope that concrete directives will result from it so that we may progress along the rough road to more just economic relations.
282.	We believe also that the new economic order to which we aspire should be based, above all, on the distribution and more equitable sharing of wealth, through correct appraisal of the necessities of each people and the internal resources of each country. Despite the progress already achieved, it is with concern that Portugal faces the fact that the fourth session of UNCTAD, which took place this year in Nairobi, was unable to resolve the problems related to the exploitation^ production and trade of raw materials and basic products. We also place the greatest importance on the question of the external debt of the developing countries, for we are convinced that this phenomenon has universal implications that can lead to imbalances incompatible with a harmonious ordering of international economic relations. Portugal, being neither an exporter of raw materials nor a highly industrialized country, is naturally attempting a realistic solution which would unite the various interests in question.
283.	I shall now turn to an important aspect of inter-national co-operation with which our President, Mr. Amerasinghe, is particularly involved. I refer to the questions arising out of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
284.	The technological advances achieved in the realm of fishing and in the exploration of the sea-bed, as well as the. contingencies of nations' geographic positions, demand that defense of natural resources and the environment in territorial waters be assured in sovereign terms. With respect to the future law regarding exploitation of mineral resources in the ocean depths, we are convinced of the necessity for an attitude of compromise between the differing and as yet immovable positions. Portugal will do everything within the negotiating groups of which it is a part to assist in overcoming the difficulties encountered at the Conference. Thus we understand the appeal of the President of the Conference that unilateral actions should be avoided in the near future. We are confident that the consensus that has already been reached in various areas will, during the sixth session, be extended to others.
285.	I would now like to make some comments regarding the role of the United Nations.
286.	I belong to a generation of Portuguese who were subjected to propaganda discrediting the United Nations by the dictatorial regime that was overthrown on 25 April 1974. The reasons for the fury against the United Nations are understandable: the principles that guide the United Nations are manifestly opposed to tyranny and the use of force in international relations. The previous regime relied for its support on those two pillars.
287.	However, the tendency shown at times in this forum to adopt resolutions in clear opposition to world realities solely by the arithmetical exercise of regimented majorities, or by simplistic stereotypes which bring discredit to their promoters, still remains a matter of serious concern. It is no less certain that the repeated use of the veto constitutes an abuse of the Organization by the practitioner. It is pressing, then, to consider carefully the economy of use of these decision-making instruments so as to guarantee for the United Nations the prestige and role that we all wish for it. Otherwise, it will result in a revision of the Charter, of undetermined scope, being imposed, the effects of which are not as yet predictable. We sincerely hope that all will guide their actions bearing in mind that the United Nations is the sole universal forum capable of exercising a pacifying influence upon the international community.
288.	The fact that the politico-military blocs persist and that certain States seek to group themselves in movements pursuing interests that are not universal, based on ideological criteria or degrees of development must, however, be reflected on, although this inevitably means that this Organization, in which we place the best of our hopes, has not yet been able fully to carry out the ends for which it was envisaged.
289.	We believe that in so far as we are able to advance in the concrete realization of the objectives of the United Nations Charter, we shall be contributing decisively to the abolition of the present divisions between peoples and removing the cause of the formation of politico-military blocs.
290.	We think it thus essential to engage in all actions intended to provide effective protection for human rights, and are even willing to see the great moral principles to which we are bound prevail over barriers of national sovereignty.
291.	Therefore, we are pleased with the proposal of the Federal Republic of Germany for the drafting of a convention against the taking of hostages [A/31/242J. Portugal associates itself with this initiative of the Federal Republic of Germany in the spirit of defense of human rights and in order to safeguard security and international order. We oppose all forms of terrorism.
292.	It is not surprising that we pay particular attention to matters connected with the protection of human rights. The experience of a dictatorial regime that ignored the most elementary guarantees and individual rights has shown us very well the importance of their recognition; clear and decisive provisions regarding this are enshrined in our Constitution.
293.	Consequently, my Government holds as one of its priorities on the international level the acceptance of the principal instruments approved by the United Nations, such as the human rights Covenants, which I have just signed on behalf of my Government. Portugal considers these texts and others wrought in the United Nations-for example, the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [resolution 3452 (XXX)] -to be essential for understanding between societies and individuals.
294.	We must seek, then, to act together in those areas which are the common aspirations of all peoples. One of these areas is clearly that of the defense of the dignity of the human person, carrier of the universality that we wish to attribute to the United Nations.
295.	The United Nations represents and symbolizes an ancient dream of humanity, a dream of unity, peace, tolerance and understanding. This dream is far from being accomplished, but my Government and my country will be the last to underestimate the steps that have already been taken here in that direction or to diminish the efforts so that more and more substantial progress can be achieved.


