Mr. President, the delegation of Portugal to the United Nations has always had the delegation of Poland as its neighbor on the left. The two delegations have always maintained mutual relations of peaceful coexistence and even of good neighborliness. In Europe, our countries are not neighbors. But the ancient history of both countries never separated Portugal and Poland in the veneration of our spiritual values, in the keen patriotism of our inhabitants and in their contribution to civilization. In like fashion nothing today separates the two nations in the aspiration, common to both, for a lasting peace and co-operation among all the peoples of our continent.
2.	My delegation and I rejoice at seeing you elevated to the highest office of this General Assembly, and we most sincerely wish you, Sir, the greatest of personal success.
3.	The task of the President of the General Assembly is not an easy one. The problems that arise are many and complex. They must be solved harmoniously, in strict observance of the Charter and the rules of procedure of the General Assembly. Thus, the President is called upon to display understanding tempered by prudence, flexibility matching firmness, and a spirit of conciliation that will not strain justice. Ample proof of these qualities was given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Mr. Adam Malik, the President of the last session of the General Assembly. I should like to avail myself of this opportunity to convey to Mr. Malik, on behalf of my delegation and personally, our warmest greetings. I would also express the hope that this session of the Assembly, under your guidance, Sir, will contribute to greater harmony among States and peoples, a harmony which can flow only from a spirit of justice, respect for truth, understanding and tolerance.
4.	At this moment when the General Assembly is starting its work there is much to concern us. In the international political arena there is a clash of ideologies, ambitions, interests and anxieties. Up to a point this is normal, for life itself signifies movement and dynamism. But crises and conflicts multiply in the world, bringing disorder, insecurity and death. We regret these facts, but it seems that not all are agreed that there can be no peace or security without order, and that there can be no order without international norms which all must obey. No one, I believe, would attribute the existing world crises and conflicts to a lack of normative regulations of harmonious intercourse among nations, just as no one would attribute the state of affairs in this Organization to any deficiency in the principles enshrined in the Charter.
5.	The United Nations was established with one specific and fundamental objective in view: to ensure the maintenance of international peace and security by preventing and repelling aggression through collective action. The provisions enunciating the purposes and fundamental principles on which this Organization rests reflect the keenest aspirations of mankind and the juridical norms without which those ideals cannot be achieved: the maintenance of international peace and security; the peaceful settlement of all conflicts; the sovereign equality of all Member States; the renunciation of the threat or use of force; noninterference in the internal affairs of States; non-recourse to war, aggression and violence. The most authoritative voices in the world have proclaimed this.
6.	Today, 27 years after the last world conflagration, mankind is able to look with a measure of relief on important initiatives seeking to lessen the causes of tension among the great Powers. But everything that has been achieved in this vital field, where the very survival of the human species is at stake, has taken place outside the United Nations, without the latter having in any fashion influenced the march of events.
7.	We enthusiastically applaud the partial successes already achieved in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, the Soviet-American and Chinese-American contacts, the German-Soviet treaty,  the German-Polish treaty  and the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin,  as well as the progress achieved in the preparations for a conference on security
and co-operation in Europe. But we would wish to see the spirit of conciliation and dialog that made that important progress possible prevail in this Organization also and make it possible to solve the crises and conflicts that still exist in the world today.
8.	The realities of the balance of power politics have thrust the specter of a world war farther into the distance. But they have not prevented the continued eruption of localized conflicts or the more generalized use of violence in the most varied and novel forms.
9.	Recent spectacular events have brought the matter of the use of violence to the general debate of this Assembly. Everything that has been said about violence focuses attention on three themes, which are at the center of all debates and controversies: violence and its legitimate causes; the primacy of the rule of law; and the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States.
10.	The condemnation by the Charter of the United Nations of war and aggression is an absolute and all- embracing principle. It implies the primacy of peace over war, of negotiation over conflict, of dialog over confrontation. The definition on which, in a specific case, the qualification of a given party who has violated the principle and the rule of law etc. depends may be discussed indefinitely, but no one possessed of any common sense and of sound mind would be able to discuss in the abstract the primacy of peace over war. Except in cases of self-defense, individual or collective, all wars are unlawful; all wars are to be condemned; all wars are unjust. The new international order established at San Francisco sought to do away once and for all with practices and ideas which were supposed to have been definitely rendered obsolete.
11.	War as a means or an instrument for the achievement of national and international objectives-whether these be territorial aggrandizement, economic expansion, the acquisition of living space, greater security for a State or group of States, the elimination of injustices in third States, the liberation of supposedly oppressed minorities or majorities, the supremacy of a race or religion, the advancement of an ideology or social system considered superior was condemned once and for all.
12.	But that did not eliminate the causes, conditions, elements, objectives, doctrines and ideologies which in the past had provoked aggressions and armed conflicts, and which, moreover, had always been invoked by aggressors and warmongers to justify their actions. In the present-day world there persist almost everywhere, perhaps with even greater intensity, different ideologies, opposing systems, conflicts of interest, territorial claims, unjust situations, gross inequities in the level of development, discrimination and oppression, persecutions, violations of the rights of individuals and of groups. Which State in this Organization has not already been the object of an accusation, or been in opposition or in conflict with another State or group of States in any one of those areas? Which will be exempt from them in the future?
13.	But no divergence of systems, no opposition of ideologies, no conflict of interest, no wish for justice or reform, no desire whether sincere or fictitious-for liberation can legitimize the use of force by one State or group of States against another State or group of States. Today, the world conscience does not accept this; nor does the Charter of our Organization permit it.
14.	Nevertheless, the final and unconditional condemnation of war and aggression does not signify general passivity or the maintenance of the status quo in all areas. It may be said, however, that this condemnation marks a turning- point in history, which has given mankind a new confidence in itself and renewed faith in the possibility of achieving justice and progress through peaceful means. Contemporary man draws from the most profound meaning of the great currents of history lessons of a new philosophy of peace and non-violence which must inspire and impregnate the international order of today.
15.	The great conquests of man were not the fruit of a victory at arms. Greek philosophy came to dominate the Roman conqueror. The law born in Rome came to be accepted by the invading barbarians. The Napoleonic Code and the principles of 1789 survived even after Waterloo. If such was the case in the past, today, in this second half of the twentieth century with the advance of science and technology ensuring as never before the circulation of ideas, communication between men and the opening up of all societies to mutual influences-can we entertain any doubts about the triumphant power of thought, the overwhelming contagion of freedom, the virtues of economic development and the expansion of culture in modifying the behavior of men and correcting social injustice?
16.	But unorganized violence has succeeded the violence exercised by States, even though it is often fostered and directed by them. Under the guise of wars of liberation, of struggle against oppression, of fighting against imperialism and against capitalism, once again attempts are made to give a semblance of legitimacy to violence and aggression. It is significant that in a debate on the question of terrorism the voices raised in an attempt to legitimize the use of violence as an instrument of the alleged justice of the causes invoked resurrected obsolete doctrines of a "just war".
17.	In an intervention of the purest medieval flavor, the representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics spoke of terrorists who subsequently become heroes. He thereby wished to conclude that the international order must accept and support terrorism in certain cases that is to say, only in those cases which serve the interests and designs of the Soviet Union. Has the representative of the Soviet Union also thought of the heroes of Prague and Budapest, and the statues which one day will commemorate in those capitals a just and legitimate struggle against a foreign oppressor? Will not the same reasoning lead him to find in the historical evocation of the heroic warriors of Holy Russia arguments to impart legitimacy to the use of force in the service of the objectives of modern Soviet imperialism?
18.	The condemnation, prevention and repression of violence and terrorism must be general and unconditional if they are to become rules of law. They cannot become enmeshed in the doctrinal and ideological disputes that divide States. If the international community really intends to free humanity from the scourge of terrorism and violence, it cannot accept these loose distinctions between just and unjust terrorism, legal and illegal terrorism, between terrorism that has been recognized by the Organization of African Unity and terrorism that has received no recognition.
19.	Which shall be the good terrorists and which the bad? Those whom a precarious and temporary majority in this General Assembly regard as such at a given moment? And if at the following session, or a few years later, the alignment of combinations of interest and votes in this Assembly were to change, would not then the bad terrorists be hailed as heroes and the good ones regarded as criminals? What guarantees can the adoption of such a doctrine offer the international community? What judge in any country of Europe, Asia, the Middle East or America could condemn a terrorist with a clear conscience if the qualification of an act of terrorism is to depend on the opinion of the majority of this Assembly at a given moment?
