1. Mr. President, your almost unanimous election to the presidency of the present session of the United Nations General Assembly — a truly rare occurrence in the history of our Organization — has called forth a well- deserved chorus of praise for you from the delegations present here. At the risk of further trying your modesty as u well-known humanist, I should like to associate the people and Government of Haiti, as well as myself, with these congratulations. Our felicitations go to a man whose diplomatic talents, moderation and capacity for conciliation have frequently transcended the debates and raised them above partisan interests to that universality which is the ultimate purpose of the United Nations.
2. I should be remiss, however, if, in this context, I were to fail to pay a tribute to the great skill of the President of the twentieth session of the General Assembly, Mr. Amintore Fanfani, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy: for his departure represents no fall of an idol; the example he set, Mr. President, cannot but help you in your task.
3. Secretary-General U Thant, our practised mentor, has, as always, carried on a living tradition and not spared himself in instilling, on every issue, the spirit of co-operation and of peace so indispensable for human progress. He continues to enjoy the confidence of the peoples of the world, at a time when we are on the threshold of a world-wide failure which could degenerate into a world-wide conflagration.
4. In order to underscore the imminent threat, while stressing also the great value of the work done by the Secretary-General and of his initiatives in the cause of mediation, I should like here to repeat the words of Haiti’s Head of State, Dr. Frangois Duvalier, on the occasion of U Thant's decision not to seek a further term of office:
"On behalf of the Haitian people and on my own behalf I wish to associate myself with the dismay caused in governmental and international circles by U Thant's decision not to serve for another term as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
"His rare qualities as an experienced mediator and champion of peace have inspired in Members of the Organization an indispensable spirit of understanding and, going beyond the letter of the Charter, have strengthened the principle of balance among the communities of today's troubled world.
"The departure of U Thant would bring about the collapse of this great institution; its result, I fear, would be that the United Nations would suffer the same fate as the former League of Nations.
"All human communities have an interest in the maintenance of the United Nations as a world-wide high court. It is the only authority which, because of its universality, can overcome the present problems of peoples and races wooed by opposing ideologies.
"I am still convinced that U Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations, will continue to personify this moral guarantee and the unreserved trust of the international community, a trust shared by my Government and supported by the traditions of the Haitian Nation."
5. The Government and people of Haiti offer their best wishes for prosperity and success to our brother people of Guyana, who have just attained political independence and been admitted to membership in the United Nations.
6. The political realities of the world today derive from the desire for domination and from the power politics of the three super-Powers which, over all geographical frontiers, are casting shadows that, at the very least, constitute a disquieting threat to peace.
7. Communist China has suddenly emerged as a giant, upsetting, with its theory of violent revolution, the fragile and laboriously constructed thesis of peaceful coexistence. The race for supremacy makes it difficult, even dangerous, to divide the world into zones of influence, for such division causes exasperation to the opposing sides and the last-comer on the scene further complicates the confrontation of the two existing adversaries. Despite the progress of international organizations, organizations certainly equipped to facilitate negotiation, the threat of a conflict weighs heavily upon the whole of mankind. The other States, which nevertheless share responsibility for the future of our communities, particularly for that of the "third world" are reduced to the role of extras in the "theatre in the round", where the
insensate desires of the world's masters makes them simultaneously spectators and potential actors in the present crisis situation.
8. Just as in the ancient trilogy events converge to ards the moral operation of fate, bringing the action to a tragic denouement, despite the clearsightedness and diversity of the characters, so too do the States represented in this forum find that more noble national choices are perforce suppressed, as they knock upon doors that are always closed. When the play is over and each of us stands before the judgement seat of future generations, shall all of us have the satisfaction of knowing we have played our part well, will our consciences be fully satisfied? For we shall stand shoulder to shoulder when we stand before the judgement seat of history.
9. But the three super-Powers, while maintaining and enlarging their spheres of influence, have never stopped keeping the cold war alive and promoting the balance of terror, thereby making for a new international order which could soon prove fatal to the world. The relations among the antagonists have reached the point where, far from adapting themselves to the conditions of a rapidly changing world, they are dangerously confronting one another. I refer to the conflict in Viet-Nam.
