1. On behalf of the Ethiopian delegation, I should like to offer congratulations to Mr. Maza, representative of Chile, on his unanimous election as President of this Assembly. Chile has long enjoyed a great reputation in the United Nations. It has always done its utmost to bring about the realization of the highest aims of the peoples represented in this body.
2. The United Nations has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. Experience has always shown that the early years of life, either in a human being or an organization, are the most difficult. Furthermore, it is during that period that the course is set for later years.
3. No one could maintain that the early years of our Organization have not been extremely difficult. Its primary responsibility is undeniably the maintenance of international peace and security, but how often has it found itself in difficult situations as it has tried to discharge that function! We need only recall some of the items on the agenda of previous sessions, for instance, item 72 on the agenda of the seventh session, and item 73 on the agenda of the eighth session, on measures to avert the threat of a new world war.
4. The very atmosphere in which our debates are proceeding today is evidence of the extent to which it has been possible to realize that hope of the eighth session. So we can be proud of the work which the Organization has done in its early years. All the small States should be thankful to the great Powers to which we owe this fortunate relaxation of tension.
5. President Eisenhower has been and still is one of those primarily responsible for bringing it about. We listen daily to the reports on his progress. On behalf of my delegation, I wish him a speedy recovery.
6. The smaller States have certainly also contributed to this result by their work in the United Nations. As the representative of a small State, I shall venture to give some account of the contribution made by the small States to the achievements of the Organization — not with any intention of self-praise, but rather in order to draw from it lessons for the future.
7. There is no denying the fact that we are living in an age when major questions are in the last resort settled by the great Powers. That is the precise reason for the importance of the United Nations to the smaller countries. Without this Organization, it might well be wondered what part the smaller States had to play.
8. I think that the first ten years of the United Nations has clearly shown not only its importance to these States, but also the importance of the contribution of these States to the Organization. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia gave fitting expression to that idea the other day [522nd meeting], when he said that those nations did not fit into any of the old and rigid patterns and for that reason were all the better adapted for membership in a universal body like the United Nations. Moreover, he said, they were directly interested in respect for the democratic principles set forth in the Charter, disregard of which would make their participation in international life infinitely more difficult.
9. During these first ten years, the Organization has acted less often through the Security Council, which is the organ of the great Powers, than through the General Assembly itself, where the united will of the smaller States is law. The fact that our Organization was able to adopt measures to restore peace in Korea, for example, was due to a decision of the General Assembly [resolution 711 (VII)], not of the Security Council.
10. Since the establishment of the United Nations, the world has seen the birth of a large number of new States which have become respected Members of our Organization, and the emergence of other new States, such as Libya and Jordan, which ought also to be Members, but which are not yet so because their admission depends not on the smaller States but on the Security Council. All this movement towards independence has been assisted by the united opinion of the smaller States of the world, represented in this Assembly.
11. Similarly, the movement on behalf of the right of peoples to self-determination has been largely promoted by those States. It should be remembered that for some years now the General Assembly has been showing ever greater concern for the implementation of this principle. As has often been stated here, it is only natural that the small States, which have suffered so much in order to preserve their independence, should be concerned with the need to enforce world-wide respect for this exalted principle, set forth in Article 1 Of the Charter.
12. This collaboration in the achievement of liberal purposes and principles has in the course of years created close ties between many Members. If countries of different races, religions and traditions were able to meet at Bandung and to show the world their unity of opinion and purpose, it was in part due to their common labours in this Assembly, labours which had already laid enduring foundations for co-operation.
13. Today, the expression “Middle East” has taken on its true meaning — the link between the Eastern and Western worlds. For instance, Ethiopia, which belongs at once to Africa and the Middle East, is bound to Yugoslavia, a European Power, by ties of friendship and mutual understanding, upon which continued cooperation in this Assembly has set the seal.
14. So the history of the first ten years of this Organization gives us many causes for satisfaction, together with useful guidance in the fields where closer and more effective co-operation should be promoted during the stage upon which we are now entering.