20.	The weeding out of violence and terrorism must be based on the supremacy of the rule of law. But this law, in order to be valid, must be general. The principle of the universality of law is a fundamental achievement of civilization, and a basic legacy of the culture of the peoples of the world. It is a principle that is essential to social life, both national and international. But it is a cold principle. It is not compatible with emotional appeals to crusades and holy wars, with confraternities of continent-wide or race- wide armed blocs, or with resolutions approved in Rabat, Addis Ababa or Dar-es-Salaam.
21.	Discrimination in the application of law, domestic or international, is an odious and revolting practice. It destroys all the moral and juridical foundation of the law, deprives it of all validity, and incites its violation, giving legitimacy to such violation.
22.	Portugal has been one of the victims of such discrimination. Principles deemed valid in certain cases are denied in Portugal's case. Rules applied to other countries are cast aside with contempt where Portugal is concerned. But the violation of this principle is infinitely dangerous for all. No one knows who will be tomorrow's victim. Man's memory is short, but that of history is inflexible and inexorable.
23.	When, 11 years ago, a merchant ship was the victim of an act of piracy in the mid-Atlantic, an act that took the lives of peaceful members of its crew, there was no reaction on the part of the international community, and many viewed that crime with sympathy, simply because the victims were Portuguese.
24.	Thus was the door opened to aerial piracy. Those who today are inclined to consider anti-Portuguese terrorism as legitimate may perhaps tomorrow have to employ from this rostrum the same dramatic eloquence with which, at the current session, acts of aerial piracy were denounced in order to defend rules designed to protect the lives of nationals of their own countries attacked by the liberation movements which the majority of United Nations Members then considered legitimate.
25.	But no rule has been the object of such flagrant discrimination in its application as the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States Members of the United Nations.
26.	The principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States is enshrined in the political Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and has guided our policies in the most diverse situations. It would not be too much to ask other States which upon joining this Organization solemnly undertook to comply with the provisions of the Charter to apply to our country this same principle, the spirit of which is enshrined in the Preamble of the Charter, which speaks of practicing tolerance and living together in peace with one another as good neighbors. We sincerely and deeply regret that in Zambia President Kaunda should maintain a fierce tribal discrimination, perhaps the worst kind of ethnic discrimination.
27.	We are very much concerned with the fate of the Bembas and the Lumpas. We also hope that the economic policies of President Kaunda will not prevent the Zambians from acceding rapidly to the fruits of economic advancement. We firmly hope too that the majority of Zambians will come to enjoy in the future the self-determination to which they have an indisputable right and of which they have been unjustly deprived.
28.	However, despite these feelings, we have not arrogated unto ourselves the right of intervening in the internal affairs of that country. Neither have we sheltered, instigated or supported terrorists acting against it, nor have we proclaimed the inevitability of war against that African country. We scrupulously respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all our neighbors. But we consider that this attitude must be reciprocal.
29.	For the last 11 years Portugal has been the victim of armed attacks unleashed by groups, organized, commanded, armed and based on foreign territory. The action of these groups, which indiscriminately attack the civilian populations and the authorities of our African Territories constitutes illegal terrorist activity. The support given to them from abroad, without which their actions would be impossible and would have ceased long ago, represents a flagrant violation of international law and of the principles and rules of the United Nations Charter.
30.	Notwithstanding this situation Portugal has displayed extreme moderation and a spirit of conciliation, by refraining from any retaliatory action, and renouncing the exercise of the right of self-defense, which would afford it the possibility of destroying the bases from which these armed attacks are launched. Portugal has acted in this manner because of its scrupulous respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all the neighboring countries, and because it has not yet lost the hope that those countries will recognize the illegitimacy of their conduct and will come 10 accept the fundamental rules of peaceful coexistence. How many Member States in identical circumstances, and for such a long time, would have acted in this fashion? I wonder.
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31.	It is true that several times we have been accused of violating the borders of neighboring States, of attacking
their territory, of threatening their security. But if those accusations were true, why should an impartial investigation of the facts always have been rejected, as has been the case in every specific instance?
32.	If the authors of those accusations were not themselves convinced, as they are, of the complete lack of foundation of these charges why should they reject the setting up of border control commissions, which we have proposed, and which we again propose from this rostrum? If the African States, our neighbors, were not certain, as they are, that we do not represent any threat to their sovereignty and 'territorial integrity, why should they reject all the guarantees they have been offered and that we are ready to give them? Why should they refuse any and all conversations, negotiations or dialogs with us in this respect, while we have many times declared, and repeat today, that we are ready to' talk with them without any prior conditions? From those facts only one conclusion can be drawn: in all this business of the relations between Portugal and the African States bordering on our territories, and of peace and security in Africa, good faith and the Charter of the United Nations are solely and exclusively on the side of Portugal.
33.	Attempts have been made to justify and legitimize support for the terrorist movements operating in the Portuguese Territories on the strength of the argument that they represent the majority of the respective populations and are struggling against colonial oppression and against an authority in illegal occupation of their territory. But the fact that small minorities practice revolutionary armed action and terrorism all over the world today is forgotten. Armed action is not enough to give legitimacy to a movement as representing a population, even if a majority of States hostile to the country which is the victim of the attacks so claims. A subversive movement cannot be representative of a population when it operates solely in frontier areas and under cover of safe support from foreign countries. Their total and growing dependence on foreign support takes away all representative character from the anti-Portuguese terrorist movements, which, moreover, are opposed by the overwhelming majority of the population of their respective territories.
34.	We are now being accused of making use of our African nationals in the defense of their lands. We accept this accusation. It is true. Over 50 per cent of all the forces defending the Portuguese Territories are African troops. And these numbers will constantly grow. What a strange accusation! Is it a crime for the inhabitants of a territory to take up arms in order to defend themselves against attacks launched against them from foreign soil? Is it a crime for a Government to furnish them with the means of protecting themselves from being massacred? And tomorrow> when in Portuguese Guinea all those defending the Portuguese cause turn out to be Africans and the Communist brigades attacking them are all made up of Cubans and other international bandits, will it still be said that this is a liberation movement and that the former is an army of occupation?
35.	In order to try to justify the illegal support given to the subversive anti-Portuguese movements, it was necessary to invent the myth of the "liberated areas". The so-called liberation movements supposedly have under their control extensive zones in the Portuguese territories which supposedly constitute "liberated areas" and which they are supposedly administering. But if these movements, as we sometimes hear in this Organization, control two thirds of Portuguese Guinea, one third of Angola and one fifth of Mozambique, how can the Portuguese armed forces constitute a threat to peace and to the territorial integrity of the neighboring States? And why do these subversive movements find it necessary to maintain their bases and headquarters on foreign territory? Why do they fear frontier control and the respect of borders as dangerous to their activities? But here is a subject where arguments of logic are less valid than facts. An authority's control over a territory is proved by the fact of its control. And this is verified by direct observation. As the Portuguese Government knows that there is no "liberated area" in its overseas provinces, that there is no part of any of these territories where its authority is not legitimately constituted and exercised, or where its representatives are prevented from going wherever they want, it has addressed a formal invitation to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to send a mission to verify, on the spot and whenever it wishes, the effective exercise of Portuguese sovereignty.
36.	Since this was an important matter of fact, one which some Members of this Organization viewed as controversial, it would have been normal for that invitation to be accepted. But no, it was declined. The United Nations is not interested in verifying the existence of the alleged liberated areas. Indeed, fictitious liberated areas and imaginary sovereignties can only be verified by invisible missions!
37.	Time does not permit me to dwell at length on this subject. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal has published and distributed in this Organization a detailed brochure which clarifies this important matter. And if I use this rostrum to publicize this publication, it is because in this field also we are the victims of total and unjust discrimination. The United Nations Office of Public Information, in violation of the principle of equal rights for all Member States and of equity itself, is being used as an instrument of extensive and fierce anti-Portuguese propaganda. This is how this Organization's funds are spent!
38.	Portugal, with its whole national territory as defined in the Portuguese political Constitution, was admitted to the United Nations as a Member State in 1955. Having admitted Portugal to membership, the United Nations recognized the territorial composition of the Portuguese State, as well as the constitutional statute of all its integral parts. And under Article 2 of the Charter, all Member States have the obligation to respect this composition. The fact that some countries do not consider our overseas territories as integral parts of Portugal and that they claim that they fall under Article 73 of the Charter does not give them the right either to seek to overturn by violent means the prevailing situation in Africa, or to become the instruments for the performance of acts contrary to international law and to the Charter itself.
