Five years ago, when we met in San Francisco and drafted the United Nations Charter, we thought we were “united” nations. The tragic truth is that we meet here today not as united but as disunited nations. We are divided into camps. The chasm between the two camps has grown wider and wider since the cold war was waged, and now the cold war has led to open conflict in Korea. As a result, many human lives are being lost and the shadow of another world war is hanging over our heads.
2. Great sums of money are being spent by all nations of the world, not on reconstruction and development, but on the most deadly weapons of war. Fear of war, uncertainty about the future and lack of confidence prevail everywhere. The United Nations, which is the only hope of mankind to preserve peace based upon justice and to promote mutual understanding among nations, is greatly handicapped. It is true that freedom-loving peoples were heartened when aggression in Korea was promptly and effectively met by the Security Council, but it is now clear that promptness of action was due to the absence of one permanent member of the Security Council. What will the Security Council do if a new aggression is launched in another corner of the earth? It is certainly paralysed so long as the great Powers are divided and so long as the veto is exercised.
3. This question of the veto, which has been discussed during the last two or three years, has made many well- wishers of the United Nations despair, and unless something is done to bring the big Powers to a common ground, and unless they get together and agree on the most fundamental principles of the Charter, this Organization is doomed. But we must be determined to make it live and work in the true spirit of the Charter. Once we lose hope of this possibility we must frankly face the eventuality of a third world war which might lead to total destruction. Let us sincerely hope that such an eventuality will never arise and that at the eleventh hour humanity is removed from the brink of a catastrophe. But to achieve that there are several prerequisites, of which I shall enumerate seven.
4. First, we must reaffirm our allegiance to the United Nations Charter in deed as well as in word. We must renew our faith in personal liberty, human dignity, the value and importance of the individual, sincerity and openness in dealings between men and between nations, prosperity for all, and peace based on mutual trust.
5. Second, to achieve the aforementioned aims we must arrive at an ideological truce based on mutual toleration. We must disarm the propaganda machinery which claims all science and truth for one camp and denounces the other camp as the enemy of humanity which needs to be destroyed. To achieve this, an agreement must be reached that all walls and curtains between nations must be torn down. Failing that, and recognizing that the world has in fact been divided into two camps which can live side by side in peace, mutual guarantees must be given that no camp shall penetrate or infiltrate into the other. Thus, the cold war must stop.
6. Third, a new determination should be made to denounce aggression from whatever quarter it comes and wherever it is committed. To solve problems by aggression does not pay with modern tools of warfare. Aggression begets aggression, and therefore it is not the road to peace and stability in the world. The United Nations in general, and the Security Council in particular, should deal with aggression from whatever source it comes without favouritism or relaxation. My delegation, while commending the efficacy and justice of meeting aggression in Korea, wonders why the Security Council did not and does not act with similar promptness and efficacy in cases of aggression in Palestine.
7. The world has certainly heard of the inhuman and brutal treatment recently meted out to about a hundred Arabs of Palestine who went to harvest their crops in areas occupied by the Jews. They were beaten, their bones were fractured and their nails torn out. Many of them were disfigured and taken blindfolded to the desert and left there to walk back on foot to Jordan, many of them dying of thirst, hunger and fatigue.
8. The world certainly has heard of the machinegunning by a Jewish fighter plane of a Lebanese plane carrying pilgrims from Jerusalem to Beirut, killing and wounding several pilgrims, amongst them United States citizens. Could that be guaranteeing free and safe access to the Holy Places of Palestine? It is important to note that the pilot of the plane was a French citizen and not a Lebanese.
9. The world must have heard of the thousands of Arabs who have been driven away from their homes in Palestine during the past few months under the fire of Jewish arms, in order to give their homes to the new Jewish immigrants.
10. The world must have heard of Jewish army encroachments on Lebanese, Egyptian and Jordanian borders, killing and looting innocent Arab inhabitants. As far as we know, the Jews are still in Jordanian territory.