15. In the future, as in the past, one of the most important of these fields for co-operation will be the right of peoples to self-determination. In that connexion, we must continually bear in mind the very pertinent comment made some days ago by the representative of India [530th meeting, para. 137], to the effect that on that question only the wishes of the people concerned count
16. Ethiopia, which has fought in defence of that principle, has had practical experience of its application in the case of Eritrea. The General Assembly, which, under the Treaty of Peace with Italy, was competent to make recommendations concerning that Territory, reaffirmed that principle by declaring that any solution must first of all be approved by the two populations concerned, the Ethiopian and the Eritrean.
17. In conformity with this policy, which consists in the promotion throughout the world of independence and the right of peoples to self-determination, our Organization must in future redouble its efforts to furnish assistance to the under-developed countries. It is known that many of the countries represented here stand in need of such assistance, and that, only a few days ago, the representative of one of the countries considered as one of the most socially advanced stated here that in some ways his country was under-developed. The eloquent and moving appeal of the representative of Ecuador [519th meeting] for the development of the programme of technical assistance, an appeal which found an echo in the hearts of many other representatives here present, will also be remembered.
18. Another field where co-operation between States should be further increased is that of measures of enforcement. If we, the smaller States, are entitled to ask for technical assistance from the Organization, it is only fair that we should be prepared to accept all the responsibilities imposed on us by the Charter. From that point of view, Ethiopia is conscious of having discharged its responsibilities, despite considerable obstacles and difficulties. So the Ethiopian delegation would support the observations made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt [518th meeting] concerning the implementation of the provisions of Article 43 of the Charter.
19. Another subject of future concern should be assistance to the refugees driven from their homes by the unfortunate events in Palestine. They have suffered too long. Following on its intervention in the Palestine question, it is the duty of our Organization to take active steps to solve this heart-rending human problem.
20. Future co-operation between Member States with a view to the maximum development of the Organization’s activities inevitably raises the question of the review of the Charter, provided for in Article 109.
21. I know that convincing arguments can be pat forward both for and against the convening of a conference for such a review at this time. My delegation thinks that such a conference would be valuable. Further, the mere fact that the conference is convened does not necessarily mean that any given points in the Charter will be revised. Any decision on the problems of revision, or even on the very question of whether the Charter should be revised, might be discussed and taken by the conference itself. My delegation will, however, confine itself to drawing attention to two points, which have in the past given us all trouble and call for special consideration by the conference, i.e., the question of the admission of new Members and the definition of national jurisdiction.
22. With regard to the admission of new Members, my delegation thinks it inadmissible that, ten years after the establishment of the Organization, there should still be one-third of the States of the world, most of them smaller States, outside the United Nations. It is inadmissible, for instance, that countries like Italy, Austria, Libya, Jordan, Japan, Ceylon and Finland should still not be Members. I am in no way trying to contest the strength of the political motives which have led any of the great Powers to oppose the admission of certain small States. But I would like to point out that, for the small States, the only question which arises is whether or not a given State fulfils the requirements laid down in the Charter. Unless the Charter is amended on that important point, we fear that the Organization will always be deadlocked and its efficiency gravely reduced through the absence of many important countries.
23. I now come to the second question. There is no question which is discussed more regularly and with more bitterness than that raised by Article 2, paragraph 7, of the Charter. I do not intend to start a debate on the substance of the problem, or to embark on a discussion of the question of the relationship between Article 2, paragraph 7, and Articles 55 and 56. What I do want to say is that the scope and the gravity of our debates on that supremely important question are such that the problem will call for detailed study from the future conference. It is doubtless owing to those difficulties that the Secretary-General, speaking on 15 September 1955 at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, said: “We must bear in mind the importance of respecting the proper boundaries between international and national jurisdiction, and of avoiding needless tasks and prohibitions imposed in the interests of uniformity”.
24. I think that the present welcome relaxation of tension in international relations affords us the opportunity to impart, in an atmosphere of calm and cooperation, a more useful and specific form to the instrument by which all our debates must be guided.
25. By reason of its many achievements, particularly in the realm of the maintenance of international peace and security, the United Nations has cause to be proud of the first stage of its existence. Ethiopia expresses its sincere hope that the period of relaxed tension now opening will mark still further progress, not only in this field, but, in the fine language of the Charter, in the establishment of conditions under which “justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained”