63. Mr. President, allow me, on behalf of the Icelandic delegation, to express my sincere felicitations to you upon your unanimous election as President of the twenty-second session of the General Assembly.
64. My Government welcomes this first election of a representative of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe to this high office. In our view, it both constitutes a confirmation of a gradual and gratifying relaxation of tension between East and West and will in itself, we hope, contribute to an increased understanding and co-operation between countries with different economic and social systems.
65. I take this opportunity also, Mr. President, to pay a tribute to your predecessor. Ambassador Pazhwak of Afghanistan, for the skill and the dignity with which he directed the deliberations of this Assembly through three difficult sessions.
66. Our Organization has endeavoured bravely to live up to the aims and ideals of the Charter. One must admit, however, that it has not always attained those aims; but where it has failed, the reason has certainly not been lack of goodwill or persistent effort on this highest level of international diplomacy. The real reasons lie elsewhere. One reason is that too often, much too often, nations disagree on how questions of international importance should be resolved. Historic background, national pride, chauvinism and old enmities are elements which prevent the disputing parties from reaching across the conference table in a spirit of conciliation and accepting the compromise that often offers the only possibility of a, successful settlement and a lasting solution of the problem at hand.
67. Another thing which often thwarts our efforts is the simple fact that the United Nations can do no more than our Governments are prepared to do themselves. We know only too well that the United Nations has not been able to implement resolutions adopted by a large majority because the executive power is lacking within the Organization. An illuminating example of this is Assembly resolution 2145 (XXI) on the question of South West Africa. A nation is weak and will not prosper unless its Government is endowed with the necessary executive power. The same applies to international organizations.
68. In this connexion, I am reminded of the history of my own country. There, a Republic was established more than 1,000 years ago, in the year 930, The Althing, or Parliament, was endowed with the judiciary and the legislative powers, but the executive arm of the State was non-existent.
69. It did not take long until the defects of this system became apparent. Local chieftains, who maintained their own forces, soon refused to abide by lawfully pronounced judgements and took, so to speak, the law into their own hands. This followed from the fact that all central executive power was lacking for enforcing the laws of the land. The result of this marked imbalance of power was internal strife and the gradual disintegration of lawful order. When conditions were approaching the stage of civil war, in the middle of the thirteenth century, the nation lost its independence and suffered foreign domination for centuries.
70. One can safely assert that if the old Icelandic Parliament, the remarkably advanced code of law and the highly developed judiciary system had been coupled with commensurate executive power, strong enough to prevent internal strife and enforce decisions of the high court, the course of my nation's history would have turned in another direction.
71. I have dwelt on these old memories for the very reason that, to my mind, the United Nations is in some respects in the same predicament as my own nation was some eight or nine hundred years ago. The Secretary-General makes proposals and the General Assembly adopts resolutions which the party or parties concerned think nothing of ignoring in certain well known cases. It is this situation which has brought to my mind the recollection of my own country's history.
72. I do realize, of course, that it is preferable to solve all disputes by mutual agreement and, fortunately, the United Nations has frequently succeeded in concluding such agreements. We must not, however, let this divert us from recognizing the importance of effective executive power vested in the Organization.
73. The United Nations peace-keeping forces have been a step in the right direction. And even though these forces have been small in size and have laboured under limited terms of reference, they have, in more than one instance, succeeded in containing situations and preventing armed conflict. But although these emergency forces have been very limited in size, funds have been lacking for their maintenance. This has undermined the whole financial basis of the United Nations and still does so. This situation must be speedily remedied. In my Government's opinion, the experience of the last three years shows that to rely upon voluntary contributions for the maintenance of peace-keeping forces and operations is too precarious. In response to the Secretary-General's appeal for voluntary contributions to help overcome the deficit, my Government in 1965 contributed approximately half a dollar for every inhabitant of my country. Other Member States, immeasurably bigger and richer than Iceland, have failed to give their share, although some of them have made vague promises to the effect that they would do so. My Government is therefore inclined to think that the best solution might be the drawing up of detailed rules under which all the Member States of the United Nations would be required to contribute according to their means. Proposals that have been put forward for devising a system of appropriations should therefore be further studied and elaborated.
74. Of course, a United Nations peace-keeping force cannot settle all conflicts that arise, for example, when the great Powers clash on important issues. But it has proved able to cope with minor incidents and it can play a vital role in preventing the outbreak of hostilities.
