My delegation is particularly pleased to join the other delegations in congratulating Prince Wan Waithayakon on his election to the presidency of this body. It is a high honour seldom endowed in so rich a fashion; but he deserves it as richly by his selfless labours in the cause of amity and international co-operation. Enhanced by his winsome ways, his enviable experience and familiarity with the problems which regularly confront the General Assembly, hold out every happy augury for a fruitful and rewarding session.
112. Withal, my Government views his election with every feeling of friendly elation. Our two countries have had the closest connexions, not only because of our alliance in the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization but also because we share in large measure the problems of nation building peculiar to our region of the world.
113. We open our deliberations this year — the eleventh in the life of the United Nations — under the shadow of menacing events. In the past three weeks, developments of fearsome portent have cast the issue of peace in very grave doubt. In the Middle East, war reared its ugly head again; and in Central Europe a subject people traced once more the ancient pattern of rebellion in the name of human freedom.
114. The full significance of these developments is not clearly visible to us at the moment. It may be that a new order of things is struggling to be born; or it may be that the brief but bright era of good feeling which followed the summit meetings at Geneva has trailed away and humanity is back again among the travails of spirit which marked the painful years after the Second World War. Which one it shall be depends on the energy, the wisdom and the strength of purpose of the leaders of nations. But for all of us, undoubtedly, the occasion presents an opportunity for the purification of conscience. Unfortunate as recent events have been, they have a positive and redeeming side. The speed and firmness with which the General Assembly acted to meet these situations is one cause for rejoicing. As on similar occasions in the past, this body has conclusively proved that it could bring to bear the full weight of its moral force whenever the peace and security of the world are endangered.
115. Assuredly, none of the problems connected with the recent Middle East hostilities and the Hungarian situation has been solved, except possibly the immediate — but, I should say, considerable — issue of halting the continued destruction of human life. But it is a condition which necessarily precedes the larger solutions. It now remains for the Assembly, in its collective wisdom, to turn the grievous loss into a positive gain, to feel its healing way to every wound and woe, to use the tragic events as points of transition to a permanent and enduring peace. We realize, even as we speak these words, the scope and difficulty of the task which faces us in our efforts to achieve this great aim. Fortunately, this Assembly is lacking neither in patience nor in determination — patience and determination born of the profound yearning of mankind to overcome its afflictions.
116. We therefore venture the hope that with respect to the Middle East question, whatever might be the ultimate fate of the issue of the management of the Suez Canal, the principle of free and continuous passage through the waterway shall be ensured. On the Egyptian- Israel dispute, we look forward to an immediate restoration of peace in the area, and, in a more favourable climate, energetic steps should be taken to reach a final and conclusive settlement of the obstinate causes of friction.
117. The urgent and pressing interest with which my Government regards the Hungarian situation has been demonstrated by its token contribution towards the relief of Hungarians made destitute by the recent clashes in Budapest and elsewhere. We express the ardent hope that the energy and the formidable pressure of the collective moral force of this body will cause the Soviet Union to desist from any further attempts to stifle the legitimate aspirations of the Hungarian people.
118. Last year sixteen new nations were admitted into the fold of the United Nations, and three more nations were welcomed just over a week ago. A once unmitigated deadlock which had lasted for years has thus been broken. In itself, the action of the Assembly in admitting the new Members bespoke the spirit of goodwill and co-operation which marked the relations among nations then. Looking towards a larger purpose, however, it was clearly the intention of this body to move towards the realization of the principle of universality of membership within the permissible ambit of the Charter.
119. There is every indication that the day is not far off when the Assembly can truly speak of itself as representing the voice of humanity. As it is now, the Assembly has been immeasurably strengthened, and a new confidence has been gained which will serve us well in deliberating over the issues in the present session,
120. The problem of disarmament has long been an unmanageable one. Following a resolution [914 (X)] of this body last year, the main efforts of the Disarmament Commission were directed at framing proposals of a confidence-building nature. Towards this end, the United States proposed the creation of technical exchange missions and allocation of demonstration test areas in which both President Eisenhower’s “Open Skies” plan and Marshal Bulganin’s “control posts” idea would be given a trial.
121. However, efforts at an approximation of views notwithstanding, the United States, the United Kingdom and France, on the one hand, and the Soviet Union, on the other, could find no common ground nor mutual trust in each other’s proposals. Lately, Moscow suggested a non-aggression accord between the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and those of the Warsaw Pact, and aerial reconnaissance within the area of disposition in Europe of their principal forces to a depth of 800 kilometres east and west of the demarcation line. Against the immediate background of an announced fresh nuclear test, and calculatingly timed in the present context of the Middle East crisis, this new Soviet proposal is, however, being viewed by the Western Powers as another distasteful piece of propaganda.
122. We are thus compelled to admit that no substantial progress has been achieved in settling this vexing question. It has become abundantly clear that, in the face of the continuing deadlock, a less ambitious approach to the problem, timed under propitious circumstances and narrow enough to inspire confidence and a spirit of conciliation, may pave the way to partial achievement. My delegation will accordingly support any proposal calculated to promote such limited agreements in the hope that eventually they will help build a climate conducive to the ultimate settlement of this most intractable of the problems that ever confronted this body.
123. There is a lesson to be learned in the dispatch with which agreement was reached on the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency. On 8 December 1953, President Eisenhower proposed its creation, and, following the successful International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, the negotiating Governments completed the draft statute of the Agency, submitting it in September 1956 to the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy of Member States of the United Nations and specialized agencies. In the following month, the Statute was unanimously approved and, after ratification by the Governments of Member States, the Agency is expected to come into being in 1957.
