1. As a participant in this general debate, which is as yet in its initial stages, I should like to convey to Mr. Maza, on behalf of the Canadian delegation, our warmest congratulations on the occasion of his election to the presidency of the tenth session of the General Assembly. I should like also to assure him of our full co-operation in the fulfilment of his difficult and important duties. Three years ago, Mr. Pearson, the Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, had the honour of presiding over the seventh session of the Assembly. That experience has taught us how onerous, although satisfying, those duties can be.
2. Through the President, I should also like to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to his able predecessor, Mr. van Kleffens, who presided with such distinction over our deliberations last year.
3. Our Prime Minister, on behalf of the Government and people of Canada, telegraphed yesterday to Mrs. Eisenhower the great regrets of the Canadian people on learning of the illness of the President of the United States. On behalf of the Canadian delegation at this General Assembly, I should like to say to Mr. Dulles and Mr. Lodge and their associates, and I am sure I say this on behalf of all of us, that it was with great regret that we learned during the past week-end of President Eisenhower’s sudden illness. We welcome today’s news that he is progressing satisfactorily, and we join with the American people in wishing him a complete and speedy recovery. As the great leader of a peace-loving nation, President Eisenhower symbolizes all that is best in the ideals of the United Nations. Despite the enormous burden of responsibility which he carries, his far-seeing wisdom and sober counsel have been a constant source of encouragement to all peace- loving peoples. I know that I speak for many when I express the fervent hope that the President of the United States will soon be restored to sound health.
4. All of us gathered here are, I know, acutely aware of the extraordinary importance of this tenth session of the General Assembly. Ten years ago the golden gates of San Francisco, where we signed our Charter of peace, seemed to open on the bright vista of a future free from conflict. And then the gates to that future suddenly narrowed and a war-weary world has had to live through a decade of division and difficulty. But once again, ten years later, we are given a fresh opportunity to establish here, on this island of Manhattan, a new beach-head of hope.
5. So much has been said here and elsewhere about the new atmosphere and the new spirit abroad in the world that I hesitate to speak of it again. Indeed, there is perhaps a danger that the vitality will be squeezed out of this so-called Geneva spirit if it becomes no more than a stale phrase, a muddy conception trotted out to bemuse us, to befog the hard issues we still face, or to cover a multitude of sins — whether of omission or commission. This would be a pity, because I believe there is something alive in the Geneva spirit — Or at least the germ of something which can come alive if it is only nourished. If it is too early to say that confidence has been re-established — or perhaps one should say “established”, for international confidence would be something quite new in the history of the world — one can at least say that there is evident a search for confidence, a struggle for mutual understanding which did not exist before.
6. It seems to my delegation that, in the dark years through which we have passed, it was not so much the matters at issue which created a sense of frustration and despair, but the absence of any real anxiety to solve them. What encourages us most now is not that the issues have been solved — although the gaps are closing — but that the leaders of the great Powers in particular now seem to be seeking to define the issues and to understand and, if possible, to meet each other’s objections.
7. This may seem to be little enough in the way of progress, but it is a beginning in the right direction. Our very processes of thought have become corrupted by the deadening spirals of propaganda and counter-propaganda in this forum and in lesser councils. So deeply have we been mired that this evidence of simple honesty and sincerity in our dealings with one another seems in the nature of a fundamental regeneration. Confronted by the appalling spectre of disaster, the world has sobered up in the nick of time. At least, we trust that it has. We cannot yet be sure.
8. The test is whether those who bear the chief responsibility for debauching international relations by the manipulation of truth for their own purposes and the denial of civilized ethical traditions have finally renounced their old habits and methods. Unhappily, during the brief history of our Organization, appeals to the mind and conscience of the peoples of the world, which are the rightful work of the United Nations, have too often become a sordid effort to trick and seduce mass opinion.
9. This is no time for recrimination. However, it is still a time for caution. I do not suggest that one State or one group of States bears the full responsibility for lowering the standards and frustrating the achievements of the United Nations. Propaganda has inevitably been matched by counter-propaganda which has mistakenly aped the technique of the opponent.
