Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to extend to you our warmest congratulations on your election to the Presidency of the eighteenth session of the General Assembly. Your recognized abilities eminently qualify you to assume this high office, and we are certain that you will discharge your important responsibilities with the same skill and distinction which you have shown as representative of your country in the United Nations.
58. I should also like to pay a tribute to Mr. Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, your distinguished predecessor, who presided over our deliberations last year with great ability and wisdom.
59. In coming for the first time to this rostrum to address this great assembly of nations in the name of the new Government of Iraq, I wish to reaffirm my country's deep devotion to the principles of the Charter and to pledge its full support to the United Nations in its efforts to promote peace, freedom and human welfare. With our States we endeavour to maintain the closest friendly relations on the basis of strict adherence to the policy of non-alignment. In our region, we are committed to the realization of Arab unity, one of the most cherished goals of the Arab nation. No people has suffered as much from fragmentation and division as has the Arab people, and this present generation of Arabs is determined to overcome all the obstacles and eliminate all the artificial barriers that have divided our people. Our dedication to unity springs from a desire and a yearning deeply rooted in the national consciousness of our people and solidly based on the facts of geography, history and culture which have moulded the Arabs into one nation. Unity for us is not an abstract ideal, but a means for ensuring for the Arab people the full enjoyment of those fundamental rights which give quality to human life.
60. The eighteenth session of the General Assembly opens in an atmosphere of hope and optimism. There is less tension in the world today and a greater readiness on the part of the major Powers to co-operate in the interest of world peace.
61. A step, indeed a considerable step, has been taken by the three nuclear Powers in signing a limited nuclear test ban treaty. The Moscow Treaty, which has already been signed by more than a hundred countries including my own, heralds a new era in fruitful international co-operation, and strengthens the hope for the realization of mankind's most cherished dream- general and complete disarmament. One of the immediate and most beneficent results of the limited test ban treaty is the halting of the dangerous contamination of the atmosphere by deadly radio-active fall-out, and it is our hope that an agreement banning and controlling underground tests will soon be concluded.
62. We wish to pay a special tribute to the neutral countries represented in the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament for their role in paving the way for this significant break-through in the disarmament stalemate. On the general problem of disarmament, we will continue to support the initiatives of the eight neutral members of the Eighteen-Nation Committee, particularly their efforts to bring about agreement on certain collateral measures which will further reduce tension and provide a more propitious atmosphere for serious disarmament negotiations. The recent agreement in principle on banning nuclear weapons from outer space is another encouraging development, and a good measure of credit is due to the delegation of Mexico which first proposed it in the Eighteen-Nation Committee.
63. We have listened with great interest to the proposals the President of the United States, Mr. Kennedy [1209th meeting], and the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, Mr. Gromyko [1208th meeting], made in their important statements at the beginning of this session advocating respectively joint efforts for further exploration in outer space and the convening of a meeting of the Heads of Government of the eighteen Member States represented on the Committee on Disarmament. These proposals and others already made in the Eighteen-Nation Committee will be given our closest attention.
64. Although the international situation has recently shown unmistakable signs of improvement, there are still many situations in various parts of the world that cause grave concern and anxiety. There are situations which involve the most serious infringement of the principles of justice, and their continuation can only lead to undermining the faith and hope that the peoples of the world have in the United Nations.
65. Unhappily, the Arab world has more than its share of these problems, and I shall mention only three of them: Palestine, Aden and Oman. I will begin with Palestine, because to the Arabs it represents the worst example of colonialism and injustice in our time. The Zionist aggression in Palestine was not merely an armed invasion of a country and the imposition of an alien rule on Its inhabitants. It went much further than that. It sought to destroy the Arab community of Palestine and permanently to detach from the rest of the Arab world a country which has been an integral part of it for more than fourteen centuries. In no other occupied territory in the world has the physical removal of the inhabitants, through mass expulsion, been the avowed objective of the alien conquerors. For that reason, we should not lose sight of the central fact that the problem of Palestine is essentially a conflict between the people of Palestine, who are determined to regain their lost country, and the Zionist conquerors, who wish to legalize their conquest and to consolidate the fruits of their aggression. One of the means they are employing to reach this objective is to call for direct negotiations with the Arab States.