10. Who does not remember the consternation felt in every corner of the world at the news, disseminated by every television and radio network, and first by the international press agencies, of the revival of armed conflict in the Far East?
11. Is there anyone who does not realize that the world has become smaller, as the means of communication surpass the speed of sound, and that the slightest tremor anywhere in the world can bring down the whole structure?
12. Viet-Nam, the word on everyone's lips, is and will continue to be but the expression of the general anxiety; it means the threat of a war that the Governments and the international community can hope only to keep from reaching the scale of a world conflagration.
13. The Viet-Nam war revives memories of the Polish Corridor and makes it possible for us to imagine the terrible scourge and appalling sufferings which a general war would entail. Its outcome, at a time when atomic weapons have reached their stage of perfection, would be the end of our civilization.
14. This problem, acute though it is, could nevertheless look less discouraging for communities more inclined towards constructive enterprises than towards destruction, if the antagonists would start on the path of conciliation and would bring themselves in line with the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Unhappily, efforts at mediation have so far been in vain.
15. The United Nations, whose authority and universality transcend communities, is tirelessly exploring every road towards a solution of the conflict, in the name of international peace and security; but it is in danger — and its prestige is suffering thereby — of becoming an instrument of the struggle among rival blocs, despite its constant effort to narrow the gulf between the communist and the non-communist nations and between the rich and the poor nations.
16. The Secretary-General has not spared his efforts at mediation. Encouraging in every great capital of the world the mutual understanding for which Pope Paul VI called in this very hall (1347th meeting), U Thant has nevertheless suffered the disappointment of seeing the attitudes of the adversaries harden. I wonder whether the Secretary-General, in whom mankind places its trust and hope, believes that the Viet-Namese conflict can be brought to an honourable solution and whether he can go beyond his mandate and effectively help us to preserve peace.
17. As I consider Viet-Nam, I would like to repeat here the profound words of President Duvalier:
"The negro Republic of Haiti, faithful to its great historic traditions, appeals, like the Vicar of Rome, for peace, understanding and brotherly love among men. The Republic of Haiti is deeply convinced that the leader of the free world, which is not trying to subjugate any people or race in the world, will take note of the thought freely expressed by the first negro republic in the world. Let peace prevail, instead of the destruction of mankind, and let the nations, under the Charter, have friendly relations with one another, based on respect for the principle of equality of rights of peoples and the principle of self-determination."
18. Another threat to world peace is the problem of apartheid in South West Africa, a problem now further complicating the situation in Southern Rhodesia. In touching on the question of South West Africa, I should like to repeat what was said by United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the late President John F. Kennedy, to the students at the University of Cape Town, in the heartland of apartheid, as recalled by a high dignitary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Dahomey at the United Nations Human Rights Seminar on Apartheid, held at Brasilia from 23 August to 4 September 1966. Mr. Kennedy said that apartheid was one of the evils prevailing in the world, along with racial discrimination in New York, famine in India and the imprisonment of intellectuals in the Soviet Union. Those were different evils, but they were all equally the work of man. They reflected the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, the lack of feeling for the sufferings of our fellow men. They showed the limits of our ability to use human knowledge for the welfare of our fellow men. Only a narrow-minded man could remain attached to the gloomy and disastrous superstition that his world was bounded by the nearest hill and the banks of some nearby river, that the human community was confined to those who belonged to his town and shared his views and the colour of his skin.
19. Perhaps the repetition of these thoughts, stressing as they do the ugliness of that inhuman policy, will more forcefully bring out the world's disapproval and inspire a healthier application of law and justice.
20. The Haitian nation, loving freedom as it does, cannot but feel the stigma of subjugation inflicted by apartheid on its unhappy brothers in South West Africa.
21. It is to be feared — to repeat an ominous prediction — that, as the passage of time leaves no other choice possible, the people of South West Africa, exploited, scorned, dominated, deceived, strained beyond limit, and in despair, may react by any means open to them and may unleash a conflict to shake the whole world and threaten peace to its very foundations. The example of the peoples which have chosen self-determination and the evils engendered by the Nazi racism during the Second World War bear eloquent testimony to this.
