Mr. President, New Zealand joins with the previous speakers in offering you its warmest congratulations on your election to the presidency. You have already brought efficiency and vigor to the conduct of our work. Like other speakers, I would like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to my personal friend, Adam Malik, the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, who presided so admirably over last year's arduous session.
174.	We meet this year oppressed by the tragic events of recent weeks. A new and horrible form of savagery has been visited upon a desperately vulnerable and unprepared world. Yet this year more than most has been marked by the promise of a new era of international peace and stability. For most of its life the United Nations has mirrored the mutual suspicions and hostilities that characterized the attitude of the super-Powers over that period. Now the easing of tension in the relationships among the great Powers is reflected in a growing pattern of reconciliation among the smaller Powers. The courageous initiative of President Nixon, the summit talks in Peking, Moscow, Warsaw and elsewhere and other vigorous moves towards detente, particularly by the two super-Powers, are in the best spirit of the Charter. As both a courtesy and a duty we should pay a tribute to all the Powers concerned for the prospect of a new peace which seems to lie ahead of us.
175.	Another development in international relationships that is welcome to New Zealand, as a country having a special interest in the European Economic Community, is the impending enlargement of that Community through the entry of the United Kingdom and other new members. We look forward to the emergence of a stronger, more outward-looking and united Western Europe. The trend towards reconciliation between the countries of Western and Eastern Europe is gathering momentum. The negotiation of non-aggression treaties between West Germany and Poland and between West Germany and the Soviet Union and the four-Power agreement on Berlin were welcome first steps in that direction. We strongly hope that the current negotiations between the two Germanys will end in an agreement that will permit us very soon to welcome both to membership in the United Nations,
176.	The changes in great-Power relationships have modified the policies of countries in the area of the world of most direct interest to New Zealand. I refer to Asia and the Pacific. We have been especially encouraged by the Simla meeting between the President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India aimed at settling peacefully the differences between their two countries. The major problems, of course, are not yet solved; but the way has been opened for a durable settlement in the subcontinent under which the three countries of the region will be able to live together in peace. I would emphasize that New Zealand earnestly feels the need for such a settlement.
177.	Last year's crisis in East Pakistan caused human suffering on a vast and frightening scale. New Zealand, small though it is, has not hesitated to draw attention to the material and political needs which had to be met in order to end that tragic situation. The new State of Bangladesh has emerged from the chaos and suffering. However, independence alone and of itself cannot put an end to human misery. The reconstruction and development of Bangladesh represents an enormous task which the new Government cannot be expected to accomplish without massive external assistance. A great deal has already been done, both by the United Nations and by individual countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Indian Government, specifically, have successfully tackled a refugee operation larger than any ever before undertaken in the history of the world. The United Nations and non-governmental bodies have undertaken rehabilitation operations on an unprecedented scale and have thus averted more widespread suffering in the new nation. We in New Zealand have tried to help wherever we can to reduce the suffering in Bangladesh and to promote peace and stability among fellow members of the Commonwealth of Nations on the subcontinent. However, much more needs to be done. In such a vast undertaking it is essential that all partners have the full support and co-operation of the others. For this practical reason, New Zealand believes it is important that Bangladesh should be admitted to the United Nations as soon as possible.
178.	By a happy coincidence, the agreement between India and Pakistan was followed almost immediately by one between two other Asian neighbors, North and South Korea. That agreement opens the way for the deep and bitter hostilities of the past to be worked out by the Koreans themselves. In due course the Organization will no doubt have a role to play. At this juncture, however, we believe that the Assembly took a very wise decision when last week it deferred consideration of the Korean items [2036th meeting], thereby acknowledging that the two Koreas should have the opportunity, and should be encouraged, to come to terms with each other.
179.	The movement in Asia towards reconciliation has not so far been reflected in Indochina and VietNam, in Laos and in the Khmer Republic but it is not for want of effort on the part of South Vietnam and its friends. The United States has offered to withdraw all its forces in return for an internationally supervised cease-fire and the return of the American prisoners. The United States and South Viet-Nam together have offered to hold new elections in which the national liberation front can take its full part in organizing the elections and to have the elections internationally supervised. President Thieu of South Vietnam has offered to resign before the elections take place. My Government supports these proposals, which are directed towards obtaining a just and durable peace settlement in that part of the world.
180.	The encouragement that countries have had this year to seek a peaceful resolution of their differences has also been reflected in the Pacific region. New Zealand, Australia and a number of newly independent small nations of the South Pacific have been developing a very real spirit of community and co-operation. More recently the most outstanding evidence of this spirit has been the creation of what is known as the South Pacific Forum. In that Forum the government leaders of Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, Nauru, the Cook Islands, Australia and New Zealand have met together to discuss issues of practical interest to our Governments and peoples. As was mentioned by my Australian colleague yesterday, Papua New Guinea has been invited to observe the next meeting. The first Forum, held in Wellington in August last year, has been followed in 1972 by two further meetings, one in Canberra, Australia, and the other in Suva, Fiji. Talks have covered a very wide range of subjects. However, it is a measure of the Forum's concern with immediate practical issues that it has already established a South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation. This is a serious effort to stimulate new thinking and create greater opportunities for the development of trade and economic advancement throughout that vast area of the Pacific Ocean, particularly in the south.
181.	There is scope for a much greater involvement by the United Nations in the economic progress of the developing countries and the newly independent countries of the South Pacific. Perhaps because of their geographical remoteness, the problems of these countries too have seemed remote to other countries. Yet only a very little more attention, as measured in the total United Nations effort, would do so much more for these small and isolated communities. For that reason we are very pleased that the Asian Development Bank has accepted the independent island nations of the South Pacific as members and that loans are already being made available to them. Also, the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East is becoming increasingly involved in the development of the island nations, as are the United Nations Development Program, UNICEF and the specialized agencies concerned. However, I repeat that there is still much more to be done in that area.
182.	Over the years, New Zealand has involved the United Nations in the process of decolonization as it applied to New Zealand's island Territories. Some years ago we invited the United Nations missions to observe the act of self- determination in the former Trust Territory of Western Samoa, and also in the Cook Islands. This year the Assembly will have a report from a visiting mission 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, which at New Zealand's invitation visited the Non-Self-Governing Territory of Nive [A/8723/Rev. 1, chap. XVI, annex I]. That mission was under the able leadership of Ambassador Salim of the United Republic of Tanzania. In my own Government's view, the report of the Committee is a very well-balanced, fair and, we believe, helpful document. We hope it will do more than enable the Assembly to consider the political issues to which the report itself was directed. It should also lead to a greater understanding of the special problems of survival and development faced by other very small dependent Territories.
183.	A minute ago I touched upon the remoteness of the problems of the South Pacific as seen by the rest of the world, and perhaps especially by the European countries. I draw attention now to the serious apprehension which exists in that vast area about the continuance of nuclear testing in the Pacific region.
184.	There is a regional concern because this year a further series of nuclear tests was conducted in the Tuamoto archipelago, and that is the fifth such series since 1967. My Government is aware that the problem of nuclear weapons testing is a global one and that nuclear tests are at present being conducted by four different nations. We also realize that nuclear testing is a part of the wider problem of the nuclear arms race. But I want to make it quite clear here today that the continuation of atmospheric nuclear testing in French Polynesia is deeply resented by the people of the whole of the South Pacific region and, indeed, of the North Pacific as well.
185.	At its meeting in Fiji earlier this month, the South Pacific Forum that I spoke of earlier unanimously expressed its deep concern that the French Government, in conducting its latest nuclear tests, should have failed to recognize the wishes of the people of the South Pacific area, despite the views so clearly expressed by the Governments and the peoples of those countries. The Forum strongly reaffirmed its opposition to all such nuclear experiments anywhere in the world.
