My country is once again attending the General Assembly in the same spirit of co-operation and hope as has always prompted us in regard to the vast objectives the world Organization is called upon to fulfill. I should like to express first of all my congratulations on the wise election to the presidency of the Assembly of the representative of Poland, whose eminent qualifications and dedication to the cause of the international Organization give us a complete guarantee of his conduct in such a prominent post.
97.	The present session enables us to renew the periodic analysis of the status of the compliance or response of the United Nations in regard to the complex problems which have arisen in our community.
98.	In my opinion, important progress has been achieved despite the recognized shortcomings of a system which has not yet reached the desired affirmation of a new international order. Nevertheless, none can fail to recognize that in the 27 years of the existence of the Organization we have witnessed a forward movement of a universal concert of the most varied tendencies, marching towards the erection of a global structure of mankind, bringing closer communications and closer political and social interactions among peoples, without the abandonment by those peoples of their special characteristics, whether of culture, religion, race or otherwise. This enables us to understand the difficulties for an Organization which has not yet achieved its full development in fulfilling the main purposes which led to its establishment.
99.	Uruguay had the privilege of being part of the original group of the United Nations and at San Francisco we accepted the reality of the great Powers, which were largely entrusted with the maintenance of peace, so that by this means they could facilitate social progress and the raising of the standard of living of all peoples and respect for the obligations flowing from treaties and other sources of international law.
100.	Confronted with the picture now before us in 1972, we find a fact which is up to a point encouraging in ensuring that responsibility of the great Powers for peace. Obviously there has been progress, since there has been a lessening of tension between the great Powers. Together with the universality we have approached with the entry of the People's Republic of China into the United Nations, we also have observed better prospects in the relations between the permanent members of the Security Council, in such a way that we can think that increasingly any idea of a third world war or of a conflict which would threaten the existence of our planet is being further removed.
101.	The Secretary-General of the United Nations has just affirmed that "the process of detente among the great Powers is certainly a historic event of the highest importance" [A/8701fAdd.1, p. 1]. This fact has led to what has been called a "balance of prudence" and permits us to hope for better results in the not-too-distant future. Despite these encouraging circumstances in which understanding and negotiations have begun in areas in which before they only moved within an atmosphere of confrontation, it has not yet been possible to eliminate conflicts which entail military hostilities, with great human losses, serious destruction and innocent victims, because of acts of violence and uncontrolled aggression. It has become obvious that the United Nations has not been able to put an end to or resolve these situations which have so gravely threatened peace and which in some cases have unleashed actual armed conflicts, which we still witness with grief, because of the powerlessness of the means called upon to maintain peace and security, indeed the principal objective of our Organization.
102.	It would be unfair not to recognize the position in the world with regard to colonial liberation, which is a primary task of the United Nations. The history of mankind has accelerated dramatically in recent years in a direction favorable to mankind. The liberation which has been achieved is an admirable success of this Organization, which has been able to overcome the barriers of despotism and the scourge of colonial exploitation as part of an effort of immense courage and social redemption, which makes it possible to see many peoples now among the free nations after a lengthy period of decolonization. As a citizen of Uruguay I observe the often tragic history of the independence of our countries of Latin America, with constellations of glorious deeds and warlike struggles, and I think that we did not have this tremendous accelerating drive which in recent times has been the decisive work of our community in action. This has created an international conscience which fights more effectively than armies themselves in those areas where complete liberation has not been attained and where barbarism and oppression still reign. We have worked out new formulas to resolve injustice and imbalance among the nations, applying to international life the inspired concept of complete equality of rights for all human beings. That is the task which our Organization has started in order to bring closer together nations which at times remained apart because of external influences or hegemonies, or for other sterile motives, nations which we now see coming together under the imperative course of history, compelling us to bring justice and well-being to all the areas of the world, which today we see united into a single territory destined for development and universal progress. The rate of these conquests is still slow, but they proceed inexorably.
103.	We consider the initiation of contacts between governments such as those of South and North Korea to be auspicious and we predict fruitful results from these initial understandings, as well as from those between the two German States, which have been able to find a more favorable path towards a rapprochement. The Simla Agreement of 3 July 1972 between India and Pakistan can also be mentioned as an event full of good prospects capable of permitting a permanent peace between those great nations of Asia. With regard to the Middle East, we are saddened by the repetition of events which prevent the consolidation of a state of peace for the region, which in our opinion could only be achieved by the complete application of all the provisions of Security Council resolution 242 (1967).
104.	Our country maintains excellent relations with the Arab States and with the State of Israel and tries to maintain an impartial position which will permit it, as a Member of the United Nations, to do its utmost to co-operate towards a conciliation which is becoming increasingly urgent and necessary. Uruguay has distinguished groups and contingents of Arabs and Jews in its territory and has also received members of other communities, such as the Armenians, who have found protection and shelter with us as host country and as a free refuge for immigrants, the • dispossessed and the exiles of the world. These communities have become bulwarks of civilization and progress in our midst and live together peacefully. Today they enjoy full citizenship, and we want justice and well-being for all, while respecting the traditions of their countries of origin. It is to be hoped that as negotiations and dialogs go on in other areas of the world it will also be possible to open up similar prospects in the Middle East between States and peoples which are today separated and which history has called upon to live together as good neighbors and to co-operate in progress not only in that area but in the world as a whole.
105.	We cannot fail to mention the burning issues related to the still existing colonialism and the conditions which the African nations consider to be essential to complete the total liberation of their continent.
106.	Our country has played an important role in the process of decolonization. We were members of, and presided over, the former Committee on South West Africa and we were members of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples from its establishment and for seven years. In all forums Uruguay has advocated greater speed in meeting the task of contributing to the achievement of independence by all those territories.
107.	We do not abdicate today our position of yesterday when we point out that the work which remains can only be carried out with respect for the principles of our Charter and its standards, since these achievements will be final only when they bear the imprint of international law. The path of international law and justice is at times a painful one, but it is increasingly less slow, as is proved by the presence here of so many sovereign nations; but it is the only course we can follow to put an end to colonial domination and discrimination of any kind whatsoever.
108.	As regards natural resources and the law of the sea, we have reached a point at which the imperatives of technology, science and conservation itself may come into conflict with archaic concepts and the most deep-rooted nationalism. We must find a way to build a world in harmony with these new realities. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm in June 1972, proved to us the urgency with which we must set out to resolve these pressing problems.
109.	A new law of the sea is the most important event in this field and a growing number of States have extended their maritime jurisdiction with the object of preserving and making better use of those vast areas for the benefit of their peoples, for whom they are often the primary source of survival. A large number of countries of Latin America favor an extension of their territorial waters to 200 miles. In this field significant progress is being made in finding criteria which will make it possible to present a common front, whatever the name given to the territorial sea: economic sea, or patrimonial sea, or zone of conservation of the species or of the right to fisheries.
110.	At the. same time that we hope to arrive at satisfactory solutions in this field we recognize also the importance of establishing a regime for the sea-bed and the breadth of the territorial sea* The Declaration of Principles adopted by the General Assembly at its twenty-fifth session [resolution 2749 (XXV)] is of outstanding importance in that it establishes the principles that are to govern the sea-bed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof. In that resolution the United Nations has declared that the sea-bed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, together with the resources of the sea-bed and ocean floor, are the common heritage of mankind. In this sense, no State may claim or exercise sovereignty or sovereign rights over any part whatsoever of the oceanic area. We hope that the conference on the law of the sea that is to be convened next year will be able to consider these specific points and that it will succeed in offering solutions that will take into account the fundamental interests of all countries not only the coastal countries that are to benefit by the international regime that is to be established.
111.	The problems of the human environment and the results of the Stockholm Conference will undoubtedly call for special attention from the present session of the General Assembly.
112.	It cannot be denied that modern civilization has had as its consequence, in addition to inestimable progress, serious shifts in natural ecology, alterations in the environment and the indiscriminate exploitation of the flora and fauna of the earth, as well as the grave harm done through air pollution.
113.	The Latin American Regional Seminar on problems of the Human Environment and Development, held in Mexico City in September of last year, established that the principal source of environmental' pollution and the pollution of water, land and sea on the international level must be attributed principally to the activities and policies of the developed countries.
114.	The problems of human environment and development undoubtedly reveal differences among the industrialized States and those in the process of development. Therefore, action intended to preserve a sound ecological balance will require international co-operation in the sense of a general mobilization involving specific solutions for each region, so as to promote material development and the greatest possible prosperity for humanity in all parts of the earth.
115.	Turning to the matter of international economy and trade, the Second United Nations Development Decade has not shown any success in the effective fulfillment of its programs, but there do exist encouraging signs in the co-operation between prosperous nations and those in the process of development.
116.	The third session of UNCTAD, held in Santiago, Chile, last April and May, produced no concrete results in some very sensitive areas, but it did nevertheless represent a step forward and it emphasized the need for rapidly finding suitable functional means for reducing the existing imbalance. In the field of international trade, some results have been achieved that must be supplemented by increasing assistance from the world institutions of credit and financing. Only through the effective utilization of the resources of the developing countries and the transformation and expansion of units of production, together with the required transfer of technology, can an acceptable economic balance be achieved.
117.	We wish, further, to repeat our most resolute support for special consideration of the international monetary situation. In particular, and in connexion with the Inter-national Monetary Fund, it seems to us that the time has come to make its procedures more flexible, adjusting them in clearer fashion to the specific conditions of the member countries.
118.	We agree with the position maintained by the developing countries, which have affirmed their vital interests and their full right to participate in most active fashion in all aspects connected with reform of the international monetary system. Likewise, we believe that, when the reform is carried out, special consideration must be given to the fact that it should facilitate additional aid for development and should not represent simply an instrument for consolidating the situation at present prevailing.
119.	The Government of Uruguay firmly supports the initiative of the Secretary-General in submitting to this General Assembly a request for the consideration of the problem of terrorism [A/8791 and Add.l] with a view to having it adopt effective measures for the prevention and repression of terrorist acts. I should like to recall that, at the last session of the General Assembly, on behalf of my country I submitted a working paper concerning the question  which contained a draft convention for consideration by the International Law Commission to ensure that the problem would be considered at this session of the Assembly. On that occasion I stated to the Assembly the following:
"In addition to the many different forms of social disturbance which have occurred in various countries and have affected a large number of members of the inter-national community, there has been a widespread increase in violence, crime, thefts and hijackings." [1941st meeting, para. 129.]
Recently occurring events in various parts of the world demonstrate how urgent it is that this matter be dealt with so that international action may be taken to defend the community from the continually occurring crimes afflicting it.
120.	International terrorism has taken on an extraordinary virulence in recent days, and this crime, in all its varied forms, assailing as it does the values consecrated by the civilized conscience and attacking innocent victims in absolutely cold blood, constitutes a constant terror which the international community cannot disregard, and the latter must therefore react in defense of the peace and tranquility of all peoples.
121.	When I raised this item last year, I stated that Uruguay had, in this regard, lived through an experience unique in its history [ibid.]. I added that, to the challenge thrown in its face, our country responded with all the vigor of its free institutions, with full adherence to its constitutional standards and with the election of its leaders, held at the regular times specified by its constitution, and accompanied by broad and free election campaigning amid the full exercise of its parliamentary procedures and the absolute authority of its institutions of justice [ibid., para. 130]. The doctrine governing Uruguay in the face of violence was that of strengthening law and the rule of law.
122.	To us, the answer to violence must be the firm application of the law. In that connexion, we approve the idea of agreeing on an international convention to establish positive applicable provisions for preventing, or applying
. sanctions to, crimes of terrorism in their various manifestations.
123.	We cannot accept terrorist methods as a legitimate weapon of political action. In this connexion the people of my country, in the last elections which were held at the end of last year, showed its total repudiation of such methods and firmly supported democratic institutions and the consolidation of its institutional life, which had been gravely threatened. Those circumstances enabled President Bordaberry, shortly after taking power, to arrive at a national agreement between the traditional political parties and immediately and emphatically to start the struggle against violence. President Bordaberry said that the confrontation with that state of subversion was difficult because of the absence of legal texts which would have authorized the Government to undertake really effective action. He added that in our opinion, it is essential that the political parties should reach agreement to alter the existing legal texts in such a way that, while respecting individual rights-and it could not be otherwise-the public power would be enabled effectively to deal with the situations which it was facing.
124.	That is the contribution which Uruguay, within its limited resources, has been able to make in the defense of human values and the legal and social order, when it is confronted with crimes of violence.
125.	We hope that the results of the studies and the resolutions which will be adopted on the basis of the drafts submitted will make it possible to take positive steps in the defense of man and his fundamental rights, which constitute the high goals my country has fought for throughout its history. Those are the same purposes and principles established by the Charter of the United Nations to ensure peace throughout the world, and we are at the service of these purposes and principles of our world Organization.


Mr. President, on behalf of the Afghan delegation, I should like to extend to you our warmest congratulations on your election as President of the twenty-seventh session of the General Assembly. We are confident that the present session will, under your able leadership, witness significant steps toward finding solutions to many of the problems confronting human society.
2. We should also like to express our sincere appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Adam Malik, for his able handling of the presidency of the twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly. My colleagues and I also wish to express our gratitude to Mr. Kurt Waldheim for the energy and perception with which, since his election to the post of Secretary-General, he has embarked upon the manifold
duties and heavy responsibilities of this highly esteemed office.
3. In the changing world of today, with problems increasing
both in number and in dimension, human society in general-and the small countries in particular are placing special hope in the United Nations. We all see with regret that many parties to many of the problems facing the world
today try their best to avoid bringing to the machinery of this Organization, its organs and specialized agencies questions in which their vital interests are involved. If this process is allowed to go on unchecked in the direction in
which it has been heading in recent years, it will inevitably lead to this result: either the United Nations will become a burdensome bureaucracy, or the world will be misled into a dangerous condition of self-deception, or both.
4. In the not-too-distant past, the world discovered too late that this course of events could only lead us to catastrophic consequences. It is still early enough to re-examine our experience with the United Nations and to
find ways effectively to carry out the basic principles embodied in its Charter. It is on this basis that the delegation of Afghanistan wishes to emphasize the necessity for a genuine, deep and practical discussion of item 24 of the agenda.
5.	In this, I address myself not only to the great Powers but also to the entire membership of this Organization. It is the responsibility of all of us to make the Charter, and this Organization, an effective instrument to create better political, economic and social conditions in the world in which we all live and must live together.
6.	We shall present our view on that subject when the question comes before the General Assembly for debate, so we shall not go into detail about it here. However, I do want to say that, as a small nation, we should like to see the United Nations reflect the true conscience of the world whenever the idea of naked power, and of economic and political dominance, attempts to obscure the need for a balanced approach to international politics.
7.	This Organization should not in any way be prohibited from serving as a free forum of the community of nations and as an instrument for arriving, by means of constructive dialogs, at just and viable solutions to the many problems facing the world. In this spirit, my delegation would like to voice its full appreciation of the remarks made by the Secretary-General in the introduction to his report to this Assembly on the work of the Organization [A18701J Add.l]. We hope that the detente of the great Powers will encompass the finding of means to strengthen the United Nations, rather than by-passing this Organization and taking the world back to the methods of the era before its birth.
8.	In this context, it would be relevant to refer to one tragedy the shadow of which continues to hang over the conscience of all of us who have assembled here. From this rostrum we have spoken a number of times about the fate of the people of Viet-Nam. It is high time that the community of nations as a whole seriously addressed itself to this continuing threat to international peace and security. Afghanistan has always supported a solution of the question of Viet-Nam-and of all Indochina based on the decisive role of the will of the peoples of the area themselves in determining their own destiny without any foreign intervention. We shall continue to render our support to the struggling people of the Indochinese peninsula on the basis of these principles, which can be considered the sole criteria for the solution of their problems.
9.	We shall have the opportunity of commenting on the individual items composing the agenda of this session of the General Assembly as they arise. Being conscious of the necessity to economize the very valuable time of this
august Assembly, I shall only summarize very briefly at this time the views of the Afghan delegation, and of my Government, on some of the major developments of the period between the last session of the General Assembly and the present one.
10.	The first of these developments is, fortunately, a positive one. The increasing recognition of and adherence to the philosophy of non-alignment, and its role in world politics, is a source of particular satisfaction to Afghanistan. In the past year alone, many events and even the attitudes of some of the great Powers have indicated this trend. The recent Conference of the Foreign Ministers of Non-Aligned Countries, held in Georgetown, Guyana in August, has made a significant contribution to the further development of the concepts of peaceful coexistence and to the application of independent judgment to international events solely on the basis of their merit. The non-aligned countries of the world are looking forward to the summit meeting to be held next year in Algeria and are confident that it will make a positive contribution both to the noble cause of international peace and security and to the development of better relations among the different members of the world community.
11.	The question of international peace and security naturally leads to that of world disarmament. We would like to join in the earnest appeal of all the peace-loving nations for a rapid and complete end to the dangerous race in armaments, If we do not achieve the goal of total disarmament for which our generation and the ones preceding us have so earnestly longed, the planet on which we live will be an inherently unsafe dwelling place not only for us and for our children but for their children as well.
