126.	 In this anniversary year the General Assembly of the United Nations is indeed fortunate to have Ambassador Hambro, a man of vast knowledge and intellectual dynamism, at its helm. In this anniversary year, marking the lapse of one quarter of a century in the life of the Organization, the United Nations needs more than ever before the critical outlook and the fresh initiative which we so much hope to find and exercise under his able stewardship,
127.	Twenty-five years are but a small parenthesis in the life of a world organization. But the attainment of the age of 25 years, even in the eyes of the most conservative of laws, signifies also the attainment of majority, of adulthood, and of the age of civic and political responsibility.
128.	So let us take this occasion for a candid auto critique. Let us sincerely appraise the past, for it is only through such an honest appraisal that we can brave the challenges of the future. Let us sincerely see whether the United Nations has shown, now that it has come of age, the adult sense of responsibility expected of reasonable adults. In so doing I am not only adducing a personal argument, but also reflecting the outlook of a disenchanted but determined new Sudan; disenchanted because of the failures of the past, and determined, together with her many sisters and friends, to help realize the hopes of the future.
129.	The United Nations was born 25 years ago out of reaction to war and revulsion to its carnage. Its basic constituent document was meant to chart the path for the establishment of a universal society dedicated to the achievement of peace for every nation and liberty for every man. It was meant to mark an end to the international law of the great, based on zones of influence and balance of power, and replace it by an international code of conduct prevailing over inconsistent domestic legislation and design. But 25 years after the promulgation of the Charter the world of the United Nations continues to be ill-mannered and full of vulgar contradictions. Empires still exist and imperial traces linger. The armadas of the great are still patrolling the high seas under the guise of a self-imposed policeman-ship. Their imperial outposts are still studding the globe in the name of the advancement of liberty and civilization, and this, indeed, is reminiscent of something far beyond the world of the 1940s when the United Nations was born. It is reminiscent of the Roman Empire with the only difference, perhaps, that we are made to deal today with emperors and consuls who are lacking in the grace of Augustus and Cato.
130.	It is here that we have to look for the deficiencies of the Organization, and they are legion. The failure of the United Nations does not lie in the Charter, as many people seem to suggest, but in the lack of allegiance to it. It does not lie in the guiding principles of the Organization, but in the subordination by the big Powers of those principles to their short-term national interests. The United Nations, let us face it, is marginal in the foreign policy formulation of the big Powers, and those of them who support it only see in it an adjunct to their national policy and see in its organs an annex to their overseas chanceries. The recent attitude of the United States Government to the International Labor Organization is but the last case in point.
131.	The collective will that was envisaged in San Francisco had emanated from the Allies' joint effort against fascist tyranny. But that was a short honeymoon. That will withered away to be replaced by new pacts and alliances that virtually torpedoed the authority of the world Organization to maintain peace and security. What was left for the United Nations in this field was the marginal role which was so aptly described by Dag Hammarskjold in his introduction to the twelfth annual report to the General Assembly in October 1957  when he spoke of the United Nations as a modest stepping stone to world society, an imperfect but indispensable instrument of nations working for peaceful world order. Where the national interests of power collide, united nations can find a possibility of acting as a buffer, a stabilizer. The greatest need is to blunt the edges of conflict among nations, not to sharpen them.
132.	So the role of the United Nations, in the words of one of its greatest protagonists, has been reduced to this: an anteroom in which contending gladiators can find a breathing space, a conduit for channeling communication between two adversaries who have ceased to be on talking terms, or a dispenser of face saving formula. And in this neoRoman era of mutual terror even the great Powers are often looking for a face-saver.
133.	All of this represents an abdication of international responsibility by the great Powers, and all of this has led to an erosion of faith by the smaller States in the United Nations and its workings. It is a loss of faith that has amounted in some cases to open contempt and disregard.
134.	The last 25 years may have seen the end of war in Europe and North America, but the rest of the world continues to suffer outrageous fortune, suffocation of human rights, usurpation of territory, and the rape of liberty and independence. This is hardly the universal peace that was conceived in San Francisco.The pessimists among us see, in the cynical attitude of some of the great Powers towards those problems in Africa, Asia and Latin America, a betrayal of a deeper sentiment still envisioning peace as the perpetual peace of Utrecht, a luxury to be enjoyed by the concert of the great in the best tradition of the Abbe Castel de St. Pierre.
135.	To save time and patience I wish to single out of the record two areas of conflict representing today the main sources of international preoccupation; the Middle East and SouthEast Asia.
136.	First, the Middle East; here again the authority and prestige of this Organization is being exposed to a serious challenge that threatens its very effectiveness as an instrument for the maintenance and preservation of international peace and security. We believe that the core of the so-called Middle East question lies in the proper understanding of the essential nature of the Palestinian tragedy.
137.	The question is essentially related to the existence of the Palestinians as a people, and the right of this people to struggle by every means at their disposal to maintain their national identity and exercise their inalienable right to self-determination. The Palestinians are a nation who, in consequence of the joint and persistent collaboration of world imperialism and Zionism, have been physically displaced from their homeland and turned into a scattered nation of refugees living in camps. This is a bitter reality which we have to grasp before we should embark on finding ways and means to solve the problem of the Middle East. The failure of the United Nations in many of its efforts to deal with similar situations is precisely due to its refusal to go into the roots of evil
138.	Only very recently the Lusaka summit conference of nonaligned States, representing more than half of the entire population of the world, reiterated the views expressed by this Assembly in its resolution 2535 (XXIV) of 10 December 1969, and adopted a resolution in which the Conference declared its full respect for the inalienable rights of the Arab People of Palestine in their usurped homeland and reaffirmed its support in their struggle for national liberation and against colonialism and racism, and declared that full respect for the inalienable rights of the Arab People of Palestine was a prerequisite to peace in the Middle East.
139.	As we see it, the Palestinian people have a cause not only recognized by this Assembly, but also by a sizable portion of international public opinion. We know of no freedom-loving people who have withstood humiliation forever, and the Palestinian people are no exception. The heroic struggle waged today by the Palestinian revolutionary movement indicates the degree of the political awakening of a great people who have resorted to arms to face an armed enemy.
140.	On the other hand, Israel still arrogantly insists on the occupation of territories belonging to three States Members of this Organization, thus creating a dangerous situation in the Middle East and constituting a grave threat to world peace.
141.	Various resolutions have been adopted by this Assembly and by the Security Council calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all occupied Arab territories since the June war of 1967. We particularly refer to resolution 242 (1967) adopted by the Security Council on 22 November 1967, providing for the withdrawal of Israeli forces. This resolution still remains unimplemented and will ever remain so as long as the leaders of Israel still boast of their aggression and cherish the dream of reaping its fruits, and so long as they continue to receive the unrelenting support of the United States, both overtly and covertly.
142.	We are firmly convinced that Israel could have never taken this arrogant and defiant attitude had it not been for this continued political, military and economic support accorded to it by the Government of the United States of America. What we expect of a great Power like the United States Government in this conflict is a demonstration of impartiality and a genuine attempt to understand the true nature of the Palestinian people's problem. Without this the desire for establishing a permanent peace in our area will continue to be a remote one.
143.	The concerned Arab countries which have accepted that resolution despite its shortcomings and the unusual circumstances under which it was adopted have displayed a marked degree of moderation and flexibility in their sincere effort to reach an acceptable solution. Contrary to these countries, Israel has persistently obstructed all endeavors to implement this resolution and sought to exploit its shortcomings to achieve its expansionist goals and impose a settlement on the Arab countries tantamount to surrender. But, as the late President Nasser has said, while the Arabs are ready to knock at all doors that may lead to a just and honorable settlement there is one door that they will never knock at and that is the door of capitulation.
