Union of South Africa

Mr. JOOSTE stated that it was the wish of his Government that its delegation should take that early opportunity to raise once more a matter which must be of real concern to other countries as well as to the Union of South Africa, namely, the difficulty, arising from the existing exchange position, meeting the demands on the national exchequer resulting from. United Nations activities. 120. It was not the intention of his delegation to advocate any course prejudicial to the effective functioning of the United Nations. Moreover, the question of finance would of course be debated in the appropriate Committee. He wished, however, to draw attention at that stage to one important aspect of the problem; namely, the working of the Assembly and the effect of its protracted meetings on resources of foreign exchange. 121. The United Nations had been in operation for approximately three years and nine months, and although the current session was only the fourth regular session of the Assembly, it had in fact met on no less than seven separate occasions. The records showed that during the forty-five months of the organization’s existence, the Assembly had been in session for approximately eleven months. In cases where Member Governments had been represented throughout by Cabinet Ministers with adequate staffs, it had entailed the absence of those ministers and officials from domestic duties for an average of three months per year. Those periods of absence were still further prolonged when travelling time was taken into consideration, especially in the case of countries such as the Union of South Africa, which were far removed from the venue of the meetings. The burden in terms of time and expense was evident when an adequate number of representatives had to be sent from the home country, and when it was remembered how the functions and responsibilities of Cabinet Ministers in their own countries had been increased in consequence of the emergence of national problems since the recent war. 122. Mr. Jooste mentioned those facts because his delegation desired at that early stage to emphasize the importance of a more effective and expeditious discharge of the business on the agenda. The delegation of the Union of South Africa had received and studied the helpful report submitted by the Special Committee on Methods and Procedures of the General Assembly (A/937), and would, at the appropriate time, debate the views and findings put forward in that report. Meanwhile, it wished to stress to the Assembly its Government’s view that the tendency of the Assembly to prolong unreasonably the sessions prescribed in the Charter should be resisted in every possible way. It was well aware of the heavy burden placed upon the Assembly and would in no way minimize its achievements, but, in the light of its own experience and very real difficulties, it felt obliged to appeal to its fellow Members to ensure that problem a high priority in the deliberations of the Assembly. It was imperative that the Assembly should be rendered as effective as possible; its task and its prestige demanded that. It was essential, however, to guard against the development of any procedure or tendency which militated against effective operation. The shortcomings of the Assembly were nothing to do with the machinery of the United Nations; the real causes of those shortcomings were generally recognized and no good purpose would be served by recapitulating them. 123. In spite of the fundamental differences which threatened its very existence, in spite of the almost insuperable difficulties under which it had laboured, the United Nations had achieved a great deal. It was customary when enumerating its positive achievements to point to the work of the Economic and Social Council and of the specialized agencies. Their progress had been encouraging. It must also be granted, however, that the United Nations had achieved a measure of success in the Political field which the emphasis on its failures had tended to obscure. In Palestine the tide of war had receded, in Kashmir a cease-fire had been negotiated, and in other parts of the world crises had been averted. For the first time since the end of the war, the international scene was less ominous and credit must be given to the United Nations for its contribution to that state of affairs. The Organization filled an essential place in international affairs. It was generally realized that a world in which each nation would seek to exist in solitary sovereign independence must inevitably relapse into chaos and war unless there were a common meeting placed where mutual problems could be considered and differences settled. 124. At the same time, it was essential for the United Nations to recognize its limitations. Without in the least minimizing the great achievements of the United Nations, it had to be admitted that it could not be omniscient, and that, wide as might be the sphere of its endeavours, comprising as it did the many fields of human effort, including the effort for the preservation of peace, there were yet matters on which it could not pronounce. The United Nations was not a world government. It could not, by its constitution, by the circumstances of its origin and by the very nature of its proper function, be a world government. Once that fact was recognized, the true significance of international action taken independently of the United Nations became clear and understandable. The North Atlantic Treaty, the Council of Europe, even action such as the discussions between Mr. Bevin and Count Sforza on the former Italian colonies, which had taken place at the beginning of the year, did not constitute defiance of the United Nations, nor did they usurp its high function. In the perspective of history it would be recognized that those actions had been taken to supplement the task of the United Nations in preserving peace and fostering international collaboration. It was no derogation from the function of the United Nations that such agreements and organizations had become necessary. All they amounted to was a recognition of the limits of the capacity of the Organization and a sincere attempt to supplement its action or to assist in its heavy task. As such, the success of some of those steps could not be questioned. They had contributed substantially to the maintenance of world peace and to the furtherance of international collaboration. 125. Unhappily those efforts had in some cases been subjected to destructive criticism. Those who viewed the North Atlantic Treaty or the Council of Europe with suspicion, instead of regarding them as means towards the same objectives which animated the Assembly, namely, the attainment of world peace, had sought by every possible means to discredit such sincere endeavours. 