The election of Mr. Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe to preside over this session of the General Assembly has been a source of satisfaction to the delegation of Costa Rica. The outstanding work which he carried out as President of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea has already established him as one of the most skillful diplomats of our Organization. I am sure that Mr. Amerasinghe will guide the debates of this thirty-first session of the General Assembly with the same skill an d impartiality.
3.	I should like at the same time to express my congratulations to Mr. Gaston Thorn, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, for the outstanding manner in which he presided over the thirtieth session of the General Assembly.
4.	As in past years, the introduction to the report submitted to this session by our Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, [A/3111/Add. 1] will serve as a most important guide for our deliberations. I should like once again to pay a tribute to Secretary-General Waldheim and to express my admiration for the courage, intelligence and honesty with which he has analyzed the problems of the world-courage, intelligence and honesty which are in keeping with the admirable manner in which he has carried out his lofty functions. For that reason, Costa Rica wishes his re-election.
5.	My delegation adheres sincerely and without political calculations to the principle of universality of the United Nations. We are convinced that it is fitting that any independent State which undertakes to comply with the Charter of the United Nations should be a Member of this Organization. Our delegation does not believe that the admission of new States should depend upon the sympathy or the antipathy that is felt for the ideology of its Government, or that an affirmative vote to admit it should depend upon the solution of bilateral problems between a State seeking admission and one or several Member States.
6.	For that reason, Costa Rica regrets that the recommendation for admission to the United Nations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam should have been vetoed in the Security Council. This new State, which has emerged from the fusion of the two States that were for a time those of North Vietnam and South Vietnam, which for so many years suffered the scourge of a cruel civil war, should not meet with any obstacles to enter an Organization such as ours which has as its first purpose the maintenance of peace and, its corollary, co-operation with the nations which need to recover from the afflictions of war.
7.	For similar reasons, Costa Rica regrets that the Security Council has not recommended the admission requested by the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
8.	I wish to extend the warmest welcome to this Assembly to the representatives of the youngest Member, the Republic of Seychelles. This new State was privileged to attain its full independence and sovereignty in peaceful conditions. Although small in area, the Republic of Seychelles has always been a focal point for various civilizations and a land of multiracial harmony. For those reasons, we believe that the Republic of Seychelles, upon becoming the one hundred and forty-fifth Member of the Organization, will inject vigor and flexibility into our Organization.
9.	The United Nations entrusted the Third Conference on the Law of the Sea with the most important legislative task that it has undertaken. To create a harmonious juridical body to govern two thirds of the globe's surface is no easy task. The extensive and complicated nature of the subject, as well as the important interests at play, made the venture difficult.

10.	The fifth session of the Conference saw 33 weeks of negotiation and effective work devoted to the formulation of the new law of the sea. But that great effort did not produce complete agreement on such difficult questions as the legal status of the exclusive economic zone, the jurisdiction of the coastal State with regard to scientific research in the seas adjacent to its coasts and, above all, with regard to the system to be adopted for the exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed and the ocean floor, which are the common heritage of mankind.
11.	Costa Rica trusts that when the negotiations are officially resumed in May 1977 delegations will be prepared to reach positive results. To that end they must give up positions that have been described as intransigent and extreme. It must be borne in mind that compromise is the basis for international progress. Those who adhere to their own theses forget that what seems to one country the greatest justice can seem to another the greatest injustice. Relative satisfaction of the theses of each nation and hence relative unsatisfaction is the only way that can lead to progress in negotiations in which each party is a sovereign State.
12.	Unfortunately I must repeat this year the concern expressed in the past six years by Costa Rica at the lack of solutions to the problem of the arms race: each day nuclear proliferation becomes more evident; each day there is an increase in the number of tests of nuclear weapons; each day more progress is made in the manufacture of instruments of mass destruction. That is why our Secretary-General states the following in the introduction to his annual report for 1976:
"I make no apology for restating here the eloquent fact that, while the world spends approximately $300 billion a year on armaments, the net flow of official development assistance amounts to some $15 billion a year. Resources devoted to the arms race since the end of the Second World War have exceeded $6,000 billion, which is roughly equivalent to the 1976 gross national product of the entire world." [A/31/l/Add.l, sect. V.J
13.	Our concern about the arms race led us to give warm support to the proposal of the delegation of Sweden for the establishment of an ad hoc committee on the review of the role of the United Nations in the field of disarmament. The General Assembly at its thirtieth session welcomed the Swedish proposal and established the Committee [resolution 3484 B (XXX)]. My delegation has participated with all due interest in the. work of that Committee. We hope that, with the support of all the members, it will be able to attain before it is too late the objective of general and complete disarmament under effective international control. This international control, which some States fear, is an indispensable guarantee for the progress of disarmament negotiations.
