If we review the activities of the United Nations since the days of San Francisco, we realize that never before has mankind been so deeply concerned with the question of peace, this peace which we have not yet been able to achieve despite all our efforts and despite the material we have collected and examined in the hope of offering this great achievement to future generations. The fact is that the human and natural elements in our difficult task of reconciling various aspirations, ideals and interests are so prominent that we are at times dramatically made aware of our shortcomings, of obvious areas of disagreement and of lack of comprehension.
161. How, then, can we achieve peace? That is the main concern of the delegation representing the Dominican Republic at this eleventh session of the General Assembly, which is attended by the largest number of Member States in its history — the old founder States, like our own, those which joined later, and the new Members which are to offer us their much-needed cooperation, inasmuch as we agree that the universality of the United Nations, one of our long-standing hopes, is one of the main objectives of the Charter.
162. Yet the task of achieving peace has its price and is beset with thorny problems. The price must be paid in respect of any human endeavour and the thorny problems will arise because no path is ever entirely smooth. The peace that we all long for and that would fulfil the yearning of millions of human beings throughout the world has implications and a meaning of considerable importance for the world today; it could be achieved through joint and sincere efforts if each, one of us were to act in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter and develop his capabilities and if nations, like men, and States, like individuals, attained such a degree of social equilibrium and tolerance that they could discharge their domestic obligations without neglecting their foreign obligations and meet their international responsibilities without projecting their domestic policies into the outside world. What I have described is, in short, the good neighbour policy, which has already been proclaimed in the American continent — that admirable solidarity in efforts to promote the common good and the respect for human dignity and for the principles governing modern society and the international community.
163. Can it be that, instead of promoting peace, the material advancement of peoples corrupts peace, undermines and saps its very foundations? When we examine the achievements of our century and realize the existence of tremendous forces equally capable of mass destruction and of creation, all we can do is utter our desire for peace, a desire surely cherished in all the States which are aware of the responsibilities that would have to be borne in the event of another world war.
164. We are living in crucial times. The emergency meetings of the United Nations, precipitated by the events in the Middle East and Hungary, show how, through the United Nations, solutions can be worked out that are preferable to dramatic and irretrievably extreme action. The Charter itself mentions international co-operation and refers to the standards of conduct and ethics by which normal relations between countries should at all times be governed.
165. The Dominican delegation appears before the Assembly sharing the concern felt by all, because we can neither ignore the interdependence of nations and the universality of the international community, nor believe that a conflict of international proportions would fail to affect us. For this reason, people no longer think in terms of isolationism or neutralism, except as a means of concealing other designs, but on the contrary try to explain their position and policy in such a way that everyone knows with whom he is dealing.
166. All this has brought us to the conclusion that today, and in view of the way in which problems were dealt with during the emergency sessions, we are faced with a choice: on the one hand there is extremism, barbarity, the cruel treatment of defenceless masses calling for their freedom and rights, the enslavement of peoples whose name will always live in history and the enslavement of civilized nations with outstanding traditions, jealous of their patrimony and skill; on the other hand, there are the aspirations to a sensible form of self-determination, free of extremism and realizable by peaceful and normal means, democracy and all that it implies, the determination to conduct foreign policy according to the principles of the United Nations Charter and to contribute to world order by measures unaccompanied by schemes of political and ideological domination.
167. For these reasons, we wholeheartedly supported the desire of the Hungarian people for freedom, a desire which has already been expressed by the Dominican people, its Congress, its Government and its social groups; for these reasons we also sympathized with the process of democratization in Poland, beheld with revulsion the repressive measures taken as a result of events in Poznan and were shocked by the grim tragedy of Budapest, that city flowing with blood and destroyed by the tanks of the army dispatched from the sinister walls of the Kremlin by the machinery of communism, which in our day has enacted the crudest scenes of contemporary history.