186.	In support of that standpoint, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, referred to again this afternoon, has asked all States intending to carry out nuclear weapons tests to abandon those plans.  Countries in Asia, and in Latin America bordering the Pacific, have declared their total opposition. It is our intention to seek the Assembly's endorsement of these calls to cease all nuclear weapons testing.
187.	Nuclear testing is an issue on which the smaller States have had to speak bluntly to some of the larger Powers whose activities affect us.
188.	In the debate last year [1955th meeting], the New Zealand representative spoke of the great Powers taking policy decisions that profoundly affect the economic stability of smaller nations. There is still a pressing need for the great Powers to recognize that smaller economies can rock dangerously in the waves of their major-policy decisions. There is still a pressing need for a further liberalization of world trade and monetary matters. New Zealand attaches considerable importance to a successful outcome of the multilateral trade negotiations under the framework of GATT in 1973. The Kennedy Round failed to meet our hopes.
189.	New Zealand, like so many other, smaller countries, is heavily dependent on trade in primary agricultural commodities. We are vitally concerned, on that account, with the progress that will have to be made with eliminating or reducing barriers to trade in agricultural products. The developing countries quite rightly want to have their say in these talks, in these negotiations, in these kinds of decisions. Like us, they are less interested in tariff reductions on industrial products, which seem to be the pervading preoccupation of such talks, than in primary products. There are few benefits for smaller and developing nations in enhancing the economic advantages of the great industrial Powers. But I urge the need for less international charity and more true international economic reality.
190.	I suggested that the past year has seen the advent of a more favorable general political climate. Unfortunately, it will also be remembered as a year in which the resort to terrorism, individual killing of totally innocent and unsuspecting people, mass cruelty, mistreatment, and even genocide, have left a very tragic mark. Private violence as a means of influencing issues between States must be condemned as strongly as State violence against States, which of course is proscribed by our Charter.
191.	The revulsion to which violence gives rise, in the minds of all people throughout the world, renders these horrible actions politically sterile and useless, indeed counterproductive. It does not further the cause which they variously profess to espouse. Take two outstanding examples: those who claim to speak for the Palestinian and the Croatian peoples. What this violence does do is to increase the readiness of Governments to concert their actions to halt this scourge throughout the world.
192.	The New Zealand Government approves the efforts made by the Secretary-General to seek a greater awakening of the United Nations interest in these horrible actions and events.
193.	In the field of human rights, the right to life and security of person must have first place in anyone's scale of priorities. Nobody will underestimate the difficulties of grappling with the subject of international terrorism. Yet, it is surely right that this subject should be on our agenda. It will be a sad reflection on our strength of purpose and on the capacity of this Organization if no effective means can be found to eliminate the threat to innocent lives which this modern phenomenon presents.
194.	At the same time, we must not overlook other problems of human rights which may gravely affect very large numbers of people in particular areas of the world. The question of people of Asian origin expelled from Uganda is a case in point, as was already mentioned. My Government understands the wish of the Government of Uganda, or of any other Government, to ensure that the control of its economy remains largely in the hands of its own nationals. But there is more than one way of implementing such policy, and many countries have shown the way.
195.	The decision taken by the Uganda Government involves the abrupt wrenching from their own homes and the expulsion from the country of people who, for the most part, have that country as their only home and who spring from generations of people who haVe lived in that country. The New Zealand Government, which has offered a place in our own multiracial society to some of those expelled from Uganda, hopes that the Government of Uganda will even now reconsider the decision that it has taken. We would expect that, at the least, a more reasonable time limit for departure will be set and that, having regard to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the persons concerned will be allowed to transfer from the country those assets to which they have an undoubted personal right. And so we strongly support the initiative taken by Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom. My delegation, as you can see, is in favor of his request for the inclusion in the agenda of a new item entitled "International implications of the expulsion of the Asian community from Uganda" [A/8794].
196.	Before I leave the subject of human rights I should like, only very briefly, to refer to three measures taken by the New Zealand Government which may be of interest to some countries represented in this Assembly. First, New Zealand has enacted its own Race Relations Act and should this year ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination [resolution 2106 A (XX), annex]. Secondly, our Government is this year passing legislation providing for the introduction of equal pay for women. New Zealand.was the first country in the world to give women the vote and so we are rather proud to be among the pioneers in making this further contribution to women's rights. The third measure I have in mind is a bill recently introduced in our Parliament which we hope will be passed this year and which will introduce a system whereby accident compensation amounting to 80 per cent of salary will be available to all employed persons who may suffer injury in any circumstances whatever, including accidents such as road accidents or any other kind of accident which is not related in any way to work at their jobs. We regard this as a major social advance and will be happy to provide details to any other countries which may be interested in it.
197.	A notable achievement in international co-operation of the best sort has been demonstrated in Stockholm where the Conference on the Human Environment alerted the world community to the dangers created in our environment by mankind's sometimes reckless use of the earth's resources. The fact of the Conference and its achievement is surely evidence of the vitality of this United Nations. I should like to place on record my Government's appreciation for the efforts made by Sweden as host Government to bring about the success of the Conference. We hope that the role played by Mr. Maurice Strong as Secretary-General of that Conference will be further recognized as we consider, I hope at this session, the setting up of new institutions, including a governing council for environmental programs and an environment fund. In anticipation of the Assembly's decision on the Fund, my Government will be prepared to contribute over a five-year period the sum of $320,000.
198.	The future crisis of world population, which will double by the year 2000, is inextricably linked with the problem of the world environment. Great tensions already exist in some parts of the world between populations and the space, natural resources and social structures available to them considerable stress. If these problems are not better understood now and dealt with in a pragmatic and, I hope, understanding way, we will be giving our children a legacy for which they will not thank us and in which we will take very little pride. Our Government is anxious to take its full share in international efforts which must move forward, we believe, speedily. We welcome the decision to hold the World Population Conference in 1974 [resolution 2683 (XXV)]. New Zealand will also continue, as we have in the past, to support the United Nations Fund for Population Activities which, after only two years, is already an active and worth-while agent of this Organization for this global endeavor.
199.	New Zealand has always "been a staunch supporter of the United Nations. New Zealand has always constantly supported the concept of an active role for the Secretary- General, and I take this opportunity to pay a tribute to Mr. Waldheim. We commend his firm approach to financial and administrative problems and questions at a difficult time. We commend him for the forthright action he has taken to draw the Assembly's attention to the growing question of violence and terrorism. In many more ways also the Secretary-General this year has exercised energetically the powers of initiative with which his office is properly endowed. We trust that he will continue to do so and he is certainly assured of the support and co-operation of New Zealand in that role.
200.	Again, Mr. President, I congratulate you in your high office. I wish you every success in your heavy and demanding task.


Mr. President, I have already, oil this rostrum, had the pleasant occasion to welcome your election and the appointment of our illustrious Secretary-General. Let me now take the opportunity to bring you and this Assembly the good wishes for the success of our deliberations of my President, General Idi Amin Dada, the Government of Uganda and all our people.
198.	As a direct result of a horrendous global conflict this Organization was founded with the firm resolve that never again should mankind engage in an even more suicidal war.
199.	It is true that a hard look at the international scene still reveals unresolved areas of conflict, but it is equally true that this Organization, by providing a meeting point for potential antagonists over a quarter of a century, paved the way for the current detente among those with the capacity to decimate this planet. When we reaffirm our support and belief in this Organization, therefore, it is not a platitude but our deeply rooted conviction that this Organization has ho eqUal for the preservation of the peace of mankind.
200.	My delegation welcomes the current, and apparently genuine efforts among the big Powers to replace confrontation with dialog: between Washington and Moscow; between Peking and Washington; and, coming up, between Moscow and Peking over their frontier disputes. The solutions to the German and Berlin questions should contribute towards a Stable peace in Europe and in the world.