14.	The delegation of Costa Rica has noted with satisfaction the withdrawal of two proposals on the question of Korea,  which were decidedly incompatible. We should like to state that we supported that withdrawal because we believe that it will facilitate the renewal of a peaceful dialog between the parties.
15.	I have repeatedly set forth my country's position, which has been constantly in favor of the peaceful reunification of the former Korean nation, today divided into two antagonistic States, and I have maintained that the best path to that goal of peaceful reunification is direct negotiations between the parties.
16.	The history of the United Nations in the promotion of human rights suffices in itself to justify the very existence of our Organization. The San Francisco Charter solemnly and categorically laid down the protection of the basic freedoms of the human being as one of the supreme purposes of the Member States. It therefore gave a legal status to the revolutionary concept that has converted the individual, the human being in each and every country without distinction as to race, religion, sex or political beliefs, into the main subject of international relations.
17.	The upheavals that have led to the violation of human rights in various parts of the world have been coming increasingly before the United Nations. No one can expect that our Organization will remain deaf for ever to this clamor. Thus we have seen the way opened to the concept that the purely moral, normative value of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights within the United Nations should develop until the goal is attained of binding Members to the principle of the mandatory observance of a broad range of basic human rights.
18.	That was the very raison d'etre of the approval by our Assembly of the International Covenants on Human Rights. Those Covenants and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex] entered into effect this year thanks to the ratification by one fourth of the membership of the United Nations. Among those countries that have ratified is of course the country that I have the honor of representing.
19.	It can be stated that, at least in that part of the world which includes the States that have ratified those Covenants, there is already machinery protecting human rights that has the force of law. That is a significant attainment; it is perhaps the most solid achievement of this Organization since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted some 27 years ago.
20.	However, the "sphere of application of the Covenants is limited to a part rather than comprising all of the countries represented in this Organization. Many States have not ratified these Covenants, and we hope that they will do so soon as an earnest of their willingness to improve their internal situation in regard to fundamental freedoms.
21.	With an annoying and even dangerous frequency, which exceeds the bounds of normalcy, many States are acting in flagrant violation of the human rights that they themselves have proclaimed. This causes indignation and discouragement; it is a flagrant sign of hypocrisy. The very Governments which angrily rise up as champions of fundamental freedoms to speak against real or alleged violations by other regimes sometimes violate human rights in their own countries. Hence, we must urge that the machinery of effective international trusteeship be put into operation.
22.	For that reason, Costa Rica has maintained in the United Nations that we should not fall victim to political games or be taken in by the hypocrisy of false defenders of human rights and that we must create an adequate organization which, in an institutional form, will deal with the violation of such rights in any part of the world. That function will have to be carried out by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, whose appointment we have been requesting in the United Nations for almost 15 years.
23.	The absence of adequate jurisdiction in this respect has led us to mistrust certain initiatives that have gained the approval of various majorities of this Assembly for the investigation of denunciations of violations of human rights in certain countries of the world. This reservation of ours should not be interpreted as an exoneration of those countries against which charges have been leveled. Our reservation is due to the fact that we think there is a lack of sincerity in those who have made denunciations, among which are to be found many Governments guilty in this respect, and to the selective nature of the investigations. There have been established special commissions with the single task of investigating violations of human rights in a given country whose Government has an ideology opposed to that of those making the denunciations. But obviously an investigating committee is not authorized to carry out the same task in the accusing countries or to investigate other countries with whose Governments they sympathize, despite the obvious and flagrant fact that their peoples do not have the basic attributes of freedom. We are thus violating the necessary objectivity with which the Organization should deal with the problem of the violation of human rights, and therefore there may be a distortion of this noble cause of which, I repeat, our Organization may well be proud.
24.	We must recognize that in today's world torture, degrading treatment and cruel punishment, which have been outlawed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, constitute a system of relations practiced by no less than 60 countries Members of this Organization, according to the research that has been conscientiously carried out by Amnesty International.
25.	We have become reconciled and accustomed to fear as a result of the torture and repression of our fellowmen of which not a few Member States are proud. It is claimed that these are appropriate instruments to maintain the established order, whatever maybe the nature of such an order. They are used by the colonizer to prevent the colonized from rising up to acquire their proper rights. They are used by Governments which proclaim themselves revolutionary in order to avoid the replacement of their systems by other ideologies. They are used by conservative Governments to avoid the undermining of the status quo. And thus human rights are flouted in their very essence, and very often in the way most affecting the individual, in the psychological realm of fear and despair.
26. Official and State torture as an instrument for extracting information and cowing opposition cannot continue to be accepted among civilized nations. Institutional violence must be brought to an end. It is a form of terrorism covered with the mantle of governmental power.
As long as a State must use fear, physical violence or psychological torture to maintain the established order, the United Nations will not have erased the ignominy of what today we call "the civilization of the concentration camps".
