44. The Argentine delegation to the seventeenth session of the United Nations General Assembly is happy to congratulate you most sincerely, Mr. President, on your election to direct the debates of what is really a world parliament. The fact that you, the honourable representative of Pakistan, have been chosen to occupy this high position is a well-deserved tribute not only to your country, but in particular you, yourself, who have represented it for so long with such brilliance and eminence. All the delegations here assembled expect a great deal from the unruffled calm, the tried experience and the discretion with which you will direct the debates during the coming months.
45. My first words of tribute would be incomplete if I did not add that we expect as much from the intelligence and firmness of our worthy acting Secretary-General, Mr. Thant, as from the guidance of the President of the Assembly: Mr. Thant, the eminent successor of Dag Hammarskjold, has already shown in his general leadership of the Secretariat and in the thorny problems of the Congo, New Guinea and others that he is eminently fitted to carry out his high functions.
46. We have before us a spectacle the magnificence and impressiveness of which cannot be dimmed by annual repetition. One hundred and nine countries, that is to say nearly all the countries in the world, have sent their representatives here to tell us of their hopes and fears, to say with complete freedom and frankness what they think about the many complex world problems with which we are faced and to express the wishes of the peoples which the Charter calls "the peoples of the United Nations".
47. Year after year, we see here the representatives of these peoples, which fall politically into the categories of great, medium-sized and small States. Behind these States are the men who form them, and man — the basic component of these political organizations — is the same everywhere. His desire for peace and security should be the main subject of our deliberations.
48. We all live under the pressure of a disturbed present, with the “same anxiety about the uncertain future and we all hope that, in an atmosphere of honourable and lasting peace, we shall be able to till the soil, use our tools, work, care for our children and our homes, teach, learn, pray to God and bless Him for His goodness.
49. In order to acquit ourselves of the task laid upon us by the peoples of this vast world, we must banish pride, conceit and intransigence from our debates. The lesson of untold centuries of history is that nothing lasting is achieved by violence, because what is won by the sword is lost by the sword. Violence is a quicksand on which nothing lasting can be built. For that reason, we must be guided by a willingness, to compromise, mutual understanding and respect, tolerance, and a realization of our own fallibility.
50. In the past, the geographical and spiritual isolation of nations kept the ravages of war, hunger and disease localized in certain areas. But today we are one world, and together we shall triumph or perish. We must also be guided in our debates by this feeling of a common destiny, ominous or happy, but the same for everyone.
51. Let us now look at some of the main events on the international scene today. There are problems which, alas, are always with us, always present at our deliberations, such as nuclear tests, the arms race, the cold war, poverty, and so forth.
52. Nuclear tests are another way of saying "death-dealing tests". The peoples which are the most advanced in technology are devoting the major portion of their resources to improving the supreme weapon. The peoples which are not competing in this tragic race cannot remain silent, for with every nuclear explosion the thin envelope of air around our earth is being slowly but surely poisoned. Neither can they selfishly isolate themselves from world problems, for they know that we are all in the same boat and if it sinks we all go down with it. We must give voice to our anxiety.
53. Not long ago, a publication with a wide circulation indicated the places which would suffer most from the bombings in an atomic war and those which would suffer less because of their distance from the probable theatres of war and bomb-targets. My country was among the latter. According to this paper, our relative isolation from the traditional fields of battle and from the most highly industrialized centres in the countries which would presumably be enemies in a future atomic war would give us a somewhat privileged position, a certain immunity.
54. When I read this forecast, I did not feel happy or at all secure. The mere idea of an atomic war dismays all Argentinians so much that we cannot selfishly thank God for our isolation from the more advanced centres. But we have no illusions. If this happened, nobody would be safe. The winds know no frontiers. The poison from the explosions would spread death across all parallels and over all meridians.
55. But while atomic war is still only a possibility, nuclear tests are a reality. We must sound the alarm and demand that these tests should be suspended and that from a given date, which should be as early as possible, countries should enter into a solemn undertaking to ban them for ever. That would be a step forward, as were the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at the sixteenth session, particularly resolution 1648 (XVI), which urges the suspension of test explosions pending the conclusion of Internationally binding agreements, and resolution 1649 (XVI) on the urgent need for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons tests under effective international control.
56. My delegation trusts that the General Assembly will not abandon its efforts in this direction. Would that its work might be remembered with gratitude by humanity in the future!