10. It seems to us that the most hopeful augury for this session is the fact that, both here and in such important organs of the Assembly as the Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission, there is evident a desire to state as straightforwardly as possible positions sincerely held rather than to establish propaganda positions or to score debating points. If we carry on in this way, there is no limit to what we can achieve in the United Nations.
11. What I have said is, I assure you, said in all humility. There is no cause for smugness on the part of any Member or group of Members. Nor is it just for us to blame all our errors on the great Powers and simply demand that they change their ways. It is the great Powers themselves, and particularly those at their summit who met in July 1955 in Geneva, that have set us an example and given us cause to talk about a new spirit and to hope that it may extend. We must all acknowledge — as we do, I am sure — our great debt to those leaders who have looked squarely at the appalling, brute facts of life and decided that man must not be allowed to extinguish himself when he can be saved by the use of human intelligence.
12. This, it seems to my delegation, is the challenge of the present Assembly. The great Powers have pointed the way to the relaxation of tension. It behooves the General Assembly to respond to that situation. We must match their moderation and restraint with moderation and restraint. We must seek to match their realism with a constant recognition of the complexity of the problems we face, of the fact that truth is unfortunately not revealed to one of us alone, and of the infinite amount of patience which progress requires.
13. There is no doubt that the question of the reduction of armaments and the control of their use is the subject on which the achievement of peace and the dissipation of tensions most depend. Here we are more hopeful than at any time in the past ten years, although by no means unaware of the enormity of the problems yet to be solved.
14. As a nation associated with the Big Four in the work of the Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission, I feel that my country in a sense speaks not for itself alone, but for many other nations within and outside this Organization. From the outset, we have been particularly conscious of the terrifying responsibility that rests on the great Powers on which the peace of the world primarily depends. One wrong decision for them could mean disaster not only for them but for us all. I say this in recognition of the awesome potentialities of present nuclear weapons, and without any reference to the even more frightful possibilities the future may hold. We must remember too, of course, that the longer we delay in reaching agreement on disarmament, the greater will be the encouragement to nations not now in possession of nuclear weapons to begin their manufacture.
15. It is well for all of us to realize, then, the solemnity of this obligation when we complain or castigate. This is not to say that other Powers should refrain from criticism or suggestion. We certainly have not, in the past, refrained from doing so on many occasions, and we intend to continue criticizing when we think it is justified and making suggestions when we think they might be useful. We trust that during this session all of us will have a free opportunity to express our views on a subject which is of as much concern to all countries as to the major Powers. We hope that these contributions will be as constructive as possible, and will bear directly on the dilemmas which I believe the great Powers are striving with determination and imagination to solve.
16. I realize that all of us, in this Assembly, are fully aware of the difficulties to be surmounted in reaching a general agreement on a major reduction in armed forces and conventional armaments and the prohibition of atomic weapons. The reductions and prohibitions must be so co-ordinated and scheduled that no nation, at any stage in the process, will have genuine cause to fear that its security is endangered. In the course of our Sub-Committee meetings, progress has been made towards an agreed position on this most important question of the time-table, or schedule, of reductions and prohibitions.
17. However, the whole question of an effective arrangement to guarantee the fulfilment of any undertaking to prohibit atomic weapons must now be considered in the light of the fact, admitted by all concerned, that the secret evasion of any agreement for total prohibition of atomic weapons would, given present knowledge, be possible, however stringent the control and inspection might be. It was partly in order to meet the difficulties on this key problem of control and inspection that a number of new proposals were advanced at the Geneva meeting.
18. The Prime Minister of France, Mr. Faure, suggested a plan involving budgetary checks on reduction in defence expenditure and the use of savings resulting from disarmament for assistance to under-developed countries. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Eden, with his great experience in international matters, suggested a preliminary pilot project which would give us useful practical experience in the mechanism of inspection and control. Mr. Bulganin, Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, put forward a plan in almost the same terms as a proposal made by the Soviet delegation on 10 May 1955 in the Sub-Committee [A/2979]. This Soviet plan incorporates some important advances on the question of control, although in the view of my Government the Soviet provisions for inspection and control are still inadequate.