27.	We must accept as a norm of conduct that to admit one single case of repression or institutionalized torture, whatever its so-called justification, is to accept a gross disregard of human dignity, and to abdicate our own rational nature.
28.	Like a lethal epidemic terrorism continues to spread throughout the world, claiming innocent victims in all latitudes.
29.	Hardly a week ago, terrorism stretched to the very capital of the United States and cut off the life of a great Chilean exile, Orlando Letelier. The friendship which for many years bound me to the former Chilean Minister is not the only thing which leads me to mention his case. Rather, it is the bomb which put an end to his courageous life, the most recent example of terrorist bestiality, it is that bestiality which impels me to condemn terrorism wherever it occurs and whatever may be its motivation. This mixture of fanaticism and cold passion, this temptation to be for a moment more powerful than the most powerful, makes terrorism, as an eminent Venezuelan author has said, the most dangerous of drugs; it is a drug that, instead of creating artificial paradises, creates true hells on earth.
30.	The Secretary-General, Mr. Waldheim, in 1972 asked our Assembly to study the problem of international terrorism and to propose a formula to combat it.  But the blind passion of a few prevailed over sensible proposals, and a mechanical majority submitted amendments to the item, with the intention of introducing, before the debate began, the idea that a system of terror could be regarded as a plausible political instrument. Costa Rica energetically rejected the attempts to justify the unjustifiable. I maintained then that we have a responsibility to do something effective against international terrorism, but instead we became enmeshed in an almost academic debate about its definition and causes. My words, like those of many others not blinded by passion, were lost in a vacuum and by means of procedural maneuvers all practical action by our Organization against international terrorism was rendered impossible.
31.	But hardly two months ago in the Security Council there was a shudder in the face of the powerful "j'accuse" against these acts expressed by the Ambassador of Israel, Chaim Herzog, a "j'accuse" which recalled the clamor of the Jews in Auschwitz, Dachau or Bergen-Belsen.
32.	The occasion which provoked that outburst is well known to us all. It was the glorious rescue of the Israeli citizens that were kept as hostages under criminal conditions and the unspeakable accusations which were leveled against Israel for having, by a brilliant exploit, encroached upon the sovereignty of a State whose Government had warmly received the hijackers and had illegally retained the innocent victims.
33.	The "j'accuse" of this new Emile Zola of Israel compels us not to forget the Jewish tragedy and the brutality of terrorism. The historic .birth of this Assembly resulted from the bloodshed, grief and tragedy suffered by 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis, as well as the 40 million other human beings who perished during the Second World War. Very many of them gave up their lives in the belief that they were thus helping to preserve the dignity of the human person, regardless of origin, race or religion.
34.	In Hitler's day this Assembly did not exist. Many could hide behind ignorance of the acts to excuse their silence, but religious, political, racial or economic arguments could not excuse their participation in the genocide which culminated in places such as Treblinka and Dachau.
35.	But today it is not possible to justify inaction and silence in the face of murderous terrorism. The action at Entebbe has shown us a new path.
36.	As Ambassador Herzog, exclaimed before the Security Council:
"... I stand here as an accuser on behalf of free and decent people in this world.
"I stand here as an accuser against the forces of evil which Have unleashed a wave of piracy and terrorism which threatens the very foundations of human society.
"I stand here as an accuser of all those ... which in their inherent cowardice and abject craven attitude see blameless wayfarers ... a legitimate target.. .".
37.	Before history and my own conscience I want to make it quite clear that the respect for international law which has traditionally prevailed in my country, Costa Rica, has made us vigorously reject the pretension that force can create law, or that intimidation or indiscriminate violence are suitable instruments of international policy. Today, once again, I refuse to accept that there is any validity to resorting to terrorism, either as a form of protest or to attain justice. On behalf of my country, which prides itself in being one of the most tolerant, I vehemently reject terrorism and its cruel persecution of millions of human victims.
38.	My delegation has always insisted that we investigate' the causes of terrorism in order to seek remedies to them, but we refuse to permit the more than 30 years of humanitarian work of this Assembly to be frustrated by procedural machinations, disputes about terminology or by the outrageous condoning of crimes against humanity when they are directed against certain countries. The protection of future victims and the punishment of terrorist offenders cannot await the solution of philological disquisitions.
39.	That is one of the reasons why our Organization is today in the dock of the accused. Mankind will have to judge it according to its behavior on this occasion. Will this Organization be absolved if it fails to react against terrorism? Can this Assembly go to the extreme of condemning the Israeli action in Entebbe and at the same time refrain from taking measures against air hijackers?
40.	I shall not dwell on the legal considerations applicable to the case, as they have already been fully and brilliantly expounded. I wish only to repeat that .Israel had the duty, and therefore the right, to defend its citizens, as long as it acted within reasonable limits. And in the Entebbe action, such limits were respected: there was proportionality between the threat of murder of the hostages and the reaction to prevent it, as prescribed by the universally accepted juridical rules of self-defense.