12.	With regard to the problem of terrorism, we would like to bring to the attention of this Assembly the following essential observations. To disturb the safety of innocent people anywhere in the world cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. However, in the light of this same basic norm of human conduct, no one should be allowed to deceive the world into believing that equally innocent people, deprived of their land and communal entity, shall have no right to fight for the recovery of their usurped homes. It is the urgent responsibility of this Organization and particularly of the major Powers of the world to use all the means at their disposal for finding and applying a solution to the problem of Palestine. Among all the matters of war and peace, none is more dangerous nor demands our attention more than the situation in the Middle East a situation created by the occupation of Arab territories by Israel and by its blunt refusal to withdraw its forces from those territories. With a shaky and precarious history of cease-fires, no progress has been made towards a satisfactory settlement in that troubled area.
13.	Over 20 years of usurpation of the Palestinian people's rights and the continued trampling of their ancestral land by an alien conqueror should not lead the international community to forget that there exists a distinct entity called Palestine and a distinct people called the Palestinians, whose destiny is indistinguishably linked with the soil on which they have been living since time immemorial. It is our ardent hope that the General Assembly at its present session, by taking adequate measures in this regard, will contribute to the restoration of the rights of the Palestinian Arabs. The immediate and complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces from all territories of the three Arab countries namely, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan-is another essential prerequisite for the establishment of a durable peace in the Middle East. To deal with the problem in any other way would be, to paraphrase a Persian poem, "Wiping the tears from our faces without assuaging the anguish from which we weep".
14.	My Government welcomed the spirit that prevailed in the conference of the leaders of Pakistan and India at Simla. It is truly within the spirit of the Charter of this Organization that, at last, in the troubled IndoPakistani subcontinent dialog is beginning to replace the use of arms or the threat of such use. It would be a significant contribution to the victory of the principle of pacific settlement of international disputes to see peace reigning at last over the countries of the subcontinent, and to see Pakistan, Bangladesh and India co-operating in the different spheres of life for the benefit of all the peoples of all three countries.
15.	The noble efforts deployed by the United Nations Committee on decolonization  have all the support of the people and the Government of Afghanistan. I would like to reiterate once again our sympathy with, and our backing for, all nations and peoples still struggling for the recognition of their right to self-determination. The abolition of all forms and manifestations of colonialism and imperialism and of racial discrimination and apartheid is a basic objective of the Charter; and all of us present here are bound by our pledges to its provisions and purposes to extend whatever support is at our disposal to the achievement of these goals.
16.	For Afghanistan itself, colonialism has left a very unfortunate heritage. It is our hope that the question of Pakhtunistan will be solved on the basis of the right of self-determination for the Pakhtun and Baluchi inhabitants of that land. It is the national and international duty of the people and the Government of Afghanistan to pursue, by all peaceful means at their disposal, the just and noble cause of the people of Pakhtunistan. This problem, in essence, emanated from a very typical colonial injustice.
17.	The right of the people of Pakhtunistan freely to choose their own destiny was denied them when the classical form of Western colonialism ended in the Indian subcontinent through its partition a quarter century ago. The land of Pakhtunistan, in spite of not being part of the subcontinent, was added to one of the two new States without its inhabitants having been accorded an opportunity to exercise freely their right to self-determination. The peaceful settlement of this matter is one of the major aims of Afghanistan's foreign policy; but since the question has not been formally put before the General Assembly, it is not our intention to go into further discussion of the problem at this time.
18.	The economic development of the under-developed peoples of the world, which unfortunately constitute the majority of the inhabitants of our globe, ii essential not only to the question of international peace and security but also to the well-being-present and future of human society as a whole and to the deceit self-respect of us all. The outcome of the third Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD] t held at Santiago in April and May, was a source of genuine disturbance to the small and poor nations of the world, If the menacing gap between the rich and the poor countries continues to widen further, it will soon be very difficult to consider the inhabitants of the world as one human society in the true sense of the word. We hope that this problem will be given sufficient time and consideration during the deliberations of the present session of the General Assembly so that the flame of hope for the future of the developing countries can remain alight.
19.	At this juncture one point deserves special mention. As we all know, it is specifically stated in the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade [resolution 2626 (XXV)J that special measures in favor of the least developed countries should be adopted so as to enable those countries to benefit fully and equitably from the general measures contained in the Strategy. In the view of my Government, the general division of the world into developed and developing countries ii a simplistic view which is no longer valid. The developing world is divided into two groups, developing and least developed. That fact has already been recognized by the International Development Strategy, as well as in numerous resolutions of the various bodies of the United Nations system. Some of the least developed countries are land-locked and are thus doubly handicapped.
20.	As I stated earlier, the gap between the developed and the developing countries and between the latter and the least developed among them is fast widening. The identification of the least developed countries is a dramatic phenomenon in the painstakingly slow process of searching for solutions to the socio-economic problems of the countries of the world. The concept of the developing countries as a single group having more similarities than differences proved to be inaccurate. The criteria established for the identification of those .countries demonstrate that they are countries with extremely vulnerable subsistence economies. Two years of continued and severe drought in the case of my country, for example, not only disrupted the precarious economic balance but also plunged the country into unprecedented socio-economic chaos.
21.	We agree, as we have often repeated in various international documents that the primary responsibility for the economic development of the developing countries rests upon those countries themselves. But there is another fact, which applies in no case more than it does to the least developed countries: the efforts of those countries for development cannot succeed without urgent, comprehensive and sustained international assistance and co-operation. That fact has been recognized by the developed as well as other developing countries in numerous documents, the most recent of them UNCTAD resolution 62 (III), which contains specific commitments and measures. It is high time to ascertain to what extent these promises are going to be kept.
22.	Efforts during the past several years by a number of countries resulted in the unanimous adoption of resolution 63 (III) at Santiago last spring. That resolution, while not satisfying entirely the needs and claims of the developing land-locked countries, could nevertheless be regarded as a major step in the right direction. As stipulated in numerous studies and resolutions of various United Nations bodies, land-locked developing countries need, first, to adapt their economies to their special geographic situation, and secondly, to sure the free and unrestricted transit of their trade to the sea and to third countries, and vice versa. Those two needs should be satisfied simultaneously and not consecutively. Resolution 63 (III) provides guide-lines for special measures to be taken in both these fields. While the first measures, which are the responsibility of developed countries and international organizations, are of a rather long-term nature, the second set of measures, which are the responsibility of transit countries and international organizations, deserve immediate attention. Such measures as the preparation of a transport strategy and the study of administrative and customs procedures in transit countries could not be carried out without sincere and complete co-operation by the transit countries.
23.	We hope that the UNCTAD secretariat, as well as responsible bodies in various international organizations, will take swift and effective measures to implement those decisions of the third session of UNCTAD. We further hope that all countries concerned will adopt a constructive attitude towards these questions and extend their full co-operation to the other parties concerned. The Government of Afghanistan, in co-operation with other land-locked countries, will closely follow developments in this field and is ready to offer its full co-operation and assistance for the implementation of the provisions of UNCTAD resolution 63 (III).
24.	We attach substantial importance to the development of the law of the sea along the lines leading to the possibility of access for all the nations of the world to the riches of the sea-bed beyond the limits of the national jurisdiction of individual nations. Special attention must be paid to the status and the needs of the land-locked countries. That is true not only with regard to the riches of the sea-bed but also with regard to freedom of transit and other facilities that are desperately needed for the economic growth of those land-locked countries.
25.	Afghanistan in the last three years has had to cope with the catastrophic consequences of a very severe drought. Many Members of the United Nations have generously, and in compliance with the resolution of sympathy adopted by the twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly [resolution 2757(XXVI)], extended help and sympathy to our people in their moment of distress. I consider it my duty to express, on behalf of the people and the Government of Afghanistan, our sincere gratitude and appreciation to all those countries which have so kindly extended their aid. I would like especially to thank the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, U Thant, for his message to the various specialized agencies of the United Nations concerned with this problem, and those agencies for the timely help they have rendered in the face of this natural catastrophe.
26.	In conclusion, I express the hope that this twenty- seventh session of the General Assembly will mark a significant step forward in the deliberations and activities of the United Nations all through the year.


Mr. President, on behalf of my Government, I wish to express to you my sincere congratulations upon your election. It is a well-deserved tribute to your country, a land of age-old culture that has always been present at the crossroads of history, and, above all, a country that has always been a cradle of heroic men. It is, moreover, a proper recognition of your great merits as a highly capable and dedicated public figure.
108.	May we on this occasion pay a cordial tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Adam Malik, who had the honor to preside over the General Assembly at the last session.
109.	We could not at this time fail to remember our unforgettable friend UThant, or to pay him our most heartfelt tribute for his untiring and distinguished endeavors. His outstanding qualities have left an indelible impression on the minds of all those of us who were privileged to know him, and the pleasant memory of his kind personality.