19. Finally, at Geneva, President Eisenhower suggested a step which might be taken immediately, a step designed to eliminate the possibility of a major surprise attack and to prepare the way for a general disarmament programme. Such an agreement would certainly be more easily attainable if we could first remove the overhanging threat of surprise attack. My Government has expressed its great interest in this plan, a plan put forward by the President of the United States for the exchange of military blueprints and for mutual aerial inspection. To us, that plan is a gesture of faith and of imagination typical of a great man and of his country. We in Canada know the Americans well and, although we often disagree with them, it never occurs to any of us to doubt the fundamental goodness and sincerity of their intentions. And so we were particularly happy to hear Mr. Molotov’s tribute to President Eisenhower [520th meeting] and we assure Mr. Molotov, as people who know, that his confidence in the sincerity of this American proposal is not mistaken.
20. I noticed with regret, however, that Mr. Molotov, in his statement in the general debate on 23 September, seems to have misunderstood a comment made by Mr. Dulles the day before [518th meeting] on the inevitable connexion between a sense of insecurity and fear, on the one hand, and a possibility of disarmament on the other. I would recall to the Soviet delegation that a thought very similar to that expressed by Mr. Dulles occurs in the proposals made by the Soviet Union on 10 May 1955 in the United Nations Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission.
21. In the Soviet proposals of 10 May 1955, which have now been circulated to all Members as a General Assembly document, we read the following paragraph: “On the other hand, the cessation of the ‘cold war’ between States would help to bring about a relaxation of international tension, the creation of the necessary confidence in international relations, the removal of the threat of a new war and the establishment of conditions permitting a peaceful and tranquil life of the peoples. This, in turn, would create the requisite conditions for the execution of a broad disarmament programme, with the establishment of the necessary international control over its implementation” |A/2979, annex I, A].
22. So I say to the Soviet delegation, is it not clear from this paragraph that the Soviet Union also sees the inevitable connexion between insecurity and the threat of war and the prospects of disarmament?
23. We think that the President’s plan, as well as the other proposals made at Geneva, are not necessarily inconsistent with the proposals which have already been advanced in the Sub-Committee and on which, after long and difficult negotiations, some degree of general agreement may be in sight. None of these proposals, in our view, need be mutually exclusive. There is no reason why they might not all — modified perhaps — become steps along the road to disarmament.
24. As we see it, it is essential that we start quickly on this road, admitting that there must inevitably be experimental phases while we search for the trust and confidence without which disarmament would be impossible. This search will not be successful, however, unless prior agreement on a system of control has been worked out. This will admittedly require an enormous amount of careful study and discussion by our technical and constitutional experts before it can be formulated. It would be unwise, therefore, to expect too early decisions.
25. I have been the representative of my Government in the Sub-Committee talks since their resumption in New York on 29 August 1955, and I should not like to conclude my comments on this Subject without a reference to the friendly and co-operative spirit exhibited by all delegations on the Sub-Committee in their relations with one another and in their work in the Committee. It would seem that the members of the Sub- Committee are all seriously determined to reach a practicable and mutually acceptable agreement on disarmament.
26. Atomic energy seems to come more and more to the forefront in our discussions. This is not surprising. A revolutionary source of energy has been tapped and the consequences are as yet incalculable. The new power at the disposal of man holds the promise of a changed and perhaps easier relationship with his surroundings, and the implications of this extend into almost every field.