41.	The fact that the rescue action undertaken by Israel gave rise to a wave of support and enthusiasm in all countries of the world, enemies as well as friends of the Jewish State, reveals the existence of a desire to repudiate terrorism in any part of the world. Free men and women have said: "We have had enough indiscriminate hijackings and murders." This is the response to a deep conviction of every civilized man that terrorism is bad for everyone, in every case and on all occasions, whoever may be the perpetrator or the victim.
42.	Neither this Assembly nor its members will have any excuse if we fail to heed the new appeal made to us in his report this year by Secretary-General Waldheim that effective action against international terrorism be taken during this session [see [A/31/1 /Add. 1, sect. VI].
43.	The issue which should occupy this Assembly is not what happened in Entebbe but our own future in the eyes of history. We must demonstrate to the world that the scourge of terrorism can be halted. It is up to the nations of the whole world irrespective of the political differences existing between them, to unite against the common enemy which is terrorist barbarism to unite as they did against Hitler and his "supermen"; to unite against the terrorist monster which recognizes no authority, respects no borders, which tramples sovereignty and which makes a mockery of basic, elementary human decency with its crude bestiality.
44.	I urge this Assembly to declare war on international terrorism, to outlaw it and eradicate it once and for all, wherever it may break out.
45.	As I still have great faith in the United Nations, I do not think it necessary to convene countries that love peace and justice outside the context of this Organization in a crusade against terrorism. The fight must be waged here, within the United Nations itself, and with the consensus of all nations which, in becoming part of the United Nations, subscribed to the noble principles of the San Francisco Charter.
46.	Israel may feel proud of having set a precedent in the fight against international terrorism a precedent applicable against aerial hijackers in any part of the world, irrespective of the victims or the perpetrators.
47.	There is no room in the future history of this Assembly for opportunist, equivocal attitudes, which are amoral because considerations of convenience or cowardice are unjustifiable; nor can there be any without prejudicing the dignity of its Members, whether from north or south, east or west. We have had enough words, and more than enough hesitations. What is necessary is action glorious deeds such as the Entebbe action which would be the most powerful antidote to the poison of air piracy and international terrorism.
48.	The news reaching us from Southern Rhodesia has logically evoked a note of cautious optimism at this thirty-first session of the General Assembly. The speech of Prime Minister Ian Smith on 24 September has opened the way to the peaceful capitulation of the most racist and aberrant of the minority Governments. If in Rhodesia we manage to achieve an orderly and rapid transition to majority Government, the United Nations will have marked up not only a clear victory against racial discrimination, but also a triumph of diplomatic negotiation as an effective substitute for violence.
49.	We can acknowledge with satisfaction that during the 11 years of existence of the illegal Southern Rhodesia regime the United Nations has not failed for a single instant to exert all of its moral and legal influence in order to put an end to a State which has tried to declare itself independent for the single purpose of maintaining the domination of the white minority over the black majority.
50.	If that regime is brought to an end rapidly by peaceful means, our Organization will have taken a great step forward in the fight for international justice, which will have a decisive influence on the establishment of majority Governments in the whole of Africa.
51.	Costa Rica wishes, through me, to congratulate Secretary of State Kissinger, Foreign Minister Crosland and all of the African leaders who have co-operated in paving the way for the success of the peace efforts, which had seemed to be an impossible mission.


The thirty-first session of the General Assembly is an auspicious occasion for the Commonwealth. It is particularly gratifying to the United Kingdom that the President of this session should be not only a distinguished and longstanding servant of the United Nations but also an outstanding representative of a Commonwealth country. I extend to you, Mr. President, the warm congratulations of my Government on your election. At the same time, I should like to pay my country's tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Waldheim, for his unremitting efforts over the last five years to promote peace and international understanding.
44.	I also take pleasure in welcoming here for the first time the Republic of Seychelles, a country whose membership in the United Nations was sponsored by the United Kingdom and by fellow members of the Commonwealth [A/31/L.1 and Add.l and 2]. I take this opportunity to convey my Government's thanks for the kind words of the President of Seychelles in his address to the Assembly last week [1st meeting].
45.	It is self-evident that the British Government's foreign policy should reflect the values of the British people themselves. We in Britain are trying to create a society based on the ideals of morality, equality and justice, the United Kingdom is no less committed to these ideals in its foreign policy.
46.	This is a fundamental fact which shapes my Government's attitude to the great challenges facing the international community today: the search for peace; the establishment of a proper economic balance between developed and developing countries; the promotion of human rights; and the maintenance of the rule of law. It is appropriate that on my first visit to the General Assembly as British Foreign Secretary I should at the outset reaffirm unequivocally my country's commitment to support and sustain the efforts which are being made to meet these challenges.
