The delegation of Costa Rica is most gratified at the election of Prince Wan Waithayakon as President of the General Assembly, and welcomes the opportunity to work under his guidance. We. have already received confirmation of that judiciousness and wisdom to which we have looked forward when we took part in the election, that was an act of unanimity as well as a unique and well deserved vote of confidence. My delegation also wishes to extend a cordial welcome to the new Member States that are present for the first time at this meeting of the nations and will give lustre to our debates with new ideas and new points of view.
197. We are gathered here while the world around us is in a state of convulsion and feverish commotion, the like of which we have perhaps not seen since this Organization first convened the nations of the world in 1945. It is our fate to be both spectators and chief actors in an age of turmoil. Whether we like it or not, we are living in a world undergoing transformation before the astonished gaze of humanity, as it seeks to comprehend and assimilate this veritable revolution of uncommon proportions which has taken place in the world since the glorious day marking the end of the frightful nightmare of the Second World War.
198. This earth is still the scene of bloodshed and tyranny. We live in a world half slave and half free, and of each of the continents constituting the globe we can still say that it is but half free and half slave. Tyranny and bloodshed, oppression and misery, the cruel struggle for freedom and the cruel repression of liberty are not the exclusive heritage of any region.
199. In this hall we have just held two emergency special sessions, the first in the history of the Organization. It is as if, in a few fatal weeks of horror, the internal pressures had suddenly burst all the safety valves, allowing conflicts to erupt simultaneously.
200. It was then that mankind turned its eyes towards the United Nations, the world Organization which it sometimes criticizes, of which the incredulous at times make a jest, which is often dismissed sceptically as impotent to satisfy the aspirations of every heart, yet, as we see, without which we cannot live.
201. We must examine our consciences thoroughly before we decide if the United Nations has done this time what we expected of it. Even if the results have not been as fully satisfactory as had been hoped, we shall not be discouraged. There are reasons why we should begin this new stage of our recurrent labours in a spirit of optimism. Although our intervention has not yet been sufficient to restore the freedom and rights of the people of Hungary, we can at least say that our action successfully localized the conflict that broke out in the Near East, and that at one point seemed close to involving us in a war of incalculable and suicidal proportions.
202. Those two matters continue to overshadow our work. For this year, we would have preferred a General Assembly devoted to a friendly study of the many economic, social and juridical difficulties confronting the world, God, however, willed it otherwise; that we should gather here beneath the ominous shadow of those two great problems which confronted the United Nations at the beginning of November.
203. We must pay a humble and devoted tribute to the people of Hungary and speak of them with respect and reverence. There may have been peoples that equalled the Hungarians in valour, but there has been none to surpass them. We must bend all our energies and devote our minds to solving this problem.
204. Certain delegations having a special interest in the matter have told us here that this question is closed to us because it falls within the domestic jurisdiction of a Member State. We have also been told that if the Soviet army came into Hungary with fire and sword, it did so at the invitation of that country’s Government.
205. During the emergency special session, we said [569th meeting] that since two countries were concerned in this matter, it could no longer be considered a question of domestic jurisdiction. We said further that the prohibition referred to in paragraph 7 of Article 2 of the Charter could not be invoked with regard to a matter in which two sovereignties were concerned or involved, since it had been included in the constitution of the Organization only for cases relating to a single sovereignty.
206. Here in the United Nations we heard the message, so full of anguish, of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Mr. Nagy, appealing for the aid of the United Nations because the Soviet army was being hurled against his country. Later we learned that, thanks to the efforts of that army, there was another government in Hungary, and it is that new government — so we are expected to believe — that summoned the Soviet troops. How could it have summoned them, considering that the action of the Soviet troops had begun while that government was not yet in office? Or did it summon them before it was in office, when it was merely an entelechy in the minds of those who were planning to impose it?
207. It is obvious to any student of the situation that the action of the Soviet armies was not the work of the present Hungarian Government but, on the other hand, that that Government is the creature of the Soviet armies.
208. Every aggression tends to change conditions in the State attacked. But we would be foolish if, after the aggression had been completed and its purposes achieved, we were to accept the explanations and justifications offered by those who are the beneficiaries of the new state of affairs and of the aggression.
209. Despite all this, the situation in Hungary allows us some hope, however faint and fearful, because it shows that the aspirations for freedom and independence cannot be destroyed. Moreover, the action of the United Nations in connexion with the events in the Near East encourages the optimism of those of us who believe, officially and personally, that this Organization, in simple words, is the hope of the world.
210. For the small countries, such as mine, which in the conduct of their domestic affairs aspire to follow the example of the nations we call the Western democracies, it was in great sorrow that we were compelled to sit here in judgement on the deeds of France and the United Kingdom. These were not actions we have been accustomed to expect from nations that are the champions of the principles which are the very essence of our desires. We came here as their friends to show them, by our votes, that we held them to be mistaken in this matter and that we sided with the United States which — at a truly outstanding moment in its history — was resolutely assuming the leadership of the world and telling its allies and friends, in behalf of principles to which we all subscribe, that this time we were not with them because the methods they were using conflicted with those set forth in the Charter of the United Nations.