27. This Assembly will have to deal with a number of items relating directly to atomic energy. In the first place, there is the report of the Secretary-General on the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy held in Geneva from 8 August to 20 August 1955 [A/2967]. This Conference has been widely and quite properly acclaimed as a great success, and I think it is a matter of satisfaction to us all that such a conference was organized by the United Nations. I should like to pay a word of tribute to the Secretary- General for his part in making the Conference a success. In this, as in so many other things, he and the Secretariat have demonstrated their efficiency and imagination. The Conference was, indeed, a fitting implementation of the resolution on international co-operation in developing the peaceful uses of atomic energy unanimously adopted at the ninth session of the General Assembly [resolution 810 (IX)]. I am confident that this Conference will not be a unique and isolated event but that it will be followed by other meetings and developments which will build on the foundation now established for international co-operation in the peaceful development of atomic energy.
28. Perhaps I may be permitted to recall at this point that my own country has played a not inconsiderable role in the dramatic search that has led to the harnessing of the restless energy of the atom. I shall take occasion later, when the appropriate items are being discussed in committee, to report on Canadian activities in developing the industrial and agricultural uses of radio-active isotopes, and such medical applications as the use of cobalt 60 beam therapy in the treatment of cancer, as well as what we are doing in the field of radiation detection and its health aspects.
29. The extensive work which my country has done on the peaceful uses of atomic energy has made it possible for us now to extend assistance abroad. We have recently arranged to provide the Government of India with an atomic reactor. It has been a source of satisfaction to Canada to be able to share our resources in this way with a country to which we are so closely tied in bonds of friendship and partnership. I was pleased to note only this morning the observations made by the Prime Minister of India himself, Mr. Nehru, speaking in the Indian Parliament on 16 September, when he observed that the provision of this unit will not only bring about close co-operation between the scientists of Canada and of those countries that will be benefiting from the reactor, but will also be another link between India and Canada. We are happy also that this reactor will benefit our other friends in Asia by reason of the intention of the Indian Government to allow scientists from neighbouring countries to use its facilities.
30. It is our desire, in Canada, to co-operate in so far as possible with the great evolutionary movements in South and South-East Asia. Our admiration for the peoples of these countries has been constantly strengthened by our personal associations in the United Nations and the Colombo Plan, and more recently with the international supervisory commissions in Indochina. I should like to say a special word for the peoples of Laos, Cambodia and Viet-Nam, for whom so many Canadians have come to have a deep respect and affection in the past year and who, we sincerely hope, will soon be able to take their rightful places in our councils. It seems to us quite wrong that so many of these Asian countries have been arbitrarily prevented from joining us here in the United Nations.
31. If anyone were to doubt the role which the countries of Asia can play in this Assembly, he should study the proceedings of that great conference which took place at Bandung last spring. It was an impressive assembly of distinguished representatives of two continents, which brought great credit to those who had initiated it. It may be that we would not agree with all of the conclusions of the Conference, but we pay tribute to the wisdom and moderation of men who have preserved their perspective and their proportion through times of revolutionary change and passionate conflict. It was a great source of encouragement to those of us who believe deeply that the East and the West can work together for our mutual good.
32. There are, I believe, 21 outstanding applications for membership in our Organization, and it is the view of the Government of Canada that the continued exclusion from the United Nations of so many nations of the world is a great handicap.
33. I know that in the minds of many representatives there are great difficulties of a legal and constitutional nature which hinder the reaching of any practical solution of this problem. We, too, are concerned and troubled by these difficulties, but we recognize that the political realities must be faced if we are to break the long deadlock on this question. I am aware — and so is the Government of which I am a member and spokesman today — that the great Powers, because of their world responsibility, may show some concern over the application of this or that particular candidate or group of candidates. I am convinced, however, that this should not necessarily lead them to oppose the desire of what I believe is a substantial majority of the members of this Assembly for as quick and as broad an advance towards universality of membership as we can possibly bring about.
34. The basic political reality which we cannot ignore is that, if this Organization is not truly representative of the great majority of the countries of the world, it will be unable to make its full contribution to settling the problems of the world; and so we hope that progress will be made in this matter at this session of the Assembly. In the view of my delegation, we should all be prepared to examine carefully the possibility of the admission at the same time of a very large proportion of the outstanding applicants. There are, as I said, of course, particular difficulties with reference to the admission of countries temporarily divided, but we believe that serious consideration might be given to the early admission of the other applicants.