110.	I should like especially to offer our warmest congratulations to our present Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim. His distinguished career as an enlightened and dedicated man, committed to the loftiest ideals, undoubtedly ensure a promising future for the United Nations.
111.	In this general debate we shall refrain from giving our detailed position on the specific items in the agenda. My delegation will put forward the views of my Government in the relevant debates.
112.	Never have men felt so close to one another as today. Many factors have contributed to this phenomenon: distance is no longer the obstacle it once was; we have the means to travel with incredible speed from one part of the earth to another. The revolution in transport has been followed by a revolution in the means of social communication. Thus, in our time, it is possible for men to contact each other at any point or in any region of the world, almost immediately.
113.	The impressive growth of the world's population has become a further element of change. Because of the population explosion or to be more precise the demographic revolution the earth is becoming increasingly smaller for an ever-larger population. With the ever-faster migration from the rural to the urban areas, we witness the emergence of metropolis and megalopolis, gigantic cities whose inhabitants live in overcrowded conditions.
114.	Man's landing on the moon has enabled us to reach a new dimension: that of space. Our earth is almost beginning to look like an enormous spaceship. As we stated last year in this Assembly:
"Thus there emerges a new concept: that of mankind. We think of mankind as all the peoples of the world and, thus conceived, mankind appears to us as a world-wide society which encompasses us all and which is in opposition to individual societies or States, having their own lives, it is true, but dependent on the development of that greater society." [1944th meeting, para. 8.]
115.	At the same time, the technological revolution, with the profound changes it has introduced in all the material instruments of human life, has generated a growing process of mass phenomena. This is a continuing social process of progressive depersonalization. The human person-man, as a being endowed with reason and liberty is replaced by mass man. In that mass man, primitive reactions prevail over rational life. He becomes the easy victim of manipulation processes; that is to say, he is at the mercy of those who know how to handle the media of social communication and the techniques of psychology so as to influence man's fundamental attitudes.
116.	The consequences of these mass phenomena are far-reaching and deep-seated. Man dehumanized, one of the mass, has abdicated his fundamental condition as a human being, namely, the predominance of reason. Critical judgment has been replaced by emotional reaction, rational life by emotional life.
117.	Thus it is that dehumanized man can easily become the plaything of the most diverse pressure groups. He has become fertile soil for the emergence of every kind of hatred and rancor, for all sorts of sectarian positions, however inconceivable, and for every kind of act, however brutal. Finally, this depersonalized, mass man, is capable of any sacrifice for the sake of myths imposed on him and to which he clings emotionally of every kind of violence, unable as he is to grasp the full significance of his acts.
118.	Paradoxically and just as man is beginning to feel the unity and solidarity of mankind, just as he is feeling closer than ever to all men, we witness what would appear to be the collapse of all the values on which his conduct and behavior were based. This phenomenon affects the whole of mankind, and there is no country on earth where all the principles that have governed man's, life hitherto are not questioned. There is thus born an attitude of rebellion against every rule and of challenge to all authority.
119.	Within that society of the masses, a very important role is played by all the public opinion manipulation procedures, for, through them, it is possible to distort reality to the extent of leaving man as if he were suspended in a vacuum. In point of fact, truth is intermingled with error to the extent that it is not possible to discern where the truth is. On the other hand, error is clothed as truth to the point that it is no longer possible to discover where the error lies. Such a situation engenders a reversal of values and the most serious mental confusion, creating a fertile ground for the proliferation of every kind of extremism and sectarianism.
120.	Viewed from this angle, the world today appears to be compressed between two opposite movements: one, which accumulates motives for division and violence, the other which reveals the possibility of a unity which, for the first time, is truly expanding to embrace the whole of the human race.
121.	Indeed, on the one hand, never as in our time have more efforts been deployed to achieve solidarity and understanding among men and peoples. The strongest proof of this fact is the constant increase in the large number of international organizations and activities oriented to serve mankind.
122.	Yet, on the other hand, never before, perhaps, has the world been so submerged in an atmosphere of violence as it is today. But at this point it becomes necessary to define our terms. In this connexion, in my intervention before this Assembly at the twenty-fifth session I stated that:
• "In ordinary language violence is often confused with force. But this is an error. Force is the body of all means and procedures" of every kind: physical, psychological, economic, and so on" used by law for the enforcement of law. On the other hand, violence signifies the illegal use of force meaning the indiscriminate use of force not in accordance with pre-established principles." [1841st meeting, para. 108. ]
123.	The new development in the contemporary world is the deification of violence. It is paid almost religious reverence. We are faced with an existentialist attitude and, consequently, with a new set of values. The ends make the means good. A violent act becomes good if it permits the achievement of the objectives pursued. The followers of the new religion of violence maintain and proclaim that they will stop at no crime to put an end to injustice. They forget that if an unjust act and because unjust therefore violent is answered with a violent act-and because violent therefore unjust we shall have changed nothing on earth since qualitatively we shall be on exactly the same plane of injustice.
124.	It is a complex social reality, an effect with multiple causes and the cause of multiple effects. It involves many diverse dynamic factors. Let us analyze briefly the most conspicuous ones.
125.	A very small number of States the so-called developed States control the greater part of the wealth and the scientific and technological knowledge of the world. On the other hand, the nations of the developing world see that with each year that passes the existing imbalance between them and the industrialized countries grows wider.
126.	Profound social and economic differences wealth and near-poverty, opulence and misery, a vast number of inadmissible contrasts in a human society separate the various national groups within States, particularly in the developing countries.
127.	At the international level, the centers of power and decision are concentrated in a few nations. Whether in the balance of blocs or through multi-polarization, various methods of subjection are erected to the benefit of the great Powers.
128.	Quite often the financing of development gives rise to situations of economic and political subjection which moreover and not infrequently strengthen the unfair structures of the developing countries. A European Minister in this connexion commented, in rather malicious terms: "Assistance for development is what the poor people in the rich countries give the rich people in the poor countries".
129.	The desire of States for power and their ambition to dominate engenders the various forms of economic and ideological imperialism. On the other hand, situations of oppression and tyranny at the national and international levels are proliferating.
130.	New ideological trends are assuming radical positions and acquire messianic and, to a certain extent, apocalyptic features. Fanatically determined to destroy the existing structures by any means, they resort to systematized violence in order to compound their psychological effect through terror. Thus, systems of permanent subversion are created; conflicts of every kind become more acute, and the most refined means of psychological action are used to submit the will.
131.	There is an atmosphere of ethical pollution that is gradually extending to all nations. This process is facilitated by the disintegration of the values by which mankind has so far lived. As a result, several phenomena of social disorder emerge, such as an alarming increase in drug traffic, an increase in crime and the release of primary instincts, phenomena which in turn become polluting agents.
132.	The progress achieved in the means of social communication also contributes to the climate of violence. The "cultural patterns" they impose surreptitiously through their productions not infrequently contain an exaltation of the violent and therefore of violence. Similarly, the technological advances made in the means of social communication, place at the disposal of States possessing them a hitherto unknown power of cultural control over other States. Today, a nation may well lose its personality as the victim of a cultural invasion which has all the appearances of being a peaceful act but which is none the less fraught with psychological murders.
133.	On the other hand, morally speaking, technological progress per se is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the use men make of it. For that reason, technological progress can and in fact does provide its refinements to the various manifestations of violence.
134.	The crisis in religious values also has an unfavorable effect, especially in those countries whose religions actively advocate love of one's neighbor and solidarity among men. The eclipse of such values, though momentary, has a negative effect as the appeal to the ever-implicit ethical elevation of man is obscured.
135.	Racial discrimination is still, in today's world, an uninterrupted source of violent conflicts. Man's rejection of man for reasons of race gives rise to unending hatred, often aggravated by various other factors that are intermixed with it.
136.	This brief analysis we have outlined shows the complexity of the phenomenon of violence. One of its specific manifestations-perhaps the one that has the greatest impact is terrorism. Terrorism is one of the items on the agenda of the current session. I therefore wish to refer to it specifically.
137.	For all the aforesaid reasons, I believe that terrorism cannot be considered in isolation; rather it must be considered within the overall context in which it is engendered. It is that context that we have endeavored to summarize.
138.	We understand the desire to submit terrorist activities having international repercussions to juridical regulation of universal character. However, while placing ourselves in the field of law, we cannot lose sight of the principles that should inspire any juridical regulation.
139.	In our statement at the third special session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States on 26 January 1971, we said in this connexion that law arose to encompass the life from which it proceeded and moved between the desirable and the feasible. We said in simple terms like a great Belgian jurist, Professor Jean Dabin, that on the legal plane not everything that was desirable was feasible and conversely not everything that was feasible was desirable and that it was in the balance between the desirable and the feasible that the optimum juridical norm could be located. We then added that it was therefore obvious that terrorism, because it was a complex phenomenon which was still undefined, could not be regulated in its entirety other than to the extent that clear social situations were being established to which clear-cut laws could be applied.