201.	We cannot, however, oversimplify the price for peace. Despite the strategic arms limitation agreements between the superpowers, defense experts continue to show us that the arms race is still on, and that billions of dollars ate still being spent on armaments which, we are told, Would never be used. Nuclear tests still continue to negate the spirit and philosophy under which the nuclear test-ban Treaty was signed. While we have made a promising beginning in the search of peace, It is the view of my delegation that we should not rest this search permanently of false premise on the premise of a balance of terror, as Winston Churchill called it.
2 )2. The existence of great armaments must surely under- He the eventuality of using them. As long as they exist, despite all the well-meant steps taken to establish peace, they could be used to devastate our world. The better premise for world peace, therefore, must remain the total destruction of all nuclear weapons and a permanent ban on them together with a ban on other highly destructive weapons. So long as big Powers continue their military industrial complexes their products must find use and markets that are provided by war.
203.	My delegation joins the peace-lovers all over the world in demanding peace in Viet-Nam. The staggering waste in this war, in terms of human and material resources, has no justification in a world community that, more than ever, so widely shares a common need for peace and justice. The United States should set the example to us all and show us that a super-Power can exercise self-restraint and respect the independence of others, even if they are small and poor States.
204.	It is our hope, too, that the current winds of peace that are blowing across this planet will sweep through the Middle East to provide a just and lasting solution. As we stated here last year [1943rd meeting], it is the view of my Government that any fair and lasting solution to the Middle East problem must be based on Security Council resolution 242 (1967). The occupied Arab territories should be vacated in toto by Israel and, in turn, the Arab nations must comply with the conditions of that resolution. It remains a sad commentary on our times that force is still an instrument for acquiring territory or settling international disputes. It seems so clear to us, too, that no lasting solution to this problem on a fair and just basis can be attained without a fair answer to the Palestinian refugee problem. Justice demands that Israel comply with the wishes of the Arab nations.
205.	We in East Africa are directly and adversely affected by the closure of the Suez Canal. Most of our trade goes north to Europe, traditionally through that Canal. Its closure has meant long voyages around South Africa. The undesirable but inevitable consequence has been to enrich the obnoxious minority regimes in southern Africa, as they provide the ports of call. Freight costs have obviously increased. We therefore have a right to demand of Israel that it submit to a fair settlement which would involve the opening of the Canal.
206.	It has now become a tradition that whenever we meet we must talk about decolonization, we must condemn minority racist regimes, we must censure the collaborators with them. But there is something disturbing about all this. Our eloquence in speech, our resolutions on paper in the organs of this Organization, have been as conspicuous as our actions in their actual implementation have been few and feeble.
207.	The number of Security Council and General Assembly resolutions on decolonization given in the documentation constituting the basis for the meetings of the Security Council held in Addis Ababa early this year, was impressive. These two organs have since then adopted several other resolutions on various steps to be taken for establishing self-determination and ending minority rule. Little, if any, action, regrettable to say, has followed.
208.	In Rhodesia, 5.5 million Africans continue to be dispossessed of their fundamental liberties by a minority of a quarter of a million whites. Crimes depriving the majority of their rights continue to be committed by the Smith regime. Millions of Africans have been arbitrarily and forcibly evicted from their lands which they have owned from time immemorial, in order for that land to be reserved to a few whites. Their dwellings and fields have been set on fire by the thousands to effect this eviction. Their leaders have been indefinitely locked up without trial. There is no security to speak of for them. In total disregard of United Nations resolutions on the matter, the United Kingdom, which claims the sovereign right over Rhodesia a claim that this Organization recognizes has refused to assert its authority and ensure human rights and self- determination in Rhodesia. It has totally disregarded the hardships of and overwhelming humanitarian considerations respecting the 5.5 million indigenous Rhodesians; instead, to our amazement, it has attempted to rush this Assembly, supposedly on humanitarian grounds, into action for the benefit of only 65,000 of its nationals who are being legitimately asked to quit my country. What a double standard in international affairs!
209.	There is a saying in English law that if you seek justice in equity you must come with clean hands. The United Kingdom has appealed to this Assembly not formally now, but continuously in private-saying that it is seeking justice for the 65,000 or so people who have been requested to depart from my country. But we should ask, does the United Kingdom come to this Assembly with clean hands? Does it come when it has invariably recognized humanitarian considerations wherever they have affected other peoples, not just the 65,000 who are nationals of the United Kingdom? Does it come after having fulfilled the obligations I have just referred to in relation to the 5.5 million indigenous Rhodesians who are totally dispossessed and in quite a helpless situation? Does it come after having rectified all these things, to ask for justice before this Assembly?
210.	You will answer that; and I am quite convinced that, with the facts set before you, you will answer that the United Kingdom, rather than coming with clean hands, comes with arms shoulder-deep in complicity with the racist regimes and Rhodesia in its course of independence without justification, in complicity with the racists who are depriving our brothers in southern Africa of their rights. I have no doubt that this Assembly will render a judgment that is worthy of it as a world forum for justice.
211.	It seems clear that the United Kingdom Government is in fact making it possible for the Smith regime to establish legitimacy under the umbrella of British protection. The latest British vetoes in the Security Council indicate this. My Government still holds the view, as most Members here do, that Britain should quell the Smith rebellion by force, hold a constitutional conference for all Rhodesians to determine their constitution, and grant independence to a government that is based on majority rule.
212.	The responsibility resting on Portugal for Mozambique, Angola and Guinea (Bissau) is no less clear. That such a small, distant and relatively poor European State should hold out for so long in its African colonial wars is sad testimony to the manner in which the declared words of some Members here are contrary to their deeds. If some Member States did not directly aid Portugal's war effort, the colonial wars would by now be over. We therefore appeal to them, in particular to the United States of America, to desist from giving material help that will prolong these colonial wars. Whatever happens, it remains an ineluctable fact of human history that the freedom-fighters will ultimately triumph. Our talk here, really, is about what price they should pay for their freedom.
213.	My delegation urges this session to examine more closely, not how many resolutions on decolonization should be adopted, but what action should be taken to implement those already adopted. There are many in the world who are feeling some disillusionment because we have so far failed to match our speeches with deeds. We are facing a credibility gap of increasing magnitude. We owe it to ourselves to do better.
214.	Closely associated with decolonization in Africa is the problem of apartheid in South Africa. The resolutions passed and the documents compiled in this Organization on the unspeakable crime of apartheid are matched only by those on decolonization, yet there has been so little done in practice to implement them. The failure is due not only to the apartheid regime, itself but also and this is more important to powerful external support for that regime.
215.	No amount of words by those who hold great investments in South Africa will convince us that they are serious about restoring justice and equity in that society. Indeed, it is true that through their economic interests they, more than any, hold the key to perpetuating the dismantling apartheid. The world will not tire of demanding constructive action from them.
216.	We welcome the recent appointment by our Secretary-General of an experienced diplomat to set the ball rolling towards Namibia's independence and self-determination. But we hold no illusions: the road is long and hard and any emmisary walks along it with great difficulty. Yet it is a beginning. We will not wait for a decade to give Namibia freedom. All the organs competent under the Charter have pronounced the illegality of South Africa's hold on Namibia. It is up to the Member State to give practical meaning to those pronouncements.
217.	My Government will continue to give material and other aid to all freedom-fighters in the Territories I have mentioned. It is the least we can contribute to their struggle for freedom.
218.	Let me turn to the world economic situation. As a developing nation, still largely dependent on a few agricultural commodities for the world market, it is crucial for us to have a stable world economic situation. In this connexion the enlargement and consolidation of the European Economic Community will be significant for Africa in general and my country in particular. While we do already have some preferential treatment, the range of items is far too limited and the conditions have much room for improvement.
219.	The European Economic Community, because of its historical past, has a duty to Africa. It is our sincere hope that this newly found economic cohesion in Europe will be used not to perpetuate under-development among our nations but rather to inject more developmental aid to accelerate our economic growth.
