When the representatives of the Anglo-American countries met on board the historic battleship Prince of Wales and drew up the Atlantic Charter, they responded to the imperious call of humanity, sick and suffering from the anxieties of war, and they accomplished a work of transcendent importance; they sowed a fruitful seed in the furrows of mankind’s future; their work, however, was not one which presented great difficulties for the philosophic perception of statesmen. It is world public opinion which has shaped the social environment of the world and is adapting it so as to conduce to the settlement of disputes between nations by peaceful methods.
When we survey the broad panorama of present day humanity, in the complex and significant interrelationships of its characteristic features, whether we do this in a spirit of strict analysis or take a broad general view, we cannot fail to attain a democratic appreciation of history: history is and must be the authentic result of the inclination and decisions of the peoples themselves. History, viewed as an account of the achievement of personalities, leads to the domination of personal passions, to the deprivation of liberty, to the capricious building up of armaments and, consequently, to war. History, viewed as the history of peoples, as the history of labouring men and women of sound judgment, will lead us to cultivate friendship among nations, to develop the vast economic and intellectual resources which are the heritage of mankind, and, lastly, to create the atmosphere necessary for the reduction of armaments, making the latter the servants of justice and the symbols of the suppression of tyranny.
The Charter of the United Nations, signed in the beautiful city of San Francisco in June 1945, is not perfect, nor could it be. Humanity was still shattered by the horrors of the most barbarous and destructive war of all time; hatred had spread to the furthest limits of time and destiny; moral principles no longer held sway, and the horsemen of the new Apocalypse were still galloping across the battlefields of East and West. That was certainly not the best nor the most suitable time to set forth once more on the path of perfection in the work of forming fraternal links between nations on a legal basis. Nevertheless, the concepts established as the fundamental bases of the new political organization were for the most part fertile and generous, and contained in their solid substance and in their potential efficacy all that humanity requires to bring to a successful issue the work of liberty and progress, of union and fraternity between peoples.
To promote the intellectual, social and economic progress of nations is the best means of ensuring human liberties in order that all nations of the world, enjoying equality before the law and equality of work, composed of social groups which do not recognize distinctions of race, sex, language or religion, may build up, day by day, a universal and permanent peace.
The Charter of the United Nations is not and cannot be considered perfect as long as it maintains arbitrary discrimination among the Members. The fact that they have been victorious, their economic and political strength, and the inherent weight of the armaments possessed by the permanent members of the Security Council are not sufficient to alter the basic principle of the sovereign equality of States. It is the flimsy and precarious nature of those arguments that increases unrest among the nations and allows the imagination to glimpse on the horizon the signs of a return to barbarism.
The more or less arbitrary exercise of the right of veto is not sufficient to explain the atmosphere of distrust which at present surrounds all human activity. There is also a fear that justice has its limits, that the political interests of the great Powers may one day gain supremacy over the major interests of humanity.
It is essential, therefore, that, in the process of perfecting the United Nations Charter, the Security Council should be made more democratic in so logical and legitimate a manner that in due course all its members will be elected by a free vote. In this way, the sovereign equality of States will be fully restored, and the reign of justice dispensed equally throughout the world.
The memorable work which the United Nations has undertaken has for its aim the creation and maintenance of social stability and the evolution of the nations in the intellectual, health and economic spheres, by the exercise of equal rights and by respect for the self-determination of peoples. The agencies created to assist countries which need economic aid, to restore devastated areas and promote the development of backward areas, to bind nations together by fraternal culture and the organization of labour, are the same which will create and promote an atmosphere of resistance to the race for armaments and rebellion against despotic dictatorships.
Further, the setting up of the International Court of Justice is a most notable step, with a view to achieving the pacific solution of disputes between the States Members of the United Nations. Once the Court’s jurisdiction has been made universally compulsory, we shall soon possess principles of international law which will embody by means of formulas compatible with the rights and duties of States, the legal principles and procedures required for the rule of law among nations.
Humanity is today divided into great ideological spheres fully worthy of respect, each striving to ensure the common welfare. It is important, under the patronage of the bodies associated with the United Nations, to promote the free interchange of ideas and products between these spheres in order that an examination of the conditions of human life in each of them should provide a basis for individual acceptance and for the enlightened decision of nations. Provided that human rights are respected, we must regard it as very dangerous to impose boundaries or to raise barriers to the study and analysis of the sociological conditions governing the different types of human society. For that reason we hope that the United Nations will make every effort to remove the ideological frontiers which separate the peoples from one another, welding humanity as far as possible into a single articulated and harmonious whole.
The delegation of the Republic of Ecuador offers its wishes for the favourable progress of the United Nations, which, binding nations together by chains of loyal friendship and sincere legal interdependence, will lead them confidently to the enjoyment of the benefits of permanent peace.