140.	Positive law is oriented towards the attainment of the common good, inspired in an ideal of justice, within the limits established by juridical security. In other words, juridical regulations, from the point of view of the technique of law, are limited by the principle of juridical security. This is the basis for the Roman aphorism, "summum jus, summa injuria". Consequently, any juridical regulation which seeks to embody sanctions against acts of violence having international repercussions cannot disregard these fundamental ideas. Thus, for example, there is in the Latin American countries a very wide traditional concept of the right of asylum. In any possible regulation the true and real humanitarian character of this institution must be safeguarded.
141.	On the other hand, every juridical norm must tend, by its very nature, towards its effective implementation. From the standpoint of the law and its purposes, it would be a contradiction in terms to dictate a juridical norm and not to apply it. At the international level this presupposes, moreover, the possibility of ratification by the largest possible number of States, especially in the case of the regulation of an act having multiple international repercussions.
142.	For all these reasons we believe, justifiably, that in any attempt to regulate acts of violence having international repercussions, prudence which does not exclude firmness must be exercised. We must, in like manner, proceed gradually that is to say, step by step, as results are obtained. Furthermore, the greatest possible number of national approvals should be sought, in order to make the provisions as effective as possible. That is why it is necessary to identify acts with great accuracy and to regulate those that command the consent of the largest number of nations which believe in the eminent dignity of the human person. Consequently, the most appropriate thing to do would be to address ourselves to fundamental situations: those most relevant to the universal common good, the ultimate objective of international law. To proceed otherwise would be to risk a regulation that would be impossible to apply adequately, through lack of universal ratification.
143.	The principles that should guide the struggle against violence and its various manifestations are the defence of the eminent dignity of the human person and the safeguarding of justice in international relations. In other words, the struggle against violence is aimed at ensuring man's dignity and safeguarding a just system of international relations. It is for this reason that all we have said does not, of course, preclude the right of peoples to rebel against tyranny, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism or any other form of oppression. Indeed, in this case, it is the oppressors who practice violence; and the right to rebellion, legitimately exercised, represents the effort of the people to restore the infringed juridical order.
144.	All this is perfectly logical, since the different forms of oppression are attempts directed against the eminent dignity of the human person and, by disregarding it, are lacking in legality. Therefore, it is essential that at the same time that we proclaim the legitimate right of peoples to fight against the different forms of violence we should proclaim the right of peoples to rebel against the different forms of oppression. We are not trying by this means to allow the very violence we wish to combat. Indeed, the exercise of the legitimate right of peoples to rebel against the different forms of oppression is embodied within very specific ethical and political principles. We shall enumerate them briefly.
145.	It is necessary for the prevailing system to be unjust as a whole that is to say, as a system.
146.	All lawful means of combating the unjust order must have been exhausted. It is not, therefore, a question of irresponsibly exercising the right of recourse to force against the unjust order. Great harm will ensue as a result of that struggle. In other words, it is necessary that the system, by its very injustice, leaves no other alternative but force.
147.	The system to be instituted must be more just than the one that is combated, which presupposes that to destroy the existing one without preparing the regime that is to follow would not be admissible. Moreover, it is the justice of the system to be instituted that, among other reasons, makes legitimate the right to institute it.
148.	Definite prospects of success are required, so as not to subject the people to greater evils than those that are being fought.
149.	Ultimately, we cannot resort to any means indiscriminately. These, too, are subject to ethical norms. For instance, innocent persons, quite removed from the drama surrounding them, could not be attacked, and any kind of violence against the different means used by man to bring together the peoples of the world would be inadmissible.
150.	The principles we have just enunciated are based on the thinking of great philosophers and are still valid today. We believe that we should not forget them; that we should take them into account, in order that, in attempting to fight violence we should not fall into a serious error which could be used as a pretext by tyrannical regimes to maintain the unjust order.
151.	Having made this reservation, we condemn terrorism in all its forms because we condemn recourse to violence. The latter carries within it its own lethal dialectics: one act of violence is followed by another in a dynamic crescendo of recourse to violence.
152.	In man's every thought and heart-beat there is always a direct relationship between the positive-evolutionary forces and the instinctive-regressive violence. That dangerous relationship makes it possible to assess the risks and the advantages. And there will always be more risks than advantages, because hatred and violence spring from animal instinct, whereas understanding and friendship are created and recreated in the heart guided by reason.
153.	We reject as anti-human the postulate of inevitable violence, since its blind outbreak implies the very surrender of the human condition. But at the same time, we affirm that neither classical pacifism nor the dialectics of atomic horror, nor a Utopian international ideology will either singly or jointly suffice to solve the crucial problem of the violence and exasperation of the present-day world. Ideological hatred, generator of mistrust, misunderstanding and fanaticism, continues to be the major factor responsible for violence.
154.	But violence is not exercised exclusively through action. Omission and negligence in the face of a state of violence may be equally compromising. The spirit guilty of routine and the status quo of inertia and immobility in the face of conflicts and divergences are the direct cause of the irrational paroxysm of violence. Thus, before the final judgment of history and mankind, those responsible for omission or surrender of the necessary political will are as guilty as the irrational agents of violence themselves.
155.	The struggle against violence is, therefore, not only a juridical but a political, economic, social, cultural, ethical and religious fact as well. It is a task devolving on us all. It entails individual and collective, national and international action. It likewise entails the institution of a new international order in which relations among peoples lead towards the attainment of the universal common good inspired in international social justice. Indeed, in the final analysis, the struggle against violence is the building of peace itself.


One of the major characteristics of the present world situation is that we have very good news and very bad news at the same time.
25.	The most recent very good news was that representatives of the thermonuclear Powers, the Soviet Union and the United States, declared in a joint ceremonial act, with the participation of Foreign Minister Gromyko and President Nixon in Washington, the coming into force of their Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, signed at Moscow on 26 May 1972. In a matter of crucial importance to the future of all mankind, the effort to stop the danger of a thermonuclear war from increasing, this is indeed a historic event.
26.	On the other hand, it is very bad news that almost simultaneously B-52 bombers directed one of their most massive attacks against the Democratic Republic of VietNam.
27.	In this state of international relations two sorts of opinions can be heard in the general debate at the current session of the General Assembly. The vast majority of Member States have been pleased to note the generally favorable change in the world situation. Some speakers, on the other hand, have talked as if there had been no improvement in international relations and, what is even worse as if the phenomena regarded by others as signs of improvement actually portended new dangers. This concern expressed in statements by a good number of speakers has been given voice for very respectable reasons. But there have been speakers on this rostrum who think that the sublimated right and good of mankind would be served by the outbreak of a thermonuclear war. Those who have expressed such views have not even attempted to make any constructive proposal reflecting what their Governments believe to be a way to solve the problems. There being two kinds of tones heard in this debate, we cannot turn a deaf ear to the negative voices. I am sure, though, that the negative voices will gradually be isolated and dwindle away. Even at this session of the General Assembly they have diminished in number, extent and intensity alike. We must nevertheless take seriously those facts upon which they feel they have a right to build their absurd concept of the world situation. And we ought to do so even in the absence of such deplorable and negative utterances.
28.	I would have very many reasons to begin my statement by explaining my Government's views on the most favorable aspects of the present international situation, first of all because Hungary is a European country and the most promising signs can be seen in Europe. It is also an exceptional case in the history of the United Nations that both the President of the General Assembly and, the Secretary-General of the United Nations are representatives of European countries. It has been in these days that for the first time in the history of Europe a joint conference was held by the mayors of all European capitals, and that conference took place precisely in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary.
29.	Still, I shall not start with this. I am going to expound my Government's position, not on the favorable, but on the unfavorable phenomena, in the hope that there will be an improvement in relations where they need improving; that is to say, that the improvement of international relations will be extended to areas in which the obsolete rules of life of a bygone world are still kept alive.
30.	It is clear that we live in revolutionary times. We are witnessing great changes of which we are at the same time passive and creative factors. There is a variety of adjectives to describe the forces in the world today. It can be said that there are peaceful forces and aggressive forces. It can be said that there are progressive forces and reactionary forces. Blended with all these, it can be said, there are forces, governments and aspirations which put into effect measures workable at a given time and place, for they understand the call of the times; and there are those which, by putting unworkable measures into effect, make themselves out of step, for they cannot understand the call of the times. There are people, individuals, governments and statutory measures that have outlived their time.
31.	In the thermonuclear age the peoples have to reexamine the practices, laws and international relations they have maintained thus far, their conception of international law, the ideas they have of the questions of war and peace. They have to restudy-and I say this with good reason- even their principles regarding just and unjust wars. What might earlier have seemed, to a great extent, to be just wars should today be eliminated.