22. After the striking statements we have heard on apartheid and the repeated statements of the permanent delegation of Haiti, both in plenary meeting and in the Ad Hoc Committee for South West Africa — dealing with a question which is now twenty years old, for it goes back to the inception of the United Nations — my delegation notes that, despite seventy-three resolutions, the Government of South Africa, quite happy with verbal sanctions, is still opposing all United Nations control over the Territory of South West Africa, on the pretext that its obligations as a Mandatory Power ceased with the dissolution of the League of Nations.
23. Pretoria, when accused of instituting its policy of apartheid, of illegally incorporating South West Africa into its territory and of adopting a policy of militarization, replies with the notorious recommendations of the Odendaal Committee on the setting up of so-called "national homelands", the unconfessed object of which is to annex South West Africa to South Africa.
24. The International Court of Justice, by dismissing the case of Ethiopia and Liberia, allowing them no right or legal interest in the matter, has merely given its blessing to the Pretoria Government and sanctioned, more than ever before, the arrogant exploitation of man by man, of non-whites by whites; and that Government is only too happy to go on drawing considerable profit from an enslaved labour force and a land rich in gold, diamond and copper mines and to strengthen its economic ties with certain Powers.
25. The Court thus seems to have written an epilogue, at least on the legal level, to one of the longest trials in the history of international courts, by handing down a judgement that is not only controversial, but is interpreted as indirect approval of racism in the world; and it has done this in disregard — to quote Article 38 of its Statute — of "international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting States", in disregard of "international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law" and in disregard of "the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations".
26. My delegation wishes to say that it considers the Judgment of the International Court of Justice ^s a distortion of law, a denial of justice, an insult to the international conscience and to mankind. It declares that the people and Government of Haiti firmly support all measures taken by the United Nations to abolish apartheid, for the United Nations, if it is to survive, must show itself capable of solving the problems placed before it.
27. The grave crises which are pushing mankind to the brink of despair are closely bound up with the division of the world into rich and poor countries and with the equally disquieting gulf between the communist bloc and the free world. Why then not try our luck at co-operation, why not regard it as a kind of gamble? For what is at stake is the maintenance of peace and the very existence of the human race. The creditor countries could not lose from co-operation with the poor countries which, paradoxically, have been in the past and are today the source of their wealth. The imminent threat of the failure and collapse of the international community in the political, social and economic fields must stimulate the rich countries to make a practical effort and to avert an outcome dangerous to all.
28. Between the western world and the socialist countries there has grown up an intermediate world, the third world, whose collective conscience involves all the nations ranged against a common enemy —underdevelopment — in solidarity with one another and in the ambition to emerge from their under-developed state by resolving their social, economic and political problems, which are more or less the same for them all. Whether those problems result from lack of people to fill responsible posts, or from the inability of those responsible to adapt themselves to the objectives of reforms and programmes awaiting the stimulus of technology and capital, or whether those problems have been inherited from colonialism, the third world, breaking with its dependence on the industrialized countries, wants to make its voice heard among the nations and to present its claims.
29. The third world affirmed its personality in 1955 at the Bandung Conference, of which the final communique added the principle of encouraging mutual interests and co-operation to the great principles of peaceful coexistence. As President Leopold Senghor said, Bandung meant a world-wide awareness of the dignity of man and the end of the inferiority complex of the peoples of the third world, who are daily exerting a greater influence on world affairs and, more than ever before, have come to this twenty-first session bringing the world's faith in a better future.
30. Side by side with these political concerns, which
have for too long held back the solution of the problem of under-development, the United Nations is rightly concerned with the serious consequences of the growing disparity in living standards and it has pledged the responsibility of the international community by instituting the United Nations Development Decade. The General Assembly, by its resolutions of 19 December 1961 [1710 (XVI) and 1711 (XVI)], laid down two essential objectives, that the industrialized countries were to devote a minimum of 1 per cent of their national income to the assistance of the developing countries; and that the latter were to raise the annual growth rate of their gross national income to 5 per cent in 1970, the final year of the Decade. The six years that have passed bring us halfway towards instituting an international development
policy. Looking back, I wonder whether we can see the way to a better future.