39.	Notwithstanding these indisputable legal facts, an astonishing event took place in the United Nations a few days ago. At a meeting of one of the Committees of this
Assembly, it was resolved to admit one does not know with what status, in what conditions and with what objective the presence of individuals who acknowledge themselves to be leaders of terrorist movements operating against Portuguese African Territories. A prior proposal by some delegations to request a legal opinion from the Secretariat was rejected by the majority. In this fashion, it was admitted and acknowledged that the United Nations is an Organization without law and without regulations, that law no longer counts.
40.	The existence and the credibility of the United Nations itself is at issue in such proceedings. The fundamental reasons for its existence, its most basic principles and its most essential purposes are at stake. I do not want to indulge in rhetoric or assume an excessively dramatic tone but I will say that to destroy the Portuguese nation it would be necessary to begin by destroying international law and the very structure of international society. The Portuguese nation, thanks to the courageous resistance put up by its people, has not been destroyed. But the same does not happen to be the case with the rules of international law, which are constantly being eroded as a consequence of the arbitrary process followed in this Organization in dealing with the Portuguese case.
41.	Portugal refuses to accept that foreign countries or an international organization at the service of an inadmissible ideological imperialism should intervene in its internal affairs or presume to determine its future.
42.	But, contrary to what has been widely said, Portugal does not reject the principle of self-determination. To reject the principle of self-determination would be tantamount to denying the essential dignity of man. As long ago as 1963, in conversations with representatives of African States, under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, we tried to explain how we interpreted self-determination. And the Secretary-General, in his report to the Security Council on these talks, said that Portugal did not deny the principle of self-determination.
43.	The conclusion to be drawn from the manner in which the anti-Portuguese campaign has been conducted in the United Nations is that it is sought not to secure self-determination for the populations of the Portuguese overseas provinces of Africa, but to impose on Portugal, under the pretext of self-determination, a policy which is the equivalent of having the matter determined by foreigners. It would not be a question of our populations freely exercising their choice. Rather, it would be a question of forcing our populations to accept a choice imposed by outsiders or at least of creating conditions which would leave those populations no alternative but that. The doctrine is similar to the one formulated by the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Nehru, who, on 6 September 1955, told the Upper House of the Indian Parliament that the Portuguese must leave Goa, even if the Goans wish them to remain. This, too, is self-determination in the view of some Members of the United Nations.
44.	As far as Portugal is concerned, the right to self-determination is the prerogative of all men and of all societies. But it is a right that must be exercised without any outside interference even of the United Nations and through the means best suited to each case.
45.	Portugal is proud of the creation of the great Brazilian nation and participated in a privileged and fraternal position in the ceremonies marking the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its independence.
46.	But Portugal has never brought into existence, nor will it ever bring into existence, white independence or black independence. The unity of the Portuguese nation is the mainstay and the guarantee of the multiracial society which we have built up in Africa. Unless it is integrated in the Portuguese nation, that multiracial society would obviously disappear. And could it be that this very result is the objective of the opponents of Portuguese policies?
47.	Contrary to what is so often said, Portugal is not opposed to decolonization. We view with sympathy the efforts of the Governments of young independent African States to consolidate their nations a task that encompasses the struggle against underdevelopment, against foreign economic domination and against the outbreak of tribal rivalries, while at the same time ensuring the genuine political and economic integration of the great mass of their populations in accordance with the objectives and living standard desired by the elites which at present are governing these States. The Portuguese are engaged in similar tasks. We devote to these tasks our experience, our vast geographical horizons and our ethnically and culturally richly varied human elements. In the face of the decolonization movement, Portugal can well consider itself rich in possibilities and prospects.
48.	The objectives and the realities of Portuguese policies in Africa compel us to reject as unfounded the criticism leveled against us in this Organization. The overseas provinces of Portugal are not and have never been dependencies of the European part of Portugal. The system of legal, political, social and ethnic values is the same throughout the Portuguese territory. That is why we find it difficult to understand that this system should be labeled as colonial, since the colonial system is essentially a system of dependency, subordination and economic exploitation of one territory for the benefit of another, under the same sovereignty. There is nothing like that in the Portuguese system. Therefore, it is not surprising that we reject the label of colonialists, because our system is, and has always been, different.
49.	As I said, we have our system of values. We are ready to explain it and to discuss it. There will certainly be some points which will be accepted by our critics. For example, contrary to what was happening 10 years ago obviously through lack of information today nobody questions the sincerity of our multi-racialism or, rather, the racial equality which we practice.
50.	In view of the interest of certain delegations which follow the matter closely, I should like to say a few words about the most recent developments concerning our overseas provinces. I am not unaware of the fact that the events which stir the greatest interest are those of a political nature.
51.	Portuguese policies have not remained static, as is sometimes erroneously believed, perhaps because they move along the lines of the orientation of the Portuguese system, which, I repeat, is based on national unity. Within this system, the Portuguese Constitution was revised last year. Many changes were brought about, the most important ones relating to our overseas provinces. The purpose of the constitutional revision was essentially to give effect to the Portuguese Government's orientation towards progressive autonomy for the overseas provinces.
52.	The principles enunciated in the Constitution concerning the policy and administration of the overseas territories, in keeping with a policy of decentralization, are the following:
(a)	The existence of special statutes for the provinces as autonomous regions;
(b)	The designation of "State", when the advancement of the social milieu and the complexity of its administration justifies such a classification (this designation has already been granted to Angola and Mozambique while the Portuguese State of India always had it);
(c)	Their own political and administrative organization adapted to their geographical situation and state of development.
53.	The autonomy of each overseas province is set out in the following manner: the existence of elective governing bodies; the right to legislate; the right to ensure, through its own governing bodies, the implementation of laws and the carrying out of internal administration; financial autonomy consisting of the right to approve the provincial budget; the right to have a specific economic system appropriate to the needs of development and the well-being of the population.
54.	As far as the bodies exercising provincial powers are concerned, while the Governor is appointed by the central Government, the others, that is the legislative assemblies, must necessarily be elected locally. It is the central Government's duty to watch over the general interests of the overseas Territories, to ensure their international representation and their defense and to legislate on matters of common interest. The central Government also supervises their fiscal administration and management and protects the population against threats or attempts against their individual or collective rights. This last constitutional provision is of the utmost importance and reflects a basic idea expressed by our Prime Minister, Marcello Caetano:
"If any segregationist tendencies sKould manifest themselves locally, they will be inexorably combated by the intervention of the central Government, should this prove
necessary. We shall not give up our intention to persevere in the building of multiracial societies and we shall not compromise as regards the maintenance of a single statute for all Portuguese, whatever their race or color."
55.	Thus the Constitution permits an ample, effective autonomy in the provinces. The intention of the Portuguese Government is progressively to promote the enlargement of this autonomy while ensuring at the same time the participation of the entire population of each of the provinces in self-government. In keeping with this orientation a new organic law for the overseas Territories, common to all the provinces, was promulgated this year, and the approval of new statutes for each province will soon be undertaken. The provincial legislative assemblies will be made up of elected members. Their composition and the mode of election of their members will guarantee adequate representation for all citizens. The powers of the legislative assemblies, at the provincial level, will to a certain extent parallel the powers of the central Parliament at the national level.
56.	The organic law opens up new opportunities for the local elites, enhances the importance of the provincial legislative organs and creates institutional cadres which go far to meet the deep aspirations of the people in keeping with the realities of the progress and political maturity of these populations. We shall pursue without faltering our policies of economic development and social progress, so that all the inhabitants of the overseas provinces may acquire the moral and technical qualifications needed for the discharge of political functions. It has been stated in these halls—I do not know on what basis-that each school we build is "a crime against humanity". If that is so, I confess that we have committed thousands of "crimes" of that kind, and we shall continue relentlessly to commit many more, for we assign the greatest importance to the spread of education at all levels, seeking to take it to the most remote populations. Since 1960 we have more than doubled school attendance in all the overseas provinces.
57.	Anyone visiting our overseas provinces will be able to observe new works in progress in the field of infrastructures, communications, electric power, industry and agriculture. I shall mention here only the colossal enterprises of Cunene and Cabora Bassa, which, according to some, are two other "crimes against humanity" which we are committing. I remember in this connexion that a few years ago we were being accused of not promoting the economic development of our overseas provinces. Today this development generally surpasses the levels achieved in other parts of the African continent. But since our efforts cannot be denied, anti-Portuguese propaganda has had to change its tune, which shows that no matter what we do we shall always be the object of some criticism. It is important to emphasize that our efforts at economic and social development are being made without any external assistance, a fact that renders even more significant our levels of development and their comparison with those other Territories. In truth Portugal can legitimately consider itself to be the only country in the world with Territories in the process of development which is receiving "negative aid" from the international community.