57. We perfectly understand the grave political and strategic risks which are inherent in these proposals for the suspension or banning of nuclear tests. It is for this reason that neither of the two antagonistic groups into which the world is divided wishes to take an initiative which might reduce its military potential.
58. If, however, there is a declaration of a common aim to ban tests and the only fear is that one side will not respect the promises it has made, why not, as a proof of good faith, allow investigation of laboratories and testing sites by other impartial States or by international organizations? No State that really intends to respect the obligation it has assumed has anything to fear from Inspection. Is no one in the world worthy of confidence?
59. On the other hand, it is obvious that national detection systems have been so improved that it is very unlikely that any sizable explosion could pass unnoticed, so that inspection would be necessary only in a few rare cases and in limited areas. The Argentine delegation therefore hopes that both sides will find a common ground for agreement on what constitutes proper supervision of the application of any agreement that is reached and that nuclear testing will very soon be stopped and the question removed from our agenda.
60. It is not enough, however, to outlaw nuclear testing. By doing so, we should make it more difficult to perfect certain means of destruction — which are, it is true, the most lethal — but we should not eradicate the danger points. It is these danger points that we must eliminate to prevent them from causing future armed conflicts, and to remove any possibility or pretext for using nuclear or conventional weapons. Peace cannot be won without effort.
61. Peace is not only the absence of war, despite what we were told here recently. Peace should not be a static concept. Peace is our highest aim, the primary purpose of the United Nations, and lit requires the common effort of all Member States working in harmony, not only in the political, but in the social, educational and economic fields. Peace is not to be had for the asking, without trouble; we must win it daily by Our efforts and our sacrifices.
62. One of the primary objectives of our efforts must be disarmament, since the peoples of the world, in signing the United Nations Charter, undertook to refrain from the threat or use of force as a legitimate means of settling disputes and to use only the many peaceful means provided by the Charter and other international instruments: legal and political means, good offices, mediation, arbitration, etc. All these means are directed towards the same end and all are good when the countries having recourse to them do so honestly; in an effort to reach a just and proper solution, as Argentina has always done, both in seeking solutions in its own international problems and in its conciliatory action in conflicts in which it was not involved.
63. In order to achieve peace, the first thing to do, obviously, is to eliminate the causes of friction between peoples. To do this, we must loyally obey the precepts of the Charter. If we return to the positive principles which it enshrines, we shall have achieved a basis of mutual consideration and understanding, When all States respect the rights of neighbouring States, not only in word but in deed, and faithfully comply with the international obligations they have undertaken, when all States recognize the legal equality of other States, when the principle of non-intervention becomes a reality, we shall have reached the stage of education without which an international legal order and world peace — our supreme objective — cannot be achieved.
64. The principle of non-intervention — which my country has proclaimed, supported and applied as one of the guiding principles of its international policy — must be accompanied by proper respect for every country’s right freely to choose its own institutions.
65. While all peoples have the right to choose their own institutions, it is only on condition that they also respect other peoples’ right to do the same. No country can demand respect in its right to self-determination if at the same time, by well-organized propaganda, it is attacking other peoples and violating the principle of non-intervention.
66. We respect the right of every State to adopt the system of government it considers best. What we cannot tolerate, however, is that any country should become a source of propaganda against our own democratic institutions or should flood us with subversive propaganda disguised under other names.
67. When something like this happens, nobody can tell a country whose interests, institutions, feelings and beliefs are thus attacked that it must not take the necessary steps in self-defence; for self-defence is the first and most sacred of all rights, so much so that it is often more a duty than a right. Self-defence is legitimate, not only against armed aggression but against political aggression. For that reason, the Latin American countries, which have on various occasions been the victim of political aggression by a State not far from these shores have been obliged to take certain defensive steps and if the aggression continues they will have to take others in the future.
68. Argentina is a nation nurtured in the principles of the Christian religion and of morality, tolerance and respect for fundamental human rights. When these principles are attacked we must defend them, because they are the basis of our Western and Christian heritage, making us fundamentally opposed to communism, which is atheistic and materialistic.
69. We cannot allow disregard for human life and systematic violation of human rights to be tolerated in modern life. When a Government makes these anti- social practices the basis and foundation of its policy, we cannot maintain relations with it.
70. Directly associated with this policy of contempt for human rights is the situation in Berlin, one of the greatest potential danger spots at present, with its degrading wall which has restricted movement between the two sectors of the city, violating the fundamental right of any person to leave any country, including his own, as set forth in article 13 (2) of the Universal Declaration. This attack on ideas rooted in civilized nations will scarcely be able to achieve its object of hiding from the eyes of the free world the realities concealed behind the wall.