32.	This acclimatization to new conditions is not an easy matter, nor can it be done very rapidly. But history goes on, and those who belong in the junk heap will be carried there by the tide of history. I now quote from a poet of Hungary's revolutionary past who expressed death and the coming of the new generation in an image of the decay and the revival of nature in the spring: "... we are pushed, as the tree's young leaves push off the leaves of yesteryear."
33.	Yes, after tremendous historical catastrophes-and at the price of the wonderful sacrifices they entailed for man-a new epoch of mankind is being shaped today under comparatively easy circumstances. In a period of historic changes and changes in social systems, one can observe today a considerable relaxation and, because of an awareness of joint responsibilities, considerable co-operation in the relationship between the principal opposing forces, primarily between those on which the question of whether or not there will be a thermonuclear war depends. This relaxation, however, is not perceived and felt by all.
34.	I wish now to examine, in their international context, those areas where the effect of relaxation cannot as yet be perceived.
35.	The two VietNamese parties to the Paris talks on the question of Viet-Nam-the representatives of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and, together with Madame Binh, the representatives of the national liberation movement do not feel, because they cannot feel, the improvement in international relations. Still less is this improvement felt by the families of the victims lying in blood and dirt in North and South Viet-Nam in the wake of the wanton ravages of bombing raids. In characterizing the situation by means of a literary quotation, I do not at all intend to mitigate the gravity of this tragedy which is practically unprecedented in the history of South-East Asia. On the contrary, I should like to point out the historical depth of the tragedy.
36.	In the middle of the last century, in the very, very dark years of Hungarian history there were many such years back in the past and also recently the author Imre Madach, who might be said to have been the offspring of both the Slovak and the Hungarian peoples, in his drama entitled "The Tragedy of Man" outlined the past and future of mankind, which he brought to the surface out of the severe sufferings of his private life. This dramatic series of world historical scenes describes, besides the paradise of the first human couple, Athens, Rome and many other things, as well as the construction of the pyramids in ancient Egypt, where a slave dies. In this scene someone tries to console the slave's wife for her loss, saying that it means just one suffering man less. Thereupon the wife replies in these words:
"A mere number to you, to me the whole world.
"Alas, beloved, who will love me now? "
With this literary quotation I have wished to bring here, into the hall of the United Nations General Assembly, those untold human sufferings which are virtually increasing in some parts of the globe in spite of the fact that we have very serious reasons to talk of improvement in international relations.
37.	The general improvement of the international situation does not yet make itself felt in the Viet-Nam question, although the VietNamese side has sketched, with the largest possible measure of political realism, the outlines of an end to the war, a suitable international agreement, and the future of both North and South Viet-Nam. No one can doubt that this is the way of the future. There is no other way. It was a miscalculation in 1964 to devise the Tonkin Bay incident. It was a miscalculation in 1965 to start bombing North Viet-Nam. It was the proper thing in December 1965 to suspend the bombing attacks. It was a miscalculation again to resume bombing in 1966. It was a miscalculation to dispatch a United States armed force of more than 700,000 men to Viet-Nam. It was a miscalculation, while reducing the numerical strength of military personnel, to step up the attacks of mechanized warfare. Eventually there will be practically no one in the whole world who will know what business the United States of America has at all to be in Viet-Nam. One has an impression that even those who send American boys to Viet-Nam do not know that either.
38.	In Viet-Nam it is thus impossible to perceive that the international situation is improving. Time, however, is on the side of those who want the effects of the prevailing conditions of international life to be felt also in the VietNamese question.
39.	The Hungarian people and their Government support those constructive proposals, which give a sketch of a new, peaceful future of the Far East as a whole, and which have been set forth by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Viet-Nam, together with the liberation movement. We can be sure that these proposals provide the realistic core of a solution to the problems. They have been drawn up by men who live there among the people and who do not seek to let the people suffer from the war and its consequences as long as possible, but who want the people to enjoy the blessings of peace as soon as possible. The main requirement raised in those proposals is in fact the removal of a single man with a small group. What the sons of the American nation are. dying for in Viet-Nam is actually the monomania of a single man, Thieu.
40.	The improvement of international relations is imperceptible not only in Viet-Nam, but in the Middle East as well. It is difficult to convince the peoples of the Arab countries that international relations are improving. For five years now those peoples have been waiting for something to be done on the strength of the resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council in November 1967, resolution 242(1967). Some interested Powers argue that there is an essential difference between the English and French texts of that resolution. This difference really exists, but it is not this that enhances the world-wide historical importance of the problem but rather the need to secure the conditions of peaceful coexistence of the peoples of the Middle East.
41.	The Government of Israel would make a real contribution to the continued improvement of the international situation if it could take into consideration two facts: one of them concerns the historic aspects of the issue; the other bears a relation to international law.
42.	After the end of the Second World War the progressive forces of the world here in the United Nations also came out in favor of the restoration to their homeland of the dispersed people of Israel because they hoped to do something good for the future of the peoples. In the years of the preparatory and initial stages of the Second World War, fascism, anti-Semitism, racial hatred, the German Ubermensch notion, and Ausradierung (the radical extermination of the Jewish people) became, as it were, the most sternly dominant factors in Europe. Never in the history of mankind have people been killed in such a concentrated manner, in such large numbers and in relatively so short a time as during the era of fascism in Europe. The Soviet Union-which many charge with anti-Semitism today was the decisive factor that made it possible to crush the Fascist Powers, which had sought the complete destruction of Jewry. Had it not been for the Soviet Union, it would not have been possible to defeat Hitlerite Germany.
43.	This year the Soviet Union celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its existence. This is one of the most significant anniversaries in modern history. We are glad that this event occurs at a time when the biggest Power of the other hemisphere has joined in working out the conditions of peaceful coexistence between the two thermonuclear Powers.
44.	I have digressed from the Middle East question, but only apparently. It is not without reason that many see precisely in the problems of the Middle East region the danger of a new world war, a thermonuclear war. The further trend of the situation in the Middle East will largely depend on relations between the Soviet Union and the United States.
45.	The Government of Israel would therefore do a great service to the favorable development of international life if it could take into account the fact that progressive mankind brought into existence or restored the State of Israel in the hope that a progressive, peaceful and happy enclave of humanity would emerge in the restored homeland of the persecuted Jews. Instead of this, a policy of imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism and racial hatred manifests itself in all that Israeli Governments have done since the establishment of the State of Israel. We, the Hungarian Government, are very much interested in the fate of Israel. Many Hungarian Jewish families, persecuted at the time, have since sought new homes in the "Promised Land". They have a large number of relatives living in Hungary today. These people are also adversely affected by the pursuit by the ruling quarters of Israel of their anti-Arab policy of aggression.
46.	In the light of these historic facts, the Israeli Government could do much to promote the favorable development of international relations if it took seriously into consideration Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. The United Nations Charter is the principal source of international law today. In pursuance of Article 51 of the Charter, if a Member State victim of armed attack does not receive sufficient effective assistance from the United Nations Security Council, that State has an unrestricted right to resort to any means, including the use of armed force, to repulse the aggression. Since Israel is unwilling to comply with Security Council resolution 242 (1967), the Arab countries victims of aggression have full authority under international law to reoccupy by armed force the territories occupied by the aggressor.
47.	These two factors-the historical one and the one based on international law-can for a short time be ignored by the Government of Israel, which feigns to be deaf and blind to them, but by so doing it undermines the very existence of the State of Israel.
48.	With profound responsibility towards the future of the people of Israel one can state the following. The Government of Israel has before it proposals from Arab countries that can place the national security of Israel beyond question; if, however, the Government of Israel cannot take these proposals in all seriousness-proposals which are founded on the Security Council resolution-then it will dig the grave of Israel. At home in Hungary we often speak about the role of short-sighted men in politics. With regard to Israel it can be said that in the short-term time might favour the Israeli leaders stricken with short-sightedness, but in the historical perspective those persons will bury the country of Israel for good. The hard facts of history provide examples of how some nations disappeared from the historical scene in consequence of vicious acts by irresponsible leaders. If Israel's leaders of today imagine that, owing to their specific geographical position, the international influence of Zionism that is spread all over the world can make their present attitude realistic, they are tragically mistaken.
49.	I apologize for having dwelled so long upon this: matter, but the question is one of the most instructive issues not only for the present generation but also, I might say, for the history of all mankind. If the Government of Israel does not draw a lesson from the historic and legal factors, it will inevitably dig the grave of its own country and people. Over the short-term some representatives of the Israeli Government might feel that time is on their side, but they ought to know that the future of Israel hinges on whether or not it will be able to settle the problem of its relations with surrounding Arab countries. It would be an illusion for the Government of Israel to seek to build the future of its country upon international Zionism. There is only one solid and sure foundation on which to build the future of Israel: friendship with the neighboring countries, together with recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people.