11. These are examples of aggression the total of which certainly shows a state of unrest and threat to the peace. Yet the Security Council has shown no zeal in dealing with this aggression. We submit that if world peace is to be achieved, aggression must be equally and vigorously stemmed, whether it be in Korea, Palestine, Greece or in any other part of the world. To be active and effective in one part of the world and neglectful in another does not make the United Nations a dependable instrument for maintaining world peace and order. If the United Nations is to be effective, the democratic way of procedure must prevail. Every nation, whether large or small, must yield to the will of the majority. The right of veto must be abolished if we are to avoid the paralysis of the Security Council, and hence the paralysis of the whole Organization.
12. The doors of the United Nations must be open to all peace-loving nations. Ceylon, the Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain and many other states must find their seats amongst us.
13. The General Assembly has tried to find ways and means of getting around the veto. A permanent committee was established. Several other devices were mentioned yesterday by the head of the United States delegation to make the General Assembly do what the Security Council, not paralysed by a veto, is supposed to do. All these devices will be sympathetically studied. But why not amend the Charter and remove the veto, now that experience has proved that it paralyses this Organization? One of the best ways to get the United Nations out of its present impasse would be to abolish the right of veto in the Security Council.
14. Another important requisite for keeping world peace and making the United Nations efficient is to provide means for enforcing its decisions — at least by resorting to the application of Article 41 of the Charter. If we are to guarantee world peace, the decisions of the General Assembly, which represent the will of the majority, must be respected and enforced.
15. The people of Iraq are particularly concerned about- the neglect in the implementation of any United Nations decision on Palestine which has any bearing on Arab rights there. The Jewish authorities in Palestine, while paying lip service to the United Nations, have never carried out a single decision of the General Assembly or the Security Council which did not suit their interests. The plight of nearly a million Arab refugees in Palestine is an eloquent example. In spite of successive United Nations decisions to let the Arab refugees return to their homes and to compensate those who chose not to return, the Jewish authorities have flagrantly flouted the will of the Organization. Nay, since the United Nations decision was first made, they have added tens of thousands of new Arab refugees to the mass.
16. The case of Jerusalem is another glaring example. Notwithstanding the successive United Nations resolutions of 1947 [181 (II)], 1948 [194 (III)] and 1949 [303 (IV)], to the effect that the area of Jerusalem should constitute a corpus separatum and that it should be governed by the United Nations, the Jewish authorities have consistently flouted those decisions. The Arabs are legitimately entitled to ask this question: if the United Nations could act swiftly and effectively in Korea, why can it not do so in Palestine? Can the United Nations have a clear conscience when nearly one million Arabs are homeless and destitute and without adequate food, hygienic requirements and social and moral integration?
17. We believe that, if the United Nations is to be effective, it must see to it that its decisions are carried out and respected. We believe that to resort to Article 41 of the Charter is quite adequate and effective in many cases — Palestine being one such case. The Jewish authorities often speak of peace in Palestine. But what kind of peace do they desire? Certainly not a peace based on United Nations decisions or on human rights, but, rather, a peace which deprives the Arabs of their legitimate and natural rights and which satisfies the interests and ambitions of the Jews. The Jewish authorities clamour for direct negotiations with the Arab States, but they want negotiations based on denying and ignoring the successive resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council.
18. They deny to the Arabs article 13, paragraph 2, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads: “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
19. Certainly the United Nations cannot afford to let the situation in Palestine drag in the way in which it has been dragging if the prestige and efficacy of the Organization in dealing with world affairs is to be maintained. United Nations decisions must be made to work if we are to have a United Nations Organization and if we are to have world peace.
20. Another prerequisite for world peace is the abolition of racial prejudice and discrimination wherever it exists, and the liberation of all politically conscious and freedom-loving peoples of the earth. Vast peoples still under colonial rule await their salvation and freedom. Many nations have attained their independence through this channel. The historic events of the attainment of independence by India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon and Indonesia, have been marked by the happy conclusion of their struggle for freedom and by statesmanship on both sides.
