The Lebanese delegation takes advantage of the opportunity afforded by this general debate to express the point of view of the Lebanese people and Government on the past and future activities of the United Nations and to define its own line of action within this Organization.
In stating its point of view and defining its policy, the Lebanese delegation has a two-fold aim: first, it desires to see the authority and prestige of the United Nations strengthened and the part it plays rendered more efficacious and more direct; secondly, it hopes that the differences and disputes winch divide the nations may be settled as quickly as possible so that our Organization may devote itself wholly to constructive action in the social, cultural and economic spheres.
Our discussions during the past days have dealt mainly with political considerations. May the Lebanese delegation be allowed objectively to state its views on this matter?
We have listened very carefully to the speeches made by the many and distinguished orators who have followed one another at this rostrum. It seemed to us quite natural that countries, desirous of seeing the United Nations spread an aura of enduring peace over the world, should be alarmed by the vicissitudes of the Paris Conference or by the difficult circumstances prevailing at the meetings of the Security Council. But it seems to us more and more certain that the remedies for the difficulties we deplore do not lie only in the mere modification of the provisions of the United Nations Charter. One thing it is essential to reform: our international concepts and our international morality.
Unfortunately, we are still influenced in our actions and in our thoughts by past centuries. The Treaty of Westphalia, memories of the Congress of Vienna, the vain attempts to organize peace in 1919, concealing appetites that could hardly be acknowledged — in short, all those things that may be summed up in the words “power politics”, still weigh heavily on our judgment.
Now power politics, with all the devious means it employs to achieve its ends, is the very negation of a healthy United Nations Organization. The United Nations, in order to carry out its primary task satisfactorily, needs, above all, goodwill, sincerity, mutual confidence and genuine international solidarity. Only when these moral requirements are fulfilled, and not until then, will it be possible for the United Nations to agree upon the establishment of a code of justice applicable to all — compulsory arbitration sanctions and the creation of an international force to carry out its decisions.
All these requirements have unfortunately been lacking in our Organization during this vital initial stage of its creation. Instead, we have consistently thrown down the gauntlet or hurled stones at each other, as if a merciless duel of this kind could ever constitute a solid foundation for a constructive undertaking.
Moreover, the future success of our Organization depends on respect for the principles underlying the Charter of the United Nations, not only when we take the floor at this rostrum, but in the daily life of nations and in the decisions governing their mutual relations.
When distinguished statesmen or the representatives of the great Powers solemnly declare that they give their full support to the United Nations and put all their resources at its disposal, such support is of value only if it is genuinely and unreservedly placed at the service of the ideals inherent in the United Nations Charter. These are:
1. Fundamental freedoms for all;
2. Justice and democracy for all;
3. The application to all, without exception, of the rules of non-discrimination, regardless of differences in race, colour or religion.
Were it otherwise, the inexhaustible resources of the great Powers, and the skill and energy of their peoples, would constitute not a safeguard, but a permanent threat to peace and security.
Have we consistently endeavoured to ensure the scrupulous application of these principles to the solution of the various problems with which the world is confronted? Have we refrained from imposing on another country, or against another people’s will, a policy which is in no wise consistent with the principles we publicly profess?
Perhaps we ought to examine our consciences, though not in such a way as to reach conclusions reminiscent of the fable in which the innocent party is regarded as guilty and vice versa, as in the immortal verses of La Fontaine where the fox says to the lion: “You did them great honour, Sire, in devouring them.”
If, after examining our consciences, we have the courage to admit that our interests have often prevailed over these principles, that we have unfortunately confused these principles with our own political needs, or that they carry weight with us only in so far as they serve our political interests, then and then only shall we be able to accomplish sound work and base our hopes and those of future generations on the United Nations Organization.
The Lebanese delegation considers, however, that the sphere in which the efforts of the United Nations can have full scope, far removed from strife and suspicion, is that of activities associated with the realm of the intellect and of science, and with sustained endeavour to improve the social conditions of all peoples.
Lebanon, which was elected a member of the Social and Economic Council in January 1946, having already been elected to the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is prepared to contribute sincerely and wholeheartedly to this important work.
The delegations representing Lebanon on these bodies have already taken a special interest in, and will continue to devote the closest attention to, the following questions.
1. The study of schemes for the development of inadequately developed areas.
2. The establishment of rules designed to ensure, not in theory, but in practice, universal and effective respect for the fundamental freedoms constituting human rights, and to improve the status of women wherever this social reform is necessary.
3. In order to make possible the application, of a general programme of economic, social and
cultural expansion, the Lebanese representative on the Economic and Social Council has proposed that a World Statistical Congress be summoned next year. The aim of this proposal is to combine in one and the same organization, under the auspices of the United Nations, the large number of separate organizations already in existence. These institutions have done valuable and useful work, but the cohesion needed to make it world-wide and efficacious has hitherto been lacking.
The Lebanese Government has approached the problem of refugees and displaced persons from a genuinely humanitarian angle. In its efforts at a solution it has been guided throughout by the spirit and the letter of the United Nations Charter, so as to ensure that equal treatment is accorded to all refugees and all displaced persons without distinction of race, language, sex or religion. The Lebanese Government has not favoured, nor would it ever favour, any one group at the expense of the rest, since all these people have suffered equally from Hitler’s persecution. Similarly, and in full agreement both with all the States of the Arab League and with the general principles of our Organization, we could never tolerate any departure from purely humanitarian aims, in order to further political ends or ambitions, when dealing with the question of refugees and displaced persons. In fact, both during the war and since, thousands of Greek, Yugoslav and especially Polish refugees have received from Lebanon a welcome which is just as disinterested as it is sincere.
1. In the cultural domain, the policy of the Lebanese Government, as defined by its representatives on the Economic and Social Council, has been to endeavour to establish on a common intellectual basis a new spirit of understanding and- co-operation among the various peoples of the world. Among other suggestions, our delegation to the Economic and Social Council has proposed that the United Nations, through its specialized agencies, should undertake the translation and dissemination, in all the languages of the Member States, of the classics of each nation throughout the ages. In a draft which it will submit for your consideration, it will also suggest that the study of selected passages from this universal literature should form part of the compulsory curriculum in the schools of every country. We feel confident that such dissemination of the thought and philosophy of each nation will contribute in a very large measure to the creation among future generations of that true spirit of understanding, conciliation and brotherhood, which is so essential to future peace.
2. Finally, the policy of the Government I have the honour to represent has been to make the constructive work of the United Nations more effective and to substitute its own initiative for that of certain individual nations. In a letter dated 1 October 1946, Mr. Malik, Lebanese representative on the Economic and Social Council, transmitted the following proposal to the Secretary-General of the United Nations:
“In the past, less developed nations were given assistance in their economic, social, health, educational and cultural needs by the individual governments of the great Powers. The less developed regions themselves in many cases had asked for this assistance, but more j often it was a part of a relationship of dependence by them on one of the great Powers. This will doubtless remain as the normal method in the case of colonies and trust territories …
“But in the present world, when a new spirit in international relations has arisen, embodying itself in the Charter and activity of the United Nations, the less developed countries expect the United Nations to take a bold lead in giving them the necessary help required by their development and in providing the normal procedure to which they may resort whenever they need such help.
“In this way the activity of the United Nations will be advanced from the level of debate and recommendation to that of active, responsible participation in the planning and execution of diverse projects of development affecting directly the life of peoples ah over the world.”
I do not wish to take up any more of your valuable time. I have the honour to belong to one of the smallest countries that are Members of the United Nations. Lebanon has no large armies, no powerful navy, no death-dealing air force; she therefore has no pretension to ensuring the peace of the world by these means. But she has behind her five thousand years of civilization and culture, and in this field of human thought it is her honour and duty to make a sincere and practical contribution to the work of reconstruction devolving upon the United Nations.