75. A major conflict that has proved beyond the means of the United Nations to stop is the war in Viet-Nam. That war has been fought, in different forms, for more than two decades, and no break in the hostilities is, unfortunately, foreseeable in the near future. That tragic situation has been extensively discussed in the general debates of this Assembly, year alter year, without any tangible results. Meanwhile, the list of casualties seems endless: soldiers and civilians, women and children on both sides are killed or maimed. The material waste is enormous and the very basis for the existence of the Viet-Namese people is gradually being destroyed. The fighting goes on with ever-increasing fury despite the fact that everyone, indeed the warring partners themselves seem to agree, or at least to admit, that there can be no military solution to this conflict. All agree that a way must be found to bring the conflict from the battle-field to the conference table, in order to bring about a political settlement. Yet many peace overtures and appeals for the reduction or cessation of hostilities have either gone unheeded or met with little success. The Secretary-General has long since put forward constructive proposals which could have formed a real basis for the cessation of hostilities and for the initiation of peace talks. Other, or similar, proposals have been put forward by several Member States. It would seem that any or all of these proposals could form a satisfactory basis for sitting down at the conference table and starting discussions on a cease-fire and a peaceful settlement, if only the mutual lack of trust displayed by the belligerents could be overcome.
76. The Government of the United States has repeatedly declared its willingness to sit down at the conference table and to scale down military operations in order to facilitate such a step, provided that the Government of Hanoi would make some similar move or give some indication of its willingness to start peace talks. The Hanoi Government, however, has given no assurances and has made no conciliatory gesture that has satisfied the United States Government.
77. My Government would like to appeal to all parties to the conflict to abandon their attitude of mistrust, to make a new effort, to take a step further in order to convince the other party of its good faith and its sincere wish to end the war and to make peace. All possibilities, however remote, must be explored in the pursuit of a lasting peace in Viet-Nam.
78. One person whose sincere dedication to the cause of peace is an inspiration to all of us is our eminent Secretary-General, U Thant. I take this opportunity to express to him the thanks, appreciation and full confidence of my Government. We are all indebted to U Thant for his untiring efforts in furthering the ideals of the United Nations.
79. Another major conflict with serious repercussions was the war between Israel and the Arab States in June this summer. Here, the existence of the United Nations proved of decisive importance in bringing about a cease-fire acceptable to both sides. That crisis, however, has not yet subsided, as a state of war still exists in the area.
80. The state of belligerency must now be brought to an end. We must all co-operate in bringing about an atmosphere which will make it possible for Israel and the Arab countries to reach a settlement and to remove the causes of war. In the opinion of my Government such a settlement must include the following elements: first, recognition of the State of Israel and of the independence and territorial integrity of all the nations of the area, and the end to any claims that a state of belligerency exists: second, respect for, and the guarantee of, the rights of all nations to innocent passage through international waterways; third, a just and equitable solution of the refugee problem—General Assembly resolution 2252 (ES-V) on humanitarian assistance, which my delegation co-sponsored, has duly emphasized the paramount importance of solving the plight of the refugees; fourth, an arrangement which will take into account the rights and interests of the three great religions in Jerusalem. The fifth and final element would be the withdrawal of Israeli forces. My Government does not approve of territorial gains by military conquest. But, regarding this vital point, I agree with the Minister of External Affairs of Canada [1569th meeting] that a withdrawal must be related to the other basic issues involved.
81. The position that my Government has therefore adopted is that all the points I mentioned must be interconnected in a final peace settlement, if one is striving for a lasting peace in that troubled area. And I want to emphasize that the peace negotiations must first and foremost take place directly between the belligerents, although they might be held under the auspices of the United Nations or some other neutral body.
82. The third major issue before the present session of the General Assembly is the question of South West Africa — a much debated issue at the twenty-first and fifth special sessions, if still an unresolved one. The subjugation by South Africa of the native population of the country can no longer be doubted. The facts of the issue are well known.
83. It is a long-standing conviction of my Government that the policy of apartheid is both alien and odious to the great majority of the world community and in clear contradiction to the ideals of the United Nations Charter.
84. By a near unanimity the United Nations General Assembly, by resolution 2145 (XXI), terminated the Mandate under which South Africa administered the Territory. My Government voted for the resolution, although in our view a more effective way perhaps would have been for the General Assembly to request the International Court of Justice to declare its opinion on the issue of whether South Africa had forfeited its Mandate. I am in no doubt as to what the judgement of the Court would have been. As it is, however, the General Assembly has itself terminated the Mandate.
85. If South Africa now persists in turning a deaf ear to the lawful decisions of this Assembly, the United Nations must promulgate these decisions in a new and more effective way.
86. The question of disarmament has been dealt with in the Conference of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament at Geneva for a number of years without much success. Now, at long last, we can welcome a definite step forward in the presentation try the United States of America and the USSR of identical texts of a draft treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
87. My country, Iceland, has for centuries been unarmed. Therefore we have every reason to welcome all efforts towards disarmament, especially all reductions and limitations of nuclear weapons. Hence we rejoice at the prospect of effective international control being established under a non-proliferation treaty. Such a treaty will constitute a real milestone in true international co-operation.
88. The admission of the People's Republic of China to membership in the United Nations has been debated in this Assembly for several years now. My Government has not supported, and will not support, any resolution that calls for the admission of the People's Republic of China, on the one hand, and the expulsion of the Republic of China, on the other hand. This does not mean, however, that we oppose the admission of the People's Republic of China. On the contrary, we are fully aware of the dangers inherent in the present unnatural state of affairs, namely that in which a country which holds one fifth of the population of the world still stands outside this Organization and appears to have become increasingly isolated from the world community. We therefore supported, last year, a draft resolution submitted by Italy and other States which aimed at the establishment of a committee to try to work out proposals for possible ways and means of bringing the People's Republic of China into the United Nations without prejudicing the continued membership of the Republic of China. We shall continue to support efforts aimed at exploring this possibility further.
89. In my intervention in the general debate at the last session of the General Assembly [1430th meeting], I drew attention to the second most important role of the United Nations, Its primary role will, for a long time to come, be the prevention of war. This is rightly the main objective, because what is the value of prosperity or material possessions in time of war? But in times of peace, our second main objective is to secure a decent living standard for all nations of the world. Above all, we must banish the spectre of hunger from the face of the earth.
90. During the twenty-first session of the General Assembly, proposals were put forward which focused our attention on the immense unused food resources of the sea, on the one hand, and on their dangerous over-exploitation in certain areas, on the other hand. Attention was drawn to the fact that the fish stocks of the North Atlantic and adjacent oceans are rapidly diminishing. However, the resources of the sea provide exactly those nutritionally valuable foodstuffs — namely, proteins — which are in greatest scarcity in the developing countries. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the ominous depletion of these important resources he halted and that the spawning grounds be afforded adequate protection. Everyone should understand the logic of wisely husbanding such an important resource of nature wherever It is found in the world's oceans.
91. These considerations brought forth a large measure of support in the Assembly, which decided [resolution 2172 (XXI)] to establish a small group of
experts to assist in the preparation of a survey, inter alia, on the exploitation and development of marine resources, with due regard to the conservation of fish stocks. This group is already proceeding with its task in this field. The re solution on this question envisaged that the group should submit its report to the General Assembly at its twenty-third session, but the task is both comprehensive and complicated and I doubt whether we have allotted enough time for its completion. My Government deems it essential to allow the group ample time to complete its work and, if necessary, to extend the time originally allotted to the group. This would seem well Justified by the magnitude and broad ramifications of the whole question of developing and conserving marine resources.
92. The United Nations is today facing new challenges and new tasks all around the world. Let us, however, not expect too much too quickly of our Organization. Undue optimism, without due regard to the hard realities of international life, is a poor guide on our way to new achievements. Many of the problems facing us may never be solved in an ideal manner, but I feel confident that many will be solved, and will be solved only through our concerted efforts within this Organization. Every problem solved, every task completed, is a confirmation of the right of existence of the United Nations and of the indispensable role it plays as an instrument of peace and conciliation.
93. Throughout history, the nations of this world have lived and developed through a series of strifes and wars which in turn have influenced the lives and the way of thinking of individuals as well as nations. No wonder, then, that it will take some time, perhaps a long time, and much work to establish a new and better world order. That task requires patience, much patience. What the United Nations need most is just patience, and work, and goodwill.