144.	We have been waiting to hear some happy tidings from Tel Aviv reflecting a change of heart and only a few days ago [1851st meeting] the Foreign Minister of Israel came before this Assembly to elaborate on the Middle Eastern problem with wit and word. But his speech, eloquent as it may have been, was replete with inexactitudes and distorted through omissions. He asked us to take as a point of reference for his analysis of the problem what he called the still un-forgot ten drama of 1967. But to us and to all fair-minded people the inception of the drama was not in 1967. The history of the Palestinian tragedy goes back to 1948 and beyond. It goes back to the days of the double dealings of Whitehall in the 1930s and the tragic episodes of the 1940s that ensued from it. It goes back to the days of the stealthy usurpation of land through the connivance of British administration. It goes back to the days of the criminal intimidation of which the assassination of Lord Moyne in Cairo and the blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem were but examples. It goes back to the days of the willful extermination of the Arabs in their villages of which the massacre of Deir Yassin was just an episode. It goes back to the days of the physical eradication of the more conscientious and vocal against violence of which the slaying of Count Bernadotte was just a sample. That is our point of reference not to the unforgotten drama of 1967, but to the everliving tragedy of Palestine. And because of this, Mr. Eban did not sound as convincing as he professed to be. More deeds and a genuine change of heart are needed before anybody can even dream of seeing the twilight of the peace depicted by the Foreign Minister of Israel. And till the contrary is proven, we are entitled to rest assured in our belief that peace-loving usurpers are as probable as well meaning burglars.
145.	"The dark side of the world", the Secretary General said almost four years ago, "shows itself in its most abhorrent and dangerous form in SouthEast Asia." He described the war in VietNam as "a war more violent, more cruel, more damaging to human life and prosperity, more harmful to relations among the great Powers and more perilous to the whole world than at any other time during the generation of conflict which that country has known". This war still rages in VietNam and it has been extended to Laos and Cambodia.
146.	The United States Government embarked on that war, and continues its relentless conduct of it, in flagrant disregard of the most vehement opposition from its own citizens and the censure of world public opinion.
147.	The United States war in VietNam violates the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Agreements of 1954 which prohibit any foreign military buildup in VietNam, including the establishment of military alliances. The United States is pursuing this war allegedly in exercise of the right of collective self defense, a pretext that neither satisfies the requirements of Article 51 of the Charter, nor even it if does gives the United States Government the right to destroy civilian settlements and crops by indiscriminate saturation-bombing and the use of chemical weapons.
148.	The United States Government in pursuing such a policy is not only transgressing the principles of the Charter but also betraying the great heritage of the American revolution. I hold many things in this country in great esteem, having been here for a significant length of time, having sat at both ends of a classroom and rubbed shoulders with the better elements of American culture. So it would not b.e presumptuous on my part if I said that it is the greater part of valor if the United States Government heeds the call of the sane elements in this country. It was indeed gratifying the other day to read one of the sober conclusions of Governor Scranton in his report on the campus crisis in which he said:
"The American young believe that their own country has lost its sense of human purpose. They see the IndoChina war as an onslaught by a technological giant upon the peasant people of a small and harmless nation."
149.	The open question today is not whether the United States Government shall abide by the dictates of the Charter but rather whether America shall recapture the spirit of its own revolution.
150.	While evading the living issue of VietNam and Cambodia, the United Nations shamelessly devotes much time, money and effort on the so-called Korean question a remnant of the grim days of the cold war. In Korea, as well as in VietNam, foreign interventions have been justified with reference to the right of collective self-defense. But in the case of Korea the interventionists have acted fraudulently under the flag of the United Nations in the name of assistance to a beleaguered nation. It is time for the United Nations to extricate itself from this ugly predicament. It does not honor this Organization to serve as an alibi for a perpetual foreign occupation. It does not honor the flag of the United Nations to hover over imperial outposts. The question of Korea, in the last analysis, can be solved only by the Korean people themselves. The role of the United Nations is to ensure evacuation of all foreign troops and afford the free atmosphere in which the people of Korea, split and torn against their will and interest, would determine their own future and achieve a much cherished unification.
151.	Twenty-five years after the reaffirmation by the Charter of "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women" the world is still witnessing increasing manifestations of repressions of those ideals. The dream that each may walk in freedom and pride so as to enjoy the fruits of the world is still a scant hope. Practices of discrimination continue to exist and shocking violations of human rights increasingly plague the world.
152.	Here again I do not intend to dwell on the subject in unnecessary detail, leaving the matter to my colleagues in the appropriate Committees, but two questions under this rubric come to the fore and need a special reference: decolonization and racialism.
153.	The United Nations can take pride in its endeavor to help dismantle the old empires. The Charter has reaffirmed beyond equivocation the principle of self-determination of peoples in its opening Article. But that Article continued for too long a time to be a dead letter and the United Nations interest in it continued to be peripheral and academic. The advent of the new Member States in the late 1950s prompted a new initiative and a more radical and liberal interpretation of the Charter. Article 1, paragraph 2, became in effect the launching site of the general offensive against colonialism that culminated in resolution 1514 (XV), the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
154.	But ten years after the adoption of that Declaration the people of the southern part of Africa still have no reason to rejoice. Vast areas are still plagued by the presence of the last of the unjust; Portuguese colonialism supported by a complex military apparatus and NATO weaponry. The steps taken by this Organization to persuade Portugal to desist from its criminal policy and implement resolution 1514 (XV) were only met by a deaf ear on the part of that country. In the face of this Portuguese intransigence, the African peoples had to take to arms with the full and active support of all African countries and peace-lovers outside our continent. No person can deny the right of the oppressed to rise and break their fetters.
155.	As in Portuguese Territories the people of Zimbabwe found themselves integrated in the cruel system of apartheid through the criminal unilateral act of Ian Smith and the complete abandonment by the United Kingdom of its responsibility to act energetically when action was possible. The United Kingdom has failed to use all the means available to it to put an end to the rebellion in Southern Rhodesia and enable its citizens to achieve independence on the basis of one man one vote.
156.	The development of the principles of human rights enunciated in the Charter ensued from the experiences of the gas chambers. For that reason one would expect the postCharter world to be a more wholesome place where the dignity of man is preserved, but, unfortunately, the world is still peopled by some of the vilest specimens of human beings, who advocate the supremacy of race and cherish the logic of the last solution.
157.	The SecretaryGeneral has, some time ago, warned against an impending racial war. I refer here to U Thant's speech before the Algerian National Assembly on 4 February 1964:
"There is the clear prospect that racial conflict, if we cannot curb and finally eliminate it, will grow into a destructive monster compared to which the religious or ideological conflicts of the past and present will seem like small family quarrels. Such a conflict will eat away the possibilities for good of all that mankind has hitherto achieved and reduce man to the lowest and worst bestial level of intolerance and hatred."
158.	U Thant has qualified those who engage in such practices as "the most emotionally backward and most spiritually bankrupt members of the human race". It is with that background in mind that we view the perilous situation in South Africa, which has extended to encompass Namibia, a Territory that has been handed to us in trust.
159.	Men have ceased to hope that Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa will adhere to the dictates of reason. It is time the United Nations realized that halfhearted measures will never put an end to this disgrace to mankind. The United Nations is called upon to use all measures within its power, including those provided for in Article 41, if there is any loyalty left to our obligations under the Charter. The barbarism of Pretoria, the crimes of Lisbon and the bestial callousness of Salisbury would not have been possible were it not for the connivance of London, the cynicism of Paris and the hesitations of Washington. If Africa means anything at all to those countries, then Africa wishes to call upon them to show a genuine support for it in its most sacred war: the war for the dignity of the African man.
