I have the honour and pleasure, on behalf of the delegation of Liberia and myself, to extend hearty congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your unanimous election as President of the eighteenth session of the General Assembly.
34. Each year the Presidents of the General Assembly have brought to this high office their various exceptional talents and capabilities and, by their activities, they have succeeded in confirming and renewing the esteem and respect which our Government hold for them and for their countries. We are again fortunate to be afforded the privilege of having an experienced and renowned personality such as you, Mr. President, to preside over our deliberations. We offer you our usual co-operation and best wishes.
35. It is a source of some satisfaction that the international climate at this time seems to have improved considerably, a rather happy coincidence in contrast with the ominous circumstances which have surrounded the opening of many sessions of the Assembly in past years.
36. Certain incidents have occurred within the past three months which, I believe, account for this new and exhilarating feeling of optimism. The first was the Memorandum of understanding signed by the United States of America and the Soviet Union on 20 June 1963 [see A/5488] in which an emergency communications link was established between the two capitals with a view to reducing the risk of war by accident, by miscalculation or by misunderstanding during periods of high international tension. This action was a practical and concrete achievement —an indication that both of these great Powers recognized the possibly catastrophic effects on mankind of a war, in which would be employed the dangerous mass weapons of destruction now at man's disposal, and were therefore willing to seek means by which the dangers could be reduced and the odious atmosphere of hatred and suspicion replaced by more attempts at understanding and mutual trust. This agreement threw open, even though slightly, the window of confidence.
37. After many years of fruitless talks on the matter of nuclear testing, during which period millions of people yearned and longed for some ray of hope, the Governments of the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom signed a partial test ban Treaty on 5 August 1963, bringing into effect a moratorium on nuclear tests in outer space, in the atmosphere and under water.
38. The President of the United States has referred to this agreement as a step "away from war" and the Soviet Premier has referred to it as "an improvement in the entire international situation". Be that as it may, the agreement has brought to our troubled world a ray of hopeful beginning toward the goal of peace, which can be achieved in freedom and justice based on accommodation and reason.
39. We do not entertain any illusion that this new hope will resolve all the issues on which both East and West are perhaps still divided; but we do feel, especially when we look back only ten months ago when the world was on the brink of a thermo-nuclear holocaust, that this Treaty may reduce our exposure to radioactive fall-out and the harmful effects of atomic radiation; and that this treaty represents a significant effort in the achievement of better political and other relations between East and West. A new world can thus be seen, however far away, in which at least some measure of mutual trust Is being used to replace mutual distrust, hatred and suspicion.
40. We therefore extend congratulations to President Kennedy, Premier Khrushchev and Prime Minister Macmillan for their efforts in achieving this essential first step, which my Government regards as one of the most important events in recent years.
41. My delegation proposes that this Assembly should here and now adopt a resolution calling on all States to become parties to the partial test ban Treaty and appealing to the nuclear Powers to continue negotiations for the purpose of ending nuclear tests underground,
42. I express the fervent hope of my Government that the successful efforts will not end with the partial nuclear test ban agreement, but that the Governments involved will take the maximum advantage of the new spirit which has developed, and advance steadily forward toward further reconciliation by gradually destroying the barriers which separate them and by solving the issues which very often have made disaster appear imminent.
43. This means also that the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament should continue its efforts to secure an agreement on disarmament and the regulation of armaments.
44. Another important development on the international scene was the Conference of African Heads of State and Government which was convened in Addis Ababa on 22 May 1963. This Conference established the Organization of African Unity. It was the first time in history that so many Heads of State or Government in any area had met to establish a regional organization. I think it is important to underline their opinion that the "Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ... provide a solid foundation for peaceful and positive co-operation among States" and their reaffirmation of their adherence to the principles contained in those documents as well as their acceptance of all obligations contained in the Charter. Our Heads of State and Government have thereby expressed their unequivocal support of the Charter and recognized the interdependence of States
in the world. I am certain that these expressions will be translated into deeds and, should other Member States also fulfil their obligations, the future of the United Nations will be assured.
45. It should be clear, however, that all African States will demand that self-determination, freedom and independence be granted to every area on the African continent. We shall insist on respect for equality, human dignity and fundamental rights. We shall also insist that every Member State show respect for, and compliance with, the resolutions of the United Nations not merely with those that are favourable to them. This will strengthen the United Nations, not weaken it.
46. There are some dangerous areas of tension apart from certain colonial areas in Africa which can threaten international peace. Among them are the problems of a divided Berlin, the situation in Viet-Nam and Laos, and the situation in the Middle East.