58.	I should like nothing more than to dwell at length on the fascinating subject of the economic and social development taking place in our overseas provinces,, but time presses and I must end.
59.	In order to justify the support of violence and terrorism in our African territories it is alleged that Portugal refuses to enter into a dialog and that it practices repression in its overseas Territories.
60.	Our defense activities will cease the moment aggression from abroad ceases. Not long ago the Portuguese Government made a solemn appeal, followed by broad and concrete measures of clemency, to all Portuguese Africans who had allowed themselves to be enticed by subversive movements to return to peaceful life and 1.0 collaborate in the progress and the development of their Territories.
61.	Even though we have already done so in the past, I hereby renew our invitations to African countries to send their representatives to visit our overseas provinces where they will get all the information they want about living conditions in those Territories. We are ready to start a dialog with them concerning our concepts, our realities and our plans.
62.	We have also expressed our readiness to conclude with the African countries non-aggression pacts and agreements for the peaceful solution of any existing bilateral problems. I again renew that offer.
63.	Similarly, I renew our offer to our neighboring countries to set up, by mutual agreement, joint border control commissions.
64.	I also renew the invitation addressed to the Secretariat of the United Nations, in the terms and conditions already communicated to them, to send qualified observers to Portuguese Guinea so that in the light of day and in comfort and safety they may verify in all parts of the Territory they might wish to visit who it is that exercises effectively the powers of administration. At this time I extend the same invitation for visits to the States of Angola and Mozambique.
65.	The preparatory work for a European conference on security and co-operation will begin shortly. If such a conference is considered possible and desirable in Europe, where there are different political, economic and social systems, why could not the same principles as are at the basis of that conference apply to Africa? Could there be any interest in fostering conflicts in Africa so that the continent might fall prey more easily to economic and ideological neo-colonialism?
66.	We offer to all African countries our entire co-operation and collaboration in the great tasks whose implementation in Africa and in other continents should be of interest to the United Nations in this decade of the 1970s: peace, economic development, social advancement, the elimination of all forms of discrimination and unjust inequalities among men. All the resources of our Territories will be available for collaborating towards these ends.


Mr. President, I wish to congratulate you very warmly on your well-earned election. Your election is a recognition of your personal ability and of the fact that you are a worthy representative of the Polish people, with whom my country enjoys the most cordial relations. It is an election that constitutes the best guarantee for success in the conduct of this session of the General Assembly.
145.	Since this is the first opportunity that the Revolutionary Nationalist Government of Ecuador has had to make known its views to the General Assembly, I should like in general to indicate our main goals.
146.	The Government of Ecuador wishes to effect a profound economic and social transformation of the country and to overcome the present state of backwardness and poverty in which the great majority of the people live; and we intend to do this by establishing social justice, which will ensure wide participation by all the national sectors and regions by bringing into the mainstream of the life of the country all those who have been on the fringes and by encouraging an increased and maximum utilization of the natural resources in order to achieve national objectives.
147.	My Government hopes to achieve these objectives through responsible and planned action. This will obviously call for vigorous activity on the part both of the State and of private enterprise, but there will of course be a guarantee of individual rights, defense and encouragement of the rights of workers and respect for capital and investments so long as they carry out their social function. Ecuador shares the desires and aspirations of Latin America and the third world, and offers co-operation in the fulfillment of the objectives of the United Nations.
148.	Ecuador, which from the very beginning of its independence has been known for its love for peace and justice, is deeply concerned over the fact that, despite the years that have elapsed and the efforts made, there are still in existence dangerous centers of friction that belie the purposes expressed by nations when they created this Organization, which was to do away with acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace and encourage friendly relations on the principle of legal equality among States.
149.	It is true that if we glance back at the past and go through the pages of history where law was the law of the strongest and where acts were arbitrary, it appears to be just to recognize that the achievements of the United Nations in the few years of its existence are valuable and the balance positive. But even this is not entirely satisfactory in the light of the hunger for calm and security which the peoples of the world are experiencing, peoples who wish to live free from fear and worry, working their land or carrying out their duties without the specter of misery hovering over them and protected from the scourge of war. We must eliminate once and for all and proscribe forever the resort to force as a solution of disputes or conflicts, for that is why we have raised the peaceful solution of controversies to an ineluctable principle.
150.	But there appear to be interests that threaten these aims and undermine these principles in order to keep conflicts alive, very often artificially, and viciously creating situations which lead to breaches of the peace because, by using such confrontations, they obtain economic or political advantages or they can test new instruments of war, while in their egotistical plans they set no store by human life or the sufferings of displaced populations who are bereft of their homes and cities. But this can no longer continue. General indifference or cold complacency must yield place to active condemnation, to energetic protests, to clearly defined positions which will reveal the existence of a clear and definitive desire to disavow or repudiate such acts, a feeling that must gain ground until it is shared by all the world and so becomes the symbol of our times and replaces the fatal complacency that was the hallmark of earlier ages. To that end we must work and in this crusade we must make every effort so that in the immediate future we will perfect an attitude more in keeping with the principles that must distinguish us as eager to live in peace as good neighbors, concerned only with encouraging progress and raising the standard of living of citizens all over the world.
151.	At most we might say that within this balance of terror created by the new and modern means of mass destruction we have been able to avert another world-wide conflagration, but other conflicts are kept alive or break out that are still grave disturbances to world peace even though localized. After many years of suffering and endless misery, in a true war of extermination, Viet-Nam is still fighting, tom by sorrow, sacrifice and death. It is imperative that that situation end. At least, it is encouraging to know that conversations which might well lead to the end of that brutal war are being started.
152.	The Middle East, with its already too long-lasting problems, quite justifiably has attracted very special attention from the international community. We must admit that the United Nations has shown deep concern for that complex situation and has devoted much of its time to the discussion and adoption of resolutions in order to solve the problems in a manner that is just and satisfactory to all parties concerned. I cannot fail to refer to the Security Council's resolution 242 (1967), which we believe constitutes a basis for the solution of the problem. It is the resolution that led to the Jarring mission, which is still trying to bring together the wills of the parties to the dispute. Among countries with such a long historical tradition, countries the splendor of whose cultures has been a source of inspiration for the development of all Western culture, it is most sad that the play of the interests of the super-Powers should maintain a climate so unconducive to constructive dialog. Ecuador condemns the unleashing of acts of violence and of force wherever they may occur because we recognize the supremacy of law and therefore urge a peaceful solution and a just settlement according to the unchanging truth that war creates no rights, but that the solution must eliminate from relations among peoples the threat or the use of force.
153.	Ecuador reaffirms the right of Israel to a recognized and secure existence where its great, hard-working and enterprising people can live its life in safety and with faith in its future. We believe also that the Arab nations have the right to recover their own territories.
154.	As far as my Government is concerned terrorist practices are to be condemned whatever their origin. For that reason my country has always condemned-and we repeat today most energetically that we are against-any attack on the integrity of States as well as against human persons. My country officially proclaimed a few days ago that "terrorist acts have deserved and will always receive from the Government of Ecuador a most energetic repudiation." Consistent with that formal declaration, Ecuador is convinced that, as soon as possible, there should be laid down international norms that will prevent and punish acts of this nature.
155.	Confronted as we are by these painful facts, we are, however, encouraged to find that there are positive events that promise a reduction of tensions and the beginnings of constructive dialog. We are gratified that the great Powers have initiated contacts that have made possible the "new balance of prudence", as the Secretary-General has called it in the introduction to his report on the work of the Organization [A/8701/Add.l, p. 1]. This dialog will doubtless make it easier to arrive at the desired understandings and the more active co-operation from which mankind expects so much. There is always a common denominator which makes understanding and coexistence possible even in the case of contrasting views.
156.	From this standpoint and thanks to the agreements arrived at last year among the four Powers, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic are coming closer to understandings, on the basis of one nation and two States, and these will exert a favorable influence on Central European peace and will contribute significantly to the holding of the planned conference on European security, which will doubtless in turn be another step towards the consolidation of world peace.
157.	It is also most encouraging that South and North Korea have started a constructive dialog, which has already led to agreement on certain points, as shown by their Joint Communique of 4 July 1972 [A/8727, annex 1].
158.	All this is most auspicious and promises that gradually we may be able to fulfill one of the fundamental bases of the world Organization that is, universality. If thus far many factors have hindered that universality, it now is true that we can glimpse substantive changes that will make of this Organization the parliament of all the peoples of the world.