220.	There should be no monopolized areas of trade in a rapidly shrinking world. The socialist countries and the United States could help a good deal more than they have hitherto done in the field of economic aid to developing nations.
221.	It was with some regret that my Government noted the results of the third session of UNCTAD, but the fundamental difficulty was not with that session but with the member nations, which alone hold the key to releasing more generous terms to developing nations, both for commodity prices and for foreign aid.
222.	It is too late in the day to have a planetary concept whereby the rich get richer and the poor poorer. We are so interdependent that even those who call themselves super-Powers could not exist without the host of intermediate and small nations of the world.
223.	In this regard it is vital to curtail armaments, in order to release those billions for the betterment of all mankind. Then, truly, the big donors and the big nations of the world would be worthy of greatness and respect. There can be no genuine pride and respect if greatness if greatness it can be called is based principally on one's capability to destroy our planet, including oneself.
224.	The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm in June, was a landmark. It is the duty of us all to avoid so upsetting the delicate balance of life and nature on earth that we could soon become a dying planet. My Government is committed to undertaking whatever is essential, in the light of present and future knowledge, to maintain and protect our environment. In this connexion developing nations, not yet saturated with the polluting factors of the industrial States, could make good use of the latest anti-polluting knowledge and techniques and so avoid committing the errors of the industrial States. But the foreign companies exporting technology from the old to the new areas of industry must be rigidly controlled and required to establish new industries in accordance with the best and latest environmental techniques. Old polluting methods should be banned in developing nations and a concerted effort should be made to establish uniformity in this.
225.	It is the view of my Government that the deterioration of the environment in industrial nations, where it is more acutely felt, is accentuated by established economic methods of production, which through self-interest do their best, sometimes, to resist new inventions that might help restore health to such environment. This is an urgent and fundamental, problem which the governments concerned must face with honesty and courage.
226.	The issue of outer space is becoming increasingly important. My delegation welcomes the efforts of those Member States which engage in the utilization of outer space for the betterment of our world. We have supported the relevant treaties on the subject and will in principle support those that are to come. While we rightly engage actively in discussing problems indigenous to our earth, let us not be unmindful that throughout history outer space has had a profound influence on the human race. Who among us has not been struck, on a clear night, by the stupendous majesty of the heavens? Which culture on this planet does not, directly or indirectly, have legends of gods from outer space, influencing the great religions or mythologies of us all?
227.	Today, man moves into outer space, not in imagination and thought as before, but in physical reality. These adventures may yet hold the most profound consequences for our planet. It is now generally accepted by most scientists that earth man may not be the only intelligent being in the universe. For that reason my delegation holds the view that those among us who explore outer space have a duty to keep us all fully informed of their findings.
228.	Should we, for instance, seriously believe that the American moon program is principally designed to collect moon dust and rocks; or that the Soviet probes to Venus and elsewhere are primarily interested in ascertaining the high temperatures and related climatic matters? We say we are behind you in your explorations, but let us share all your important findings because sooner or later, if they bear relevance and significance to our planet, we are surely bound to do so.
229.	Though a land-locked country, Uganda shares the active interest in the exploitation of the resources of the oceans for the betterment of mankind. We have followed the proceedings of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction with close interest, as it is now universally held that those natural resources beyond the limits of sovereign jurisdiction constitute the common heritage of mankind. My Government will support an effective international policy for the exploitation of these resources for the benefit of all.
230.	Let me now turn to an issue that has become of direct concern to my country.
23.1. In his statement on 27 September [2042nd meeting/ the British Foreign Secretary urged this Assembly to support a British move in demanding of my President that he revise his policy of expelling nearly 60,000 foreign nationals, about 55,000 of whom are British citizens. Although I made my reply to him from this rostrum then [2043rd meeting], because I realize that many members of the General Assembly may have been absent I should like briefly to recount the history of this problem, without which it remains distorted and unfairly exploited by anti-Uganda propaganda.
232. Towards the end of the last century, when the United Kingdom still ruled a colonial empire engulfing the Indian subcontinent and some East African countries, including my own, it systematically organized and promoted an exodus of its subjects from the Indian subcontinent to many of its colonies, including mine. These people were originally brought to East Africa principally to provide the labor for constructing the railway from Mombasa, on the Indian Ocean cost, to my capital city, 850 miles inland. After this, the British organized them and engaged them to settle and to provide an instrument for promoting colonial trade and commerce. By 1900, although there were 2,000 British Asians in the country, they had already established their mastery over our trade and commerce.
233.	The British, who administered Uganda until 1962, systematically ensured that their nationals of Asian extraction continued to dominate our economic life, without any reasonable effort to promote the interests of the indigenous people in this field. The pressure among the Africans became so great that in 1946 and 1947 there were serious riots in my country in protest against this British policy of systematically keeping the Africans out of the economic life of the country. The British colonial officers, instead of looking at the root of the problem, reacted by imprisoning the leaders of riots and suppressing their activities.
234.	Since this did not provide the right answer, there was an extensive boycott of all Asian businesses in my country in 1959 which was so effective that it almost paralyzed the economic life of the country. Again, because we were still under British rule, the authorities, instead of recognizing and promoting the legitimate aspirations and interests of the overwhelming majority of the people of Uganda, chose to solve the problem by once more locking up the leaders of the trade boycott and suppressing it.
235.	In 1962 Uganda became an independent sovereign State and was admitted as a Member by this Organization. But the economy was still almost totally dependent on these foreign nationals. If these British nationals had chosen to identify themselves with our country, to which they came poor and in which they made great fortunes, this problem would never have arisen at all. Indeed, I was myself witness to a number of occasions when the illustrious Prime Minister of India, the late Pandit Nehru, urged these British nationals to identify themselves with the countries of their habitual residence. His daughter, the present Prime Minister of India, before she was Prime Minister paid a visit to East Africa and repeated this call. In doing so, these foresighted leaders were in fact echoing what the leaders of my country and other neighboring countries had since independence been urging these British Asians to do, without success.
236.	On independence, a Ugandan citizenship was created. All the indigenous Africans in Uganda automatically became Ugandan citizens. So did any Asian who was born in Uganda and one of whose parents had been born in Uganda. This covered some of these Asians, but not all. In addition, however, anyone among these British Asians could become a citizen by registration, if only he asked the Uganda Government between October 1962 and October 1964 to be registered as a citizen of our Republic. This offer of citizenship would have covered everyone among the people under consideration. Those who registered, or those among them who were qualified by birth, to be citizens have no problem, and they are citizens of my country, with as many rights and duties within the State as any of us has.
237.	It is rare, you will agree with me, that a country offers its citizenship so generously and with so few demands to such a large group of aliens. But it remains a fact that the majority of these people who today are the subject of considerable discussion in fact deliberately, of their own volition, rejected the offer of the Uganda Government to grant them citizenship. Considering that they had made their fortunes in Uganda and that most of them had lived there for so many years, this rejection was not only painful to us, but an insult to our hospitality and to our worth as a nation. We were, in other words, expected to continue to play the role of a host for parasites, without any feeling of obligation on the part of our exploiters. Much damage has been done to our economy as a result of the conduct of these people, who control about 90 per cent of our economic and commercial life but who owe allegiance to foreign Powers. Despite our attempts to block all avenues for transporting money from Uganda, somehow they have always been one step ahead in beating the officials. The result, both unfavorable and regrettable, has been the outflow of money that should otherwise have been used and is so badly needed for our own development. All these factors have combined to give no alternative to my Government but to take the step, long overdue, of asking these aliens to depart for their countries of nationality.
238.	I am aware that, quite cleverly, the United Kingdom is not impeaching our right to ask these people to go, but rather is attacking the method by which we have asked them to go. First, they cannot impeach us for asking aliens to go, because it is our right under the Charter to do so. Therefore, our impeachment before you, our censure, must be carried out, in the United Kingdom's view, by reliance on what is called "humanitarian considerations". But you cannot discuss this and get the sense of the. problem in its totality without taking into account the story I have just told.