31. No one says that the rich countries, on the one hand, and the third world, on the other, should fight a lone fight, for the success of the crusade is a common task; but at this stage of the journey there are disquieting signs that the crusaders are flagging. Last year's report of the Secretary-General drew a picture no less sombre than before. Disturbing signs have indeed darkened the picture. The population explosion of the developing countries, more rapid than the growth of their national income, the policy of reducing financial assistance adopted by some industrialized countries in order to overcome their balance-of-payments difficulties, the hardening of the terms on which international organizations are prepared to give credit for poorly defined national objectives — all these disturbing signs could, if they were more thoroughly studied, be interpreted as pointers towards a transition to an era of universal relations with the third world.
32. I should like to put forward an objective testimony which cannot but throw light on the crisis of the United Nations Development Decade. Mr. Philippe de Seynes, Under-Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs, speaking before the Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva last March, drew a striking picture of the attitude of the industrialized countries faced with the development problems of the third world:
"We are bound to note that there was no increase in movements of capital towards the developing countries during a period of exceptionally rapid growth, so we cannot avoid being anxious about what will happen if we enter on a prolonged period of less rapid growth."
33. This disquiet is shared by the majority of world leaders and international experts, who for more than a year have been trying to communicate it to the authorities of the wealthy countries. They are alarmed above all to find that not only is it proving difficult to get the economies of the developing countries started on the road to progress, but also that in contrast to the desired result the gap between the national incomes of those countries and the national incomes of the industrialized countries is steadily widening. Moreover, after several years of an extremely favourable economic situation, the industrialized countries with a free economic system are in no position to boast of having appreciably increased their aid to the third world. On the contrary they seem to be marking time in that respect and nothing indicates that things will soon get better.
34. In view of the slowness of this great campaign of international solidarity, it must be recognized that the promises of the International Development Decade are a dead letter and that the third world cannot but turn its eyes towards inaccessible horizons which only accentuate the distance between the far-off peaks and the low levels of their own infrastructures.
35. The Latin American countries, faced with the same age-old evils of under-development as the communities of Asia and Africa, evils involving the same problems of population explosion, a high infant mortality rate, undernourishment, illiteracy, underemployment, absurdly low per capita income, technical and economic under-development — those countries, separated, moreover, from America by the accident of geography, are becoming increasingly aware of their destiny and demanding better conditions of life, more in accordance with their contribution to the cause of peace, and a more equitable share in the wealth of civilization.
36. Latin America has given evidence to the world of its noble intentions by proposing a denuclearization treaty (A/6328 and Corr.1) —a proposal of profoundly humanist import, when we consider what mankind's enemy, man himself, is designing — and by setting up a Central American Common Market ensuring the regional economic integration of its members, who are pledged to adopt uniform tariffs and by creating, through the Montevideo .treaty signed in February 1960, the Latin American Free Trade Association, which is a genuine Latin American Common Market.
37. The Economic and Social Act of Rio de Janeiro, signed on 30 November 1965, lays down that;
"The economic integration of the developing countries of the hemisphere should be one of the basic objectives of the inter-American system,"
and that
"international trade is a determining factor of economic and social development of the countries of the hemisphere and should evolve in the direction of providing developing countries, especially, with a system of fair prices, increasing earnings and free access to world markets."
38. The Republic of Haiti, located in the Caribbean, a region in which it is desirable that States should adopt a form of regional integration, is making every effort to this end, side by side with its partners in Asia, Africa and America.
39. President Duvalier, addressing the Haitian Nation on 16 September 1966, when the budget for 1966-1967 was submitted to the Legislature, said these words:
"This is the time to take bearings on the general economic and financial situation which unquestionably results from general political activities. The financial year about to end on 30 September 1966 will once again prove to have been a test year, in other words, a year during which the national effort has taken the form of a dynamic social, moral economic policy designed to ensure the stability of the State."
40. I think — and I should like to emphasize this — that everyone has been able to see that our efforts have yielded returns — efforts which, when they do not involve subjection, depersonalization and the overthrow of the basic principles of sovereignty and integrity, give a nation the measure of its vitality and, mobilizing its energies, arm it for harder battles.