50.	I hope members will not mind my long discussion about the problems of the Middle East, but there is a very serious reason for it. Many people are convinced that the potential source of a new world war is to be found not in Viet-Nam but in the Middle East. A few European Governments, for example, the Government of Austria, back the proposal that the problems of the Middle East and the Mediterranean area should also be placed on the agenda of the prospective European conference on security and co-operation. In addition to all this, in dealing so thoroughly with the Middle East questions, I am prompted also by the fact the the effect of the general improvement of the international situation can be perceived least of all in that region. It is a common international duty of all States Members of the United Nations, an obligation under the Charter, to work out a concrete plan for the peaceful settlement of relations in the Middle East. The Hungarian Government views the efforts of Ambassador Jarring with deep respect and tries not only with good wishes but also with concrete steps to help him to fulfill his historic mission.
51.	The large majority of the States Members of the United Nations are countries of what is called the third world. In Georgetown earlier this year their representatives addressed a strong appeal to other countries of the world, asking for their assistance in solving the economic problems of the developing nations.  While we talk here-and with good reason about improvement in international relations, poverty is increasing in large parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The peoples of the world have to take concerted action to eliminate the last vestiges of colonialism, to liberate the peoples still living under colonial oppression and, at the same time, to help the countries liberated from colonial domination to overcome their economic difficulties.
52.	An important event in the history of the United Nations was the settlement of the question of Chinese representation. The Government of Hungary was pleased to receive the news of events which indicated the lessening of the international isolation of the People's Republic of China and its active participation in world affairs. The settlement of relations between Japan and China is also an event of great importance in international life. It is worth quoting the poem which the Japanese Prime Minister wrote on the historic occasion when, as representative of the Japan of modern history, he was recently on an official visit in the China of the world socialist system. That poem reads as follows:
"Japan and China broke their relations many years ago,
"But now the time has come to resume these links.
"Autumn is approaching.
"Our neighbors welcome us with warmth in their eyes.
"The Peking sky is clear, and the autumn air is deep."
That verse is certainly more graceful in Japanese and Chinese than in English or Hungarian. But that is not the point. What is important is that representatives of two great nations have met. Of course it is clear to me that China's rejoining international life could have taken place under more auspicious circumstances. The main reason for the present less auspicious circumstances is that during 22 years the prevalent tendency in this Organization was to boycott the People's Republic of China. The Government of the Hungarian People's Republic is glad that this issue facing the United Nations has now been solved.
53.	Besides the solution of this issue, much more visible signs of the improvement of the international situation can be discerned in Europe. I know that the name of Europe does not have a pleasant ring to the vast majority of Member States. That name is linked with the barbarous centuries of colonialism and the tragedies of two world wars. But now, at the dawn of a new epoch for mankind, when today's generation is preparing to live in the thermonuclear age, Europe is trying to enforce the policy of peaceful coexistence instead of the alternative of the dreadful cataclysm of thermonuclear war.
54.	It is a good thing that at precisely this time both the President of the General Assembly and our Secretary- General are representatives of European countries. I wish to offer both of them my congratulations in this context. The Foreign Minister of Poland, in his statement here in the general debate [2042nd meeting], referred to the tragic past of his country, to the centuries during which Poland had been practically non-existent in terms of international law. Today the Polish people live in the finest period of their history and, thanks to their considerable achievements, have become one of the most active factors of European peace and security and of international cooperation.
55.	A very lovely manifestation of the hopes entertained in Europe with regard to the Polish people is a nursery rhyme which two great promoters of the interdependence of the peoples of Central Europe, the two Hungarian composers Zoltan Kodaly and Bela Bartok, discovered at a time, in the early years of the century, when from the legal point of view Poland did not even exist in reality. This nursery rhyme can be rendered into English as follows:
"Little duckling bathing in the big black pond
"Is about to visit mother in Poland."
Today not only Poland but the other European countries along with it can live in peace and security.
56.	It is this peace and security that we wish to place on more solid foundations than heretofore. That is why we wish to convene a conference on European security and co-operation. This is not merely an affair of Europe. If we put it through properly, it will benefit also other peoples of the world, since the immeasurable resources to be released by the termination of the arms race can then be used to solve fundamental problems concerning the life of mankind.
57.	The Government of the Hungarian People's Republic looks to the future with good hope. We think the United Nations has been and will be an expedient engineer of this future. I compliment our new Secretary-General in expressing that belief. Recently the mayors of the European capitals held a meeting in Budapest. On that occasion the Burgomaster of Vienna presented the text of a joint statement. This is the mark of a new stage in the relations between Budapest and Vienna. Secretary-General Waldheim, both as former Ambassador of Austria and as a former Foreign Minister of his country, has had an important share in improving the relations between States in Central Europe. Also on behalf of the Hungarian people and Government we ask him to use the goodwill with which he has promoted friendship between our two peoples in order to contribute on a global scale to strengthening the mutual understanding and security of the peoples of the world.
58.	When we think of the future of the United Nations, we cannot forget its past either. After the First World War the League of Nations came into being, but was dissolved amid the events following the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Nations was established after the end of the Second World War. Its founders drew a lesson from the experiences of the two World Wars. Nevertheless, this Organization has often found itself in a state of crisis during the past few years. Among the many factors that have saved the existence of this Organization there has been a special, personal factor: die former Secretary-General of the United Nations, UThant. Not only this Organization but the whole of mankind have gone through extremely critical periods in the past years. The wisdom of our former Secretary-General, his responsiveness to human and social problems, his modesty and humility before the great facts of history revealed to us the impressive greatness of his calling in the world and helped many of us to discharge the accumulating tasks confronting the United Nations.
59.	I express the wish that ills sense of responsibility will prevail in this Organization.


Mr. President, in congratulating you on your election to the high office of President of our Assembly, I wish first of all to emphasize the confidence which the Yugoslav delegation places in your outstanding abilities, from which I am certain our session will greatly benefit. In your person I also greet a representative of socialist Poland, a country to which the people of Yugoslavia is linked by ties of deep-rooted friendship and co-operation in all fields.
101.	It gives me great pleasure likewise to associate myself with all those who have expressed their appreciation for the wise way in which the Foreign Minister of the friendly State of Indonesia presided over the work of the twenty- sixth session of our Assembly.
102.	I wish also to avail myself of this opportunity to express to Mr. Kurt Waldheim, at this first session of the General Assembly which he is attending in his capacity as Secretary-General, our appreciation for the active and notable initiatives he is undertaking.
103.	It is an undeniable fact that the past year has been exceptionally rich in events and in changes. The immediate future will best show, after all that has occurred, whether the world has good reason to feel more at ease and more secure today, or whether its contradictions have merely been somewhat attenuated.
104.	The United Nations has played a great role in preparing and in promoting the current process of negotiation and detente. But it is equally true that a great many events have taken place outside the United Nations and without its participation. Bilateralism in relations among the great Powers can never conflict with the role of the United Nations, with one proviso, and that is that every-thing achieved by the great Powers in their mutual relations contributes toward the creation of better conditions for the effective solution of the fundamental contradictions of our times. In a world characterized by general interdependence, relations among great Powers affect all international relations to such a degree that even their mutual relations can no longer be regarded as their exclusive business. We have no doubts as to what has already been achieved on the bilateral level, but it is our feeling that the international community as a whole must necessarily be the architect of the peace, the progress and the co-operation to which we all aspire and the ensuing responsibilities and obligations are incumbent upon all of us.
105.	In short, we wonder more and more about the nature of the relaxation of tensions, about the negotiations and the detente that are now emerging. What benefits will the smaller and poorer countries derive from the determination of the great and developed countries to avoid conflict among themselves and to normalize their relations?
106.	However, developments and tendencies that run counter to detente and the easing of tensions, far from having disappeared, have lost nothing of their fundamental force. Imperialism and other forms of hegemony, of economic inequality and foreign interference, far from being checked, are in fact attempting to impose themselves once more in other forms.
107.	The world must beware of tarrying too long at a crossroads where, although general confrontation is not an imminent danger, the solution of the most pressing problems is likewise not an immediate prospect.
108.	For all these reasons, I feel that I am not wrong in saying that a period of new and increased obligations and responsibilities has begun for the United Nations. The United Nations archives are filled with a huge number of documents and decisions, the validity of which no one can question, but the implementation of which is in no wise guaranteed. The United Nations will experience a rebirth only if, in the present detente, it succeeds in finding widening possibilities for asserting its place and its role. The generally more favorable prospects for peace and security should reinforce the safeguards given to all countries and peoples, assuring them that they can be more at ease with regard to their independence and that they can feel greater confidence concerning the acceleration of their material and cultural progress.