239.	I am aware that the United Kingdom speaks of some thousands who have become stateless among these people. Regrettable as this may be, it was no fault of the Uganda Government. The laws of Uganda on citizenship clearly require that anyone who registers for Ungandan citizenship must renounce his previous citizenship within three months of his registration. These people who are now called stateless were mostly British subjects. When they registered for Ugandan citizenship, they did not comply with this provision requiring them to renounce their previous citizenship within three months. The result was that they purported to become citizens of two countries, which, members here would agree with me, it would be most unusual for any State to permit, most particularly a young State which needs and deserves all the loyalty it can have from its nationals. When the moment came and they were required to present their papers to my Government, it was discovered that these people had not renounced their previous citizenship within a period of three months as stipulated by the Ugandan citizenship act. They therefore had never become citizens of Uganda. We hold that they must revert to their nationality of origin, which was British, or that of other countries which they used to hold. But, to our surprise, we were informed in the General Committee that these are stateless persons. Whether, however, they are stateless, or whether they belong to any State, my Government does recognize one fundamental postulate: that they are, like all of us, human beings.
240.	Arising from the agitation of the United Kingdom Government at this session on this matter, lodging complaints, some of which were founded on "facts" gathered from newspapers, my President has communicated by his letter of 3 October 1972 to the Secretary-General the position of the Uganda Government on the most sensitive allegations made against us before this Assembly and at the bar of world opinion.
241.	My President has given the following specific assurances, which were never really in doubt on our side, but which were distorted by biased powerful interests.
242.	First, all the foreign nationals asked to go are being allowed to take personal belongings as well as reasonable amounts of cash with them, which is to be delimited by our financial resources.
243.	Second, there has never been, contrary to astounding allegations of the British Secretary of State, no confiscation of any property belonging to any of the departing aliens. All those who have property in Uganda have been asked to make an inventory of such property on forms which have been provided by our Ministry of Commerce and on the basis of which such property will be sold and the proceeds credited to the accounts of its owners. With regard to those who have bank accounts, such accounts are intact and the money still belongs to them.
244.	Third, it is not the intention, nor has it ever been the intention, of the Uganda Government to maltreat the departing aliens. Their transit out of the country, from the capital city, Kampala, to the international airport from which they fly out, is protected by well-organized police escorts to avoid any embarrassing incidents.
245.	Fourth, it is not, nor has it ever been, the intention of the Uganda Government to maltreat or otherwise oppress any non-citizen who at the end of the deadline of 90 days might still remain in Uganda. This is a critical undertaking which should satisfy all those concerned. It means that those aliens who will still be in the country at the end of the deadline will still enjoy their lives as human beings and that my Government, in recognition of its international obligations, will still accord to them the same protection as it accords to all other foreign nationals resident in our country who are staying there. This, of course, will be so provided that efforts to facilitate the exit of the departing aliens to their new homes are not deliberately slowed down or frustrated.
246.	In this connexion, I wish to point out that the British Asians themselves are satisfied with the arrangements of the Uganda Government, pending their departure. I shall quote from an interview in The Times of London of 27 September 1972, given by a Mr. V. V. Radia, a former Chairman of the Uganda Chamber of Commerce, when he said, together with a colleague:
"It is the British High Commission" that is, the British Embassy in Kampala-"that is holding up the exodus of the Asians, not the Uganda authorities, who have set up excellent machinery. .. .
"Among a number of specific demands, they"-that is, Mr. Radia and another person-"asked that the British High Commission should remain open 'around the clock'.
"The two men claimed that the High Commission is open only five hours a day during the week and is closed at weekends. In contrast, they pointed out that the Bank of Uganda and other local government offices were remaining open throughout weekends to deal with the Asians. . .".
One can therefore realize from this that my Government intends to discharge its own share of obligations, but those others involved must correspondingly do likewise.
247.	Let me, on behalf of my Government, express our deep appreciation to those countries which have offered entry to these departing aliens. We have given these aliens sanctuary for over 80 years, and we recognize your goodwill in offering to share our problem. A few speakers from this rostrum made some remarks that were most unbecoming to their positions. But, obviously, our opinion of them must have been quite exaggerated.
248.	I cannot conclude this general statement without reference to the OAU. The Uganda Government attaches great importance to the role that regional organizations can play in facilitating the implementation of the objectives of the United Nations. A strong and purposeful OAU will add immensely to the purposefulness and effectiveness of this Organization.
249.	The last Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU at Rabat took some well-considered and specific decisions  on the issues that have for so long engaged us in this Assembly the issues that concern the rights of many millions in Africa who still labor under the despicable yoke of outmoded, indefensible, unpardonable, atrocious colonial rule, and the rule of minority racist regimes. We expect this session to take up the substance of the decisions made at Rabat and to give them practical meaning.
250.	Members must be aware of the current events in East Africa which seemingly show a very disturbing trend for our region. But it is our hope and belief that the efforts by our brothers within the OAU that are already underway will provide a solution to this and other problems, to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned, since the heritage we share in that region far exceeds any transitory misunderstandings we may presently have.
251.	The OAU has not been just a talking club. It has, within less than a decade of existence, demonstrated its practical value in its ability to defuse or solve potentially grave situations on our continent among its member States. It is the intention of my Government to continue strengthening this role of the OAU.
252.	Finally, as a general observation, let me reaffirm the belief of my country in the role that the non-aligned countries can play to promote world peace and understanding. True, most of the non-aligned world consists of developing nations. But it is our hope that none here will, either publicly or secretly, equate superior technology with superior wisdom, or, put differently, that none can seriously contend that because we are technologically underdeveloped, we are therefore under-developed in human wisdom and common sense.
253.	Let us recall that the greatest sages of all time, men we today constantly turn to for reference and guidance on human problems, like Socrates, Plato, Confucius, Mohammed, Buddha or Jesus, did not live in a mechanized world; they lived in conditions that could today be called primitive by our standards. But they possessed a profound understanding of human nature which, regrettably perhaps, has changed so little over the millenia.
254.	Similarly, from the non-aligned may well come some contribution to a better world which the big Powers would do well to ponder. We diminish rather than crystallize polarities. We offer a meeting point, in ideas and action, that might be impossible to attain by either side in the ideological contest. But we have no desire to be a battleground because, as we say in Africa, when two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers.
255.	In a real sense the United Nations is not weak nor has it failed. If it seems to be weak, it is because its Members are weak in their resolution to make it strong. If it seems to have failed, it is because self-interest among Member States transcends their will to make it succeed. Rather than turn on the United Nations in anger and frustration at its impotence, let us direct our indictment where it is properly due, to those Member States whose declarations of high ideals are equally matched by their capacity to deny them fulfillment.
256.	It is the hope of my delegation that this twenty- seventh session will rise to its high calling, as the world expects it to do; that at long last, no matter how difficult, it will begin to seek to implement the multitude of resolutions that the General Assembly and the Security Council have adopted on varied topics over the years. Let us restore faith in this Organization among all the millions on our planet.


May I, Sir, congratulate you warmly on your election to the responsible post of President of the twenty-seventh session of the General Assembly. We are
very glad that the work of this international forum will be guided this year by an outstanding diplomat from fraternal Poland and we are most pleased that you, a representative of the countries of the socialist community, have been elected to that high office.
73.	It was with pleasure that we welcomed the appointment last year of Mr. Kurt Waldheim as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations. We would like to take this opportunity to assure him that he can count on the full support of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in his efforts to enhance the role of the United Nations and to increase the effectiveness of its work in carrying out the basic task of the Organization as enshrined in the Charter, namely the maintenance of international peace and security.
74.	Every year the General Assembly is faced with the task of analyzing and assessing the international situation and taking stock of the activities of the United Nations. However, this task should not become mere routine. We ourselves in any case welcome this occasion as a means of encouraging positive developments while exposing and rebuffing the forces of war, imperialism and reaction.