47.	This is also a pledge of support for the United Nations itself. More than ever before, the problems that confront our societies can be effectively tackled only on a regional, or even a global, basis. "Interdependence" is a fashionable word; it is on everybody's lips these days-but rightly so. There is not a nation represented here today that can confidently assure its security and prosperity in isolation. With universal membership as its ultimate goal, with international co-operation and the peaceful settlement of disputes as its ideals; and with its ability to offer the world's nations a forum in which they can discuss their problems freely and openly, the United Nations is uniquely placed to meet the challenges of an interdependent world. That is why today, as over the last 31 years, support for the United Nations is an axiom of British foreign policy.
48.	It would be invidious to arrange these challenges according to some neat order of priorities. We need to meet them all if we are to create the better world we seek. The deprivation of human rights is just as offensive to human dignity as economic deprivation. The establishment of the rule of law is inseparable from the establishment of conditions of peace and security.
49.	But, this said, the relationship between the developed and developing countries is a matter of particular concern to the international community at the present time. Tue gap between the rich and the poor countries is not just a matter of economics; it is a moral question which requires a firm and principled stand. The United Kingdom's position was demonstrated when, in July, at a time of severe economic pressures, we exempted one programme, and one programme alone, from the widespread cuts in public expenditure-the overseas aid programme. Within this programme, moreover, it is our policy to put increasing emphasis on the poorer countries; and not just the poorer countries, but the poorest people in those countries. For when we say that we want a fair and rational world economic system in the management of which the developing countries will have their proper share, we mean also that the poor countries of the world should obtain a new deal, which enables them to offer their peoples the prospect of lives no longer dominated by hunger and chronic insufficiency.
50. Now we should not belittle what has already been achieved in the comparatively short time since the seventh special session of the General Assembly last year. The Conference on International Economic Co-operation has now resumed its detailed work in the four critical areas of energy, raw materials, development, and finance; and I hope that this work will culminate in a successful ministerial conference at the end of the year and in a major and positive step forward in the north-south dialogue. The fourth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in May, for all the initial difficulties which beset it, also marked a significant stage in this dialogue. Eleven out of 13 resolutions  were adopted by consensus and an important programme of work was set in train to which the United Kingdom is determined to contribute positively. There- have also been major international monetary reforms to the benefit of the poorer countries. So something, though not enough, has been achieved in the past 12 months.
51. It is especially pleasing to the United Kingdom that the European Community has taken effective action in this field I welcome the words of the Netherlands Foreign Minister, speaking on behalf of the Community, when he addressed the Assembly last week [7th meeting]. Of particular significance was his reference to an outward- looking Europe. For Britain, an essential justification for the Community's very existence and for our membership of it is that it should play an active and constructive role in the world, so enabling its member States to contribute more effectively to the solution of international problems than if they were acting on their own. The Community has played just such a role in the dialogue between the developed and developing worlds, deploying its collective economic strength to excellent effect. In his speech, Mr. van der Stoel rightly stressed the importance of the Lome Convention,  which grants, as representatives know, preferential access to Community markets to some 50 developing countries and offers a scheme for the stabilization of export earnings for certain raw materials. In recent years, the Community has also steadily improved its generalized scheme of preferences, a scheme which is revised every year and is now of particular benefit to the poorer countries. And, of course, at the Conference on International Economic Co-operation, the Community speaks for all its nine members.
52. The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea has an important contribution to make to the dialogue between the industrialized and developing nations. The concept of an international authority to administer the mineral resources of the deep sea-bed for the benefit of all mankind is bold and imaginative. Her Majesty's Government has played a full part in attempting to promote general agreement on the structure of the authority, on the regime itself, and on the many other issues which are currently before the Conference. But while-and you know better than anyone, Mr. President-the Conference has made progress on other issues, we are disappointed by the lack of movement on this basic question of the deep sea-bed. At the fifth session, some States seemed to abandon their previous willingness to consider possible compromise solutions. The United Kingdom was not among these. We shall persist in our efforts to find solutions acceptable to all, and we hope that, before the next session of the Conference, other States will also consider carefully how we might achieve consensus.
53. It is a measure of the size of the problem that so much still remains to be done before a proper balance is achieved between the richer and the poorer "amongst the nations": a balance which is an essential pre-condition of a more civilized international order. I fully understand the impatience in some quarters: it is, after all, literally a matter of life and death for many people that effective remedies be found for poverty and starvation-and found quickly. But the lesson of the past three years is that no one gains from confrontation: our economies are too closely interconnected. The dialogue must continue, because on its successful outcome depends the ability of the poorer countries to secure the real transfer of resources that they so desperately need. What we are searching for, and must seek with sympathy and imagination, is a new relationship based upon justice and a balance of mutual advantage.