66. That was repeated by Mrs. Meir in her statement on 2 October 1963 [1224th meeting]. She depicted the problem as a dispute between Israel and the Arab States and completely ignored the existence of the principal party to the conflict: the Arabs of Palestine. If for no other reason, the Arab States reject negotiations with Israel because such negotiations are tantamount to a recognition on their part of the disappearance of the Palestine entity and the liquidations of the Palestine Arab community. This, no Arab will ever accept and no Arab Government can ever entertain. In any case the rights of the people of Palestine are not negotiable. No people are expected to agree to bartering away their country and giving up their national identity, and yet that is exactly what Israel hopes to achieve from negotiations. It is perhaps revealing that, in her speech, Mrs. Meir did not even once mention Palestine and its Arab people and did not refer to the refugees who have been languishing in their misery for fifteen years after having been forcibly expelled from their homes. That was no lapse of memory on the part of Mrs. Meir but a deliberate attempt to expunge from the records of history the tragedy of Palestine and blunt the conscience of mankind to the suffering of the victims of Zionist aggression.
67. The Arab refugees of Palestine are a living reminder of one of the gravest crimes committed against any people. As the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has often stated in his annual reports to the Assembly it would be a mistake to assume that any economic and social absorption of the refugees that might take place would dispose of the underlying, more basic issues. The refugees continue to demand the implementation of paragraph 11 of resolution 194 (III) of the General Assembly. Paragraph 11 referred to the right of the refugees to go back to their homeland. This is not a right that can be subject to negotiations and bartering. It is an absolute and unconditional right that has been solemnly declared and reaffirmed in every resolution adopted by the General Assembly on the refugee problem. The Assembly must find the ways and means to secure the full implementation of this paragraph. The dispute should, thus, be looked on as between the United Nations and Israel, which continues to flout the desires of the General Assembly. The Assembly's action should not be different from that contemplated to secure the implementation of the numerous resolutions on apartheid. The plight of the Arab refugees is surely not less tragic than that of the victims of apartheid. Justice is impartial, and our efforts to redress the evil injustices of racial discrimination should be matched by an equal determination to restore the rights of the victims of Zionism— a doctrine as pernicious and repugnant as apartheid and based on the same illusions of racial superiority and separateness.
68. Another striking example of violation of the United Nations Charter can be found in Oman, where colonialism continues to suppress the aspirations of the people for freedom and deny them their right to self-determination. At a time when the winds of change are blowing in all parts of the world and the colonial system retreating from one position after another, we still see in Oman and the neighbouring territories in South and Eastern Arabia a stubborn reluctance to face realities. Colonialism is desperately trying to maintain, in that part of the Arab homeland, an intolerably anachronistic situation where colonial influence is maintained by a variety of indirect means and ill-concealed subterfuges. The people of Oman have been fighting for the last eight years for their freedom and independence, and the General Assembly has considered the situation in Oman during the last three previous sessions. This year the question has again been inscribed on the agenda and will be dealt with as an essentially colonial problem involving the desire of a people to attain its freedom and independence. It is our fervent hope that action will be taken this year to accelerate the attainment of freedom by Oman in accordance with the firm resolve of the United Nations that the Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples be speedily applied to all territories that have not yet attained their independence.
69. The situation in Aden provides an equally glaring example of the violation of the principle of self-determination. Urgent action is required by the United Nations to deal with a potentially explosive situation. That was the conclusion of the Sub-Committee on Aden which was established by the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. In its resolution of 3 May 1963 the Special Committee recognized the right of the people of Aden and the Aden Protectorates to self-determination and freedom from colonial rule and recommended that an early opportunity be given to the people to decide their future under free and democratic conditions. It decided to send a Sub-Committee to the territory for the purpose of ascertaining the views of the population and holding talks with the administering Power, The United Kingdom, however, withheld its co-operation from the Sub-Committee and refused to permit it to enter the territory. The Sub-Committee, none the less, visited four neighbouring countries, heard scores of petitioners and received hundreds of written petitions.