211. The conflagration in the Near East has been brought under control. The cease-fire ordered by the General Assembly has been obeyed by the nations concerned, as a respectful gesture to the Assembly’s opinion. Their compliance has earned them the respect of the entire world. Our Emergency Force is gradually accomplishing its assigned mission. But we cannot afford to relax until we have eliminated the causes of tension. We must not be satisfied with a fragile tranquillity, but must bind ourselves to bring about a real peace in that part of the world.
212. During the debate on the conflagration which threatened to spread from Egypt to the rest of the world, we said [563rd meeting] that Costa Rica had been unable to join the group of nations proclaiming Israel an aggressor, because it had taken action — in violation of an armistice, it is true — against a State which for eight years had been waging declared war against Israel. There was, to be sure, a suspension of hostilities, but peace had not been established.
213. Thus, we came here to deplore the violation of the armistice. We could not, however, overlook the fact that the country which was now a victim of military action had for many years threatened the territorial integrity of the State that had undertaken the action.
214. We said, and we repeat today, that our most sacred duty is to ensure lasting peace in those lands. We must not forget that Israel is the child of the United Nations, engendered by the Organization in an act of justice many centuries overdue. The obligations of parents do not end when the child is born. The United Nations has the ineluctable moral obligation to watch over the welfare and tranquillity of the State it created, because the progress and success of that State will be a measure of the progress and success of this Organization.
215. We cannot but feel deep apprehension as we hear voices in Asia Minor still proclaiming that Israel must be obliterated from the face of the earth. This is tantamount to declaring war against a State created by this Assembly. But no stroke of the Assembly’s pen could now erase the moving and impressive achievements, the progress and development of the people of Israel in that inhospitable land. The incredible efforts which have gone into this experiment in cooperative and democratic living, and the incredible results achieved, inspired one of my country’s outstanding statesmen to describe Israel as “the world of the twenty-first century”.
216. It is therefore urgent that peace be achieved. The existence of a progressive and democratic State in the land of Palestine, already a juridical and tangible fact, must be accepted. This Assembly must urgently devote itself to a careful scrutiny of every possible formula until we succeed in establishing peace in those regions, so that the magnanimous peoples of the Near East, under the guarantee and auspices of this Assembly, may again devote themselves to working in peace for their progress and happiness. Let there be an end to warlike adventures in that traditional and ancient land and, through the efforts of the United Nations, let us see the hands of seven nations stretched out in friendly co-operation instead of seven fists raised in threat.
217. Small nations like my own, which wield little influence and play only a modest role in the chess game of global politics, cannot but think with fear of any possible weakening in this Organization. By placing all their determination and good will behind the Organization, they have the prospect of deriving immeasurable advantages from it. Those advantages, however, are incompatible with the existence of conflicts.
218. The benefits to which I refer include the technical assistance programme, of which my country has been one of the principal beneficiaries. The Technical Assistance Administration has allocated a sum of $588,000 for programmes that are being carried out in my country, but that amount is in reality much greater if we add to it the value of other intangible services made available to us. One hundred and seventeen citizens of Costa Rica have been granted scholarships under the Programme, while fifty-nine experts have co-operated with Costa Rican authorities in carrying out projects.
219. The Centro Latinoamericano de Entrenamiento para Estadistica Agricola [Latin American Centre for Training in Agricultural Statistics] had its headquarters in my country, where also the Escuela Superior de Administracion Publica de la America Central [Higher School of Public Administration of Central America] is conducted, and the beneficial results in the technical training of public officials from the five countries of Central America are already apparent.
220. Costa Rica has also received assistance in child welfare and chemical research. Aid was given to the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad in carrying out preliminary studies for the erection of two hydroelectric plants.
221. The recently organized Instituto de Vivienda y Urbanismo [Institute of Housing and Town Planning] received in its initial stage effective assistance from an expert sent by the Technical Assistance Administration. And in housing and town planning as well as in municipal administration, civil aviation, teacher training and secondary education, we have had the benefit of scholarships that have enabled officials to take specialized training.
222. Vocational training, health, agriculture, nutrition, fisheries, animal husbandry and agricultural statistics are some of the activities or spheres in which the people of Costa Rica have received encouragement, assistance or advice under the various technical assistance programmes.
223. It is only fitting, therefore, that we should take advantage of our participation in the general debate to express our tribute to and our gratitude for that programme, and to the men who direct and administer it for the benefit of our various peoples.
224. An Organization capable of performing such services must not perish. We are meeting here for the eleventh time, in fulfilment of the purpose, first set forth in 1945 and reiterated each succeeding year with increasing determination, not to let it fail, but to outvote all our efforts to strengthening and enhancing it.
225. It is in such a spirit of dedication, work, faith and hope that Costa Rica has come to this Assembly.