It is hardly possible to take part in this opening debate of the seventh session of the General Assembly without referring first of all to the armed conflict which has engaged the attention of the whole world since 25 June 1950. Since that sad and fateful day, there have been two sessions of the General Assembly of the Organization which was created at San Francisco, and the third one is now beginning. But the conflict still goes on, claiming thousands of victims, destroying homes and engulfing vast material wealth. It was thought that the good sense of the Powers which fought the war against the Axis Would suffice to create a world with more security and less fear. But Korea in flames belies this hope and mankind is more than ever a prey to fear.
125. We must not allow the routine of these international assemblies, with their inevitable ceremony and their still more inevitable flood of speeches, to banish or weaken our understanding of the real meaning of this tragedy. The war in Korea goes on. We must return again and again to this simple and terrible fact and ponder its challenge to the conscience of our civilization and to the principles set forth in the Charter.
126. The United Nations did its best to meet its responsibilities in this emergency. The aggression was recognized and condemned by the competent organs of the United Nations and, although the concurrence of one of the permanent members of the Security Council was lacking throughout, the machinery for collective action was put into operation to repel the attack and to re-establish peace and security in the troubled area. An overwhelming majority of nations, both great and small, gave both moral and material assistance, as far as they were able within the limits of their capacities, their means and their resources, to the action undertaken by the Security Council. It is true that it has not been possible to achieve our purposes fully, but there have been definite results of practical value and of supreme moral value. In the first place, the United Nations has almost unanimously condemned the aggression ; secondly, a great many of its Members are giving effective material assistance; thirdly, the system of collective security has been put to the test for the first time and the world now knows what action to take in similar cases. .
127. When the permanent representative of the USSR made his statement of 23 June 1951 in New York, millions of people believed that peace was in sight in Korea and that an armistice would be possible. Nevertheless, the negotiations at Panmunjon have gone on for more than a year and there has been no end to the conflict. For several months, now, the question of the exchange of prisoners of war has been the root cause of an apparently insuperable deadlock. Yet the delegation of Paraguay still believes that it is possible to find a compromise formula which will take into account the legal, human and moral aspects of the problem. As regards the second aspect, Paraguay recognizes the justice of the principle that the wishes of prisoners who do not want to be repatriated should be respected, for that principle is based on natural law. The world is entitled to hope that, by the acceptance of this principle, the final obstacle will be removed and that we shall be able to achieve an honourable armistice; the United Nations has already made as many concessions as it can to that end without abandoning its principles. The end of the Korean war would lead to a rapid relaxation of international tension and to the creation of an atmosphere far more favourable to progress and the solution of the most important problems affecting world peace than that prevailing at present,
128. The Collective Measures Committee, which was set up by the Assembly at its fifth session under the "Uniting for peace” resolution [377 (V)], is to submit its second report to us at this seventh session.
129. This resolution resulted from the fear that the veto might be used in a case of aggression, and from the lack of unanimity among the permanent members of the Security Council regarding the negotiation of the special agreements referred to in Article 43 of the Charter. Accordingly, the resolution extended the powers of the General Assembly in the event — and only in the event — that the Security Council should find itself prevented by the use of the veto from exercising its "primary responsibility” under Article 24. Naturally it is to be hoped that these two circumstances will change, that, in the first place, there will be a decrease in the danger of the use of the veto in connexion with an act of aggression, and, secondly, that there will be at least a minimum agreement among the permanent members of the Security Council to enable them to negotiate the agreements designed to implement, under the Council’s auspices, the system of collective security provided for in the Charter. Until these two requirements are met — and the delegation of Paraguay is convinced that the United Nations should work towards that end — the General Assembly is entitled to consider that the Security Council’s "primary responsibility” is not its exclusive responsibility, and consequently does not relieve the Assembly of the obligation to fill the gap which, if allowed to exist, might at any moment plunge the world into international anarchy or War. It is in the light of these considerations that the delegation of Paraguay will examine the second report of the Collective Measures Committee [A/2215].
130. Paraguay sincerely regrets the fact that the Disarmament Commission set up by a resolution [502 (VI)] of the General Assembly has not made any progress in bringing the gap between the opposing views on certain basic questions, which was already apparent in previous years in the Commission for Conventional Armaments and the Atomic Energy Commission.
131. Rearmament imposes a heavy burden, not only on the great Powers but on all the countries of the world, for it produces instability in international trade and finance, which has serious economic repercussions everywhere. Consequently it is quite rightly a matter of universal concern that the great Powers should agree on the general outline of a balanced plan for disarmament. The delegation of Paraguay still considers that the afore-mentioned resolution constitutes a fair basis for the progress of discussion on these questions. At the same time, there can be no doubt that the international tension, aggravated by the Korean war and the long-drawn-out armistice negotiations, is the least favourable atmosphere for a conciliation of the differing or opposing viewpoints expressed in the Disarmament Commission. The ending of the Korean war is therefore essential if the Commission’s work is to succeed and the world is to be freed from the terrible economic and moral consequences of the armaments race.
132. The problem of the admission to the Organization of countries which have applied for membership continues year after year to challenge the United Nations. Paraguay regrets that the lack of basic agreement among the great Powers on this subject has kept out of the Organization countries with such high qualifications for admission as Italy, a country which we take the liberty of mentioning particularly because of its supremely important position in the community of peace-loving and, democratic nations of the world. We believe that the United Nations should adhere closely to the principle laid down in the Charter that all nations that are peace-loving and presumed to be such are entitled to be admitted as Members of the Organization. It should be the policy of the United Nations, on the basis of this very wise principle, to try to make its membership as universal as possible, for that would increase the possibilities of international co-operation and advance the cause of peace. The opposite attitude would serve only to foster resentment among the nations whose admission was unjustly delayed and would increase instead of decreasing the causes of international friction.
133. Poverty, sickness and ignorance are at present the scourges of many countries and vast regions of the globe, and nearly two-thirds of the human race suffer the consequences of these evils. It may be said that such conditions constitute a type of aggression within each country which is as dangerous as armed aggression on the international level. In the countries where they prevail, they create an atmosphere of discontent, social insecurity and political instability. In such an atmosphere if is easy for extremes of scepticism and despair to flourish. In a world in which peoples are becoming more and more interdependent, such a situation is in itself a threat to international peace and security.
134. The delegation of Paraguay fully agrees with the view expressed by the Secretary-General, in the introduction to his annual report that it is essential for the "countries whose peoples enjoy high standards of living ... to join more fully in aiding the economic development of the under-developed countries”. As the Secretary-General points out, and expanded international programme of this kind would not be "an act of charity”, but on the contrary would constitute "a sound investment in peace and stability and lead to a mutually beneficial expansion of world productivity and world trade”.
135. The delegation of Paraguay is convinced that the intensification of the efforts which the United Nations is making to provide technical assistance for the under-developed countries and to give them better economic opportunities is one of the most positive contributions which the United Nations could make towards peace and international co-operation. Consequently we believe that, in spite of the unfavourable conditions created by rearmament, the General Assembly should go forward with, rather than interrupt, the activities in respect of economic development and technical assistance which it initiated in previous years. The faith of the peoples in the United Nations depends largely upon an understanding of this necessity.
136. The delegation of Paraguay hopes and trusts that the Assembly will take steps at this session which will strengthen this faith and increase the prestige of the Organization.