70. The comprehensive report of the Sub-Committee represents, in our view, an indictment of the most serious nature of colonial rule in Aden and the Aden Protectorates. I need only quote a few passages from that report to demonstrate to the Assembly and the world the serious and dangerous situation which prevails in Aden and the need for prompt and quick action by the United Nations: "... the present Federation ... represents merely an artificial unity imposed upon them and governed by provisions which ensure United Kingdom control". [A/5446/Add.4, appendix, para. 164.] "The various treaties signed with the United Kingdom, including the Treaty of Friendship and Protection concluded in February 1959 by the Federation, are regarded by all petitioners as null and void." [Ibid., para. 165.] "...almost all the petitioners protested against the maintenance of the military base in Aden.,." [ibid., para. 167], "Repressive laws and police methods are a major source of discontent..." [ibid., para. 168]. "The administering Power should therefore be asked: (a.) to repeal all the laws which restrict public freedoms: (b) to release all political prisoners; (c) to allow the return of people who have been exiled; (d) to cease forthwith all repressive action against the people of the Territory..[ibid., para. 176].
71. We hope that the Assembly will endorse the conclusions and recommendations proposed by the Subcommittee and adopted by the Special Committee in its resolution of 19 July 1963 [see A/5446/Add.4, para. 478] that free elections, with full guarantees and in the presence of representatives of the United Nations, be held with a view to setting up a government genuinely representing the people, which shall be entrusted with the task of ending colonial rule and deciding the territory’s future in accordance with the wishes of the people. We are convinced that such a government will realize the long-cherished dream of the people of Aden to be re-united with their brethren in Yemen.
72. I have discussed, in some detail, the major colonial problems in the Arab world because they are of immediate concern to our people. However, this does not mean that we are oblivious of the plight of many other peoples still struggling to attain their freedom. As a member of the Special Committee of Twenty-Four, Iraq is endeavouring to play its part in the historic efforts of the United Nations to bring about the speedy and total liquidation of the colonial system. The activities of the Special Committee have not always met with success, and there still exist many colonial problems which require forthright action by the General Assembly. I need only mention three highly explosive situations in Africa, namely. Southern Rhodesia, South West Africa and the territories under Portuguese administration. The General Assembly at this session, as well as the Security Council, is called upon to take appropriate action for the early attainment by these territories of their independence, under Governments which are genuinely representative of the majority of their populations. The delegation of Iraq stands ready, as it has done in the past, to work for the realization of the aspirations of the peoples concerned, and will support any action that may be decided on by the General Assembly and the Security Council to ensure the speedy application to these territories of the United Nations Declaration on the granting of independence.
73. One of the worst forms of colonialism is the practice of racial discrimination. It violates the principles of the United Nations Charter and contradicts the teachings of all religions and civilizations. A violent example of this discrimination is what is happening in South Africa today, where racial discrimination is the policy and gospel of a Government which represents only a small minority of the population. The policy of apartheid has been repeatedly condemned in the strongest terms by the United Nations, but the South African Government persists in its policy and has not given the slightest indication of modifying its attitude of defiance, deserving thereby the universal condemnation of mankind.
74. We support the recommendation of the Special Committee and the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council which, we are sure, if faithfully applied, would put an end to this policy. If the Secretary-General is unable to report progress in the implementation of the recent resolution of the Security Council on this subject, then drastic and coercive action in accordance with the Charter will become necessary.
75. An Arab problem in which the United Nations has been involved is the situation in Yemen, which continues to be a source of grave concern and anxiety, A Republican Government was proclaimed last year in response to the desires of the people of Yemen to end a thousand years of isolation and backwardness imposed by the feudalist regime of the Imams, The fall of this ancient and formidable citadel of reaction was greeted with great joy all over the Arab world, and the new Government of Yemen received the sympathy and support of progressive circles everywhere. Yet from the first day, attempts have been made to undermine the new Government. It would he an intolerable affront to the Arab nation if, in this day and age, a régime that for a thousand years kept Yemen under the most appalling and backward conditions should now be allowed to regain control, and thrust the people of Yemen back into the darkness from which they have emerged after so much struggle and sacrifice. The restoration of peace in Yemen is necessary in order to enable the Government to begin the gigantic task of building up the country and bridging the gap which separates it from the modern world. The United Nations has been asked to ensure the implementation of an agreement of disengagement designed to bring peace to Yemen. Unfortunately, however, the efforts of the United Nations have not been successful. In our view, the most important factor that disturbs the peace and renders a solution more difficult is the refusal of certain Powers to recognize a Government which is now represented in the United Nations and recognized by most of the countries of the world, including the Soviet Union and the United States. Such recognition is necessary not merely on political and legal grounds, but also on moral grounds, because we cannot believe that there is any Government which can, in all conscience, condone the restoration of a regime like that of the Imams.
