Mr. President, on behalf of the delegation of Chile I have pleasure in offering you our sincere congratulations on the wise choice made by the General Assembly in electing you to be its President. We are sure that your experience as a lawyer, your familiarity with international problems and your acknowledged qualities of equanimity and judgement will make a vital contribution to the success of our work.
2. I should like also to express our gratitude to U Thant, the Secretary-General, for the services he has rendered to the United Nations and to mankind during the short period he has been in office. Following the example of his illustrious predecessor, Dag Hammarskjold, whose spirit and personality will always be felt here, U Thant has taken up the arduous tasks of his office with vigour and efficiency. My delegation hopes that this General Assembly will appoint him to the office which he now holds, because his character is an assurance for us all and because we should give him the opportunity to extend and strengthen the work in which he has made such a brilliant beginning.
3. Chile is once again attending this universal meeting to which the States Members of the United Nations come year after year to appraise the international situation, express their desires and explain their views on the general problems of the world.
4. We believe that this confrontation of ideas is useful if it is conducted with calm, wisdom, realism and, above all, sincerity. We must be true not only to the representatives of the other countries making up the international community, which have subscribed to the purposes of our Organization and have placed their faith in its ability to maintain peace and security, but also to the people whom we are representing here. We cannot deceive them with false optimism, we should not conceal from them the harsh realities and we have no right to give them the illusion of security which we know, in our heart of hearts, is not warranted by the present situation.
5. We know, and the people whom we represent here should know too, that peace is seriously threatened by the most destructive of wars, the magnitude and consequences of which cannot even be conceived of by the human imagination. It is no longer specific countries or specific continents which are on the verge of a truly apocalyptic end; it is all mankind which is in danger of destruction because of the power of devastation which modern weapons have attained,
6. In the face of such a threat, all leaders have inescapable duties. A tremendous responsibility lies with the leaders of the great Powers, which have created forces so deadly that they may get beyond their control or cease to answer to their will. We who represent small and medium-sized nations also have an inescapable duty. This duty is not merely to wait for others to work out solutions, but it should find expression in actual ideas, which may even come to be enforced by the United Nations or at least to exert moral pressure on the great Powers.
7. We have not the right to remain silent in the face of the dangers which are lying in wait for us all owing to the state of international instability. Because we all suffer from constant anxiety, we must use our moral force — the only force we possess — our vehemence and our faith to promote international co-operation and coexistence among nations, to exercise, by virtue of the legal equality of States, all our rights as Members of the United Nations and to influence its decisions.
8. If we were to act otherwise, for the sake of convenience or through fear, we should be leaving the destiny of mankind to the mercy of those who rely on force and helping to push the world to the brink of a catastrophe. At the same time, through criminal neglect, we would have helped to prevent the United Nations from intervening in time to prevent the differences between the great Powers from degenerating into a tragic conflict which would destroy all nations, large and small.
9. This attitude will determine our position during this session of the General Assembly in matters of vital importance, such as the problem of disarmament or of nuclear weapons tests.
10. We are discouraged by the failure of efforts to achieve agreement on disarmament, a matter which has undoubtedly been complicated by the mistrust between the principal protagonists in the historical drama which we are witnessing. We believe, however, that the small and medium-sized countries can help both to dispel such mistrust and to create, on rational bases, a peace-keeping machinery which will function effectively. We are well aware that this is an extremely complex question and that the technical implementation of the plans prepared is by no means easy. In this connexion, it is my duty to mention the co-operation of the eight nations not directly concerned which this year, for the first time, became members of the Disarmament Committee; they included two Latin American States — Brazil and Mexico — which expressed our continent's desire for peace with great assiduity and skill.
11. At this its seventeenth session, the General Assembly must do everything in its power to bring about a truce in the cold war and to expedite the negotiations on general disarmament which, to be effective, must be subject to control accepted by common agreement. I offer the loyal and unprejudiced cooperation of the Chilean delegation in the attainment of these objectives.
12. It would be an over-simplification to describe disarmament as an isolated problem or one that has no connexion with the causes of international friction. Nobody now dares to consider war legitimate. Everybody knows that in the event of a conflict with nuclear weapons the victors would be vanquished just as much as the losers themselves, which was not the case in other periods of history. It is a fact, however, that the spirit of conciliation is waning in the face of the accumulation of weapons of war, which have been developed to such an extent that there is always the fear that a human or mechanical defect may provoke a world-wide conflict.
13. We are told that nuclear testing is bound up with the cold war and the arms race. The aim of nuclear tests is apparently both to strengthen the offensive capacity of the great Powers and to provide a mutual deterrent. For the rest of the world such arguments have no moral, political or strategic justification. The rest of the world is horrified by them. Apart from the contamination and other dangers inherent in such tests, they increase tension in international relations and kill hopes of disarmament. Not even the scientists and experts are at present able to assess the harmful effects of nuclear tests on climatic variations, on agricultural production and on human beings themselves.
14. We therefore firmly support the suspension of nuclear weapons tests and the conclusion of a treaty on the subject, or at least an agreement on a moratorium which will reassure the anxious world.