47. As there are provisions in the Charter which authorize the General Assembly to "discuss any questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security" and "to recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation"; and which empower the Security Council to "investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute", my delegation feels that instead of waiting until tension rises unusually high or until a breach of the peace is imminent, the United Nations may do well to consider the possibility of taking some initiative by appointing individuals or creating commissions to ascertain facts to make studies and to conduct investigations so as to encourage peaceful settlements of such problems by negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation and any other peaceful means that may be selected. We must not leave the situations to chance solutions which may or may not result in the best interest. In every instance, we must make full use of the United Nations in its unique role of assisting in the solutions of such important problems. In other words, let us strengthen the machinery of the United Nations for preserving peace.
48. Whilst I do not believe that the United Nations can or should be expected to solve all the difficult problems which threaten peace, no harm can result from fact-finding studies or investigations, which may enable the United Nations to keep the disputants talking and trying to find solutions to such problems.
49. Moreover, my delegation believes that the principles enshrined in the Charter, whether they be respect for the sovereign equality of all Members; self-determination of peoples; restraint from the threat or use of force; fulfilment of the obligations of the Charter; universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without regard to race, sex, language or religion; must be respected and applied fairly to all situations in which their application is warranted. In short, principles, not policies, must be our cynosure if international peace and security is to be maintained.
50. May I congratulate the Secretary-General for his report to the General Assembly [A/5501] and for the important role he has personally played in the past year to ease some of the tensions which had brought us close to war. I will submit a few brief comments on his able and comprehensive report.
51. The Secretary-General has advocated the continuance of technical assistance and the civilian operations in the Congo but has recommended that, in view of the considerably improved situation there, especially in the military character of the United Nations operations, an early withdrawal and winding-up of the United Nations Force should be envisaged and "the Congolese Government should assume full responsibility throughout the Congo for the maintenance of law and order" [A/5501/Add.1, section V]. My Government understands fully all the reasons which have led the Secretary-General to advance this suggestion.
52. In a communication, the Prime Minister, Mr. Cyrille Adoula, appealed for United Nations military forces to remain in the Congo for the first half of 1964. We note, in the report of the Secretary-General of 17 September 1963 to the Security Council, his recognition that serious risks are involved in an early withdrawal of the forces and that the United Nations Forces in the Congo could continue to be helpful to the Government and the country until the first half of 1964. We accept his suggestion that the time must come when the Government of the Congo will have to assume full responsibility for security and law and order in the country.
53. Nevertheless, the Liberian Government is very sympathetic to the views expressed by the Congolese Government, which is currently concentrating on the organization and training of its armed forces with a view to their deployment throughout the entire country. The Congolese Government seems confident that this task can be completed in 1964 and has suggested that, after its completion, the process of relieving the United Nations Force could be effected with greater smoothness and efficiency.
54. This assessment made by the Congolese Government itself, and the appeal made by its Prime Minister, should receive the careful and sympathetic consideration of this Organization so as to achieve the best possible results from the efforts and expenditure made in the past few years. It would be tragic if a memorable and important accomplishment in the cause of peace were partly undone by an error in timing of the disengagement of these forces.
55. At its seventeenth session, the General Assembly adopted resolution 1785 (XVII) and endorse the decisions of the Economic and Social Council to convene a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. A preparatory Committee was constituted to render the necessary assistance in the preparation of that conference. My Government considers that the conference is likely to prove a most important factor in opening up new avenues of economic hope for the developing countries.
56. In his report to the Second Committee [795th meeting], Mr. de Seynes, Under-Secretary for Economic Affairs in the United Nations, last year noted the stubborn downward trend in the prices or raw materials and observed that the determinants of that trend revealed nothing to indicate a change for the better. We who are the sellers of raw materials can translate the observation of Mr. de Seynes into cold, declining figures. The stark reality is that, while prices of our primary products are decreasing, the prices of industrial products are, increasing. We are thus permitting an already wide gap between developing and developed countries to widen, a fact which can have dangerous consequences for the fate of the world.
57. If the objectives of the Development Decade, for which our Secretary-General is so earnestly striving, are to be attained, there must be an improvement of the terms of trade of the developing countries and also an increase in the share of world trade. In short, international trade needs a thorough and fundamental reassessment and the efforts and objectives set forth by the United Nations must be paramount in this respect.
58. My Government welcomes the coming Conference because we feel that the decisions to be reached should have two essential objectives: that of expanding world trade which means an increase in the production of all trading countries; and the establishment of fair terms of trade between the developing and the highly industrialized countries by arresting and stabilizing, at equitable remunerative levels, the steady deterioration in the prices of primary commodities and reversing their movements in relation to the prices of manufactured goods.
59. Unless this is done, we may as well resign ourselves to the unpleasant fact that the Development Decade is bound to fail. Our efforts this year must be dedicated to the achievement of these essential and indispensable objectives. As I expressed at the seventeenth session we must not risk a situation in which: "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Prosperity must be indivisible. The world cannot survive if it is to be part palace, part slum" [1132nd meeting, para. 22].