71. To revert to America, we state dearly that we have no wish to carry on propaganda outside our own frontiers but that we demand that no one should do so within our frontiers. In its international policy our country scrupulously respects the principles of self- determination and non-intervention, but it demands reciprocity. It makes no secret of its preferences. For reasons of ideological background we are on the side of the Western countries; from any Standpoint we are a Western and Christian country.
72. It should be made quite dear that the principle of free determination of peoples, as set forth in the United Nations Charter, cannot be applied blindly or in an absolute manner. In some cases there are circumstances which affect the application of the principle and factors which limit its scope.
73. Thus, when the territorial integrity of a State or the particular status of certain territories is in dispute, we should be extremely careful in interpreting and applying the principle. An example of this is the case of the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) or any case where territories have been separated by force without the de facto situation having been subsequently confirmed by international agreement, and especially where the original population has been dispersed and small groups of settlers from the occupying Power have established themselves in the area.
74. The principle of free self-determination could not be applied there, because it would place the destiny of these territories in the hands of a limited group of settlers from the Power which has established itself there by force, violating international law. The indiscriminate application of the principle of self-determination in cases like the one I have described would be a pretext for legalizing a transfer of sovereignty under the protective cover of a provision, of the Charter.
75. In addition to the dangers to world peace resulting from the violation of political rights and from a mad armaments race, let us examine another: poverty. As long as there are peoples which have scarcely the essentials of life, or not even that, nobody can be surprised that they should listen to false prophets who preach violence as a remedy for their ills and as a key opening the door to a supposed paradise of easy living.
76. To banish poverty — that too is a mission of the United Nations, not through charity but by technical and financial assistance, so as to raise the educational and economic levels of the countries which are not fortunate enough to be classified among the highly developed, and by the liberalization of international trade. After all, countries, cannot eat their cotton, copper or tin, nor can they clothe themselves with the coffee or wheat they cannot sell. Real assistance consists in facilitating production and opening the doors to wider trade, progressively freer and broader.
77. The other day we listened with great interest to the speech by Mr. Spaak [1138th meeting] in defence of the European Common Market. We should like to think that in the long run the European Common Market will not mean a decline in the trade of the market countries with countries outside. The Belgian Foreign Minister, however, completely ignored the countries of Latin America and concerned himself solely with allaying the fears of other areas which are promised associate membership of the European Common Market. It is a good thing that in this way many are able to enjoy its advantages. But what about those who are materially unable to enter the Market? Will it be said of us, in the words of the Bible, that many were called but few were chosen?
78. In the wider orbit of the United Nations, we note with satisfaction that the economic development of the developing countries continues to occupy a preponderant place in the working programme and we trust that suitable measures for the effective implementation of the development plans will be approved. To this end the Argentine delegation will spare no effort in pursuing the goal of raising the level of living of the peoples, not as an end in itself but as a means of securing social peace.
79. International action designed to overcome economic backwardness is obviously entitled to high priority in our debates, so that this grave problem may be solved as soon as possible.
80. My country maintains that in devising formulas for the financing of economic development programmes the utmost importance should be attached to savings created by the efforts of the country concerned, and that public and private capital from outside should not be regarded as substitutes for natural sources of income but as a complementary resource to accelerate the process.
81. Hence the need to increase the volume and value of exports and to put into effect the recommendations and agreements on the liberation of international trade, so that countries may increase their financial capacity and use it to expand their industries, thereby raising their level of living.
82. We trust that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development convened by the Economic and Social Council (resolution 917 (XXXIV)) will establish the necessary conditions to enable effective solutions to be reached, on the basis of realistic and highly technical plan B, for the problems which beset international trade in general, particularly those which prevent the expansion of commodity trade, with special emphasis, of course, on the need to stabilize commodity prices.
83. Fortunately we can also point to some international aspects which justify a certain cautious optimism in regard to the future. In the capital of my country an international conference has just been held, the Second Meeting of the Antarctic Treaty, which was characterized by the high Spirit of co-operation which prevailed at all its debates and was reflected in the recommendations approved. There was no diversion between East and West, or between North and South. I am glad to mention this pleasing fact as an example of what can be achieved when the spirit of mutual understanding prevails over individual selfishness.