124. I have briefly traced the consecutive steps in the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency by way of emphasizing the kind of prompt and vital response possible among nations when the cause is worthy and the spirit of co-operation is enlisted in the service of humanity. In the creation of an Agency for the peaceful utilization of atomic energy, the Assembly found a cause that transcended ideological and political differences among nations, for it promised a future for all mankind that will be free from poverty and disease and in which the labours of man can coax the fabled abundance of the earth. The manner in which the Agency will marshall its capacity in the immediate years ahead will provide the test of whether our vision of the atom can be translated into terms of actual abundance on a world-wide scale. In the example of the successful constitution of the International Atomic Energy Agency, we may take the needed courage to find our way through the thorny problems which face us year after year.
125. There is, for instance, the question of Korea. In its sixth annual report [A/3172] the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea (UNCURK) describes the great gains being made by the Republic of Korea in establishing a representative Government and in rehabilitating its economy through the aid of the United Nations.
126. It is a source of gratification to hear that the once embattled Republic is rapidly progressing towards stability and widening international recognition. It is, however, disquieting to note at the same time that while we had, for the last two years, hoped for, and urged, some progress towards the basic aims of free elections in, and unification of, Korea, not one forward step has been taken to realize them. Indeed, when UNCURK adjourned sine die on 1 January 1956 and virtually relinquished its functions and responsibilities to a mere committee of four nations, it took a step that may induce the South Koreans to a sombre belief that they eventually may be left alone to work out their own salvation. It, too, places in serious doubt our oft-repeated avowal of continuing our quest for an early solution to the Korean problem. We cannot view this situation without grave concern. Granted the complexity of the problem of Korea, it is not one, we believe, which the Assembly can ignore, except at peril to the principles of the United Nations. We cannot abdicate our responsibility in promoting the search for fresh solutions. If we do, then we shall have justified the insistent fears that the division of Korea is, in fact, permanent. We surely cannot permit this tragic result by our sufferance or default.
127. A problem of equal complexity on this year’s agenda is the question of Cyprus. Under different circumstances, it would be pleasant to note that the question is not quite what it was when the Assembly discussed it during the ninth session. Since then the United Kingdom has accepted the principle of self-determination in regard to Cyprus and has agreed to institute limited self-government for the Cypriots. However, the negotiations over the constitution of the proposed Cypriot Assembly broke down, and shortly thereafter Archbishop Makarios was exiled for his alleged complicity with the supposed terrorists on the island. Further negotiations are contemplated by the United Kingdom on the basis of a Cyprus Constitution which is now being drafted. In the meantime, the question is before us on two antagonistic pleas: one by Greece, invoking self-determination for Cyprus, and the other by the United Kingdom, seeking an examination of alleged Greek support for terroristic activities in the island.
128. Now, as in the past, the quest for solution revolves around efforts at striking a happy reconciliation between the Cypriot claim for freedom and the just recognition of the strategic value of the island in the security set-up in the area. The Philippine delegation desires to reaffirm its full support of the principle of self-determination for Cyprus, but within such time and under such conditions as will fit into the context of the security requirements of the free world. And it is our fervent hope that such an objective will be attained through the orderly and peaceful processes of negotiation.
129. In this connexion, we cannot fail to note the great progress towards the exercise of self-determination among dependent peoples. Tunisia, the Sudan and Morocco have just joined the ranks of the United Nations. I am happy to announce that my Government has formally extended diplomatic recognition to these three new Members of the world community. On 6 March 1957, the territory of Ghana, comprising the present Gold Coast and Togoland under British administration, will become a fully independent State within the British Commonwealth. The establishment of this prospective new State became a reality last May when Togoland under British administration voted for incorporation in the Gold Coast in a plebiscite held to determine whether it desired union with the Gold Coast or continuation as a Trust Territory. And in 1960 Somaliland is scheduled to gain independence under the terms of an earlier Assembly resolution.
130. There have been instances of dependent peoples being guided or prepared for the eventual assumption of independence, but the evolutionary procedures of the United Nations in this respect are certainly without parallel in history. What the world Organization has achieved with spectacular success is to ride the wave of history — which contemporary nationalism is — and transform a usually violent agitation into a constructive and peaceful process.
131. In the field of human rights, we have advanced with giant strides in the task of spelling out the precious rights of men. We have entered the second phase of our labour — the system of annual reports and studies in specific human rights and the institution of advisory services. My delegation, however, feels we can now commence to explore the possibilities of working out genuine programmes of action by which the rights we have defined and declared, may find progressive application in countries where they are not observed.
132. Finally, we note with gratification the advances over the past year in the work of this Organization in the economic and social fields. The momentum of progress along traditional channels offers every hope of continued acceleration. But fears have been strongly expressed about the persistent failure to halt the widening gap in the rate of development between industrially advanced countries and the under-developed countries. The consequences of such a trend, unless arrested, may prove disastrous to the desirable balance of economy among nations. Here, therefore, is another area of immediate and urgent interest; for the future stability of the world will depend on whether we succeed today in eliminating those causes of tension and unrest which have their roots in economic and social inequalities.
133. The task that confronts us in this eleventh session is a heavy one, rendered more complex and more difficult by the forbidding international climate. But, in the spirit of mutual understanding and tolerance, there is no obstacle, however formidable, which we cannot overcome. The Philippine delegation is prepared to hear its sustainable share of the common task with the fullest measure of goodwill and co-operation.