109.	The Conference of Foreign Ministers of Non-Aligned Countries, recently held in Georgetown, reflected the needs of the present political moment, aspirations which coincide with the hopes of the greater part of the international community and with the goals set forth in the Charter of the United Nations. Non-alignment is not an exclusive club, nor is it a sort of collective self-defense. It is a growing political movement which is becoming an ever more influential factor in international relations. At Georgetown too, the non-aligned nations spoke out in favor of a universal detente and for the elimination of pressures exerted by the stronger against the weaker and for the democratization of international relations; they warned against the danger inherent in the monopolization or regional limitation of the process of detente. At that time too, the non-aligned countries energetically demanded the elimination of force and the use thereof, still so frequent and so brutal, and displayed a strong sense of responsibility with regard to the prosperity and destiny of the world as a whole.
110.	Coexistence, co-operation and prosperity must be general or they cannot exist at all. It is difficult to build peace but it is easy to disturb it. There will be no coexistence among the great Powers unless a beginning is made towards solution of the major problems of the present-day world.
111.	It is for this reason that Yugoslavia, together with the great family of non-aligned countries which at present constitute a majority of our Organization, calls for an immediate halt to the American bombing in the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and for a search for a just political solution on the basis of the constructive proposals submitted by the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the seven-point program of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet-Nam. The most recent declaration of that Government constitutes one more contribution to the search for such a solution. The five-point program of the Government of Prince Sihanouk offers a firm basis for the restoration of peace and freedom to the people of Cambodia also. The war in Indochina must cease. That war is not only a tragedy for the peoples of IndoChina and a financial drain on the people of the United States, but it is also a difficult trial for all of us. As long as it goes on, in whatever form, it will remain a negative factor in any evaluation of the duration and soundness of the detente that we have welcomed with such great hopes.
112.	The conduct of Israel meets with less and less understanding. But unfortunately, that conduct continues to be characterized by undiminished aggressiveness, as confirmed again by its recent retaliatory military terrorist acts. All this shows that in actual fact the actions of Israel are not motivated by concern for its own security. For it is quite clear that within its pre-war boundaries, and through peace and co-operation with its neighbors, Israel could obtain the maximum guarantees for its security. These actions are, rather, the fruit of a dangerous ambition to retain territories wrested from the Arabs by force and to deprive the Arab people of Palestine of their legitimate rights forever. The current session of the General Assembly offers a chance to make a decisive effort to overcome the present situation and finally to offer the prospect of an effective solution to the crisis, with Security Council resolution 242(1967) constituting a confirmed and generally accepted basis for such a solution.
113.	The divergence between what is spoken aloud and the actual situation with respect to decolonization and apartheid has not been narrowed in any way. Will anything really be done in the new climate in order to overcome resistance to the implementation of the decisions on the liberation of Portuguese colonies, of the Zimbabwe people, of Namibia and of other Territories? Will greater support and assistance be extended to the liberation movements?
114.	Unfortunately, the questions that I have asked are not new. And perhaps this already says much. No added weight should be given to doubts that the peace which now exists is too onerous and that the only purpose it serves is to have old aims achieved by new means.
115.	My Government shares the concern at the intensification of international terrorism which threatens the lives of innocent persons and jeopardizes normal international relations and co-operation. Yugoslavia, whose citizens and representatives abroad have frequently been victims of threats, violence and terrorist acts, has been warning against such dangers for a number of years. Unfortunately, there was no appropriate response, although it must have been perfectly clear that such activities were directed not only against Yugoslavia and the safety of its citizens, but also against the citizens of countries in which the perpetrators of such acts often enjoy protection and often even direct support.
116.	The time has come for the nature and causes of this disquieting phenomenon to be defined, and for co-ordinated action to be taken effectively to combat it. We believe that the United Nations is the most appropriate place for this problem to be dealt with. International co-operation and, above all, the willingness of Governments to fulfill the obligations deriving from international law and the Charter constitute a fundamental prerequisite for such action. The taking of innocent hostages, attacks against the machinery of international relations, and upon the trans-port facilities of countries not involved in military conflicts are all acts that we must condemn and towards whose eradication we must work. It is intolerable that under the pretext of democratic freedoms the defeated Fascist elements should be allowed to organize for the purpose of committing terrorist acts against independent countries.
117.	Even less can we allow the word "terrorism" to be applied to organized resistance against terror or used as a pretext to obstruct a justified and legitimate struggle which is inevitable when there are relations of subjection, domination and injustice in existence. In opposing terrorism we have always condemned individual acts of terror, convinced that they actually cause more harm to liberation movements by leading them astray and reducing the support they should receive in their just struggle. We would defeat the ends we seek if the condemnation and repression of international terrorism were to benefit those who practice the terrorism of colonization or mass reprisals against entire peoples, since it is this type of action which is the primary source of despair and terrorism against individuals.
118.	The improvement of conditions in Europe is a significant and favorable factor in the present world situation. However, this process is being hampered by trends seeking to perpetuate the existing division of the European continent into blocs and to divorce European detente from the world context. The conference on European security and co-operation will prove to be of great significance if it reverses this trend. Europe cannot be an island of peace and detente in a turbulent sea of upheaval and conflict. Therefore, while endeavoring to establish relations that would guarantee to all European countries the right to develop independently irrespective of size, geographic position or socio-political system and the possibility of doing so, Europe must be one component of an identical process throughout the world. Otherwise, sooner or later Europe would suffer the reverberations of conflicts and antagonisms in other parts of the world.
119.	The results of the European conference should provide fresh incentives and create new possibilities for co-operation in the Balkans, where European contradictions have always manifested themselves in an intensified form. European detente also implies the recognition of the intimate link between Europe and the Mediterranean, a link which can no longer be denied. One of the initiatives flowing from this relationship has been undertaken by the non-aligned countries of the Mediterranean. This initiative remains open to all nations sharing the same concern and having the same needs.
120.	Despite certain initial achievements in the field of disarmament and in spite of bilateral agreements between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, the arms race has not ended. Nothing can diminish the role and the responsibility of the United Nations as the body most directly concerned with disarmament, because solutions affecting all countries in fact the entire world should not be sought or prepared outside the world Organization. For that reason Yugoslavia supports the convening of a world disarmament conference with the equitable participation of all States in all phases of its preparation.
121.	The third session of UNCTAD and the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment have clearly shown that there are more important issues of concern to mankind and have shown to what extent the manufacture and use of modern weapons undermine the material and even the biological existence of man.
122.	In the field of economic relations the main problems have now been pinpointed and the avenues to their solution clearly defined. Unfortunately, the distance between the definition of a problem and its solution is sometimes very great. The third session of UNCTAD did not achieve the expected results. Solutions must be sought at the broadest international level. I am thinking particularly of the need to reform the world monetary and trade systems. This does not, of course, imply that other outstanding issues have lost their importance-above all the urgent problems relating to access to the markets of developed countries, international financing, shipping, and so on. However, if we attach specific importance to the monetary and trade problems it is because they constitute the touchstone of the capacity of the international community to adopt a new system which should be universal and serve, the interests of all the members of the international community, regardless of differences in levels of economic development and socio-economic systems.
123.	Because we believe in the universality of this world Organization, my country, in response to the desire of the Government of Bangladesh, has actively supported its application for membership in the United Nations. We consider it unquestionable that the new independent, sovereign and peaceful State of Bangladesh meets the criteria and fulfills the conditions laid down by the Charter for the admission of new Members. My Government sincerely believes that the admission of Bangladesh to membership in the world Organization at the present session would greatly contribute both to the independence and international status of that State and to the stabilization of international relations in that part of Asia.
124.	The democratization of international relations is one of the most important requirements of the contemporary world, and in this regard the United Nations constitutes a lever of vital importance. The effectiveness of the Organization will, to a large extent, depend on how its Member States succeed in co-ordinating our essentially common interests, regardless of how irreconcilable those interests may sometimes appear. Any analysis must inevitably confirm the fact that the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter provide even today a sound basis for the solution of the complex set of economic, social, political, humanitarian and other issues of the present-day world.
125.	Basically, conflicts between States are the result of a failure to solve social contradictions within the States themselves. Peace is a prerequisite for social progress; but social progress itself is a prerequisite for peace. International conditions should not restrict or impede possibilities for any country's domestic development or national emancipation. There can be no such thing as peace if it is a peace which perpetuates the external obstacles to independent internal progress.
126.	The freedom of nations and the freedom of the individual are one and the same aspiration. The demand by man to participate in social progress and the demand of countries to take part in world affairs really merge into one.
Yugoslavia believes in this and it is for that reason that we are exerting every effort towards that end.
127.	The worth of our Organization will be measured by its ability to assist peoples and nations to progress in peace and freedom towards the goals that they cannot and will not give up.