30. This Assembly has opened in a hopeful atmosphere. During the past year there have been welcome signs of an improvement in the international climate. It can best be described as a thaw, because there seems at least a possibility that the mistrust and suspicion which have frozen international relations in the cold war may be replaced by a warmer spirit of co-operation. If we can succeed in making this spirit of co-operation a greater reality in our Assembly debates, we can make the United Nations a stronger instrument for world peace.
31. We know that our hopes will not 'be realized merely by wishful thinking. We know that we cannot leave the whole responsibility to a few nations, no matter how powerful or how influential they may be. Each of us must be prepared to look for new solutions to old problems, and to find new ways of working together.
32. The Secretary-General, in his thoughtful introduction to this year’s annual report [A/2911], has provided an admirable basis for such an approach. He has also reminded us that the Assembly must, at the present session, look back upon the first ten years of the Organization’s development. It is fortunate that the anniversary should fall at a time when the international outlook offers distinct grounds for encouragement.
33. It is well worth while to recall how eagerly public opinion throughout the world has responded to each new promise of a better understanding and a common purpose among nations. The commemorative session, held at San Francisco in June 1955, served to emphasize that these were the objects for which the United Nations was founded. There can be no doubt that the peoples of the world look to the United Nations for leadership. It is our task to show that the Organization is able to give that leadership.
34. In this connexion the General Assembly may, I feel, congratulate itself on its decision to convoke the recent Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. The Conference was notable for the way in which the various countries represented pooled their knowledge. It succeeded, indeed, beyond all expectations. This was, in itself, one of the clearest, signs of the new spirit of international co-operation. , Four items on peaceful uses of atomic energy and allied? subjects are on the agenda of the present session. They should afford a useful opportunity to review what was accomplished at Geneva, and to chart the course for further progress in a new and exciting field of scientific endeavour.
35. The Assembly may also feel some satisfaction with the year’s activities in the field of disarmament. This urgent problem is so complex that progress is naturally slow. The key to its final solution is the establishment of an adequate system of inspection and control. This has been the stumbling block in the past, and we should not look for quick and easy answers. Nevertheless, this is a subject which the Charter specifically invites the Assembly to consider; and, whatever the difficulties, we must persist in our task. Moreover, our forthcoming discussions should have more promise, because there is evidence that the great Powers are anxious to make definite progress.
36. During the past year, developments of great significance have also taken place outside the framework of the United Nations. The great Powers are making a new attempt to settle differences which go to the root of the world’s problems. There has also been a notable growth in regional co-operation. These are developments which support the role of the United Nations and make its aims more easy to achieve.
37. The Secretary-General has in his report paid special attention to the practice and procedure of the Security Council. New Zealand is due to leave that body, to which we had the honour to be elected two years ago. We have found the experience a valuable one. It is true that we have learnt at first hand of the difficulties under which the Council operates. We had hoped that it would be less used as a forum for the public statement of known and unchanging positions. It is also obvious, of course, that no world organization can function adequately unless there is a basis for co-operation among its largest and most powerful member States. This fact was recognized by the special position accorded the great Powers in the United Nations Charter.
38. The interests of the United Nations will be well served if the great Powers can agree more readily about the spirit and intention of the Charter. It would then be easier for the Security Council to come to a common view, and to exert a united authority. I do not suggest that rigidity has been a characteristic of the great Powers alone. In recent months, unanimity among the permanent members has made possible useful and constructive decisions on the Palestine question.
39. The responsibility for maintaining and increasing I the authority and usefulness of the Council is one which other Members of the United Nations share with the great Powers. It does not take long for an international body to acquire fixed habits; these may be dangerously easy to develop and extremely difficult to change. In our experience such a change is necessary if the Security Council is to function effectively as a centre where genuine negotiation can take place. The Secretary-General has pleaded that questions of Council procedure be approached in a more “imaginative” spirit [A/2911, p.xii]. We ourselves hope that the Council will allow itself a greater degree of flexibility, and will not feel bound to continue routines developed in the years of the cold war.
40. This is all the more important, we believe, because the Council retains its role as the supreme arbiter of matters affecting international peace and security. Supplementary procedures have been developed, but no substitute. If a small nation is attacked or threatened, the Council is still the place to which it may most readily bring its case, and most promptly get a hearing. Prompt and public discussion has a deterrent effect on the use of force. The Council can always provide the facilities for such discussion.