21. In North Africa there are Arab nations which have achieved a marked degree of political consciousness and which are undergoing hardships in the attainment of this goal. A curtain now separates the world from news of this struggle, While the people express their wish for freedom by legitimate means, the French authorities do their best to thwart their activities, which sometimes leads to bloodshed on a vast scale. The world cannot, in the long run, remain silent with regard to this state of affairs. It is our sincere hope that France, the champion of the principles of liberty, fraternity and equality, whose friendship my country cherishes, will see to it that the people of North Africa — who have shown a marked degree of political and national consciousness, and who are not inferior in that respect to many nations which have already achieved their freedom — are allowed to attain their own independence. My delegation was deeply gratified by the decision taken at the last session with regard to Libya, and sincerely hopes that no obstacles are being placed in the way of that country’s achieving its unity and independence.
22. There is no doubt that the spirit of the Charter demands the liberation of all mankind, and that unless this liberation is achieved in progressive and peaceful ways it leads to strife and bloodshed and, hence, becomes a threat to world peace. World peace demands that the liberation movement should be accelerated and not retarded.
23. The most crucial problem facing mankind today is, undoubtedly, the economic one. The fact is that, in this age of science and plenty, there are hundreds of millions of human beings who are under-nourished, some of them being on the verge of starvation. This makes the achievement of political stability and peace within each nation and between nations a difficult problem. To meet the situation one ideology — desperate and losing hope — preaches revolution; another ideology preaches peaceful and progressive social and economic reforms. And still another ideology, supported by a small minority of die-hards, holds that certain men are entitled by birthright to become lords and the rest slaves. Fortunately, that class of men is becoming extinct.
24. There remain two paths for human development. One is that of revolution, and the other is the path of evolution. Revolution is certainly contrary to the spirit of the United Nations Charter for it breeds class hatred and class discrimination. It uses violence and subversion as methods of achieving social ends. It believes in the theory that the end justifies the means. This is morally wrong. One must use decent means to achieve noble ends.
25. The United Nations way is the way of evolution. It should strive to make the peoples of the earth share the advantages of modern science and techniques. The programme of technical assistance, which is being prepared by the United Nations, is a step in the right direction. But, in many cases, it is not enough. Technical assistance without financial assistance may prove futile. We feel that an arrangement like the Marshall Plan should be set up for the Middle East after Europe, and aid should then move eastward, along with technical assistance, so that, in less than a generation, the whole world may benefit from the advantages of modern science and techniques.
26. If we would only decide to have peace and stop arming, if some of the thousands of millions of dollars being spent on armament could be diverted to the development of the under-developed countries, one of the greatest causes of war would be removed from the world. Guidance rather than exploitation should be the rule in helping the under-developed countries. Self-help and local initiative should be greatly encouraged by the United Nations. It is in this spirit and along these lines, that we can hope to achieve peace.
27. In conclusion, I wish to summarize the seven points I have discussed. Those points are:
28. To reaffirm our adherence to the United Nations Charter and its basic principles, in deed as well as in word;
29. To declare an ideological truce based upon mutual tolerance;
30. To meet aggression, from whatever source, collectively and with great efficacy;
31. To revise the Charter and abolish the rule of unanimity of the permanent members of the Security Council;
32. To provide means and take measures to enforce United Nations decisions;
33. To liberate politically conscious and freedom-loving peoples from foreign yoke and to abolish racial discrimination;
34. To aid, financially and technically, the underdeveloped countries.
35. These are the basic needs for the survival of the United Nations, and we may very well describe them as the seven pillars of peace. These are not idealistic dreams, but realistic facts derived from reflection on the bitter experiences of the post-war years. If we, small nations and big nations, have the will to implement these points, and I hope we have, we can achieve peace and prosperity for all mankind through the United Nations.