159.	The existence of colonial systems and regimes is an affront to the principle of universality. This is a matter that has warranted and will continue to receive special attention on the part of the Ecuadorean Government. By historic tradition and democratic conviction, we have always opposed any political system that denies basic principles such as those of self-determination and self-government, to which all peoples of this world have a right. Consistent with that position, in all international organizations and at every stage through which this problem has passed in the United Nations, we have expressed our rejection of colonialism, which hampers the freedom of peoples, is a point of obvious friction among members of the international community and harbors dangers to international peace and security. My Government is convinced that the age of colonialism must once and for all be outlawed. That is why we would support any step that would lead to the political independence of the peoples of the Territories that are still under the colonial yoke and have still not been given an opportunity to express themselves freely. We recognize their right to become free and independent nations pursuant to the terms of the Charter and the pertinent resolutions of the United Nations.
160.	Continuing with my list of imperfections which unfortunately still beset humanity despite the passage of centuries and the evolution of ideas and concepts, we must mention two stains that are still on the nations' conscience. They are racism in general and its specific form apartheid. My delegation believes that these two phenomena are not only anachronistic but also a violation, of elementary legal tenets, because it is, absurd that human beings should be differentiated on the basis of the color of their skins or that they should be discriminated against because of their race, the religion they practice or the language they speak.

Surely more specific and effective action must be taken to put a final end to those practices that contradict and belie the letter and spirit of the Charter.
161.	When speaking of the protection of the inalienable rights of man, we might well link these with scientific and technological progress and their economic and social repercussions. The wide gap between the developed and the developing nations, far from narrowing, daily becomes greater, emphasizing the differences between the two groups. And instead of these facts attracting the careful attention of the wealthy nations, it would appear that those nations have adopted an annoying disdain not in keeping with human solidarity or the obligation incumbent on the super-industrialized nations to channel constant and increasing assistance from the rich to the poor. While the former enrich themselves by almost geometric progressions, the latter become proportionately poorer. My country thus believes that the correct application of human rights and the respect and consideration all human beings deserve dictates that scientific and technological progress should be placed at the service of the less favored peoples so that the benefits of science will assist them too, as it has assisted others, substantially to raise their standard of living. Particularly in agricultural countries, it is necessary to modernize the cultivation systems so that the fields will yield in proportion to the effort made and thus benefit the entire community. The lack of scientific training and technological means has delayed the changes in structure that would enable these countries to keep up with present progress and meet present needs, and therefore the poorer countries face this new obstacle to their progress. But there, too, lies the responsibility of the technologically advanced countries to provide them with assistance in keeping with such requirements. To give an example, the present situation in my own country is highly interesting because we have started exporting oil, which was discovered a short time ago in the subsoil of our Amazonian region. It is our just desire to take full advantage of that wealth for the benefit of the entire Ecuadorean people, but in this as in other fields it is urgent that adequate technology be transferred to allow us to make maximum use of our natural resources and to assist the legitimate owners of this "black gold".
162.	To the lack of technology in our developing countries, we add the lack of the financial means for planning and implementing our programs for development in our fight against poverty, unsanitary conditions, disease and illiteracy. Thus the contrast becomes even more obvious when, in the light of so many needs, we know that the arms race has been neither contained nor stemmed. In the introduction to his report on the work of the Organization, the Secretary-General has purposefully stated: "In fact, the arms race has spiraled to a level higher than ever before ... total world expenditure for these purposes has risen to about $200,000 million annually" [A/8701lAdd.l, p. 3]. We know that this is one of the most important questions confronting the Organization. In its solution, many adverse factors must be overcome. But we also recognize that, because of that very fact, it must be tackled with decision and honesty in order to find a solution in keeping with the security which all hope for and which would be compatible with the co-operation that binds us all. It is, I know, not a matter that can be solved overnight. It is both urgent and necessary that good will be shown and that open minds be brought to bear so that, with sincerity and an understanding of the responsibilities, the way to tackle and solve the problem can be devised.
163.	In its resolution 2833 (XXVI), the General Assembly expressed the vital interest of the international community in finding effective means whereby to achieve general disarmament and-for obvious reasons, of course-nuclear disarmament. With full knowledge of its historic responsibility, the United Nations will this year again devote itself to considering this question when dealing with agenda item 26, on a World Disarmament Conference.
164.	One of the fundamental postulates of my country is that Ecuador is a peace-loving nation, one that condemns violence. We have therefore been gravely concerned over the arms race that is one of the features of many of the nations of the world and therefore we wish to stress the importance we attach to the consideration of the disarmament item. My Government is fully aware of the complexity of the problem whose solution will be the result of a series of efforts and proposals on which all parties concerned will have to have agreed previously, beginning by the establishment of trust in international relations and belief in the value of international justice. My country also recognizes that these will be long and arduous negotiations with not a few setbacks, but we consider that, by the same token, it will be possible to achieve success if there is the will to reach understandings that will be beneficial to all mankind. We cannot begin at the end and therefore we recognize that we will have to deal prudently with the subject in order to arrive at a negotiated solution to the problem of disarmament. From all I have said it can be gathered that my Government considers it indispensable that the World Disarmament Conference should be held because doubtless it will be an historic milestone on the difficult road to the strengthening of tolerance in order to achieve harmonious coexistence among all peoples of this planet.
165.	It is only just to recognize that some progress has been made regarding the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, despite the fact that the tests of these devices still continue, either in the atmosphere or underground. Ecuador has repeatedly spoken out against explosions and nuclear experiments that the super-Powers have carried out without weighing the danger of radioactive fall-out and the destructive effect of such explosions. My own and 15 other countries of the hemisphere are parties to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America because of this concern; that Treaty created an organism to eliminate these weapons of mass destruction from our continent and to implement the resolutions, declarations and purposes that define the position and the policies of Latin American nations on this important question. The concern- that Ecuador has shown regarding the continuation of nuclear weapons and our awareness of the dangerous consequences to mankind of these tests have led my country at this time, from this General Assembly, to make a determined appeal to the great Powers to put an end to such nuclear explosions and tests and rather devote those immense resources of both moneys and techniques to research which, placed at the service of man, will cure his diseases and help him in his economic and social development and assure him of an existence more in keeping with his dignity.
166.	The same guiding idea of protecting man in all his aspects and manifestations inspired and dictated the position of Ecuador in the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which was held in June of this year in Stockholm. My country is deeply concerned over the problems of the environment. The more we know of these problems and the better we understand them, the more we are aware of their gravity and the urgency of finding an adequate solution to them. Convinced of this, Ecuador gave whole-hearted support to the holding of the Stockholm Conference since we were determined to try to blaze new trails in the history of mankind with the hope that we might find adequate formulas that would harmonize accelerated development which characterizes this century and links us with the environmental problems, as well as the highly noble task of shortening the distance which so greatly separates the super-wealthy from the poor countries of the world.
167.	Our view was and is that we must endeavor to find the ways and means to true international co-operation, without tutor nations and without subject nations, since that would contradict the spirit and the letter of our Charter-co-operation of a nature such as to assist the so-called third world, through additional resources, to combat and eradicate the environmental problems of under-development, such as slum conditions, ill health, pollution, malnutrition, contamination of the environment and the gradual destruction of ecology, all of which force millions of persons to live in conditions that can only be termed subhuman.
168.	The Stockholm Conference opened a door to hope. The General Assembly now has incumbent upon it the responsibility of channeling that thought expressed by the international community and thereby to strengthen the achievements of the Conference and thus make reality of the motto "Only One Earth" that ruled the debates among the participants.
169.	In contrast with the obsolete concept of the extension of sovereign rights over the sea solely in order to ensure the defense of a nation, there arises the truly constructive and dynamic concept of co-operation as a function of the economic and social development of peoples. And thus the proclamation of the right of States to establish the limits of their sovereignty over the seas adjacent! to their coasts in accordance with their own peculiar geographical, geological and ecological characteristics and the need for the rational utilization of their resources constitutes one of the most significant steps in the formulation of the new law of the sea. At the same time it is a positive achievement on the part of the less-developed countries to obtain for their peoples, eager as they are for progress and improvement, those means which nature placed at their disposal and which, generally speaking, in the past were exploited and utilized to increase the power and wealth of maritime nations that had nothing to do with the seas in which that wealth lay.
170.	Ecuador, in accordance with these principles and consistent with the norms of maritime policy which were agreed to in 1952 with Chile and Peru in the Santiago Declaration  exercises a sovereignty whose outer limit lies at 200 miles from the base-line, and we are happy that the principle that was voiced by the countries of the southeastern Pacific was the point of departure of a wide-scale movement that today has supporters and co-operation among nations from all continents.