41. The spiritual leader of the Haitian Nation said:
"If the moving history of Haiti teaches us anything, it is that the people of Haiti can win freedom only through struggle and effort... If our nation is left alone in its fight against poverty and degradation, it will not be the first time in our history that we have found ourselves in that situation, which has become the rule rather than the exception."
42. The Republic of Haiti, led as it is by a man inspired by revolutionary ideas and aware of his historic mission for the benefit of his people and his race, has — even if the results may look poor when judged by the standards of developed economies — set out on the road to economic and social advancement.
43. Sustained by the living forces of the nation, forces which must be mobilized if we are to survive at all, Haitian democracy is no sham democracy based on a so-called balance of the great powers of the State, or on a sham respect for the will of the people when that will is for the most part flouted by strongly organized groups with sordid interests carefully camouflaged under the trappings of democracy; Haitian democracy is determined to ensure that the Haitian people rise towards the light, towards material, social and spiritual well-being.
44. In the field of labour, which is a vital factor in the creation of well-being, the Republic of Haiti, under the wise leadership of one who is a humanist through and through, President Francois Duvalier, can boast of many accomplishments.
45. A policy designed to free our people from the fetters of degradation, poverty, ignorance and destitution has made it necessary to co-ordinate a series of institutions and programmes which will progressively strengthen social security.
46. Co-operation between labour and mangement has always been threatened by disputes and, all over the world, attempts are made to settle them, turn and turn about, by the opposing methods of neo-colonialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat, often at the cost of disrupting the entire system of production.
47. In order to avoid that disequilibrium which is too often only to the advantage of a dominant minority, because of the nature and effects of under-employment in the under-developed economies, the Government of Haiti has enacted labour legislation, including the Francois Duvalier Labour Code, inspired by equity, impartiality and justice; that code has served as a model for the ancillary institutions it has engendered.
48. The programme of planned workers' education, which comprises vocational training and the rural handicrafts project — a priority project which is part of the over-all development programme for rural areas and is implemented on a community basis- aims at accelerating economic and social development through the progressive education of the workers, who are called upon to play a distinct and ever more important role.
49. The organization of a national seminar on nutrition at Port-au-Prince, followed by the establishment of a national committee to combat malnutrition, the institution of compulsory old age insurance —all these are valuable innovations which have not failed to attract the attention of the civilized world and which constitute a demonstration of the courage, force and determination of our people to overcome the trials and tribulations life entails, especially for a Government which must assume all responsibilities and give bread and peace to the whole nation in dignity.
50. Concerned as it is with these temporal matters, my Government has not neglected spiritual matters. I refer to the agreement of 15 August 1966, reestablishing friendly relations between the Government of Haiti and the Holy See and once again illustrating, by the high-level exchange of Heads of Mission, the earnest desire of the President of the Republic of Haiti and of His Holiness Pope Paul VI, to promote an increasingly harmonious climate of understanding, promote the propagation of the Christian faith, increase the numbers of the country's clergy and bring about the spiritual progress of the people of Haiti.
51. On the economic plane we realize — to repeat what President Duvalier said:
"We shall never be able, in one lifetime, however long it may last, to solve all problems. Nevertheless, we have faced up to them and we will continue to do so with the same energy and the same courage as we have shown in response to the hard blows we have received in the past."
52. The Government of Haiti continues to face up to all its economic difficulties, accentuated by the policy of reducing financial aid on the part of the wealthy countries and by the fall in prices of our principal export commodities in foreign markets and aggravated by no fewer than three hurricanes in two years.
53. The last of these, Hurricane Inez, caused a national catastrophe as it passed over Haiti. The great American daily, The New York Times, wrote that the consequences of the disaster in impoverished Haiti were still unknown, for there were no reports on the matter. Nevertheless travellers arriving from Tiburon Peninsula in the south-west of the country estimated that about one thousand people had been killed and that 80 per cent of the houses in the coastal town of Jacmel had been destroyed. The paper noted that the capital, Port-au-Prince, which had been protected from earlier hurricanes by the high mountains, had this time suffered heavy damage. A United Nations spokesman in Haiti estimated the capital damage at $45 million.