160.	The fathers of the United Nations at San Francisco promised us a world organization, and it takes all sorts of people to make a world. What was envisaged at San Francisco was a heterogeneity of composition and homogeneity of will. The failure of the United Nations to achieve that heterogeneity   due to the deliberate and irresponsible disruptive attitude of some of its Members   has curtailed the capacity of this Organization to make peace and come to grips with problems in many parts of the world. The Secretary General was correct in stating at one of his press conferences:
"The greatest impediment to the discussion of the question of VietNam in the United Nations is the fact that more than two parties directly concerned in the question are not Members of the Organization."
161.	The United Nations can no longer continue to close its portals to the people of China, Korea, VietNam and Germany only because of the self righteousness of one of its senior Members.
162.	The People's Republic of China is celebrating today its Twenty-first birthday. The China I refer to is the country that comprises one fourth of the human race, occupies an area larger than that of the United States of America, enshrines within its confine a civilization that has continued longer than any other civilization on this earth, and holds a people with a capacity for sustained effort and industry which is evidenced by their remarkable achievements in technology in the past 20 years.
163.	Do we honestly think that this Organization can establish peace in Asia without China? Do we honestly think that we can achieve disarmament without China? Do we honestly think that the world will take this Organization seriously if it continues to deal with such a major problem in the most frivolous manner, hiding its abdication of responsibility behind diplomatic craft and constitutional artifice? The United Nations, which is now chronologically adult, must behave like a political adult on the China issue. Those who have lost their reason or were made to lose their reason in the past must live up to their international responsibility. They must have learn by now, and at what a price, that the east is red.
164.	If we feel so strongly about the question of China, a country with which my Government entertains the best of relations, we do so particularly in view of the words about new initiatives and reactions. If we want to act, it should be now or never:
"There is a tide in the affairs of men, "Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune". So let us take the current when it serves, lest we not only lose a venture but lose above all our sense of responsibility, our serious-mindedness and our self respect.
165.	This is our record over 25 years behind all the rhetoric of parliamentary, and the rituals of private, diplomacy. It leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth to say that the debit side of the ledger, after all this accounting, leaves one wondering about the moral solvency of the Organization. Our political Organization has even failed to match the ethical standards set and observed by some of its own specialized agencies. The self-righteousness and lack of breadth of outlook on the part of some of the senior Members of the United Nations has left this Organization with a tragic vacuum in moral leadership. We still ask: whither the United Nations?
166.	Allow me, in conclusion, a few minutes to recapitulate my thoughts.
167.	First, the ills of the United Nations lie neither in the Charter nor in the procedure. In the present scheme of things it is highly improbable that a revision of the Charter, even in the unlikely event of its being universally acceptable, would lead to greater effectiveness of the Organization. Similarly, it is not abundantly evident that the United Nations suffers so much from the weight of its cumbersome machinery and amorphous bureaucracy that its effectiveness is impaired.
168.	Second, where the United Nations has failed in its mission, it was essentially due to the subordination of its principles to the interests of its Members, an attitude which represents a serious abdication of international responsibility.
169.	Third, the United Nations cannot hope to realize mankind's dream of universal peace till there is a realization, especially by the major Powers, that the defiant posture of deterrence is ultimately self defeating.
170.	Fourth, in pointing out the dangerously opportunistic attitude of the big Powers, we are not losing sight of some of the bitter facts of international life. We are not calling for the undermining of their power, which is inherent in the Charter; but we are rather underlining a basic jurisprudential maxim which says that for every power there is a correlative responsibility. I hope I am correct in presuming that the United Nations is conceived as a lawful and civilized society rather than an unruly jungle.
171.	Fifth, the great Powers will have to realize also that neither the political nor the jurisprudential concept of power should be construed as giving them sway over other Members. Jurisprudentially, the principle of sovereign equality still holds good, and politically no man is good enough to be another man's master.
172.	Sixth, the logical conclusion of the above arguments requires from all States, big and small, a readiness to coexist and tolerate and respect one another. I say that with particular reference to the wanton references these days to weighted voting and miniStates. Such arguments betray in many quarters a sense of condescend , with undertones of racial and cultural superiority.
173.	Seventh, as a corollary of the reversal of the attitude of subordinating the principles of the Organization to the policies of its Members, the United Nations must be enabled to be truly representative of the interests of mankind. In this connexion, I sincerely believe that the admission of China will help rejuvenate the already hardened veins of this Organization.
174.	It is only then, when all those hopes are achieved, that the United Nations can regain the faith of mankind in its ability to contribute towards the relaxation of international tension.
175.	The hopes of San Francisco are yet to be realized.  Thant was no Cassandra but a wise visionary when he said that the States Members of this Organization had only 10 years to avert a threatening doom. Let us not count the days. Let us instead take courageous and adult steps in this anniversary year to reverse the trend.


1.	 It is my privilege to extend to you once again the warm congratulations of the United States delegation on your election to the Presidency of the twenty-fifth session of the General Assembly. Your country has few peers in the contributions it has made to the work of this Organization. Your father was a leader in the League of Nations, and now, in this session of the General Assembly, you are adding a new chapter in the family tradition. In the United Nations community we have long known you as an able spokesman of your country, as a participant in the life of the United Nations from its very beginning and an authority on the Charter, as a leading scholar and practitioner in international law, and as one whose personal outlook is strongly humanitarian and imbued with hope and determination for a better future. We are indeed fortunate to have you to lead us in this session devoted to the strengthening and improvement of the United Nations.
2.	During this session we shall commemorate with fitting ceremony one of the most creative and hopeful events of this century, the founding of the United Nations twenty-five years ago. It is right that this commemoration should be held. It is far more important, however, that the nations gathered at this session should so act together as to strengthen the United Nations for the future, to ensure that we are closer to "peace, justice and progress" five, ten and twenty-five years hence than we are today. The world is unlikely to care much what we say about the past. It will care a great deal what we do about the future.
3.	The problems the world faces today are no less grave than those it faced twenty-five years ago. Indeed they are in many respects far graver. Unless and until the Members of the United Nations demonstrate their willingness to deal effectively with these problems, the confidence of the world's peoples in the United Nations will remain uncertain and precarious.
4.	In the view of the United States, the most critical international problem today is the same as that which faced the founders of the United Nations: the need to build a reliable framework for peace and security among nations. As President Nixon said in this Assembly a year ago: "... there is no nobler destiny, nor any greater gift that one age could make to the ages that follow, than to forge the key to a lasting peace". [1755th meeting, para. 45.]
5.	In this conviction the United States has sought in the last two years to frame foreign policies which would help to make the international scene less destructively competitive, less strident, more cooperative and orderly. We have sought, in the spirit of the Charter, to pursue peaceful settlement of all conflicts and confrontations, and we have urged others to do likewise.
6.	The most significant of these efforts has been the strategic arms limitation discussions between my country and the Soviet Union. If at last we can check the nuclear arms race, the world will have been helped to move away from its gravest danger and toward new and more rational relationships.
7.	The United States also seeks, through a process of serious negotiation, to ease the tensions that arise from the division of Europe. We have welcomed the efforts of the Federal Republic of Germany to normalize relations with its eastern neighbors; we are seeking in fourPower talks to assure the security and wellbeing of the residents of Berlin; we have joined our NATO allies in proposing exploratory talks on the reduction of forces in central Europe. We hope these efforts will find the Soviet Union and its allies forthcoming.