171.	Lamentable incidents which have occurred because of the stubborn illegal action and misuse by foreign fishers who follow an old practice of exploiting the wealth of others have once again shown that to guarantee and to protect the interests of the coastal States a mere declaration of preferential or exclusive rights does not suffice. The exercise of the sovereign power of the State is necessary, especially so since the sea-and with the sea I include the water, the soil and subsoil, and their renewable and non-renewable resources-constitutes a single unit that cannot be destroyed and therefore in its integral wholeness belongs to the coastal State that possesses eminent domain.
172.	The life of relations among States evolves rapidly towards new concepts and new goals compatible with the progress both of law and science. To cleave to the old concepts and to try to formulate a law of the sea without departing from the obsolete classical lines would be an insurmountable barrier to the establishment of norms which are a vital need for the international community today. Unlimited respect for the norms that safeguard order, peace and the security of States and that preserve the resources necessary for the subsistence and the progress of the peoples are not incompatible with the exercise of the rights of the community as far as transit, navigation, communication and international co-operation are concerned.
173.	Thus the rights of States generate the duties of the international community and that relationship, because of the existing interdependence, in turn imposes obligations which the State cannot avoid and which constitute its duty to the community.
174.	For all these reasons, Ecuador contends that the new orientations of the law of the sea, with the extension of the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the coastal State to a limit of 200 miles, fits perfectly with the requirements of the international community and allows a just relationship between what the State proclaims for itself, with the need to preserve the maritime resources, and with what interdependence requires for a better development of international life. The Ecuadorean sea is open to international communications and, far from isolating itself from the world, is a valuable element of relationship and cooperation, although we firmly oppose any act or abuse violating the interests of the people and the essential rights of our State. This same concept governs the exercise of sovereignty over the air space above the adjacent sea to a limit of 200 miles.
175.	In a spirit of frank understanding and in order to contribute to a better presentation of the new norms of the law of the sea, reaffirming the respect for the sovereign rights of States and the value of the duties flowing from interdependence, my country will participate in forthcoming regional and world conferences, since we are convinced that the results to be achieved at such conferences will be beneficial to the strengthening of peace and will ensure closer co-operation among nations and the steady and speedy progress of the less developed nations, which have in the sea the ways and means of achieving better standards of living for themselves and progress for their people.
176.	The existing trade systems and the monetary and financial machinery were established after the Second World War with very little participation on the part of developing nations. These were articulations designed primarily to encourage the economic growth and recovery of the developed nations. That objective has now been achieved. After 25 years a certain number of countries have become industrially and technologically super-developed, while the majority of mankind, which had little to do in the programming of the present financial and trade system, is facing the very grave problems of under-development and is living in a way that is incompatible with the present stage of civilization or the norms of coexistence and justice set up in the last few years.
177.	Lately, a number of developed countries have confronted grave problems flowing from their excessive accumulation of wealth and have been forced to modify the present monetary and financial system, seeking new balances and altering the fragile rules to which the developing countries were still trying to adjust themselves in their struggle for justice and social welfare. As part of that same struggle, the countries of the third world some time ago stressed the need to transform the present, unjust structures.
178.	We therefore came to a moment of grave significance in the history of international economic relations. For different and varied reasons, there still is a wide consensus on the part of both developed and developing countries that reforms should be made in the present trade, financial and monetary systems. My country believes that the best way of trying to harmonize these interests is through sincere international negotiations on an equal footing and with the widest participation of all peoples of the world. We contend, further, that it is up to the different bodies and organs of the United Nations to play a basic role in this process of negotiation. We trust that at the present session of the General Assembly a decisive awareness of this matter will grow and that the world Organization will be led to carry out its full responsibilities.
179.	The solutions to be found should be wide-scale. Mere palliatives will not be acceptable, still less slight paternalistic concessions on the part of the developed nations. I say this because I recall a number of proposals or formulas put forward in the case of the law of the sea in UNCTAD and when dealing with the problems of the environment.
180.	On behalf of my country, I must recall that there are very important conceptual bases and principles for international co-operation, just as there are a series of hopes and proposals submitted by the developing countries, all of which must be utilized as soon as possible in the different international organs.
181.	One of those principles that warrants emphasis is the need for an equitable distribution of the benefits of trade and of co-operation among all countries, and particularly the developing countries.
182.	The approval at the third session of UNCTAD of special measures to benefit the least advanced of the developing nations and of the land-locked developing countries was a very just and appropriate decision, but within that very context it is necessary that the United Nations should give the same importance to problems that beset the less advanced of the developing nations of each region.
183.	Here again, I wish to repeat our whole-hearted support of the initiative of the President of Mexico regarding the drafting of a charter of the economic rights and duties of States, to which UNCTAD resolution 45 (III) refers. Scattered in different instruments and resolutions there are a number of principles governing international trade relations and the problems touching economic development. We believe those principles should be codified for international acceptance in a charter, similar to that which was adopted by UNCTAD in its resolution 46 (III).
184.	On maritime transport a number of recommendations and decisions were adopted regarding the improvement of port facilities, the development of merchant marines by developing countries, combined international transport of merchandise and economic co-operation in marine transport. Ecuador is giving an effective impetus to the development of its merchant marine and therefore has in the last few months, in accordance with the international principles governing this question, put into force a law reserving certain freight for Ecuadorean vessels which we consider vital to the interests of the country.
185.	We must stress the fact that we cannot speak of freedom when surrounded by poverty, or of justice when close to two thirds of mankind lives in subhuman conditions. Therefore, my country reads into the words "freedom" and "equality" necessarily an economic growth and social progress that will assure dignified standards of living for all peoples. It is obvious, therefore, that international action must be directed towards tearing down such obstacles through co-operation for development, with all necessary resources and, under soft and preferential conditions, so that the developing countries can set in motion their mass programs to deal with those problems. Therefore, although Ecuador gives the United Nations organs much support, from this rostrum I am happy to note that my country considers UNCTAD and the United Nations Development program to be instruments of such special importance in the fulfillment of the objectives of our Organization that they require more political support and greater resources for the future.


General debates have traditionally been occasions for stock-taking, for reflecting upon the state of the world and of the United Nations, and for giving voice at this universal forum to the needs and aspirations of mankind. As we approach the end of this particular general debate, we find the balance sheet a sobering blend of hope and concern.
153.	The two super-Powers have taken an important step to control the nuclear armaments race by agreeing to quantitative limits on strategic nuclear weapons. Yet their competition for qualitative supremacy in nuclear weaponry continues, precluding substantial reductions in their armament budgets. And while expectations of progress towards disarmament are prominently projected, there is a significant silence on the use of the immense savings that would accrue from disarmament.
154.	The great hope of the poor countries, repeatedly expressed in this Assembly over the years, that a substantial part of savings from disarmament should be committed to development aid thus remains a remote, if not indeed an illusory, hope. The link which the developing countries have sought to establish between the two major undertakings of the United Nations in the 1970s the Disarmament Decade and the Second Development Decade  remains tenuous at best.
155.	The welcome detente in Europe has undoubtedly reduced international tensions on that continent, one which has the dubious distinction of having produced two world wars and still has the potential to ignite a third one in this century. Yet nuclear proliferation continues in Europe, and one of Europe's leading countries has persisted in conducting nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific Ocean in disregard of the United Nations ban on nuclear testing in the atmosphere and under water and in defiance of world public opinion and the indignant protests of the countries in the area, which rightly argue that, if such nuclear tests are as harmless as they are claimed to be, there is no reason not to conduct them in the Atlantic Ocean, or for that matter, off the famous Riviera, where they might serve as an additional tourist attraction.
156.	Next door, in the Middle East, not only has peace remained out of reach but the jockeying among the great Powers for positions of advantage and influence in the continuing crisis has not abated. Nor have the sales and supplies of arms to the combatant countries been stopped. This is a factor worth pondering in connexion with the proposal, laudable in its avowed purpose, for the non-use of force in international disputes. Does this proposal simply mean that the great Powers should refrain from attacking one another directly? Should it not, rather, be carried a step further and taken to mean that the great Powers should not abet the use of force by lesser Powers through the convenient device of selling or supplying arms to them? In other words, is it not about time that the great Powers, unable to attack one another directly without mortal danger to themselves, ceased to practice wars by proxy, by using the third world as a cockpit for their persisting ambitions for regional or global hegemony?
157.	We have noted the developing detente in Europe, but what of other regions peace being all the more indivisible now in our ever more tightly interdependent world?