54. Further, according to reports reaching Port-au-Prince the hurricane raged particularly over the southern part of the country, almost completely destroying the towns of Grand-Goave, Petit-Goave, Leogane and Jacmel, together with the surrounding countryside and striking with special ferocity near Miragoane and Bainet. Roads were put out of commission and communication was rendered impossible by the flooding rivers. It would be a safe estimate to put the number of dead at 5,000 and the casualties at one million, as was the case with Hurricane Flora.
55. It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Government of Haiti, to thank the United States of America, which, as usual, came to the immediate aid of the people concerned. I should like also to pay a tribute to U Thant, who expressed his sympathy with the Government of Haiti and at the same time offered United Nations assistance. We should like him to realize the deep gratitude of the Government and people of Haiti for the aid so generously offered, which will mitigate the distress of the people of Haiti.
56. Now that this sad event is over, the Government will courageously resume the task of equipping the country, by mobilizing, as before, the efforts of the nation, if the leading Powers of the western economy and the Alliance for Progress, from which Haiti is the only American country to have derived no benefit, steadily refuse to give us any form of cooperation for our development.
57. With our own money and our own technical resources we have constructed the international Francois Duvalier Airport. Our pride has broken down our isolation. We are also building the hydro-electric dam at Peligre, on which we have already spent $32 million; thousands of acres of arable land will be irrigated, transforming the Province of Artibonite into a land of milk and honey.
58. Even so, we shall go on knocking at every door, without false pride, in the hope that perhaps at the eleventh hour the walls of Jericho will fall. But if the selfishness of those who hide behind idle political pretexts makes it impossible for them to stretch out a hand to us, then we shall win our own economic Independence, just as in 1804 we won our national independence; for we have already started to find the solution to our general problems by ourselves and with our own resources.
59. There we have sufficient reason, along with the under-developed countries, to condemn the lack of co-operation on the part of the industrialized countries, which ought to think in world terms and inaugurate an era of worldwide relations with the third world. Co-operation must not be a cheap means of exerting pressure on the Governments of countries that receive it, or used to serve economic, political, even military interests. I repeat, we do not want the charity or patronizing philanthropy of the wealthy. If development lags and if the present forms of aid and assistance are demonstrably inadequate, if the reluctance of former metropolitan countries to participate is holding back co-operation and if the feelings of inequality of the under-developed countries, which have reconciled themselves to losing everything except their honour, have aroused prejudice in the minds of the "haves" because of the mediocrity of the results and the wastage of primary products, it none the less remains true that co-operation must be the consequence of a free and judicious choice and must be designed to achieve the common aim of mutual enrichment.
60. I shall quote Michel Dembele, who said;
"Co-operation must be an act of interdependence of peoples and there must be an ethic underlying it. It must mean the desire for mutual aid, so that peoples can develop simultaneously in a symbiosis of civilized values; it must mean putting into practice the doctrine that every people has the right to utilize the resources of its land and the aim must be daily to strengthen the universal community of interests. It is in this spirit that co-operation must be given. It can then become the ideal opportunity for straightforward give-and-take, the expression of active solidarity among men in their united movement towards the establishment of peace on the basis of genuine peaceful coexistence. That is the way, and the only way, in which the human solution to the problem of under-development must be sought."
61. As in all previous years, the opening of the new session of the General Assembly has aroused the hopes of the world. Through their representatives here the peoples have expressed, despite or perhaps even because of adverse circumstances, their faith in the Organization's destiny and their unreserved adherence to its noble purposes and principles.
62. Ever since our work began this Hall seems to have been echoing with the aspirations of communities of all races and languages for peace, security and universal well-being and the frankness of the speeches and statements made here seem only to have testified to the worldwide anxiety.
63. If this temple were to fall, the whole of mankind would soon be doomed to burial beneath its ruins, from which would emerge, with multitudinous cries of suffering and agony, the broken, mutilated and disfigured bodies of the last survivors.
64. The nations, fully aware of this constant peril, should be able, through fruitful retrospection, to repel the baleful shadows cast by the lust for power and sterile selfishness, which are so contrary to the spirit of conciliation and the brotherhood of man. Let this imaginary picture, always present in our minds, revitalize the purposes and principles of the United Nations and lead to a more stable peace and a more truly human solidarity under the protective shield of international co-operation!