60. I come now to the question of equitable representation on the main organs of the United Nations. Speaking at the seventeenth session on this matter, I said:
"The expansion of the United Nations membership is, in the opinion of the delegation of Liberia, of great importance for the Organization's role in the maintenance of international peace and security. By such expansion the United Nations moves much closer to being the universal organization it was intended to be." [Ibid., para. 2.]
I further said:
"But there are important organs from which African-Asian States are excluded under agreements made before the increase in membership. Either the membership of these organs has to be increased or we will strive to use our votes to ensure adequate representation on each of them." [Ibid., para. 39.]
61. My Government does not consider the Charter of the United Nations as a static document, but as an instrument which is adaptable to changing needs and circumstances. Consequently, we feel that there is a pressing need for the necessary improvements in the Charter to obtain better representation for Africa and Asia on the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.
62. When the structure of the United Nations was being erected in San Francisco in 1945, Liberia was persistent in defending the principle of equitable representation on the Security Council and proposed an alphabetical rotation of non-permanent Members on the Council to guarantee the participation of all States in this body, inasmuch as geographical distribution could not be satisfied or applied through only six non-permanent seats. That proposal was regrettably defeated.
63. It is not reasonable, fair nor just that thirty-two African Members of the United Nations should be denied the right to be seated in the important bodies of the Organization.
64. It is to be recalled that the General Assembly, at its fifteenth session, discussed the question of an increase in the membership of the Security Council and of the Economic and Social Council. The consensus seems to have favoured an expansion of membership [960th meeting] of both the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, from the regions of Africa and Asia in order that these two regions might participate more effectively in these organs.
65. At the seventeenth session, the Assembly decided that a Committee, appointed to make arrangements for a Conference on reviewing the Charter, should meet not later than July of this year and report to this session the results of its efforts [resolution 1756 (XVII)]. My Government is pleased that the Committee seems in agreement that the composition of the organs should better reflect the increased membership of the United Nations.
66. It may be useful to inform this body that, at the Conference of Heads of African States and Governments, this matter was discussed, and a specific resolution was passed instructing African representatives to take all possible steps to achieve a more equitable representation of the African region.
67. We look forward to executing these instructions, we hope, with the full co-operation and assistance of all Members of the Assembly. We note with satisfaction that an item appears on the agenda of this session which deals with the question of equitable representation on the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council,
68. Turning to the question of Portuguese territories in Africa and that of South Africa, the world has witnessed some strange and almost incomprehensible developments. For several years the African States have tried, in as reasonable and conciliatory a manner as they could, especially within the United Nations, to have the Government of Portugal recognize that the United Nations does have competence to discuss the territories under Portuguese administration in Africa, that the inhabitants of these territories do have the right to self-determination and independence, and that Portugal has the obligation of international accountability to the United Nations for its dependent peoples.
69. In spite of several resolutions which have been passed by large majorities in the General Assembly and the Security Council, confirming these principles, the Government of Portugal had defiantly refused to comply with these resolutions. Even following the disturbances in Angola and the subsequent actions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, and with the feeling aroused in the world, the Government of Portugal still defied these resolutions and made no response. It is difficult to visualize what it hopes to achieve from this deliberate policy of self-isolation, which is so sharply at variance with the obligations of all Member States under the Charter of the United Nations.
70. The General Assembly has considered the question of apartheid since its sixth session in 1951 and the general problem related to the maltreatment of, and discrimination against, non-whites in South Africa since the first session. All the actions of the African States in these matters have been founded on the basic principle that, as fundamental human rights are essential to the welfare of all men and to the development of the stable conditions necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among States, the United Nations has to take action to uphold principles which were clearly expressed in the Charter and which affect the very foundation of the Organization. Our efforts have, as you well know, been totally rejected both by the Governments of Portugal and South Africa.
71. Having exhausted every other means for a solution, the Heads of African States, at their summit Conference last May, decided among other things to instruct four African Foreign Ministers "to speak on behalf of all African States in the meetings of the Security Council ... on the situation of African territories under Portuguese domination" and "to inform the Security Council of the explosive situation existing in South Africa".
72. Member Governments are fully aware of the decision of the Security Council on these two matters. The resolutions which were approved by the Council reflect the result of consultation and a very cordial and amicable exchange of views between the Members of the Council and the Foreign Minister.
73. In respect of the Security Council's decision on the Portuguese territories, my Government feels that that resolution has determined once and for all that the situation is disturbing peace and security in Africa. It has, accordingly, called upon Portugal to recognize the right of self-determination, to stop its repression, to enter into negotiations and to transfer power, after conclusion of such negotiations, to the indigenous inhabitants of these areas.