158.	Latin America is in the throes of a social revolution which is unfolding within the framework of its deeply ingrained sense of solidarity, its cherished traditions of justice and responsible order and its strong desire to make its full contribution to international peace and well-being.
159.	Africa continues its uncompromising struggle against apartheid and other forms of racial discrimination, hand in hand with its struggle, no less uncompromising, against the remaining strongholds of colonialism. These are struggles to which the Philippines, with its own experience of nearly four centuries of colonialism and of exploitation by foreign Powers, cannot remain indifferent; indeed we have time and again manifested our solidarity with our African friends on these fundamental issues, which touch the very heart of the United Nations Charter.
160.	What of our own region of Asia? In Asia, too, signs of detente have been detected. An auspicious beginning has been made towards a peace settlement between India and Pakistan. Bangladesh has been recognized as an independent nation by many countries, although, regrettably, it has not yet been admitted into the United Nations. South Korea and North Korea are embarked on a fateful dialog that could conceivably lead to the agreed and peaceful reunification ardently desired by the Korean people. China and Japan have reached agreement on the establishment of diplomatic relations, a step of far-reaching significance. But the tragic war in Indochina continues, with no just end as yet clearly in sight. Great Power moves to fill expected vacuums of power in the Asian region persist. There is no assurance that Asia can soon achieve the conditions of peace and stability which it so sorely needs and which found poignant expression last year in the Declaration issued at Kuala Lumpur by the Foreign Ministers of the countries members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - that their countries were "determined to exert initially necessary efforts to secure the recognition of and respect for South-East Asia as a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality, free from any form or manner of interference by outside Powers".
161.	In the last several years the Philippines has increasingly emphasized its participation in regional groups organized in accordance with the Charter, most notably in the sphere of economic, social and cultural co-operation. There have been significant shifts in orientation in the two most important regional groupings of which we are a member. In the Asian and Pacific Council there is fresh emphasis on economic development, brought about by new developments in Asia, principally by the developing detente and the consequent realignment of forces in the area. In ASEAN, more decisive initiatives are being undertaken to promote closer regional collaboration. Early this year ASEAN took a giant step forward in its co-operative endeavors. It approved a plan for the liberalization of trade on a selective basis and another plan for industrial complementation on a similar selective basis.
162.	Heretofore ASEAN had been a collection of separate co-operative endeavors. Although these areas of cooperation were and are important in themselves and have proved a great practical benefit to the region in such diverse fields as the development of tourism, the utilization of available technology and cultural exchanges, the economic agreement recently concluded is bound to be regarded as the hub of ASEAN activities. It is perhaps sanguine to speak of a common market in connexion with South-East Asia at this point in time, but the complementation plan drafted with the help of the United Nations may correctly be viewed as the fore-runner of an important scheme for regional economic integration. If it succeeds, it will doubtless become a landmark in Asian economic cooperation and it will have its particular contribution to make to the world economic situation.
163.	The five member countries rely on ASEAN and will do so in the future to a degree which none of them had anticipated. Unless the international economic situation improves markedly for the developing countries, the members of ASEAN will feel increasingly that the maximum opportunities for co-operation with the rest of the world could best be achieved through regional rather than individual national efforts. Looking towards this possibility, ASEAN has begun exploratory conversations with the European Economic Community with the objective of improving the deteriorating market for its export commodities.
164.	Thus, ASEAN is proof that the habit of co-operation can be fruitfully developed, even among countries with diverse traditional backgrounds. Less than six years after its founding, ASEAN is beginning to develop a personality of its own and to exert a modest force in Asian affairs. A few years ago the Foreign Ministers of the ASEAN countries agreed to try to help in mediating the Cambodian conflict. This year the same Foreign Ministers, in a move expressive of their deep concern over the war in Viet-Nam, proposed a formula which the parties to the conflict could consider as a means of breaking the impasse in current negotiations. We shall do so again, taking into account the objections voiced by the parties principally concerned, in the belief that the Asian voice is not irrelevant in a war being fought on Asian soil which causes a grievous toll in Asian lives.
165.	The modest achievements of ASEAN are a source of pride to its member countries, which regard them as reassuring auguries of more important future accomplishments; ASEAN's progress could be enhanced and accelerated in the hoped-for climate of peace and stability for Asia to which I have referred.
166.	Modest innovations recently undertaken by the United Nations have, in the view of my Government, been worth while. We are referring specifically to the reinstitution of periodic meetings of the Security Council and to the meetings of the Council held in Africa. Occasional such meetings in various parts of the globe can help to highlight and bring new efforts to bear on the problems of the region. In this connexion, the Philippine Government suggests that the Security Council should give consideration to a meeting in the near future in Asia. Asia is in a state of flux and change, and yet at the very time when there is so much new promise in Asian affairs the region remains beset by enormous problems. The effort to come to grips with both the difficulties and the new opportunities could be raised to a new level, where new perspectives could be brought to bear, in our view, by a meeting of the Security Council in Asia.
167.	Peace and non-interference by outside Powers these are two of the things beyond price which the developing countries of Asia need today: peace, because in the absence of the danger of aggression we can devote more of our resources to the pressing task of development to fulfill our peoples just desire for a better life; non-interference by outside Powers, because externally inspired and supported subversion is still one of the most serious problems confronting the developing countries in Asia.
168.	In the Philippines this particular problem reached a state of extreme gravity last month and impelled President Marcos to invoke the authority vested in him by the Philippine Constitution to proclaim martial law. The President's immediate purpose was to safeguard the Republic of the Philippines from violent overthrow by subversive groups operating with external support. But he has also seized the opportunity to set in train urgently needed measures to eliminate the inequities in Philippine society by means of a thorough reform and restructuring of social, political and economic institutions that had not been sufficiently responsive to the urgent need for social justice. Significantly, one of the very first decisions was to declare the entire Philippines a land-reform area.
169.	The seriousness of the Philippine situation was aggravated by the occurrence last July of the worst flood disaster in Philippine history. Over an area in which the average rainfall was 100 inches, 75 inches of rain fell in one single week, and the rainfall lasted for three weeks, flooding almost the entire vast fertile central plain of Luzon, which is known as the "rice bowl" or "rice granary" of the Philippines. Highly productive rice farms, sugar land, fish ponds, houses, infrastructures and industrial complexes- even the metes and bounds of private property were obliterated or damaged to an extent which may set back our development efforts for three to five years. The flood victims numbered more than 2 million persons out of the disaster area's total population of 7 million; but statistical figures alone cannot really measure the immensity of the human cost of the calamity.
170.	It was in the wake of the widespread material devastation and human suffering caused by that unprecedented flood disaster that the subversive groups in the
Philippines intensified their attempts to sow panic and undermine the conditions of law and order indispensable to effective reconstruction work, leaving President Marcos no alternative but to declare martial law.
171.	At this point, I should like to place on record the profound gratitude of the Government and people of the Philippines for the assistance given to the flood disaster victims which we received from all quarters and not only from Governments with which we have diplomatic relations, but also from countries with which we have not as yet established such relations, such as the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, both of which gave us generous and welcome assistance.
172.	The International Red Cross and its affiliates, true to an old and honored tradition, responded immediately with emergency aid. So did the United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEFJ with its ready supplies, its action-oriented approach, and its wealth of experience in coping with emergency situations. The World Food Program, the Economic and Social Council, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Program [UNDP] also rose admirably to the occasion, and the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator, Ambassador Farouk Berkol, faced with his first major challenge, acquitted himself in commendable fashion and vindicated the wisdom of the Assembly in establishing his Office last year. The Secretariat staff and many individual contributors, in a spontaneous gesture of sympathy, collected a substantial contribution, which the Secretary-General himself transmitted to the Philippine National Red Cross through the Philippine Mission to the United Nations.
173.	I have referred in some detail to the various United Nations agencies that extended assistance to the Philippines in its hour of need, because it illustrates the great constructive potential of the United Nations in assisting countries to cope with natural disasters. The Philippine delegation hopes to enhance this potential with a new proposal, following up the initiative it took at the twenty- fifth session of the General Assembly on the role of the World Meteorological Organization [WMOJ in "discovering ways and means to mitigate the harmful effects of... storms and remove or minimize their destructive potentials". Our new proposal will take the form of a draft resolution entitled "International action on the mitigation of the harmful effects of storms". Its principal aim will be to bring about integrated action through increased cooperation and co-ordination among the WMO, the UNDP and the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator in the field of United Nations natural disaster assistance, particularly the prevention, prediction and control of natural disasters.