168. General Hector Bienvenido Trujillo, the President of the Dominican Republic, recently sent the following message to the President of the Assembly of Captive European Nations: “I have the honour to refer to your message in which you, as the President of the Assembly of Captive European Nations, request the co-operation of the Dominican Government in the adoption of measures which will put an end to Soviet aggression in Hungary and give effect to the provisions of the General Assembly resolution of 4 November [1004 (ES-II)]. “I hasten to inform you and the other members of the Assembly of Captive European Nations that the Dominican Republic condemns wholeheartedly the violation of the United Nations Charter by the Soviet Union and will support unreservedly any action the object of which is to restore the sovereignty of the Hungarian people and to ensure respect for its inherent rights as one of the communities having the finest democratic traditions in the history of Christian civilization. “The Dominican representatives to the United Nations have received instructions to support the suggestions made by the Assembly of Captive European Nations and to join in any move toward restoring to the Hungarian people its right to self-determination and implementing effectively the principles of the United Nations Charter, so grossly violated by the aggressive forces which are endeavouring to enslave man and to destroy the foundations of international order and human coexistence. “In accordance with the policy adopted by Generalissimo Trujillo after the meeting of envoys, the doors of our country remain open to all Hungarian citizens and to any persons from other countries subjected to Communist barbarity; in our country they will always have an opportunity of working in full freedom and of co-operating with my Government in its efforts both to strengthen the country and to promote world peace, and to preserve and defend the institutions and principles which constitute the culture of the Western peoples.
169. That is why we pay our respectful tribute to the Hungarian heroes of the resistance, whose undying memory will live in the hearts of all who love freedom, and we take this opportunity to state that the Government of the Dominican Republic has decided, and has already informed the competent departments of the United Nations Secretariat, that it is prepared to welcome thousands of Hungarian refugees in a genuine desire to alleviate the situation in which they find themselves at this time at the frontiers of their subjugated country.
170. We submit that it would be intolerable if communism, by direct intervention with forces of the Soviet Union, were to impose on the Hungarians a Government which they do not want, particularly after they had indicated their intention of shaping the policy of their country along lines more in keeping with universal democracy. It is on that ground that the great majority of the General Assembly based itself in expressing disapproval of the Soviet intrusion in Hungary, for this is far from being a domestic question of the Hungarian State or one of those political changes which are so common in many countries. The difference defies analysis, and there is no point in dwelling on it.
171. The world today rejects ideological interventionism by communism; a fortiori, it rejects communism supported by force. Therefore, the United Nations seeks to convey, by an expression of majority opinion, the idea that there are many other ways of making a country the ally of another, of making normal relations fruitful ; instead of contributing to the formation of centres of dissension, one should, on the contrary, work to the utmost for coexistence protected by peace and the principles of international equality and co-operation.
172. For us the United Nations has been and will continue to be the only possible forum for the joint consideration of the problems of our generation. That is why we are so happy that at the present session nineteen additional Member States have been seated which, with the few that are still outside our ranks — among them Japan — constitute the long dreamed of, almost utopian, expression of that perfect association, which has been moulded by the needs of our civilization. We congratulate them.
173. Among the States recently admitted there are some, however, which cannot but receive our special congratulations. They are Spain and Italy: Spain, the protagonist of the great epic of America, whose blood, language, religion and traditions we proudly carry in our hearts and for which the Dominican Republic, as its first-born, feels so much affection; and Italy, the source of our Latin heritage, whose friendship for us, and that of its people, its children, have been so constant.
174. The agenda of the eleventh session includes delicate, difficult items with important political angles, and other items which help to justify to public opinion the existence of the United Nations. We have always believed that the United Nations should not be judged by its behaviour in dealing with or solving international problems which, because they affect the supreme political interests of Member States, sometimes are, by their nature, not amenable to immediate action on the part of this association of nations. Many people see only the vetoes in the Security Council, and think that the resolutions are not binding or that there is no way of enforcing them, that the machinery of the United Nations is no better than that of the old League of Nations because it has not been able to restrain the recklessness and ambitions of some States.
175. Nothing could be further from the truth than that kind of thinking. The United Nations, by the very nature and temperament of the Charter, is a uniform whole whose objectives are clearly set out in the Preamble. In the social, economic and legal spheres, in research into the indices of our civilization, in the work of many agencies, in the interchange of data and of comparative statistics, it has achieved considerable, even unhoped for, progress. What we should like to emphasize, most of all, is the personal interchange which enables men of all countries and races, origins, creeds and religions to know virtues and faults, things which cannot be measured but which, in the long run, enable us to evaluate problems and help to guide Governments and peoples.