74. Further, the Security Council [1049th meeting] placed into the hands of the Secretary-General the responsibility for seeing that the Government of Portugal complies with that resolution, and the Secretary-General has been requested to submit to the Security Council, by 31 October 1963, a report on the results of his efforts.
75. African States are aware of the present efforts of the Secretary-General through his deputy, Mr. Godfrey Amachree, who has been in Lisbon recently. We are also aware of conversations taking place between the United States and Portuguese Governments.
76. On 12 August 1963 the Portuguese Prime Minister made a speech in which he said his country would fight to the limit of its human resources to maintain its so- called overseas provinces. We will, of course, await the report of the Secretary-General; but if this is the line that the Portuguese Government will pursue, the burden on the United Nations will become heavier, for each day the limits of endurance and the self-imposed patience of the African States grow less and less and the pressure of frustration mounts.
77. It is incumbent on the Security Council to take appropriate action to remove this dangerous threat to peace which results from these conditions of injustice and inhumanity, which can only lead to conflict as they have done in other instances.
78. Turning to the decision of the Security Council in respect of the policy of apartheid practised by the South African Government, we are again grateful for the action which the Council took. It is noteworthy that for the first time the Security Council, by that resolution,
has considered the racial policies of apartheid ad a source of disturbance to international peace and security rather than as only a violation of the human- rights provisions of the Charter. Similarly the policy of apartheid has found no shred of support from any Member State of the United Nations. We are also awaiting the report of the Secretary-General on 30 October 1963 pursuant to operative paragraph 4 of the Security Council's resolution on apartheid adopted on 7 August 1963.
79. We are also concerned about Southern Rhodesia and the present status of the African majority in that colony. We call on the United Kingdom not to take any action that will cause a deterioration in that situation.
80. Looking again at the report of the Secretary-General, I note that he has reminded Member States of the financial situation of the Organization. It is to the matter of the present financial crisis and what efforts we should exert towards resolving that crisis that I should now like to turn. Speaking on the matter last year [1132nd meeting], I solemnly appealed "to all Members to accept the International Court's opinion and show their good faith by contributing their quota to these peace-keeping operations". I observed further that a failure to do so may be to paralyse the United Nations in one of its most important functions.
81. A special session was convened on 14 May 1963 to consider this financial situation. We are all familiar with the prevailing points of view on the legal question of the cost of the United Nations Emergency Force and the United Nations Operation in the Congo. Therefore the political and other arguments adduced to show why payment should or should not be made towards the fulfilment of those two operations hardly need to be restated. My Government believes there are other problems related to the financial crisis of the Organization which are not necessarily connected with the cost of the United Nations Force and the United Nations operations in the Congo.
82. Whatever political and legal points of view Member States may hold, the crisis goes beyond mere political and legal points. It is a crisis of the very survival of the United Nations itself. It raises a series of problems about the ability of this Organization to function effectively in the future, to remain an effective instrument in the settlement of international disputes, in the maintenance of peace or in its efforts to assist economic and social advancement in the United Nations plans for the Development Decade. Member States must recognize that we are draining the life blood of the Organization and threatening its very existence, not only by withholding funds for these military operations, but equally so in our failure to pay our annual assessments in full. It is sad to recognize that, at the beginning of 1963, twenty-five Member States, about one- fourth of the Members of the Organization, had paid nothing at all towards the United Nations Emergency Force assessments; that forty-eight States had paid nothing in the levies for the Congo; and that since 1960 some States have withheld or delayed their payments for the regular budget assessments.
83. My delegation appeals to all Member States which may be in default to pay up their assessments, and let us endeavour, in the words of the Secretary-General; to "evolve a satisfactory method of financing future peace-keeping operations" [A/5501/Add.1, section XI]. Such operations are necessary if international peace and security are to be maintained.
84. I do not know what posterity will think and say about us if, after reading of the vast sums of money spent on armaments in this century, they discover in the next chapter of their history books that the Third World War —the awful ruins of which they will see around them— became inevitable because the United Nations was made impotent in its functions by being unable to pay its debts. Let us, therefore, consider the establishment of a fund for peace-keeping operations which would ensure the existence of funds whenever an emergency occurs.
85. With the improved international atmosphere, our task is to take advantage of every opportunity further to improve the climate, to lessen tensions and to find fair and practical solutions to the problems besetting us, no matter how complex they may be. Let us make this an Assembly of additional steps towards our ultimate goal of peace.
86. I hope that our deliberations during this Assembly will redound to the benefit of mankind by leading to international peace and security, and I assure you that the Liberian delegation will co-operate in all legitimate endeavours towards this end.