84. This spirit of co-operation between twelve nations is equally possible between 109. Those who are dominated by fear and pressure proclaim that this is impossible and that the United Nations has failed in its mission of achieving world peace. We do not share that pessimistic opinion and are more inclined to agree with the view expressed by Mr. Stevenson, our eminent colleague, when he pointed out [1125th meeting] that although the United Nations had not succeeded in bringing the great Powers together, it had often succeeded in keeping them apart. That in itself is a great success, even more so if, as he added, it has prepared the way for the peaceful evolution of an international order.
85. Let us begin by admitting in all humility that the United Nations is an imperfect work. It is logical that this should be so. It is a human creation, conceived and brought into being in the midst of great passions and in the face of deep distrust of its possibilities. Imperfect as it is, however, it is the best the world has known so far. On the other hand, its imperfection should not encourage us to get rid of it or to sabotage its action, but on the contrary should prompt us to maintain, support and improve it. In the task of making certain necessary changes in its machinery, integrity in procedure and uprightness in purpose should be the keynote. We must maintain the efficiency of its organs by giving them authority, not taking it away from them. Let us keep to the system of one single authority that will enable us to adopt practical and effective measures in times of trouble. The Argentine delegation is opposed to any proposal which would diminish the powers of the Secretary-General or fetter his action by subjecting it directly or indirectly to the veto of other officials.
86. We consider it right and proper to increase the number of members of United Nations bodies so as to give adequate representation to all areas, a step which the Argentine Republic advocated in the General Assembly some years ago. These bodies were planned when the United Nations had only about fifty Members. It now has 109. It is therefore logical to take this fact into consideration and to increase the composition of these bodies. We do not recommend that the number of their members should be doubled — because an excessive increase might decrease their efficiency — but we are in favour of a modest increase. Other delegations have advocated a similar course and we are happy to be in good company.
87. Those who have been Members since the first session of the General Assembly and those who have joined later should participate alike in this work of improvement.
88. After the very considerable increase in membership in recent years, we now welcome with particular satisfaction the admission of Jamaica and of Trinidad and Tobago, the first American countries to achieve independence after the creation of the United Nations. We also extend a friendly welcome to Rwanda and Burundi, formerly dependent territories but now proud independent States. Finally, we should like to extend a special welcome to the new-born State of Algeria, which joined our ranks only yesterday, to the applause of all representatives. Now that the struggle — in which both sides showed great valour — is over, the wounds are healed and the pact of friendship between the former metropolitan country and the newly independent solon has been signed and sealed, it is time to forget the past and to face the present.
89. I am sure that all the new Members of the United Nations will be valuable collaborators in the task of peace and concord which is our guiding star. I should like to take this opportunity of pointing out, with every hope that it will always be so, how moderation and prudence have characterized the actions of these new Members, proving once more that wisdom and common sense are not the heritage of the old and powerful nations and that weak young nations can give a magnificent example by their conduct and can serve as a fruitful lesson to all.
90. The work of decolonization, one of the objectives of the United Nations, is thus reaching a gradual but certain end. Nevertheless, it is well to remember that to facilitate the achievement of independence is not everything. New nations that have emerged recently in the free world have found themselves in most cases with a skeleton of administrative and social organization and confronted with the very serious problem of lack of money, technicians and even capable officials, since hand in hand with emancipation there is usually a flight of capital as also of former residents and metropolitan officials, all afraid of the chaos which sometimes accompanies these emancipatory movements.
91. It must in all fairness be acknowledged that in many cases the metropolitan countries have endeavoured to solve these problems and have effectively helped the new States in their first steps, which are often difficult and sometimes turbulent. The fact is that nobody learns to walk without having a few falls. In this way it has been possible to prevent the old ties from being broken altogether and the links of dependence have been replaced by others based on equality in both the political and the financial, economic and cultural spheres.
92. This is where the technical assistance of the United Nations can play an, effective part. This work will be necessary for many, many years to come. Let us not deceive ourselves. When the display of fireworks in the independence celebrations is over, the new States have in front of them a very difficult and, above all, very long task in which they will need to rely on the co-operation which the United Nations can give them. My country has not held aloof from that work. From the beginning we have contributed a contingent, of our air force in the Congo and an Argentine trade mission has just made a tour of African countries establishing contacts which should result in extensive trade with our country.
93. In conclusion, let me say that my country is seriously concerned with the future of the United Nations, appreciates its efforts and feels at one with its world. The ideals of peace and harmony inscribed in the Charter are also our ideals, as they always have been and always will be.