15. The poisoned atmosphere of international relations, the arms race and the resumption of nuclear tests are, unfortunately, signs of the renewal of the cold war. And the most alarming issue in the cold war is the Berlin problem. Although this question is not on the agenda of this session — among so many other matters of very dubious importance — how can we avoid referring to one of the most malignant tumours of the present day?
16. The Berlin problem affects not only the great Powers. To this city is turned the anxious gaze of the peoples who fear that one incident, one rash action, may strike the first note of a dramatic symphony. In this unfortunate city, a great danger is being fostered, apparently consciously — the danger that the Powers responsible may lose control of the situation.
17. In addition to voicing our protest about the Berlin wall, a hateful symbol of the oppression and subjugation of human freedom, we reaffirm our conviction that the only solution of the problem lies in the consultation of the free wishes of the German people. There is no reason why the principle of self-determination should not be applied to this people.
18. There is no valid reason to prevent a peaceful and speedy solution being found to the Berlin question. In the course of this year we saw how it was possible, through good will, hard work and patient negotiation, to reach agreement in the question of Laos, another cold war issue. Recently, too, we saw how the Governments of the Netherlands and Indonesia, to whose efforts and perseverance in search of peace we wish to pay a tribute, reached agreement on West New Guinea — a question which in previous years gave rise to lengthy debates in this Assembly and represented a threat to peace.
19. Laos and New Guinea are two happy examples which we should bear in mind during the debates at this session, so that we may be inspired with optimism in the laborious search for peace.
20. During the year which has passed since the last session of the General Assembly, new countries have gained political independence. It would be unjust not to quote, as a striking example of this heartening progress, the case of Algeria, which is now a sovereign State and in a few days will no doubt become a Member of our Organization. Through the courage and resolve of the Algerian people and their leaders, combined with the understanding and determination of France and its rulers, the process of independence has been brought to completion in extremely difficult circumstances. All this represents a step forward on the road to peace which does honour to the two nations concerned. Similarly, as an American country, Chile must express its satisfaction at the fact that, in our continent, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have achieved their emancipation.
21. Fortunately, the defenders of colonialism, as a theory at least, have left the field, thanks to the efforts of the United Nations and to the fact that all the peoples of the earth cherish a love of freedom which sooner or later triumphs over foreign oppression. It may take some years for the territories still under colonial domination to achieve full independence and join the international community as free and sovereign States, but no one can now hold back the march of history.
22. One of the policies which Chile has followed most constantly and most actively in international affairs has been respect for the principle of self-determination. We have always given moral support to peoples seeking to advance beyond the stage of colonialism. We have nothing against the metropolitan Powers which administer such territories; on the contrary, we maintain ties of friendship and co-operation with them. But we in Chile, which was also once a colony, are convinced that sooner or later these peoples have to assume responsibility for their own destiny. Good sense demands that this irreversible historical process should take place without bloodshed, hatred or destruction. It is our hope, rather, that between the new State which emerges from the colonial territory and the metropolitan State there will be common interests and fruitful exchanges. For the problem is not simply the attainment of independence but also its consolidation; it is not merely a matter of the achievement of sovereignty, but also of a collective effort to raise the level of living of millions of people who have known no existence except one marked by exploitation and servility.
23. Chile considers that the safeguarding of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the provision of guarantees for individuals against violence and the abuse of power are basic aims of our international Organization.
24. We consider that human rights, whether political or civil, economic or social, are values which should be firmly embedded in the institutional practice of States.
25. In San Francisco the United Nations was given the basic task of maintaining peace and strengthening international security. For reasons which are well known, in carrying out this task it has been faced with countless obstacles, upheavals and frustrations. At the same time, however, it has been exploring new paths for international co-operation in other spheres and the encouraging results achieved have opened up new and promising prospects for mankind. In few fields has this work been more innovatory and constructive or more vitally important, for the present generation but above all for future generations, than in that of human rights.
26. By concentrating on the individual, wherever he may live, and by endeavouring to protect his rights, by seeking ways to give him a worthier, happier and freer life, thus making it possible for his personality to develop to the full, we are initiating a new epoch in international law which will bring about a true revolution in traditional concepts and the advent of a more just world in which there will be a genuine international community. My country fervently believes in this great mission and wishes to reaffirm its determination not to spare any effort in assisting the United Nations to carry it out to the end.
27. That is why on this occasion we note with pleasure the progress made in this respect by the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, the introduction of periodic reports, which have been submitted by seventy-six Governments, the establishment of national advisory committees on human rights, and similar developments. Nevertheless we cannot avoid mentioning the fact that although some fifteen years have passed since the drafting of the covenants on human rights was begun, it has not yet been possible to get over the last stages and put them into effect. We hope that at this session the Assembly will complete this task, a matter of fundamental importance if we are to bring about that universal respect for rights and freedoms for which we have legislated. We consider it essential that the covenants should recommend suitable supervisory and executory machinery, the only way of ensuring that they are actually put into effect.
28. It is unthinkable that the United Nations should go on receiving thousands of complaints of violations of human rights which have to be kept in a file of sorrow and shame, but not acted upon, for lack of any suitable legal arrangements.