75.	The delegation of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic approaches the work of the twenty-seventh session of the General Assembly firmly resolved to support the trends towards a relaxation of international tension which have appeared recently and to support the efforts of peace-loving forces to settle controversial international problems by peaceful means. The results achieved in this area are proof that the principle of peaceful coexistence between States with different social systems, a principle which has been followed consistently by countries in the socialist community, and in particular by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from its inception 50 years ago, is becoming an increasingly effective and real force in relations between States, for it is fully responsive to the aspirations and vital interests of the peoples.
76.	Our delegation approaches the work of the twenty-seventh session of the General Assembly with a genuine desire to make a contribution to the solution of those complex and conflicting problems which developments in international relations place on our agenda at a time when the trend towards a better climate is advancing only with great difficulty and by dint of great efforts.
77.	The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic has always taken an active part in the efforts of the socialist countries to ensure peace and international security. For example it has recently made its contribution to the important measure adopted by the countries of the socialist community, namely the Prague Declaration of the Political Advisory Committee of States parties to the Warsaw Treaty,  which addresses itself to the major issues of the day.
78.	In this regard we welcomed the outcome of the talks between the leaders of the Soviet Union and France, during which the basic principles of peaceful coexistence, which operate also in relations between other countries, were affirmed and the results of the summit talks between the Soviet Union and the United States, which affirmed as a basic principle the notion that even the most complicated problems should be solved through negotiation and not by confrontation. We also welcome the other important events that are helping to create favorable conditions for a further relaxation of international tension.
79.	An integral part of the policy pursued by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic is its complete support for the United Nations and its objectives, as the leading representatives of our State have frequently stated.
80.	In expressing satisfaction at the increase in positive trends, we are thinking mainly of current developments in Europe.
81.	Europe, which has been a constant source of ferment and conflict and in this century alone has been the epicenter of two terrible world wars, is now experiencing one of the longest periods of peace in its whole history.
82.	Moreover, since the ratification of a treaty between the USSR and the Federal Republic of Germany, a treaty between the Polish People's Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany and the agreement on West Berlin setting this positive trend in motion, the continent has been moving towards an extremely significant event, namely the conference on European security and co-operation which the overwhelming majority of European countries have agreed to.
83.	We are extremely glad that the idea of an all-European conference is, in spite of obstacles and every conceivable kind of obstruction, being brought to fruition. Our Government has expressed its agreement and support for the proposal that preparatory talks should be initiated soon at Helsinki. We can only hope that all the participants will approach these talks in a business-like way with a genuine desire to hold a fruitful conference without undue delay. In our opinion the Prague Declaration of the States parties to the Warsaw Treaty indicates a reasonable and realistic course in this regard.
84.	We sincerely -believe that strengthening security and expanding co-operation in Europe will be of benefit to the peoples of all continents and will promote a settlement of conflict situations in other parts of the world. A new generation is emerging whose prospective healthy future must be built on a solid and reliable basis.
85.	But in order to maintain permanent peace in Europe the questions which are still pending must be completely settled.
86.	One important movement in that direction is the talks being held between the two German States. Their outcome should establish an appropriate foundation for normalizing relations between the two States on the basis of the principles of international law. We think that in the present circumstances no obstacles should be placed in the way of the admission of the two German States into the United Nations. There is no reason for further delay.
87.	The question also arises, in connexion with efforts to regularize the situation in Europe, of creating conditions for the normalization of relations between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. Representatives of our State have often shown goodwill in their attempt to find a path towards mutual understanding; they have also indicated that they are willing to sign a treaty with the Federal Republic of Germany which would be a starting point for regularizing relations between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. However, before that can be done, the question of the so-called Munich agreement will have to be settled once and for all; that agreement must be recognized as invalid from the start. The brutal Munich diktat initiated the dismembering of the Czechoslovak State, the Nazi occupation of our country and the untold suffering of our people; it also heralded the Second World War. We believe that the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany will take a realistic approach to this question and will help to ensure that the frontier between our countries is a frontier that will encourage constructive and peaceful co-operation; that would, without a doubt, have a favorable effect on the general climate in Europe.
88.	The development of constructive relations not only with our neighbors but with other countries in Western Europe and other continents in the political, economic, scientific, technological and cultural fields is becoming an integral part of the general positive movement in Europe and throughout the world.
89.	The efforts we have been making to ensure peace and security in Europe do not imply, however, that we will not do our utmost to help solve the urgent problems that have arisen in other continents.
90.	This is particularly so since dangerous hotbeds of tension still exist and the cruel war continues in Indochina where the United States aggression has recently been escalated even further. The blockade of ports in the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the unprecedented scale and methods of bombing by the United States Air Force are shaking the very foundations of life in the countries in that region and are bringing untold suffering to the civilian population. We strongly condemn these acts and repeat once again that we fully support the people struggling in Viet-Nam and the other peoples in Indo-China. The only way to bring peace to Viet-Nam is to respect the inalienable right of the Vietnamese people to decide their own fate freely without any foreign interference whatsoever. We fully support the proposals of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet-Nam of 11 September and of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam of 14 September this year concerning a peaceful settlement of the Viet-Nam conflict.
91.	Another area of continuing dangerous tension in the world is the Middle East where Israeli aggression has led to a persistent state of conflict. We strongly favor removal of the consequences of this aggression on the basis of the unconditional implementation of the provisions of Security Council resolution 242 (1967).
92.	Can our Organization continue to remain a passive bystander while the Israeli Government, under cover of its protectors, persists in sabotaging the mission of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ambassador Jarring, and while Israel blocks all progress towards a peaceful settlement and continues its aggressive actions against the neighboring Arab countries?
93.	We support the just struggle of the Palestinian people for the restoration of their inalienable and legitimate rights. While we cannot agree to the acts of terrorism which, like the recent tragedy in Munich, only serve the cause of the opponents of a peaceful and just settlement in the Middle East, neither can we agree that anti-terrorism measures should constitute a pretext for crushing a just national liberation struggle.
94.	We must put a halt to all terrorist activities throughout the world, for they only disrupt the peaceful life of ordinary people and disturb international relations, an example of this being the hijackings of our aircraft in the course of which a Czechoslovak pilot was murdered.
95.	A reflection of the positive trends in present-day international relations is to be found in the talks held between the leaders of India and Pakistan, the productive results of which we welcomed. The basic prerequisite for ensuring a lasting peace and mutually advantageous cooperation between the countries of the Indian subcontinent is, we feel, the recognition of the existing realities. That means first of all the recognition of the People's Republic of Bangladesh as a separate and independent State which meets all the requirements for admission as a Member of the United Nations. The admission of Bangladesh into the United Nations would unquestionably further the realization of the principle of universality of the Organization, and it would promote United Nations activities and enhance its prestige. It is for that reason that the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic fully supports the admission of the People's Republic of Bangladesh to membership in the United Nations.
96.	We also welcome the first positive results of the efforts exerted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea over many years for a peaceful settlement on the Korean peninsula. We would hope that here, as elsewhere, the progressive and peaceful efforts being made will be crowned with success. However, we cannot attain that objective simply by closing our eyes to the injustice done in the past, unfortunately under cover of the United Nations flag. It is indeed high time for the United Nations to do its part towards the early peaceful reunification of the country, without outside interference. The constant and unjustified postponing of this item cannot assist positive developments in the Korean peninsula; it only shows up the forces that do not desire a peaceful settlement in that region.
97.	For the United Nations to function effectively as an instrument for ensuring international peace and security it must be constantly strengthened as a political organization capable of fulfilling its paramount purpose. The task facing this session in that particular regard is to determine whether, and if so how, the principal resolutions adopted in previous years are being fulfilled, in particular the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security [resolution 2734 (XXV)].