54.	However, the North-South dialogue is about political as well as economic partnership. This brings me to an area of the world in which we find distilled all the challenges that confront this Organization today. I refer of course, to southern Africa. There the need for international cooperation and peaceful reconciliation is overwhelming if multiracial societies are to be able to live in freedom and prosperity.
55.	In Rhodesia, I believe, the acceptance of majority rule by the illegal regime-a turning point the achievement of which is largely due to the skill and energy of the Secretary of State of the United States, Mr. Kissinger-has given us at long last the basis for a peaceful settlement. That, as Mr. Callaghan, my Prime Minister, made clear earlier this year, was the essential first requirement. We must now seize this opportunity to make real progress towards an independent government that will truly represent the peoples of Zimbabwe.
56.	Britain will continue to play a constructive role in this. As you will know, I have agreed, in response to the requests of all the parties concerned, to convene a conference to discuss the early formation of an interim government. I am sure you will agree that Mr. Ivor Richard has all the right qualifications to be chairman of that conference. I may add that his knowledge and experience of the United Nations was an important factor in my choice.
57.	I emphasize that, while we are ready to help in whatever way is appropriate, we look to the parties concerned-the parties on the spot-to work out for themselves the best means of achieving a rapid transition to independence based firmly on majority rule.
58.	All of us hope that the threat to peace and stability which Rhodesia has posed for too many years will soon be at an end. Once the interim government has been established, the justification for the various pressures which have been maintained against the illegal regime should fade away. At that stage there should no longer be any reason for the international isolation of Rhodesia. But until that time comes, it would be right for the international community to continue with the enforcement of economic sanctions. We cannot afford to let the momentum of the present initiative be lost.
59.	I hope that when I next have the honor of addressing the Assembly we shall have seen great progress. We all look forward to welcoming a truly independent Zimbabwe into the international community and to giving it our full support and encouragement.
60.	In South Africa, the rioting which broke out in Soweto in June and which has since spread widely has revealed-if indeed any such revelation were needed-the strength of black African bitterness against the evils of apartheid. Britain has consistently condemned apartheid; we condemn it now. The violence and bloodshed in South Africa have shown in the most tragic way that apartheid is not only unjust; it will not work. There must, and indeed there will, be change. We have always hoped that such change could take place peacefully. But time is running out. We urge the South African Government to accept the need for a fundamental reappraisal of its racial policies, so that a society can be built in South Africa in which all South Africans, regardless of color, can live and work in peace, equality and mutual respect.
61.	In the past year Namibia has rightly remained the subject of extensive debate, both in the General Assembly and in the Security Council. We were pleased to vote in favor of Security Council resolution 385 (1976) of 30 January. This was a constructive attempt to press on towards the common aim of securing South Africa's withdrawal from its unlawful occupation of the Territory. The United Kingdom has been active in a number of contexts and we have repeatedly make our views clear to South Africa, both in bilateral and in multilateral approaches. We hope that Mr. Kissinger's success in producing movement over Rhodesia will be followed by similar success in producing movement on Namibia. We fully support his efforts and those of the African leaders directly concerned to help to bring Namibia to early self-determination and independence.
62.	If our efforts to achieve international co-operation and peaceful reconciliation in southern Africa fail, we face the prospect of a catastrophic conflict that not only will engulf the peoples of the region but could also have serious results for world peace.
63.	We hear much about the need for detente, in the aftermath of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. But recent history has given a forcible reminder to us all-and particularly to those, like the Soviet Union, who disparage the present attempts to bring peace to southern Africa-that, in the pursuit of detente, the need for a sense of responsibility is world-wide and not confined to Europe.
64.	We cannot limit detente by geography or by subject. More important, if we are to achieve a genuine detente on a world-wide scale, we must all as a first step honor the undertakings which we gave when we pledged ourselves to the United Nations Charter. This requires a high degree of restraint and mutual tolerance between nations. We are a long way yet from bringing these qualities to international life. Nowhere is this need for restraint more necessary and obvious than in the field of arms control. It is crucial that the international community take urgent steps to curtail the proliferation of nuclear and conventional weapons. Lord Goronwy-Roberts, my Minister of State, will set out the British Government's views on disarmament at greater length in the First Committee.
65.	The concept of the peaceful settlement of disputes is, of course, far older than that of detente. The United
Nations has from its inception seen continuous attempts to apply it in the Middle East. Yet the unresolved conflict there remains one of the great threats to the peace and prosperity of the world. I endorse everything the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands has said on this subject on behalf of the nine members of the European Community. We urgently want to see negotiations leading to a peace agreement supported and sustained by the world community. It is a tragedy that lack of mutual trust causes both sides to adopt so cautious an approach to negotiation when they both stand to gain so much. Of course no one can guarantee in advance that negotiations will lead to a lasting peace but, unless the opportunity is grasped now, the chances of success will surely diminish as time passes,
66.	An enduring settlement must of course be based on compromise; but that compromise must fulfill the basic aspirations of all the parties and leave no underlying grievances to fester and yet again to threaten the peace of the area. On the one hand, the Arabs must accept that Israel is a fact and that its right to exist is not in question. No peace can survive unless the Arab States give Israel formal recognition, within secure, recognized and commonly agreed boundaries, as a permanent feature of the geography and politics of the Middle East.