35. At this point 1 should like to question Mr. Molotov's mathematics. In his address on Friday, 23 September [520th meeting], he referred to 16 applicants. According to the figures compiled by my delegation, if we exclude the divided applicants, there remain 17 candidates; and so I say with respect, but also with confidence, that I hope that Mr. Molotov will look into this question again and find it possible to make what seems to us to be an essential correction.
36. A particular question which, under the terms of the Charter, comes now to our attention is whether a conference should be convened for the purpose of reviewing the Charter. Unless there appears to be a general desire to hold a Charter review conference at this time, we are inclined to think that there would be no particular advantage in pressing for it. On the contrary, there would probably be considerable advantage in convening that conference after the political differences which divide us have, to some extent, become reconciled. We might well ask ourselves at this stage whether the relaxation of tension would be stimulated as a result of a Charter review conference. We do not think that the Charter is a perfect instrument, but we do think that, in a better political climate, we can construct on its solid foundation a more effective instrument than we now have.
37. Whether we decide to review the Charter or not, the Assembly, as we see it, should consider the useful and timely proposal put forward by the Secretary- General in his annual report on the work of the Organization concerning the greater use which might be made of United Nations machinery in the effort to bring about the relaxation of international tension [A/2911, pp. xi and xii]. These suggestions are clearly consistent with the improved atmosphere in which we meet.
38. At this session we have on our agenda many of what have come to be called the colonial issues. Some of these were referred to last year by my Canadian colleague, Mr. Pearson, as “hardy perennials”. And, as Mr. Pearson so aptly observed, “to insist on discussing the same question seven times in seven years does not necessarily bring us seven times nearer its solution” [475th meeting, para. 6]. Of course, some of these items have more recently made their appearance on the agenda of the Assemblv.
39. My country does not claim any particular competence in discussing colonial matters, but, from past experience, we have come to the conclusion that the debates in this Assembly on colonial issues do not always produce useful results, and in some instances, I fear, have had harmful effects. The last thing which I wish to suggest is that discussion should be stifled to avoid an objective airing of legitimate grievances, Canada has frequently in the past asserted its belief that the Assembly should be allowed to discuss any matter of international concern. We do recognize, however, that there are times and circumstances in which discussion may be neither wise nor helpful.
40. Many of us, I think, in this room are politicians and proud, I hope, of our craft and profession. However varied our experiences, we have all learned that politics is the art of the possible. Much of our art is that of timing. We know that there are some political measures which are not right or wrong in the absolute sense. They are so often right only if they come at the right time. I wish to make this point clear so that we shall not be accused of a reactionary attitude towards change and progress or of lacking sympathy for those who challenge the existing order of things. The fact is that in a great many cases we do not quarrel with proposals for change which come before the Assembly; we question only the time chosen. And our opposition is not absolute or timeless either. We do not want to see the United Nations become like the so-called Holy Alliance, which set its face against ail reforms by arguing that they were never timely.
41. Among the subjects which can be most usefully discussed at this session of the Assembly are those which are part of the economic and social work of the Organization. We have in mind, in particular, questions concerning materially under-developed areas of the world. This is surely a field in which the work of the Organization is becoming progressively more efficient and more effective.
42. Speaking for Canada, we do not wish to see this creative work curtailed, for there can be no lasting peace so long as ignorance, sickness and poverty are allowed to go unheeded anywhere. We are more than ever convinced that no nation can remain healthy and prosperous in a diseased and bankrupt world. But our dilemma is that some assurance of peace and security is required if all Member States are to make a full contribution to combating economic and social ills. Nations which want to assist in the development of less fortunate countries often find that, for their own security, they must limit that assistance' in accordance with the burden of national defence which they must also bear.
43. This is one more reason why we hope that progress in disarmament will continue to a point where more substantial resources can be released for the great international co-operative project of bringing a better life to all the citizens of the nations of the world.