98.	We welcome the initiative taken by the Soviet Government in submitting to the General Assembly a new and important item entitled "Non-use of force in international relations and permanent prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons" [A/8793], This new Soviet item should make possible the adoption of measures which we frankly believe would be of great help in creating conditions for peacefully solving all outstanding problems, without the use of force, conditions that would eliminate the danger of war and armed conflict between States. The non-use of force and a simultaneous permanent ban on the use of all types of weapons, including nuclear weapons, would place all countries in the world on the same footing so that none of them would have any unilateral military advantage.
99.	In connexion with considerations of international security, we feel we must stress the importance of the Charter of the United Nations as a permanent instrument for ensuring general peace and security. There is no way of changing the Charter that would give the activities of the United Nations a more positive orientation. There is only one way to improve the activities of the Organization, and that is to pursue consistently the purposes for which it was established and to apply creatively and implement effectively the basic principles and provisions of the Charter.
100.	One of the key targets of Czechoslovak foreign policy is disarmament, which is also a top-priority task of the United Nations closely connected with ensuring peace and security. We have always participated very actively in disarmament negotiations.
101.	We see the bilateral agreements between the USSR and the United States on the limitation of strategic nuclear weapons, concluded in May this year,  as a significant step forward in the field of disarmament. The agreements bear witness to the fact that in disarmament, too, substantial progress can be made. However, it is essential to reach a decisive turning-point in disarmament generally. We submit that a suitable place for this might be the World Disarmament Conference, which was proposed by the Soviet Union and endorsed by the General Assembly at last year's session [resolution 2833 (XXVI)].
102.	We feel that this year we could set a final date for the World Disarmament Conference and reach agreement on how to prepare for it. The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic is ready to take an active part in the preparatory work.
103.	The United Nations is forced with the further task of assisting in completing the process of decolonization, including the complete elimination of all remnants of colonialism throughout the world in accordance with the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples which was adopted in 1960. In southern Africa the gravest injustice is still being done to the indigenous populations of the Republic of South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the Portuguese colonies, primarily because certain NATO Powers, in violation of United Nations resolutions, are giving extensive assistance to the colonialist and racist regimes in those countries. The General Assembly should draw the appropriate conclusions as to the seriousness of the situation from this year's report 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 on the implementation by Member States of the relevant United Nations resolutions [A/8723/Rev.l, chap. VII].
104.	In reviewing the present-day situation in the world, we cannot overlook the problems of economic development and relations between States, particularly since restrictions are still being place on opportunities for international trade and other forms of economic relations. I am thinking in particular of the negative effects of the Western Europe integrationist groupings and the measures they have been taking which, in view of their closed nature, are impeding the development of fruitful international co-operation.
105.	Socialist economic integration, on the other hand, creates favorable conditions for improving economic relations with all States, particularly with developing countries. The comprehensive program, on the basis of which the integration of States members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance is being intensified, attaches the highest importance to enhancing the effectiveness of a planned international division of labor and an improvement in the structure of production and in monetary and commodity relations. The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic will continue to develop mutually advantageous economic co-operation with all countries that are interested in such co-operation and that provide the appropriate conditions. Promoting the development of international economic relations on a basis of equality, non-discrimination and mutual advantage is, we think, an important task for the United Nations.
106.	The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, consistently following a policy of peace, approaches the General Assembly's work with a real desire to make as great and active a contribution as possible to efforts to strengthen international security and curb conflicts and aggression, and to efforts to develop constructive relations between States on the basis of the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations. We are convinced that the present-day international situation offers this General Assembly an opportunity to utilize all the resources at its disposal to strengthen and maintain the positive trends in the world. Our great common task and responsibility is to use these resources wisely, realistically and constructively.


Mr. President, first of all may I, on behalf of my Government and of my delegation, extend our felicitations to you on your being elected President of the twenty-seventh session of the General Assembly? We would also like to associate ourselves with the tributes paid to you by the many distinguished speakers who have preceded me. Permit me also to express my delegation's appreciation of the exemplary manner in which your predecessor, the distinguished Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Mr. Adam Malik, presided over the twenty-sixth session last year.
28.	I should also like to take this opportunity to welcome our new Secretary-General. His ability, his wide knowledge of the ways of men and nations, and his fortitude will, I feel, be put to the severest test that any Secretary-General has yet undergone. This is because he is taking over an organization which is sick and enfeebled. The period between the last session and the present one has revealed in a striking fashion the Organization's weaknesses and failures in shaping and guiding the collective destiny of mankind.
29.	The world witnessed during this period what could be described as the unkindest cut ever delivered to the United Nations. Great Powers and smaller nations discovered that complex and delicate international issues could be more expeditiously and satisfactorily settled outside this Organization through bilateral discussions rather than within it.
30.	The first of these events was the resolution outside the United Nations of the seemingly irreconcilable differences which had existed between the United States and the People's Republic of China and which for a quarter of a century had been a source of international tensions and threats to peace. In the shape of the Taiwan issue it was for two decades debated inconclusively in the United Nations. Each debate left behind an accumulating residue of enmity and factionalism within the United Nations, which ensured that the next debate would be more sterile than the preceding one.
31.	But now American-Chinese relations have been put on a more rational basis, not through the efforts of the United Nations, but in spite of them. Last year the President of the United States, following a series of bilateral discussions outside the United Nations, went to China and had direct talks with the Chinese leaders. At these talks both countries stated their areas of agreement and disagreement in language calculated to encourage further accord. This language was shom of all the polemics and posturing that had been depressing features of speeches and resolutions on the China issue in our Organization.
32.	The second occasion when the United Nations was by-passed was the summit meeting between the President of the United States and the leaders of the Soviet Union. This resulted in a joint communique as well as a declaration of basic principles which stressed that
"Differences in ideology and in the social systems of the USA and the USSR are not obstacles to the bilateral development of normal relations.. .".
Here again what is worthy of note, apart from the reference to bilateral developments, is the tone of the speeches and declarations. They convey attitudes not of challenge and antagonism but of accommodation and conciliation.
33.	The third instance of the by-passing of the United Nations was the signing of the Simla Agreement between the leaders of India and Pakistan. Here again what is noticeable in speeches and statements is the absence of polemics and antagonism.
34.	The bilateral accord reached between the People's Republic of China and Japan in Peking on 29 September 1972 is yet another instance of differences being resolved independently of the United Nations.
35.	The divided States of Korea and Germany are making progress towards rapprochement outside the framework of the United Nations. Another outstanding issue, the tragic and protracted conflict in Viet-Nam, given present indications, is more likely to be settled outside the United Nations than within it.
36.	Those instances of the by-passing of the United Nations have profound implications for our Organization. As far back as 1969 [1782nd meetingJ my delegation drew the attention of this Assembly to the separate decision-making network the big Powers were erecting to by-pass this Organization. What my delegation did not then foresee was that small nations too would by-pass the United Nations to resolve differences and conflicts. The Secretary- General is sufficiently struck by this development to draw our attention to it in the introduction to his report on the work of the Organization. He makes this appeal:
"... But when long-standing conflicts create vast humanitarian problems and may affect the peace and security of all mankind, the United Nations should surely be involved in the attempt to settle them." [A/87011 Add.l, p. 4. J
In saying that, the Secretary-General was not expressly referring to developments of the past year. However, he clearly had these developments in mind when making his observations. All these admittedly hopeful events occurred in contexts quite divorced from this Organization, its personnel, facilities, debates and resolutions.
37.	All this is not to suggest that we should deplore settlements outside the framework of the United Nations. On the contrary, we should welcome any easing of tension and resolution of conflicts, however reached. The point I want to make is that, if the trends I have drawn attention to persist, then the United Nations could become a meaningless and irrelevant organization-no more than an international social club for wearisome rhetoric.
38.	In this connexion I should like to draw the attention of representatives to Article 1 of the Charter, which proclaims that one of the purposes of the United Nations is "to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends".