41. I have stressed that the United Nations is an Organization in which responsibility is shared among large nations and small. The United Nations has unique authority, because it speaks for the peoples of all its Member States. Yet we cannot forget that there are other States which have not been admitted to the United Nations, although they are deserving of membership. Until this injustice has been ended, the United Nations cannot attain its full stature.
42. I feel that, in this respect also, we must re-examine old positions, and see whether they are in keeping with present circumstances. It would be most regrettable to close the door to deserving candidates merely because of rigid attitudes adopted in the past.
43. I must now make some mention of developments in international co-operation which are of special interest to New Zealand. My Government is firmly convinced of the value of the Colombo Plan — a scheme of economic development and technical assistance which has strengthened our ties of friendship and understanding with the countries of Asia. I am glad to note also that this year has been one of comparative tranquillity in those South-East Asian countries which border the Pacific.
44. We hope that this comparative peace is yet another symptom of a genuine relaxation of international tension; but we also take great satisfaction in the guarantees afforded by the South-East Asia Collective Defence Treaty Organization. In this organization, countries which have been exposed to subversive pressures are linked with other countries which, like New Zealand, lie outside the Asian area. The existence of this organization threatens no one. It has been emphasized many times that it is purely defensive. We are confident that it will play its part in preserving the freedom and peace of South-East Asia.
45. We, in New Zealand, have also followed with great interest the proceedings at Bandung, where our Asian neighbours, and some countries of Africa, many of them not Members of the United Nations, met in conference. We recognize the value of regional co-operation, and we believe that in this way the United Nations itself can be enriched. It is significant that the Bandung Conference expressed its member’s support for the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
46. I have been speaking of meetings and associations which have taken place outside the United Nations. Their very existence reminds us that the United Nations is not a world government. Its Member States meet on a footing —not merely of equality — but of sovereign equality. The position might have been otherwise. The United Nations might have been given authority to revise treaties or territorial boundaries. It might have had an unlimited right to intervene in the domestic affairs of its Member States. But in fact it was given none of these powers, and if it attempts to exercise them it is exceeding its functions.
47. No State willingly submits to interference in its own affairs. If there is such interference, it can only bring discredit on the United Nations. The Assembly’s real effectiveness depends on its moral authority; and this must be based upon a reputation for wisdom and fairness. We believe that, if the Assembly concentrates upon that goal, it will be troubled less often by the vexed problem of competence.
48. A broader test than that of competence — and often an easier one to apply — is whether or not Assembly discussion is likely to serve the real interests of the people vitally concerned. It is not in any case the Assembly’s policy to accept automatically every topic proposed for debate. Certainly this should not be its policy if the subject has already been adequately discussed, or if there are other good grounds for believing that discussion would be unfruitful. There are occasions when a debate — far from improving a situation — can delay settlement, add to unrest, or, in the ultimate, provoke violence.
49. All these considerations apply even more strongly to cases in which there is a legitimate doubt about the Assembly’s competence. In such cases the Assembly should be extremely careful not to let its procedures be misused. As the Secretary-General has pointed out, it is not the main task of the United Nations to impose its advice on Member States. Its Councils, commissions and other bodies — and also the full resources of the Secretariat — are there to give help when it is wanted.
50. I believe that this session of the General Assembly offers us a special opportunity to push forward with the major task of making the United Nations a more effective Organization. I think it may be a mistake to suppose that a review conference, held at an early date, could do much to hasten that goal. There may be a good case for making some amendments to the Charter; but for that purpose alone a review conference is not necessary. Moreover, I think it very doubtful whether we could go to such conference with any confidence that amendments would be agreed upon.
51. I am, of course, well aware that the purpose of such a conference would not be limited to the question of amending the Charter. I have, however, tried to make it clear that, in my view, this is not the time for formal and lengthy discussion about the way in which the United Nations should work. What is needed is the will to make it work in the manner which was envisaged at San Francisco ten years ago. We have a good deal to forget, and new habits to acquire. If we can now manage to cultivate a new spirit of co-operation, we shall in due course be able to make a much more confident assessment about the need for a review conference.
52. Much has been done in ten years. In this nuclear age, it is vital that we make much greater progress in the next ten years. But we must all recognize that the improvements we so earnestly desire will not come without great effort, or without the exercise of patience, tolerance and restraint on the part of all the nations concerned. As always, our inspiration will come from our objective, namely, that of world peace and the provision of conditions for human advancement free from the fear and shadow of war.