126. A similar technique was being employed in regard to the continent of Africa. In that vast area of the earth’s surface, peopled by upwards of 150 million human beings, some still in early stages of development, scourged in many cases by every form of disease, threatened by droughts and soil erosion, in short, the biggest field for human endeavour, efforts were being made to develop its immense under-developed areas, to raise the standards of living of its peoples, to save the continent for those who inhabited it. For there must be no doubt as to the importance of the orderly and peaceful development of Africa. In the conflict between democratic civilization and opposing forces, Africa occupied a central position. The very conditions which called for urgent concerted action in Africa, by their very nature provided a fertile field for the doctrinaire and the demagogue. Nowhere in the world had the alleged exploitation of indigenous races been more widely publicized than in Africa. Nowhere had there been more sustained and widespread efforts to sabotage the great work of reclamation of land and human beings which for a century had been carried out by the Powers with responsibilities in that continent. Those who had had experience of Africa recognized the facts. They knew that development of Africa implied great effort and immense individual sacrifice. 127. The representatives of the United Kingdom, of France, of Belgium, of Egypt, of Ethiopia and of Liberia would bear witness to those statements, for their countries had all participated fully in that gigantic task, Mr. Jooste felt that a tribute must also be paid to the work of Portugal, which was a good neighbour of his country in Africa. Those were the nations which knew Africa, which had made the greatest constructive efforts to lift parts of Africa out of primeval darkness. Those were the nations which by their long experience and their record in Africa were the best equipped to deal with its unique problems. 128. Their record was an impressive one. Great strides had been made in the scientific and technical fields. For many years the Powers in Africa had collaborated with success to combat human and animal disease, to increase-the fertility of the soil, to develop agricultural production and to raise the standard of living of the peoples of the continent. It was they too which had put an end to intensive tribal strife and brought peace and order to the continent. 129. An indication of what had been done and what was envisaged was provided by the series of conferences on African technical collaboration which had been promoted during the previous few years by the Powers with African responsibilities. Notable in that series was the Regional Scientific Conference which was due to begin at Johannesburg in October 1949. That conference had for its main object the co-ordination of scientific research in Africa, and the pooling for that purpose of scientific data, resources and man-power. The Union of South Africa had invited representatives from the States directly concerned with those common problems, as well, as representatives from the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, UNESCO and the National Research Council of America. That was a genuine attempt by the nations most directly concerned to build constructively for the future of that part of the African continent. 130. Unhappily the motives of the nations directly concerned with African problems had been subjected to a constant stream of destructive criticism by certain Powers which had little or no knowledge of the problems involved, and whose main preoccupation often appeared to be to sow seeds of discord 'from which they hoped to reap ideological fruits. There were, of course, criticisms which fell into a different category, criticisms which were well meant and made in all sincerity. But how often did those criticisms show evidence of a constructive approach? How often did they indicate the ways and means of attaining objectives which all were agreed were desirable? To promote educational and social progress, to raise standards of living, required heavy capital expenditure. Even Europe itself, with its age-old civilization, required a great deal of outside aid to maintain its standard of life. 131. How much greater, therefore, was the problem of raising the standards of Africa. Yet what a tribute it was to the nations of western Europe that, despite the economic privations of the post-war years, they had devoted so much of their depleted resources to the promotion of social progress in their African territories. That had been a sacrifice on their part which had received little recognition. Indeed they had often received abuse rather than credit. Only those who knew Africa could appreciate how much they had achieved and how much they were achieving. 132. There was, however, another and even more important aspect of the problem. Few of the critics could have any conception of the immense and complex difficulties involved in the rapid — sometimes too rapid — adjustment of some of the African peoples to the strains and stresses of modem civilization. 133. The industrialization of western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had brought with it social problems of almost overpowering magnitude. Those problems had been solved, but they had been solved on the basis of the knowledge and experience of centuries of civilization. 134. The same pattern was being repeated in many parts of Africa, but among peoples of whom some had emerged from barbarism only during the preceding few decades, and among whom ritual murders, witchcraft and juju societies were still unhappily prevalent. The problem was therefore much vaster. Was it not infinitely wiser to entrust its solution to those who had the background of western civilization and who combined with that knowledge practical experience of African conditions and of African psychology? Above all, was it not wiser to recognize that those who had the practical experience should also have the immediate responsibility and that the ultimate responsibility should be left to them? They welcomed constructive advice and criticism, but the final decision must lie with them until such time as their wards attained a comparable level of responsibility. For should they fail, should things go wrong through the acceptance of well-meant but ill-judged criticism, there would be no one else to take up their burden. The United Nations could not do so. It was not equipped for the task. It had neither the man-power nor the resources. And should they fail — as a result not of their own weaknesses but of ill-informed external pressure and interference — what Power, what ideology was likely to step into their place? That thought merited very earnest reflection. 135. In conclusion, Mr. Jooste wished to refer to the address delivered by the representative of India (222nd meeting), whose remarks concerning the proposed round-table conference between South Africa, India and Pakistan in connexion with the Indians in South Africa, while couched in restrained terms, had contained an implied criticism of the part played by the Government of the Union of South Africa in the preliminary discussions, a criticism which his delegation felt was not justified by the facts of the case. His Government had therefore requested him to express its astonishment that.it should have been found necessary at all to give public expression to views and criticism of the Government of the Union of South Africa in a matter which should be considered as sub judice between the Governments concerned. Such utterances were not calculated to create the most favourable atmosphere for the anticipated discussions. His delegation considered that it would be unfortunate if any further discussion should fake place which might prejudice the settlement of the issue.