8.	In VietNam, over eighteen months ago, the United States reversed the trend in American involvement in the war. We began a steady, uninterrupted reduction in the number of our troops. We have made a negotiated peace our highest priority. Although North VietNam has as yet shown no serious intention to negotiate a solution under which the South VietNamese people can freely decide their own future, this remains our goal and we shall not be discouraged in seeking it.
9.	My Government has likewise sought ways to move toward a constructive relationship with mainland China. To this end, we have taken a number of unilateral steps to ease tensions. We are ready at any time to resume the talks in Warsaw.
10.	Finally, nowhere in the world today is there more urgent need to move from confrontation to negotiation than in the Middle East. The legacy of bitterness, hatred and suspicion there contains the seeds of even greater tragedy not only for the Middle East but for the world, unless there is early progress toward reconciliation and peace based on the legitimate interests of all the States and peoples of the region.
11.	As the United Nations community well knows, the United States has made major diplomatic efforts in recent months and weeks to help bring about peace at long last in the Middle East. While recent developments in the area, including the tragic death of President Nasser, have cast a shadow over the high hopes of just a few weeks ago that a beginning toward that goal had been made, those hopes have not been extinguished. For the most part, the guns remain silent along the ceasefire lines. Security Council resolution 242 (1967) stands as a beacon pointing the way to peace, and the parties concerned, in accepting the United States initiative of June, have committed themselves to carry out that resolution in all its parts. Ambassador Jarring is ready to resume his mission whenever conditions permit. We earnestly hope that the parties themselves and all others concerned will now bend every effort to the task of building on the beginning that has already been made.
12.	This will require above all serious steps to restore and strengthen confidence in the integrity of the ceasefire and military standstill agreement along the Suez Canal. It will also require, if negotiations are to move forward, a willingness by the parties to move from their maximum positions on the elements of a realistic and equitable peace settlement. In this spirit, my Government is prepared to contribute to renewed efforts toward peace in the Middle East.
13.	In this anniversary year the United States, like many other Members, has given especially careful thought to means by which the United Nations can be better enabled to fulfill its purposes.
14.	My delegation has listened, and will continue to listen attentively, to the suggestions of others in this regard. In the same spirit the United States will offer proposals, or support the proposals of others, with these objectives among others: first, to put United Nations peacekeeping operations on a firmer and more reliable basis; second, to make the United Nations more effective in the peaceful settlement of disputes; third, to promote new steps in the field of disarmament; fourth, to move closer by peaceful means to the goals of decolonization and human equality; fifth, to support the Second Development Decade; sixth, to help slow down too rapid rates of population growth; seventh, to promote the exploitation of the seabeds and outer space for human benefit; eighth, to organize common action within the United Nations to safeguard the global environment; ninth, to encourage young people from all parts of the world to devote themselves to international service; tenth, to improve the organization, administration and procedures of the United Nations.
15.	If the twenty-fifth General Assembly were to move forward substantially in these directions, this session would indeed rank as one of the most fruitful in United Nations history.
16.	Let me now comment briefly on these points.
17.	We shall all of us on this podium and in the First Committee have much to say during this session about strengthening international peace and security, and about the need to live up to the Charter. This is quite proper. However, what is needed most in this respect is not still more sweeping declarations that merely restate the purposes and principles of the Charter. What is needed is more effective United Nations action on the concrete issues before us, on the Middle East, on United Nations peacekeeping procedures, on means of pacific settlement. Until we demonstrate our willingness to take such effective action, world opinion will continue to be skeptical, no matter what ringing declarations we may make, as to whether the Members of the United Nations are really serious about strengthening international peace and security.
18.	I now come to a subject which should be at the very center of our concern if we wish in fact to strengthen peace and security through the United Nations. I speak of United Nations peacekeeping.
19.	Because the world situation in the past twenty-five years developed differently from what the founders of the United Nations foresaw, it has not been found possible to create forces for the maintenance of international peace and security along the lines laid down in certain articles of Chapter VII. We would hope that at some point the provisions of the Charter designed for enforcement action can be implemented.
20.	In the meantime, however, a modus vivendi has been built up, entirely consistent with the Charter, which has carried out significant and successful peacekeeping operations, sometimes with observers, sometimes with substantial forces, in the Middle East, in Kashmir, in the Congo, in Cyprus and elsewhere. Still it is all too clear that these ad hoc and improvised arrangements need major improvement in several respects if future peacekeeping is to be effective.
21.	The Assembly's Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, under the able and patient leadership of Ambassador Cuevas Cancino of Mexico, has been laboring for nearly two years at the task of developing peacekeeping guidelines. During the past year the United States has put forward concrete proposals for new procedures that would meet the political concerns of all and yet allow United Nations forces to move rapidly to carry out decisions of the Security Council. But the broad agreement that all desire is still lacking.
22.	It is high time however that the General Assembly, in this twenty-fifth anniversary year, demanded significant movement on this problem. It would be a mistake not to move at all until all are agreed to move all the way. There is strong reason and sufficient consensus for some forward movement at this Assembly. The United States will be prepared to join with others in concrete proposals to this effect.
23.	In this connexion we welcome the statement made at Lusaka in the Declaration of the nonaligned countries concerning the United Nations, that measures should be taken at this session of the General Assembly to strengthen United Nations peacekeeping, and we look forward with interest to proposals that may be made by those present at that meeting.
24.	Of course, peacekeeping without peaceful settlement is only an expedient, necessary but incomplete and inconclusive. The most potent preventive of conflict is not machinery but the will of disputing parties to show restraint and a spirit of conciliation, and to persist in peaceful methods until settlement is reached. This is a solemn obligation of every United Nations Member under the Charter, and no nation deserves more honor than those who have lived up to it in spite of every obstacle.
25.	In this past year such peaceful settlements, or major steps towards them, have been recorded in a number of situations which reflect great credit on the statesmanship of those involved. I have in mind, for example, the progress made, with the assistance of the Organization of American States, toward resolving the dispute between El Salvador and Honduras; and also the recent peaceful decision on the future of Bahrain, in which good offices provided by the Secretary General played a major role.
26.	As these cases show, where the will to settle exists, effective machinery can do much to help. This is true of regional organizations, and it is no less true of the relevant organs of the United Nations, above all the Security Council.
27.	In this connexion we have welcomed the Security Council's decision [see 1544th meeting] as proposed by Finland, to hold periodic high-level meetings under Article 28 of the Charter. My country looks forward to taking part in the first such meeting later this fall. We welcome likewise the valuable suggestion of Brazil committees of the Council, including the parties to a dispute, might be created to help settle particular disputes.
28.	To the same end, the United States would favor the reactivation of certain machinery for peaceful settlement which has long been dormant. Many years ago the General Assembly created a Panel on Inquiry and Conciliation [resolution 268 (III)], and more recently a register of fact-finding experts. My Government will soon nominate qualified individuals for both of these bodies. We believe fact-finders should be available to the Secretary General or other organs of the United Nations, or directly to Member States, to report on the facts of situations of international concern at the request or with the consent of one or more of the parties.
29.	Finally, it is most important that we rejuvenate and strengthen the highest organ of judicial settlement, the International Court of Justice. The United States recently joined with others in the Security Council in referring to the Court for its advisory opinion certain aspects of the Namibia situation. We have also joined with others in submitting to this General Assembly an agenda item calling for a review of the role of the Court. We hope this review will suggest ways to enable the Court to make a more substantial contribution to the establishment of the rule of law among nations.
30.	The world has witnessed in recent weeks shocking examples of the consequences of failure to abide by this rule of law examples which have been alluded to by numerous previous speakers on this podium. Hundreds of innocent individuals engaged in peaceful international travel have been brutally seized as hostages in a conflict in which they were in no way involved. Not only their safety and convenience have been placed in jeopardy but their very lives. As President Nixon pointed out in this forum a year ago, this issue "involves the interests of. . . every air passenger and the integrity of that structure of order upon which a world community depends" [1755th meeting, para. 74].
31.	That this view is widely shared is evident from the almost universal condemnation of these most recent acts by Governments the world over and by the resolution on this matter adopted unanimously by the Security Council [286 (1970)]. But condemnation is not enough. It is time to act. The Tokyo Convention, providing for the prompt return of hijacked aircraft passengers and crew, requires the broadest international support. The same is true of the International Civil Aviation Organization's draft multilateral convention for the extradition and punishment of hijackers. In addition, the United States has submitted new proposals to the ICAO, for which I urge your most earnest consideration and support.
32.	The General Assembly's extensive annual debates and resolutions on many aspects of arms control and disarmament have long played, and continue to play, an important part in international negotiations on this most critical of all our problems. I need only mention the partial nuclear test-ban Treaty,  the outer space Treaty [resolution 2222 (XXI)] and the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)]. The disarmament conference at Geneva has this year registered significant progress by achieving wide consensus on a draft treaty to prohibit the emplacement of weapons of mass destruction on a vast area of the earth's surface the seabed beneath the oceans.  We hope this draft treaty will be supported by the General Assembly at this session and opened for signature shortly thereafter.
33.	I can assure the Assembly that the United States Government is unceasingly aware of the worldwide concern and need for an end to the arms race and the perilous burden of armaments in all its forms, and that we shall do whatever one negotiating partner can do to bring about new agreements on new steps toward the ultimate goal of general and complete disarmament.
34.	Permit me to say a word about a matter of quite different but equally wide concern that of human rights throughout the world.
35.	In addition to the basic responsibility of Governments to maintain human rights for all their citizens, the United Nations under the Charter has a clear responsibility in this regard. To strengthen the implementation of that responsibility my Government hopes the General Assembly at this session will create a new post, that of High Commissioner for Human Rights, to advise United Nations organs in this field and to assist States, at their request, with human rights problems. This proposal has been thoroughly studied and fully justified. It deserves a high priority at the twenty-fifth session of the General Assembly.
36.	A particular issue of human rights that is of acute concern to my Government, among others, is the protection of the rights of prisoners of war. While these rights have long since been internationally guaranteed, they are in practice still denied to many prisoners of war, as American wives and families of such prisoners know to their great sorrow. The United States strongly hopes that this Assembly will press for worldwide observance of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, verified by impartial inspection. It is intolerable that the tragedy of armed conflict should be compounded by additional inhumanities in violation of international norms.
37.	In no field have the aims of the United Nations found more dramatic fulfilment during its first quarter of a century than in the field of decolonization. Before the Second World War a third of mankind lived in colonial dependencies. Today the proportion is less than 1 per cent. A revolution of independence has created some sixty new nations and has been the main factor in increasing the membership of the United Nations from 51 to 126.
38.	However, the situation in much of southern Africa is still characterized by the denial of self-determination and of racial equality. The United Nations and its member States must continue to exert peaceful efforts to defend and advance these basic human rights of the peoples concerned. Their cause is just and must in time prevail.
39.	Against these evils the United States in recent months has taken further steps. We put into effect last May a new policy designed to discourage United States investment in, and trade with, Namibia so long as South Africa remains in unlawful occupation. We urge other Governments to join us in this policy. My Government continues strictly to observe resolutions in regard to sanctions against the illegal regime in Rhodesia and in regard to the sale of arms to South Africa. We have closed our consulate in Salisbury. We shall continue in every peaceful and practicable way to pursue the ends of justice, equality and self determination.
40.	High on the list of the United Nations contributions to human progress is its longstanding effort to assist in comprehensive global development. That effort is being continued and, we hope, improved and strengthened through the launching of the Second United Nations Development Decade.
41.	The success of the Decade will depend most of all on the policies of Member States, both developed and developing. To bring all these policies into effective focus is the ambitious aim of the development strategy. The United States strongly supports the strategy which is before this Assembly [A/7982, para. 16] and intends to participate fully in this common enterprise.
42.	I wish to leave no doubt of the serious commitment of the United States to the Second Development Decade. President Nixon, in a series of policy decisions and especially in his recent announcement on the new focus of United States economic assistance, has made clear our intention:
(a)	To reverse the downward trend in United States development assistance;
(b)	To increase substantially United States contributions to multilateral development institutions including the World Bank, the International Development Association, the regional development banks and the United Nations Development program so that, as the capabilities of these institutions increase, we may be able to channel through them most of our official development assistance;
(c)	Further to encourage the efforts of donor nations to "untie" their bilateral aid to developing countries from the obligation to import products of the donor country;
(d) To bring United States science and technology more effectively to bear on the problems of development, and for this purpose to create a new United States International Development Institute;
(e) To take new steps to stimulate American private investment in developing countries within the framework of the developing countries' plans.
43.	These approaches are already reflected in the new policies my country has announced toward Latin America and Africa, which stress continued assistance, greater multilateral participation, and increased trade and investment.
44.	Finally, bearing in mind the crucial connexion between trade and development, the United States is pressing for a liberalized system of generalized tariff preferences for products of developing countries, with preferential access to the American market, and we are urging that the developing countries receive similar access to the markets of all developed countries.
45.	I wish to add a particular comment on the role of the United Nations Development program. This program, in cooperation with the specialized agencies, has done important pioneering work in development assistance. Its machinery, however, was built for a smaller program and must be reorganized to meet its growing responsibilities. With the aid of last year's excellent "capacity study" ,  the program is now preparing to put the necessary reforms into effect. In planning our future contributions to this important program we in the United States will give major weight to the progress actually achieved in undertaking these reforms.
46.	In recent years people all over the world have suddenly awakened to the inexorable and tragic fact that excessive population growth can, if continued much longer, frustrate all our hopes for peace, justice and progress. There can be no progress for the majority of mankind if population growth outstrips all available means of development. There can be no justice for the majority of mankind where population expands faster than production and social services. There can be no peace for the majority of mankind where progress and justice are unattainable because of unrestrained population growth.
47.	This is not a problem confined to either developed or developing countries. In my own country, although our growth rate has recently slowed to about 1 per cent a year, we have adopted as a national goal the availability within five years of family planning services to every citizen.
48.	Clearly, the need is equally urgent in many nations striving for development whose annual population growth in some cases approaches 4 per cent which means a doubling of the number of people in less than twenty- years. The care and feeding of such enormous numbers of dependent children, their upbringing in conditions compatible with human dignity, could constitute such a burden as to nullify progress in economic development and to cause living standards to remain at past low levels or even to fall lower.
49.	The United States is convinced that the vigorous pursuit of family planning policies is an indispensable element in the strategy of development. In this conviction we have pledged this year $7.5 million to the recently established United Nations Fund for Population Activities, whose services to requesting Governments are rapidly growing.
50.	In the context of development I wish also to emphasize the enormous potential of the world's deep seabeds, whose exploitation is just now beginning to come within the reach of our technology.
51.	Last May President Nixon, in a far-reaching announcement concerning the oceans, proposed that an international regime be established by treaty for the exploitation of seabed resources beyond the depth of 200 meters. He further proposed that this regime "should provide for the collection of substantial mineral royalties to be used for international community purposes, particularly economic assistance to developing countries". Early in August the United States circulated in the United Nations seabed Committee  a draft convention [A/8021, annex V], embodying these and other important proposals in the President's announcement.
52.	These proposals, if carried out, will amount to a new departure in the history of nations. Never in history has the exploitation of resources of such great potential value been placed under the supervision and regulation of an effective international authority. Never in history has assurance been offered that the international community could have a substantial, independent source of revenue to be equitably divided to serve the interests of mankind as a whole.
53.	The United States hopes that the twenty-fifth session of the General Assembly will advance this important enterprise so that a sound and workable international seabed regime, backed up by effective machinery, can come into being as soon as possible. To this end it is important that States refrain from making further claims to jurisdiction over the seabeds or over the waters of the oceans. We believe that a conference on subjects related to the law of the sea, including seabeds, should be called as soon as practicable and that preparatory steps should be initiated by this session of the General Assembly.
54.	I come now to an issue of critical and rapidly growing importance the protection of the human environment. Development and protection of the environment are not mutually contradictory; indeed, they must go hand in hand if the world is to be a fit place in which to live. The United Nations is in a key position to foster the necessary cooperation so that the needs of the environment, as well as those of development, receive the energetic attention they require.
55.	Already the plans for the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 have begun to take shape and have helped to focus the attention of United Nations Member Governments on this worldwide challenge; but we should not wait for the Stockholm Conference before launching necessary initiatives.
56.	Therefore the United States urges that all of us here, representing both developed and developing countries, work together to enable the United Nations to take the following steps. Firstly, it should identify those environmental problems, especially those pollutants in the atmosphere and the oceans, which are or may be dangerous on a global scale. Second, it should make plans for a coordinated world monitoring network to keep track of these environmental dangers. This network should build on existing programs, particularly those of the agencies of the United Nations family, and should use the most advanced data processing and satellite technology, such as the earth resource survey satellites which my country has been developing. Third, it should collect and analyze the suggestions of governments concerning environmental guidelines for States, both developed and developing, as well as for international institutions engaged in development programs. Fourth, it should explore the possibility of establishing international air and water quality standards. The United States hopes the Assembly at this session will act to advance those important objectives.
51. A newly acute problem which threatens a growing number of societies is the epidemic spread of addiction to dangerous drugs, especially among young people. This phenomenon has mushroomed in a very few years, not only in my own country but in a number of others, both developed and developing. It creates untold misery, violence, lawlessness and economic and human loss.This menace must be stopped. To do so it will be necessary to reinforce existing international agreements and to strengthen the longstanding and excellent work of agencies in this field, especially those of the United Nations. We are glad to note that the Commission on Narcotic Drugs is meeting now to deal with the whole range of problems involved, from the poppy field through the international syndicate to the needle in the vein. My Government hopes that an adequate action program will emerge from this process and will command the energetic support of the community of nations. The United States has already offered, subject to Congressional approval, a contribution of $2 million to such a program.
58.	Finally, it is important that we make better use of the talents of young people in international service, especially the service of the United Nations. Many delegations to this session, including that of the United States, contain youthful members as suggested by the General Assembly a year ago. That is entirely fitting, because the fate of the United Nations and indeed of world peace will soon be in their hands.
59.	With that in mind President Nixon, in his address to this Assembly a year ago [1755th meeting], pledged the enthusiastic support of the United States for Iran's proposal to establish an international volunteer service corps [see 1695th meeting, para. 75], to work in the cause of development and to be recruited on an individual basis from the people, principally young people, of many countries. We hope that proposal will be given final approval in the current session. We hope also that the United Nations will seek new ways to encourage able young people to find careers in its Secretariat and those of the other agencies of the United Nations family.
60.	In these remarks I have discussed only a few of the major tasks facing the United Nations in the years ahead. Even those, however, are enough tc make it obvious that, if we indeed address ourselves to such tasks, the effectiveness of this Organization will be tested more severely than ever. To meet this test we shall have to be far more attentive than has been our habit to many matters of structure, organization and procedure. For example, I would mention the following.
61.	In considering applications for membership by very small States, we must make sure that they are not only willing but also, as the Charter stipulates, able to carry out the Charter's obligations. As the Secretary General has for years pointed out, many Territories now moving towards independence are too small, either in population or in resources or both, to carry out the minimum obligations which membership requires. Yet these very small entities need more than most the assistance that the United Nations system can provide. Where the burden of membership would be excessive, we should provide a form of association with the United Nations which would enable such States to enjoy the benefits without the burdens of the system.
62.	The persistence of the United Nations financial deficit undermines confidence in the Organization, threatens its capabilities in many fields and casts a cloud over its future. The United States welcomes the Secretary General's recent call for "a concerted effort to restore the financial solvency of the Organization". We hope that he will himself take a lead in such an effort, in which we shall certainly play our part.
63.	In the annual choice of non-permanent members of the Security Council, it would be well that, as the Charter requires, due regard be specially paid, in the first instance, to the prospective member's contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security, rather than merely to rotation among the members of geographic groups.
64.	The primary consideration in selecting individuals for posts in the Secretariat, above all for senior posts, should be fully to meet the Charter's "paramount consideration" namely "the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity".
65.	We must at long last take decisive steps to streamline the excessively time-consuming organization and procedures of the General Assembly, as Canada has wisely proposed, or else we shall either "drown in a sea of words" or suffocate under an avalanche of paper.
66.	We must take more effective measures to ensure that the entire United Nations system is so organized and managed that it responds efficiently to the directives of its governing organs and to the priority needs of the world. That will require much better administrative and budgetary coordination and control than we have yet achieved.
67.	The United States offers these suggestions in the spirit of the twenty-fifth anniversary session, which we understand to be a spirit of sober determination to make this Organization more effective, to make its future more responsive than its past to the imperative needs of men, women and children everywhere. Many other delegations have offered or will offer their proposals in the same spirit. The test of our seriousness and our success will be how much of this agenda of objectives we can begin to carry out.
68.	We are assembled from the four corners of the earth. The interests of the Governments we speak for often seem to be and sometimes are in contradiction. But by our presence here, by our commitment to the United Nations and its Charter, we have acknowledged that we also have interests in common, interests in peace, justice and progress, interests in the continued habitability of our planet, common interests which we are at last beginning to recognize are inescapable and overriding.
69.	The question now is, do we have the wit not only to perceive these common interests in some vague rhetorical way, but also to act upon them together realistically and decisively even at the cost sometimes of older and narrower interests? If we do not do so, history may sweep aside not only this Organization but also the nations that compose it.
70.	The SecretaryGeneral has said that we may have only ten years left to cope effectively with the problems of our times before they become so staggering as to be beyond our capacities. As we enter the Disarmament Decade and the Second Development Decade, let us keep that warning foremost in our minds and let us be determined to act together to avert catastrophe.


1.   Mr President, my delegation has already extended to you from this rostrum its warm congratulations on your election as President of this session of the General Assembly and has assured you of its co-operation at all times. I wish to associate myself with those remarks and extend to you my personal congratulations and good wishes.
2.	This Assembly is no ordinary Assembly. It marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and is a significant milestone in the story of the international community. It is a time for looking forward and a time for looking back. We must look back at the past quarter of a century to identify the successes and failures, to examine where our procedures have been sound and where we have been misguided, to recognize where we have tried too hard and where not enough, and to assess the correctness of our priorities, emphasis and direction. The information we derive from this necessary process of introspection must be carefully weighed so as to enable us to produce a sound program for the future attention of the Organization, one that will help it to achieve its most important aims more effectively.