39.	The unpleasant fact we have to face is that after 27 years the United Nations is less and less a "center" for harmonizing the actions of nations. The time has therefore come for us to begin the unpleasant task of searching out the reasons for the growing lack of confidence in the efficacy of the United Nations and for its declining prestige.
40.	There is, as in all great and complex problems, more than one cause. There are the external factors, such as the conviction of the big Powers that world diplomacy should be equated with big-Power diplomacy. The interests and ambitions of the big Powers cannot, they feel, be promoted and safeguarded by striving to get a consensus among some 130 Members, with interests and conflicts which the great Powers find not only irrelevant and tiresome but also increasingly dangerous to big-Power accord. It is not an accident that the drift towards an independent big-Power diplomacy began with the accelerated increase in the membership of the United Nations and with the tacit agreement that war between major Powers must be avoided at all costs because it implied mutual annihilation. Discussions and consultations with some 130 nations would not, the big Powers felt, promote their somewhat different interests. Big-Power problems could, it was felt, be more expeditiously and satisfactorily resolved in face-to-face discussions, unhampered by the importunities of a host of small nations. In so far as the major Powers show any interest in the United Nations, it is to regard it more as a forum for scoring propaganda points and to use smaller nations as pressure groups to influence their rivals. The United Nations, in other words, is for the big Powers a supplementary but subsidiary instrument of diplomacy. If they cannot resolve their problems through the United Nations, there ii always face-to-face diplomacy to fall back on.
41.	The unpleasant fact that the small nations must face up to is that the great Powers do not need the United Nations for their diplomacy or the influencing of world affairs as much as small nations do. The big Powers have over the years established an international network of their own which, if the small nations are not careful, will increasingly shape the course of world events independently of the small nations. It is we, the small nations, rather than the great Powers, who stand to lose in the long run by the diminishing role assigned to the United Nations in the making of world history. The United Nations activities could, given present trends, be no more than foot-notes to the chapters the great Powers will write.
42.	Without the United Nations there is no way in which the small nations can exert direct influence on the course of world history. In the early days of the United Nations, when the great Powers treated it as an important instrument of diplomacy, the smaller nations did play a not unimportant role in the shaping of international events. The aspirations and views of the third world nations did in some measure influence the policies and attitudes of the major Powers. The small nations were wooed with an ardor and a persistence which many small nations found satisfying. The great Powers valued, if not our views, at least our votes, because at that time, at the height of the cold war, they set great store by the resolutions approved in this Assembly. But now that the United Nations has been relegated to a position of relative unimportance by the great Powers we, the small nations, run the danger of being deprived of a very important instrument that we have for shaping and influencing major decisions on world affairs.
43.	It is all too easy to cast the blame for the by-passing of the United Nations wholly on the selfishness and arrogance of the great Powers. They have their faults. Their wrangling and posturing to further the ends of the cold war undoubtedly contributed a great deal to the decline of the United Nations.
44.	But the small nations, too, with their wrangling and posturing, have contributed as much to the decline of the world Organization; and if we, the small nations, want to restore vigor to the United Nations-as we must if we are to play any kind of role in world affairs then we must look at our shortcomings with a frank and critical eye. We must do so because not only is the United Nations being by-passed by the big Powers but it is also. as I have said, being by-passed by smaller nations. Like the big Powers, the small nations, too, are slowly veering to the view that the United Nations is not an organization which can be relied upon to resolve their conflicts, to solve their problems.
45.	One reason is that the United Nations has tended over the years to become less and less an organization for reconciliation and more and more an arena for staging contests. That is reflected in the style and temper of many United Nations debates and resolutions. Instead of ad-dressing ourselves to finding practical solutions to difficult and complex problems we give ourselves over to polemics and rhetoric. The object is to whip up strong emotions, affix blame to one side or the other and compose resolutions around such all-too-familiar words as "condemn", "deplore", "censure" and "expel". This is not to deny the sincerity behind these great emotions or that the felt outrage is justified. Transgressions of principles basic to our Organization, such as forcible conquest and occupation of other peoples' territories or racial segregation and oppression, must clearly be condemned; nor can there be peaceful solutions to conflicts arising from such transgressions so long as the transgressors refuse to admit that basic principles have been breached.
46.	But if the intention is conciliation, concession and problem-solving, then the polemical approach-the arena atmosphere will hardly accomplish any of these things. That is why earlier in my address I drew attention to the literary style of communiques and statements that preface successful bilateral discussions: they are invariably barren of polemics. Even when they testify to disagreement, they avoid apportioning blame. They see their problems and disagreements not in black-and-white but in shades of grey. The language of conciliation, of the problem-solver, has to be publicly expressed in shades of grey, whatever our perception of them may be in private.
47.	That is not to say that we should not clearly enunciate our disagreements and the nature of our disagreements. But in situations of crisis and conflict, rhetoric and polemics, far from reducing tensions, make positions rigid, especially when uttered publicly to provoke and humiliate an adversary. Under these conditions, compromises and concessions become well-nigh impossible because, against the backdrop of polemics, concessions and compromises become humiliating defeats.
48.	The situation is aggravated by the curious expectation in this Organization that countries not directly or even indirectly involved in a conflict should line up on one side or the other. This expectation is based on the premise that friends should prove their friendship by making enemies of their friend's enemies.
49.	The consequence is that a conflict between two Members is, over a period of time, transformed into a generalized conflict involving many more Members of our Organization. The interested bystanders, instead of helping to resolve the conflict, themselves become contestants. That is one reason why many issues that come up before our Organization remain unresolved year after year. Where initially the parties to a dispute are few, it becomes unwieldy through the accretion of fresh partisans, resulting very often in everyone losing sight of the initial causes of the dispute.
50.	This may explain why some of the issues that have haunted this Assembly for decades have been more satisfactorily resolved through direct negotiations between the original parties to the dispute. Presumably in bilateral discussions the initial causes of the dispute are recollected in relative tranquility.
51.	Another reason for the success of bilateral discussions is that for the most part they take place in private. Unfortunately, most of the proceedings in the United Nations not only have the atmosphere of an arena, but they are also public. We perform not only for the home audience but for a world audience as well. We believe that what we say and do is being eagerly followed by the press, television and radio the world over. This may have been the case once, but it is my impression that in recent years the publicity media too have grown weary of us.
52.	This is not to advocate that all proceedings of this Organization should be behind closed doors. However, this Organization should give serious consideration to supplementing public discussions with more private and closed- door discussions, especially in regard to issues of great delicacy involving profound emotions and what the Asians call "face". For example, my delegation would not object if the Security Council were to attempt to resolve sensitive problems without formal open sessions through informal consultations with interested parties. This is preferable to protracted meetings where no solutions are arrived at because sometimes the purpose of the Council is to decide who is innocent and who is guilty.
53.	The gist of my plea is that the United Nations should become less of an arena for public contests and more of an Organization for smoothing out conflicts, for reconciling differences. The relative success of recent bilateral discussions holds an important lesson for our Organization. It is that we should inject into our Organization the spirit as well as the techniques successfully employed in bilateral negotiations. Such negotiations are private, they are informal; the participants go there not to decide who is guilty and who is innocent, but to reach accord while containing differences.
54.	I am not saying that this approach will resolve the many and difficult problems that confront our Organization. There are no simple and quick remedies to many of our problems. All I am saying is that, so long as most of us view the United Nations as an arena for dramatic contests, there is very little chance of our being able to restore to the United Nations the vigor and prestige which it deserves.
55.	Maybe it is not the United Nations which needs to be reinvigorated and nursed to health. It may well be that we have got the United Nations we deserve. For the United Nations has no existence outside of the Members that constitute it. The United Nations is no more than a mirror reflecting the collective weaknesses and defects of us all.
56.	Outside of us the United Nations is nothing. Without the United Nations we, the small nations, may be nothing too in the drama of world politics.