67.	On the other hand, if Israel is to obtain this recognition, it must, in a settlement, put an end to the territorial occupation which it has maintained since the war of 1967. The nine members of the European Community have declared that that is an essential element in a settlement. On behalf of the British Government I underline that need today. A settlement must also provide a place for the Palestinians, whose fate is at the very heart of the Middle East dispute. They regard themselves and are now generally recognized as a people distinct from their Arab neighbors, with their own strong aspirations towards nationhood. One essential element in a settlement will be a land for the Palestinians, not necessarily a sovereign State, but a place where they will be free to look after their own affairs.
68.	There are things which both sides can do now to help prepare for the negotiations which must come, and I hope will come soon. Above all, both sides must show restraint: the Israelis, by not seeking to change the situation in the occupied territories; the Arabs, by validating their claims that they really want peace.
69.	In the thirty-first year of its existence, the United Nations has come close to its goal of universal membership. The welcoming of new Member States, a feature of past General Assemblies, will become an increasingly rare occurrence as the age of decolonization draws to a close. Universality will not of itself bring greater mutual understanding; the more diverse the membership, the greater the challenge to consensus. The prospect of universal membership therefore obliges us more than ever to ensure that the Organization functions promptly and effectively in the interest of world peace and harmony.
70.	There are surely a number of ways in which we can increase the effectiveness of the Organization. I have already mentioned the Conference on the Law of the Sea; a successful conclusion of that Conference would bring a vast new area of human activity under international regulation and add immeasurably to the Organization's standing. Again, the activities of the United Nations should be more closely harnessed to the promotion of the international rule of law. There are also specific measures that the United Nations could take to tackle international violence. For example, the Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany has put forward a proposal for a United Nations convention against the taking of hostages [A/31/242]. I strongly support that proposal and hope that other members will do so too.
71. But I want to sound a warning. Sometimes the work of our specialized conferences and agencies is made more difficult by the introduction of divisive political issues into their proceedings. I believe that the huge majority of professionals and experts attending those meetings are becoming more and more concerned at what they regard as unnecessary obstruction of their work. The British Government shares that concern. We want to make the specialist and technical work of the United Nations as effective as we can. In many areas of our shared concern, we cannot afford the luxury of prolonged political debate when the harsh realities of, for example, water shortages, starvation and waste of resources cry out for immediate joint action. Of course the political issues of the day are crucial to us, and must be debated; free debate is the life-blood of this Organization. But at the United Nations we have plenty of opportunities for the political disputes and issues of the day. We have this Assembly and its Committees and we have the Security Council. But we cannot afford to allow those disputes to reduce the effectiveness of specialist international co-operation. If this trend persists, there will be a growing pressure to achieve results outside the United Nations system. And so I appeal to all Members of this Organization to maintain the effectiveness of our work together in the many fields where joint action is in the interest of us all.
72. I also believe that we should identify those areas where our aspirations and standards of conduct are not negotiable and should enjoy the full support of the membership of the United Nations. I refer in particular to the question of human rights. The normative work of the United Nations in drafting instruments has, I think, in general been well done. We already have the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has been the inspiration of many constitutions and conventions, including the European Convention to which the United Kingdom has long been a party. The year 1976 has now seen the entry into force of the two International Covenants on Human Rights [resolution 2200 A (XXX)]. These give legal force to the rights set out in the Universal Declaration. The United Kingdom's ratification of the Covenants last May reflects the seriousness of its approach. We hope that other States will join us in ratifying and giving full support to the Human Rights Committee, whose task it will be to supervise the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with vigor and impartiality. But vital though it is, legislation alone cannot of course guarantee human rights. We must all approach this question with frankness, with honesty and, where necessary, with self-criticism. Our task is to arrest and reverse the present erosion of human rights in the world. We shall not accomplish this if we allow human rights to become, as is too frequently the case today, a playground for political propaganda, hypocrisy and cynicism.
73.	Our task is to create a world in which all men can live in peace, prosperity and freedom, guaranteed by the rule of law. This is an ambitious goal and some may despair of ever reaching it. But I believe that if we approach the problems that beset us in a spirit of peaceful reconciliation, co-operation and restraint-and if, above all, we display these qualities in our dealings with one another in this Organization-the task will not appear so daunting and the goal will not prove impossible of achievement.