174.	We hope that this Philippine proposal will attract a good number of other sponsors and that it will merit the unanimous approval of this Assembly.
175.	Terrorism is on our agenda [item 92], and rightly so. Criminal acts of individuals or groups of individuals against the innocent can never be condoned by the international society, and every possible resource must be mobilized to end and prevent them. Thus, it will be remembered, the
Philippine delegation last year exerted itself particularly in the effort to develop effective means to end the hijacking of aircraft, and the Republic of the Philippines is at present taking extraordinary measures to meet similar threats at home. To the extent that acts of terrorism are irrational and aberrant reactions to resolved international differences, they should now be excused, and must be condemned. But we must at the same time accept the responsibility of renewing our efforts to solve these disputes. We cannot claim to be blameless until we have exerted ourselves to the utmost to solve these disputes.
176.	The United Nations, of course, has an immense potential for constructive work in every field of international activity, and it is one of the most lamentable facts of our time that this potential has never been fully used. The great Powers have never given to the United Nations the full measure of faith and support which it needs and deserves in order to attain the great goals of the Charter. During this general debate this Assembly hall has resounded again and again with commendatory references to vital prospects of detente, historic summit meetings, bold initiatives to inaugurate an era of negotiation in lieu of confrontation, and actual agreements on nuclear weapons control. And all of these, sad to admit, have come to pass outside the United Nations auspices. When it should be playing a central role in the efforts to achieve one of the primary aims of the Charter, the United Nations has been shunted off to to the periphery of major developments in the field of international security.
177.	A great opportunity was missed in the first year of the United Nations, when the great Powers failed to unite in support of the Charter's aims "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" and "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained". They indulged, instead, in the dangerous and sterile cold war.
178.	What a vastly different world we would now have if the great Powers had channeled even a modest portion of the immense resources which they expended on the cold war to the United Nations in order to achieve the Charter's aim "to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom", thereby giving substance to the other primary aim of the Charter: "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small".
179.	Is it still possible for the United Nations to have a second chance to fulfill its function of effectively helping to achieve the goals of the Charter? The latest report of the President of the World Bank Group, Mr. Robert McNamara, suggests that it is almost too late. In his address to the recently concluded meeting of the World Bank Group he said and members of this Assembly should listen carefully to his words:
"With the [Official Development Assistance] only half achieved, the poorer nations have almost no hope of attaining the 6 per cent growth target. That will condemn them to so slow an economic advance over the decade that hundreds of millions of individuals within these countries will be able to detect virtually no improvement whatever in their desperately low standards of living. Their per capita incomes will rise by no more than two dollars a year."
Those are the words of Mr. McNamara. I quote him again:
"Projected to the end of the century only a generation away that means the people of the developed counties will be enjoying per capita incomes, in 1972 prices, of over $8,000 a year, while these masses of the poor... will on average receive less than $200 per capita, and some 800 million will receive less than $100."
In other words, the infamous poverty gap is widening at an accelerated rate and the poor, developing countries are in fact on the verge of living in a global ghetto, with all the ominous implications of such a situation, one of which the President of the World Bank spells out in these fateful words:
"If the rich nations do not act-through both aid and trade to diminish the widening imbalance between their own collective wealth and the aggregate poverty of the poor nations, development simply cannot succeed within any acceptable time frame. The community of nations will only become more dangerously fragmented into the privileged and the deprived, the self-satisfied and the frustrated, the complacent and the bitter. It will not be an international atmosphere conducive to tranquility."
And Mr. McNamara emphasizes: "The developed nations, then, must do more to promote at least minimal equity in the distribution of wealth among nations."
180.	In this context the decline in international cooperation for development has ominous implications not only for the prosperity but also for the prospects of a stable and enduring peace in the world. The decrease, actual and proposed, in the budgetary support of some countries for the United Nations and its family of agencies is discouraging enough. But even more disheartening is the prospect that voluntary contributions of some affluent countries to such vital United Nations agencies as UNICEF and the UNDP may either stagnate or also be reduced.
181.	As one of the "founding fathers" of the United Nations, I sincerely hope that these apprehensions will prove to be groundless. All the great new issues developing in the United Nations underline the undeniable oneness of the human family, the inseparable unity of mankind's destiny on this fragile, finite and vulnerable planet earth.
182.	The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm in June, which achieved great success despite the formidable difficulties it had to overcome, brought home the sobering fact that we have only one earth and that we must act as one community to safeguard and nourish its life-support systems.
183.	The declaration by the Secretary-General on 20 September 1972 that 1974 will be observed as World Population Year is a cogent reminder that the earth's resources are limited and that population planning is indispensable to the preservation of the human species and the enhancement of the quality of life in the world. The Philippine delegation is gratified at the outstanding success of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities in effectively conveying this message and is prepared to give its full support to the World Population Year's program.
184.	The preparatory meetings for the forthcoming conference on the law of the sea pointedly remind us that sea and ocean resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction are part of the common heritage of mankind.
185.	The imperatives of preserving human life and enhancing its quality in a relatively small, crowded earth with finite resources are pushing us inexorably to consider seriously the necessity of subordinating narrow nationalistic self-interest to the larger requirements of mankind. The United Nations is an indispensable instrument in this inherently difficult, perhaps slow, and certainly painful, transition.
186.	The United Nations is here; it is ready and eager to serve; and it is at our disposal. Let us give it a second chance to play the central role in international affairs that the Charter intended for it. As we have repeatedly proposed, let us amend the Charter, if risible, in order to make the United Nations more effective and more responsive to the needs and the problems of today. It is axiomatic that the General Assembly provides the opportunity only for the most general assessment. The kind of deliberate consideration required to a change in the Charter can only take place in a proper body constituted for that purpose. The Government of the Philippines is ready to join in recommending that a proper forum be established by the Assembly for a careful consideration of those specific suggestions which have been made or will be made in more detail by Member Governments and qualified experts. A small but broadly representative body would sift in orderly fashion the various suggestions put forward and develop a picture of the range of agreement which exists. Those suggestions commanding broad support would be acted upon in due time for two major deliberative organs of the United Nations.
187.	Support for a considered examination of the world Organization's Charter and an evaluation of its effectiveness in meeting the new challenges of today has come from widely diverse quarters from Member States large and small. There is a wide-spread commitment to examine with care whatever specific proposals may be advanced. This is true, for instance, of the reply of the United States [ A[8746/Add. 1], a major founding Member, and also true of the vigorous statement made here in this Assembly by the People's Republic of China [2051st meeting], which is the newest major Member of our Organization to assume its seat.
188.	In the meantime, let us make full use of the United Nations as it is and give it our complete support. Now is a propitious time to begin. We have an energetic, perceptive, resourceful President of the General Assembly, who has already shown himself to be worthy of the example set by his most distinguished predecessors, the latest being the eminent Indonesian statesman, Foreign Minister Adarn Malik.
189.	And as the successor of our highly esteemed former Secretary-General U Thant, whose sterling worth is indicated by his success in holding "the most impossible job in the world" for over 10 years, we are most fortunate in having Mr. Kurt Waldheim, a man of outstanding vision, integrity and moral courage. Mr. Waldheim is that rare combination of a man of wisdom and a man of action a Secretary-General who is not afraid to take initiatives, to offer his good offices, to practice quiet diplomacy or to speak out clearly and frankly when in his judgment his duties under the Charter require him to do so. He has our full confidence and support.
190.	To sum up our general debate, each year as we gather here to review the problems and the prospects in international affairs, we cannot help being struck by how radically our world has changed in one year's time. What was seen as tentative and problematical in one year has become the immediate reality of the next. A year ago we were preparing for the conference on the environment in Stockholm. Today, following the enormous success of that conference, we have a new and deeper appreciation of the individuality of the earth's biosphere that thin envelope that alone supports life, not just human life but all life. We have acquired in one short year a more profound under-standing of our fundamental interdependence.
191.	In the political realm, in the relations between nations, we have witnessed a no less astounding and vital leap forward toward accommodation an accommodation which, again, has the same roots, conscious or not, in a growing awareness of the essentially of the interdependence of man if we are to have a viable future at all.
192.	Each of these vital issues seems to illustrate once again how we are moving into an era of collective responsibility for the globe and its peoples. While maintaining the rich cultural heritage and unique individuality of nations and races, we must by conscious effort surmount the narrow parochialism of unilateral national action whenever it impinges on the well-being of the world as a whole. It is in this light that my Government chooses to view each action taken by our world Organization, holding the firm conviction that with each step will come the insight that will guide us yet further in the harmonization of human affairs.