176. For example, there is the progress achieved in technical assistance, on which the hopes of many underdeveloped communities rest; if we look at the records of other specialized agencies, we find in all their plans, in their results, experiments, studies, failures and successes, a solid conviction of success in obtaining what is best and in constantly doing something more for the welfare of the world and its inhabitants.
177. Finally, let us look at Chapters XI and XII of the Charter: they govern the treatment of dependent territories and entitle us to raise banners of triumph, for under the Charter new States have been created, self-government has been granted or foreshadowed, and, finally, within a few years, in 1960, we shall witness the attainment of independence by Somaliland and of self-government by Western Samoa, Territories which have been influenced by the Charter and which, through the collaboration of their peoples and administrators, have succeeded in mapping out their future political destiny.
178. After all, the United Nations is but the work of men and we have to expect to suffer from human weaknesses. It is for all of us to strengthen the United Nations and not to abandon it to the mercies of unrestrained emotions, the shocks of Marxist ideologies, or excessive nationalism, devoid of understanding and realism. The exercise of authority under the law and of respect for the inherent rights of man will help to make more tangible all that is proclaimed by “the supreme law of the international community”.
179. This session of the General Assembly is dominated by the grave problems of the Middle East and Hungary, and it is not too much to say that there is a tendency towards much greater aggravation of certain difficulties in areas with reference to which the United Nations has included items on its agenda at the request of some of its Member States. Let us hope that, with a real understanding of the more urgent matters, those genuinely deserving priority, we shall be able to consider them with clarity of judgement, and that those others which tend to arouse or accentuate differences will be dealt with in a truly calm spirit. That, at any rate, is the consideration which will guide the delegation of the Dominican Republic in the consideration of the items on the agenda.
180. In connexion with the present conflict in the Middle East, we should like to stress that, now that the General Assembly has made the necessary recommendations for its settlement in the spirit of the Charter and now that a cease-fire has been attained in that region, all our efforts and all our energies should be combined to put a speedy end to that situation; it should certainly not be exploited for the purpose of introducing new elements of discord which might precipitate a conflict of greater proportions.
181. My country wishes to express its thanks to the whole General Assembly for bestowing upon it the honour of selecting its representative as Chairman of the Fourth Committee; it is but a recognition of the constant attention we have given to such problems both during the sessions of the General Assembly and during the four years in which the Dominican Republic has served on the Trusteeship Council. The delegation of the Dominican Republic is confident that it will do justice to this proof of esteem, which comes primarily from the Latin-American group, now more than ever united on important United Nations problems.
182. I should also like to say that our membership for another year in the Economic and Social Council has enabled us to maintain our working association with the other States represented on that important body. In the Economic and Social Council, the Dominican Republic has been faithful to its ideas of social development, and of the existence of an inalienable right to social advancement, and to a reasonable policy of understanding for the various economic problems of the world.
183. Since our country is developing its own natural resources; since social law in the Dominican Republic is being promoted under the immediate direction of the leader who is our guide and inspiration; since advanced social and labour legislation has been adopted; and since our country is supported by a solid and stable economy, which is reflected in the excellent state of its finances, we naturally welcome the guidance given by the Economic and Social Council and, in spite of the magnitude of its schemes, devote ourselves to the great work it is doing for the benefit of mankind.
184. In keeping with these ideas, we assure the General Assembly that the delegation of the Dominican .Republic is prepared to serve with enthusiasm the cause of peace, that our position will always be inspired by that ideal, and that, whenever the whole world looks to the United Nations for something tangible from its deliberations, we shall approach the intricate aspects of the maintenance and development of international orderliness with more hope than pessimism and with more conviction than despair.
185. The Government of the Dominican Republic hopes for peace, for a lasting peace, with guarantees, with respect for every State, with relations based on a worthy concept of coexistence. Finally, it hopes that the United Nations, in this hour of uncertainty, will be guided by the supreme demands of justice and right and will find the roads that lead to the happiness of all mankind for which we yearn.