3.	On looking back, the unfortunate but unavoidable conclusion is that the achievements of the Organization have not matched the high hopes of its founders. A crisis of confidence has been experienced by Members and even noted by the Secretary-General. Dissatisfaction with the lack of progress by the Organization is
reflected in the call from many quarters for a revision of the Charter with a view to improving the effectiveness of the Organization as an instrument for promoting peace and international security.
4.	It is understandable that this prescription for the maladies of the Organization should appeal to some, but it seems to my Government that treatment of this kind would be misdirected; we should be attempting to cure a symptom instead of the disease. Despite its imperfections, it is not the Charter which is basically at fault, but the lack of will on the part of Members to apply it constructively. Chapter I of the Charter embodies the highest common denominator of the aspirations of the peoples of the world acting in community; but when Member States have participated in the proceedings of organs created by the Charter, they have generally acted as individuals, promoting their own or narrow sectional interests only. The rights, interests and sensitivities of other States have been relegated to a position of subordinate importance, and this has given rise to friction between nations, and the dissemination, even by the Secretariat, of political propaganda directed against Member States. This pattern of behaviour of States diverges fundamentally from the vision of the architects of San Francisco, who would "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". The conclusion to which we are drawn is that in order to enable the world body more effectively to fill the role it was originally designed to play in world affairs, Member States must return to the spirit of San Francisco. My Government believes that this is the first essential step towards restoring the authority and prestige of the United Nations. The second is that States should honor the letter and the spirit of the existing Charter, being guided by the broadly defined purposes and principles set out in Chapter I.
5.	It has been said, increasingly of late, that the United Nations is merely a mirror of the realities of the existing world situation. There is no disputing that. Nations tend to reach decisions, and act, outside the framework of the United Nations, according to the dictates of self-interest, and then to seek to justify their actions in this forum, or, alternatively, to find a scapegoat to divert attention. In that way Member States have tended to neglect their individual responsibilities.
6.	By signing the Charter, Member States undertook, for instance, to strive for the creation of the conditions of stability and well-being which are essential for peaceful and friendly relations among nations. Article 55 of the Charter deals with that aspect. The creation of these conditions is a responsibility which falls primarily within the sphere of action of individual States, which should ardently pursue the goals of economic and social development and the well-being of their own peoples. Signatories of the Charter, however, have also committed themselves to act, in their relations with one another, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter, and they have thereby accepted a responsibility vis-a-vis other States and their peoples. Membership has, therefore, brought with it both domestic and international obligations.
7.	It is the appropriate time for Members to take stock of their domestic and international achievements, measured against the standard of the Charter. I am not suggesting that the United Nations should take upon itself the task of weighing up the achievements and/or failures of any particular State or States, a course which would be in violation of the provisions of the Charter. I am suggesting rather that Member States should themselves, in this anniversary year, in the spirit of Article 56 of the Charter, direct their inquiring scrutiny at their own achievements over the past 25 years. It is not merely the question of where they stand today that is relevant, but also of where they are today in comparison with 1945. Accordingly, States should first assess their progress domestically in the fields referred to in Article 55. They might ask themselves to what extent they have succeeded in promoting higher standards of living, full employment, conditions of economic and social progress and development and respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms among their own peoples. Secondly, they should consider whether in their behavior towards others they have acted, and are continuing to act, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter.
8.	As for my own Government, we know that much remains to be done in the future. But I am glad to say also that much has been accomplished in the past 25 years. The general advancement on all fronts of our diverse peoples has been such that their well-being in 1970 certainly exceeds the most optimistic expectations of 1945. We, therefore, are satisfied that we are making significant headway in acquitting ourselves of our commitment under Article 55 of the Charter. Let there be no doubt that we are as concerned as any other State about the realization of the objectives expressed in that Article. We are furthermore satisfied that we shall continue to make progress in the manner which is best suited to, and is dictated by, "the particular circumstances" existing in the area under our jurisdiction to borrow a phrase from Article 73 of the Charter.
9.	Article 55 emphasizes respect for the right of self- determination of peoples. This does not mean that in multinational countries or groupings, one group or nation which happens to be in the majority should be allowed, in the exercise of its right of self- determination, to deprive other numerically smaller nations of the same right. Accordingly, in the exercise of self-determination in such multinational countries, the history and diversity of the peoples living there should be taken fully into account.
10.	South Africa is a multinational country. Our population does not consist of only two elements, a black nation and a white nation. It is composed, in fact, of a white nation and several non-white nations or peoples and the distinction between them is based on the fact that their language, culture, history and traditions differ from one another as markedly as day does from night. In other words the distinction is not based solely on race or colour. We believe that in applying the principle of self-determination, the rights of each of these nations should be preserved. Since 1948, when it first came to power, my Government has actively promoted self-determination for those of our peoples not yet enjoying it, on this basis.
11.	Today all peoples in South Africa possess self- government in varying forms and at various levels of development. Most of our black African peoples, for instance, already have their own legislative and executive assemblies, or councils, with the necessary administrative departments. The Xhosa people of the Transkei were the first to receive a modern parliament and their own Government after their first general election was held in 1963. During the past two years no fewer than eight new territorial Governments have been established with their own legislative and executive councils and with approximately 50 state departments already under their control. In this process of evolution towards independence the peoples of each of these territories have acquired a representative and responsible Government which is actively engaged in planning their own future and preparing them for independence in co-operation with the South African Government, in a peaceful and orderly manner.
12.	On the 15th of last month, in the South African Parliament, my Prime Minister restated government policy in that respect. He reaffirmed that our policy does not constitute a denial of human dignity and added that while he claimed for himself the right of maintaining his identity as a white person, he also conceded to every non-white nation living in South Africa the right to its own identity. He continued as follows:
"Here in South Africa a Bantu person has never got into trouble for having requested and demanded self-determination for his people. Quite the contrary! We are in fact guiding them along the road to self- determination; we are in fact preparing them for self- determination; we are in the process of training them and making them and their land receptive to self- determination. If honorable members or the outside world ask me when it will happen that they go their own way, I can merely reply once again that this Parliament has passed certain legislation and that any black nation is at liberty to come to this Parliament and say that the time has arrived for it to go its own way. This Government, or whatever other Government may be in power, will deliberate and negotiate with that nation.
"I want to make the principle very clear: if there is a desire to hold discussions, we shall be obliged and ready to enter into such discussions. It stands to reason that we would prefer these discussions to be deferred until greater development has taken place in those black territories so that they may be more viable and better prepared to stand on their own feet. But it is by no means my intention to make it a condition that they must be viable before they have the right to approach us. This is their inalienable right, which they can exercise tomorrow if they so desire."
13.	After the black peoples of South Africa have attained independence we shall not desert them. We shall continue to assist them in a spirit of good neighborliness. We shall continue to co-operate with them to our mutual advantage and, in the nature of things, on a much larger scale than we are already doing in the case of our other newly independent African neighbors. In the long term this political development could lead to a commonwealth of independent peoples and States, living side by side on a basis of sovereign equality. They will continue to be inter-dependent economically, but there will be no domination of any one people or any one State by others.