76. The problem of development is perhaps one of the most difficult and complex problems facing this Organization. Economic development involves a two-way process, one generated from within by fully releasing and realizing the potential of a country, and the other by harmoniously integrating this potential in the general framework of world economy. These two aspects are closely interwoven and cannot be isolated and treated separately. This twin process requires action on three broad fronts: trade, financing and industrialization. We have great expectations of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development which we hope will deal effectively with the problem of the chronic trade imbalance between the advanced and the developing countries. The fluctuations in the prices of primary commodities will, undoubtedly, be one of the most important topics of the Conference.
77. The financing of economic development is still a problem that evokes sharp controversy and disagreement. The United Nations Capital Development Fund is still encountering great difficulties in spite of the fact that the General Assembly has decided, in principle, to establish it. In this regard, we find ourselves in full agreement with the Secretary-General in his analysis of the problem of financing, particularly his statement in the introduction to his annual report that: "The resources required from the industrialized countries are within their capacities to provide; there are perhaps only one or two among them which are as yet devoting even one-half of the proposed 1 per cent of their steadily increasing national income for development in the developing countries." [A/5501/ Add.1, section IV.] This, in our view, is a correct evaluation of the situation, and we can ill afford to ignore the Secretary-General's warning regarding the dangers resulting from the widening gap between the affluent and dynamic economies of the industrialized countries and the economies of the developing countries. The United Nations is called upon to play an increasingly active role in helping to bridge this gap. The Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance, the Special Fund and other bodies and organs of the United Nations are stepping up their efforts in this regard.
78. The pace of industrialization would undoubtedly be greatly accelerated if the problems of financing and trade were both adequately solved. On the one hand, the availability of capital will spur national plans for industrialization and this will help to reduce the trade imbalance with the advanced countries, while, on the other hand, the success of the International Conference on Trade and Development will enable the developing countries to devote more of their resources to industrialization, The International Conference on the Application of Science and Technology has been most helpful in this regard and was, in the words of the Secretary-General, "a milestone in the development decade".
79. A problem which has been before the United Nations in one form or another for the last thirteen years is the representation of the Government of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. My country deplores the continued denial of this right to the only Government entitled to speak with authority in the name of the Chinese people. Iraq will support, as it has done in the past, any proposal that will restore to the Government of the People's Republic of China its legitimate rights and put an end to an anomalous situation that has persisted for far too long.
80. Before concluding, I should like to refer to a question to which the countries of Asia and Africa attach special importance. This is the question of equitable representation on the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. When the Charter entered into force in 1945, there were only ten Asian and African Members of the United Nations. Today there are fifty-six and the number is likely to increase before the end of this year. This change in the character of the United Nations must be adequately reflected in the membership of these two Councils, as well as in the General Committee of the General Assembly. No one can question the validity or justification of this demand, and the General Assembly is called upon to deal with a problem the solution of which can no longer be postponed.
81. In the short period which has elapsed since the United Nations came into existence, unparalleled advances in technology and science have transformed life on this planet, and revolutionary changes of far-reaching significance have taken place in many parts of the world. The United Nations has been able to keep abreast of these developments, and indeed was instrumental in accelerating the pace of change. This is due in no small measure to the remarkable flexibility and dynamism of the Charter. In the hands of men of the calibre of U Thant and his devoted colleagues we may rest assured that the United Nations will continue to grow and to play a vital role in human affairs. This Organization, in its own unassuming and cautious way, has already proved to be a potent instrument for the promotion of world peace and human welfare. We have merely caught a glimpse of its possibilities, but it is enough to make us dare to hope that this noble experiment in human brotherhood may yet prove to be the most revolutionary invention devised by the mind of man.