44. Perhaps the most complex problems which face the General Assembly this year concern the progress of the dependent peoples towards self-government and independence. Our responsibilities in this field, as an Organization, are an essential part of our Charter. The Charter envisages, however, an orderly advance in the direction of the desired goads. This is in keeping with the Canadian concept, a concept which is based on our own historical development.
45. We have learned from our own experience that the art of self-government can best be acquired by the peoples of any race in partnership and collaboration with other established States. It is not in Canada’s interest, in the interest of the countries of this Organization, nor, as we see it, of the administering Powers themselves to delay unnecessarily the enjoyment, on the part of any peoples, of the fundamental rights to which the Charter refers, and we agree that the interests of the dependent peoples should not be sacrificed to those of the governing Powers. We believe, on the other hand, that it is not in the best interests of the peoples concerned that the achievement of these worthy aims should be brought about precipitately,
46. We must also recognize the complications which international tension imposes on the orderly development of dependent peoples. There is no doubt in my mind that, as international tension decreases, the progress of the dependent peoples towards self-government and independence will increase. It is all the more important, therefore, that our intervention in this field should contribute to the easing of tension rather than to its prolongation.
47. These are some of our thoughts on how we might in specific cases meet the challenge of the tenth session of the General Assembly. We trust that no one will consider our suggestions unduly restrictive or detrimental to the aims and aspirations of nations which do not consider themselves immediately concerned with the problems to be solved by the great Powers.
48. If we are to agree that the future of the United Nations is inextricably bound up with the achievement of a lasting world peace, surely we must also agree that no effort should be spared and no opportunity lost by the United Nations, both as an Organization and as individual Member States, to advance the cause of peace. If the great Powers can find ways of bringing about an end to the tensions of the past nine years, if they can agree on programmes for disarmament and for greater international co-operation, then all of us should be prepared to move forward in the same direction.
49. If those aims are achieved — and today our hopes are high — and if both sides involved in other international disputes concurrently follow the example of the great Powers, the prospects for this Organization will be unlimited. There could then be, it seems to us, a real hope of attaining the objectives which have been assigned to the United Nations and which are so much a part of man’s universal aspirations. We need more good deeds of the kind already displayed in this Assembly by our Brazilian colleagues when they offered [518th meeting] to accept the Korean prisoners who have so long been in the care of the Indian Government.
50. We have all assumed, I know, at some time or another — and I hope that most of us have argued at some time or another — that the United Nations could be made to work effectively only if great-Power agreement, one of the basic assumptions of the Charter, could be realized. Today, as I have said, we see signs of hope in that direction. It is, however, as my Government sees it, not sufficient for the United Nations to sit back and wait for the great Powers to produce the desired results. The new and encouraging situation in which we find ourselves requires on the part of every Member State a sense of responsibility, a willingness to accept international discipline and an approach to international issues in a moderate, peaceful and co-operative spirit. And perhaps never before in the short history of this Organization have these requirements been so urgent,
51. And so may I, in full consciousness of the heavy responsibility placed upon all of us, urge every one of us to join in seeking the broad objectives I have mentioned and in making the United Nations response to the improved situation which faces us a whole-hearted and substantial contribution to further improvement.
52. I will conclude what I have to say by recalling that, two weeks ago this very afternoon, I had the pleasure of visiting the Canadian community of Cobourg in the Province of Ontario in my country, a few hundred miles only from here, and of dedicating a cairn of peace erected in commemoration of the first world ploughing, match held there two years before. I mention this little incident because atop the cairn was a golden plough bearing the finely-wrought inscription: “that man may use the plough to cultivate peace and plenty”. A miniature of this trophy, emblematic of the World’s ploughing championship, now travels annually from one country to another as a messenger of peace and a harbinger of hope and abundance for all mankind. What better symbol could be found for our common hope and for our united determination to help bring about the fulfilment of the ancient biblical prophecy: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."