14.	To the skeptics who may still refuse to believe in the feasibility or practicability of the program I have outlined perhaps because of the size and economic viability of the Territories or homelands we are leading to independence let me say this: the populations of the Territories in question range between 300,000 and 3.5 million, populations which exceed those of many States which belong to this Organization and are represented here today. Their areas, too, exceed the areas of many Members of the United Nations. The gross national income of several of those Territories compares more than favorably with that of some Member States. Moreover, South Africa itself has one of the strongest and fastest developing economies in the entire world. In the light of our economic interdependence and our commitment to regional co-operation, economic stability in southern Africa will be guaranteed and development in all fields assured.
15.	Against that background we do not believe that we can legitimately be accused of denying the peoples of South Africa the right of self-determination. As I have said, our whole policy is aimed at avoiding domination of any one people or any one State by others. It is designed to enable each nation, while maintaining its identity, to realize its own ambitions to the full. That surely is the essence of self-determination.
16.	Apart from the right of self-determination, there are other equally important basic rights. Almost three decades ago President Roosevelt outlined his four "freedoms" which are today no less important than they were then. In those, and other fields mentioned in Article 55 of the Charter, substantial progress has been made in my country. Freedom of religion and speech, the liberty of the person, inviolability of person and property and free access to courts of impartial justice are assured. But here, too, the rights of the individual must not be exercised in such a way as to deprive others of that same right. Hence, those rights can be enjoyed only within the framework of an ordered and peaceful society. Only in such a society can high standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and educational progress and development be realized for the individual human being.
17.	Other freedoms are related to the fundamental needs of man, for example, freedom from poverty and want and the need for health, education and other social services. Freedom from poverty and want is directly related to economic advancement. It is significant in this respect that the real per capita income of South Africa rose by 66 per cent during the 20 years from 1949 to 1969. As regards other services, we have implemented an education program which will within one generation eliminate illiteracy and which provides opportunities for a university education to increasing numbers of students of all races; we have opened up avenues of technical instruction for non-white persons in all fields; we have established and staffed Africa's most outstanding hospitals and heavily subsidized them, so that black African patients are charged a single fee of 70 United States cents irrespective of the complexity of the treatment they receive or the period they remain in hospital; we have built 600,000 houses in 20 years, 400,000 of which were for black African persons.
18.	We do not claim that in the pursuit of the ideals set out in Article 55 we have reached the stage where we can be self-satisfied. We do not claim to be perfect; but neither are we hypocrites. We acknowledge the common ideals and aspirations of mankind and we have formulated our policies accordingly. We recognize the problems that we have to overcome; we do not, however, criticize others for their shortcomings, for we realize that no State can be perfect. But many others do not hesitate to condemn our policies on moral and practical grounds. These charges are, however, completely unfounded. How can a system be wrong which leads peoples to self-determination and enables and assists them in maintaining their national identities; which provides them with higher social, educational and economic standards that can be attained anywhere else on the continent; which prepares them for independence by providing them with technical assistance and administrative support, thus creating opportunities for all of them to gain valuable experience in the art of government at various levels; which guarantees security for all by avoiding a struggle for power between non-white and white in South Africa and also between competing and traditionally hostile African nationalisms? In the light of the realities of the world today and of the substantial progress we have made in South Africa in the field of human uplift and in the light of the premises and objectives of our policies as I have described them, I feel that the record of South Africa can be measured honorably against the ideals set out in the Charter.
19.	I now wish to refer briefly to the wider field of the individual Member's responsibility. Here it is the duty of Member States to reflect to what extent each of them, individually, has adhered to the basic purposes and principles of the Charter. Without this, all our efforts to promote the moral and social welfare of our peoples would be in vain. These provisions impose a duty on Member States not only towards their own peoples but also towards other States and their peoples. I wish to refer to only three of these provisions, which in present circumstances cannot be sufficiently emphasized: first, the call to the United Nations to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of the purposes and principles of the Charter; secondly, the call to all Members to settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and, thirdly, as a corollary to this, the call to all Members to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State.
20.	Unless Members, individually and collectively, are willing to apply these provisions in their daily relations with others, there can be little hope of achieving the ideals of the Charter, of making a reality of the better world envisaged in 1945.
21.	My Government, for its part, has made it clear time and again that we base our relations with other States, first, on acceptance of the rule of nonintervention in their internal affairs; and secondly, on acceptance of the principle that differences of political systems are no bar to peaceful coexistence and friendly relations.
22.	We are of Africa. It is in this continent, especially in the southern region, that our destiny lies. We believe it to be in everyone's interest that all the countries of the region should develop and prosper, that the real enemies of Africa disease, ignorance, poverty and misery should be conquered.
23.	It is of cardinal importance, moreover, that the security and stability of this region should be preserved. We are therefore dismayed to note the emphasis being placed in various United Nations bodies on the use of force as a means for attaining political objectives in southern Africa.
24.	The strengthening of international security and the preservation of peace and order throughout the world is a major preoccupation of the United Nations this year. How can these aims be reconciled with resolutions not only condoning but actually encouraging the use of force in an area of the world where it is least likely to solve any problems? It should not be necessary for me to point out that it cannot be in the interest of any of the peoples of southern Africa to have the stability and security of the region shattered, for without stability and security the future progress and prosperity of the region are in jeopardy. I wish to state in this connexion that I welcome the stand which the Secretary-General took in a statement a fortnight ago against subversive activities and interference in the internal affairs of other nations.
25.	My Government has been obliged to take cognizance of the growing threat to the southern African region and it has a duty to ensure the security of its peoples. Having said this, I must emphasize, however, that South Africa has no aggressive designs. Indeed, any form of aggression is foreign to our history, our traditions, our outlook and our policy.
26.	Two weeks ago, my Prime Minister reminded Parliament of his statement on assuming office four years ago that the independent black States on the borders of the Republic had no cause to spend a single cent on arms for their own defense since they knew that South Africa would not attack them and that they had nothing to fear from us.
27.	Certain States persist, however, in questioning our good faith. In these circumstances my Prime Minister stated that he was prepared to negotiate a non- aggression treaty with any African State, whether that State was an immediate neighbor or was situated further away, such as Zambia, the United Republic of Tanzania and other States in Africa. He added that he was prepared to take the initiative in negotiating a non-aggression treaty of this nature.
28.	From this rostrum I wish to invite other African States to give serious consideration to my Prime Minister's offer to conclude non-aggression pacts with them. It is our earnest hope that they will respond positively to this gesture. For my part, I shall be happy to discuss the matter further with representatives of any other African States who may be interested in our proposal or who may wish to have further information about it.
29.	We have heard a great deal in the last 12 months of the Lusaka Manifesto.1 If the spirit which this Manifesto has been said to symbolize does indeed reflect a genuine desire on the part of the African States to find a peaceful solution to the problems of Africa, one might have expected my Prime Minister's initiative to have been welcomed. This unfortunately has not so far been the case. I note with disappointment, indeed surprise, that certain African States have already rejected our offer. I hope very much that they will reconsider their attitude, for I know of nothing more that South Africa can do or say to convince them that any fears they may have of aggressive intentions on our part are totally unfounded. I trust, however, that if they should persist in spurning our offer they will at least refrain from accusing us of aggressive designs in future, for continued accusations of this sort cannot be reconciled with a rejection of a non-aggression pact.
30.	For our part, we are firmly resolved to pursue policies which will contribute to the maintenance of peace and the solution of the urgent problems which will face Africa in the years ahead. We would welcome co-operating with others in this great and challenging task. The Charter enjoins us to practice tolerance and to co-operate with one another. Surely in this commemorative year it is for us to respond positively. Let us all, therefore, rededicate ourselves to the ideals of the Charter and resolve to work together to achieve greater understanding and a better future for all mankind.