29. It is not enough, however, to keep the peace, end the oppression of one people by another and ensure respect for human rights. Without economic and social development there cannot be lasting peace and tranquility.
30. The social frustration which builds up among peoples made desperate by inadequate standards of living and welfare and by the lack of a better outlook for the future is reflected in a loss of faith in free and democratic institutions and a weakening of the State and becomes an incitement to ventures of the worst kind, which undermine the international situation. To draw attention to these inconsistencies and risks is easy. To regard them as unalterable features of man's destiny in this century is difficult and is something in which Chile, at least, can never concur.
31. It is our conviction that the Latin American peoples are determined to defend their freedom as their own possession and not as an abstract value, inasmuch as the political system we have created enables them to break down the barriers of poverty and ignorance which block the path of progress.
32. The Government of Chile is perfectly aware of the people's state of mind. It knows the underlying social dissatisfaction in countries which are still in the underdeveloped stage and the danger which a violent explosion of that dissatisfaction would represent for the political, social and economic structure which is the basis for our democratic system of government. It knows the dilemma which we face; either we bring about an immediate improvement in the economic and social situation of the great masses of the people or we shall see the disappearance, not just of the present economic and social order, but also of the political structure we consider fundamental.
33. It is for this reason that Chile has undertaken to make profound changes in the basic sectors of its economic and social structure. We are embarking on a land reform programme intended not only to bring ownership of land within the reach of as many citizens as possible and to better the living conditions of the peasants, but to improve the methods of farming the land and to increase its productivity; the aim thus is that the agricultural land of Chile, apart from being distributed among a greater number of persons, should yield a greater amount of produce, through the introduction of increasingly modern techniques of working and farming. We are introducing a tax reform which will lead to a fairer distribution of the national income and of the tax burden. We are planning a tariff reform which will both stimulate and protect the national labour force while providing a permanent safeguard for the mass of consumers through competition and greater productivity. At the same time we are carrying out a well-thought-out general programme of long-term economic development.
34. It is particularly pleasing for the Government of Chile to note that its plans are in accord, both in method and in purpose, with those of the Alliance for Progress approved in the Punta del Este Charter.
35. The same beliefs inspire both programmes and the first aim of both is to bring about an immediate improvement in the social, economic and cultural situation of the masses of the people, within the limits imposed by respect for the rights of the individual, which only a representative system of government can assure.
36. In December 1961, the General Assembly adopted a resolution of far-reaching importance in which it designated the present decade as the United Nations Development Decade [resolution 1710 (XVI)]. This resolution, which recognized that the gap between the industrial and the economically backward countries was widening rather than narrowing, made a series of recommendations to Governments, to the Economic and Social Council and to the specialized agencies, which were intended to stimulate a much more rapid expansion of the economies of the developing countries.
37. The Chilean delegation notes with pleasure the action taken by the Secretary-General, the Economic and Social Council and the specialized agencies in pursuance of this resolution or in conformity with it.
38. Nevertheless, we believe a much greater effort of the imagination is needed, a more realistic view of present situation, a better understanding of the dangers threatening mankind, which is so sharply divided into a privileged minority and the great masses of the under-developed world. The United Nations Development Decade will have no real meaning if there is not a rapid and substantial increase in the technical and financial resources that are required to improve the work of the machinery for co-operation we have created in fifteen years of search and effort.
39. We think that the United Nations, its specialized agencies and the Governments of Member States could make a valuable contribution by giving the fullest and firmest possible support to general long-term programmes of economic development providing for a co-ordinated attack in the main sectors of economic and social activity, such as various developing countries have drawn up or are drawing up. In our opinion, such programmes, if carefully prepared, are one of the most effective means of giving this important work an impetus leading to the achievement of ever more progressive and satisfactory objectives.
40. It is well know that another matter of great concern to the developing countries which export a limited number of primary commodities has been the impact of unstable prices on their economies. We trust, therefore, that all the necessary efforts will be made in the various international organizations considering the problem to arrive at practical conclusions with regard to the stability of commodity prices and the establishment of effective machinery for giving financial compensation to primary-producer countries for the fiscal and other economic losses they have suffered for many years because of this unjust and irregular situation, which must be corrected without delay.
41. If we really want to play a part in history and not just to be carried along on its tide like drifting vessels, we must enter upon a more active stage before it is too late. We must take steps to ensure that it is man's power of reason which governs the world and not caprice or lust for power.
42. We are running the risk that we shall soon conquer the moon, which is a dead planet, without being able to conquer the earth, which is a live planet. To conquer the earth means to make it habitable and capable of providing education, a decent dwelling and sufficient food for the millions of men who at present lack basic essentials and for the millions who are appearing as a result of demographic explosions, which occur precisely in the poorest countries.
43. Fabulous sums are being spent on experiments in space to improve communications between the continents, but no such efforts are being made to bring the benefits of radiotelephony, or even the telephone, to millions of people. Plans are being made to conquer distant planets, when we have not yet succeeded in discovering our own, for we seem to be ignorant of the backwardness, poverty and lack of culture that exist in vast areas of our own world. Unforeseeable and wonderful progress is being made in space flights, but here below sickness and hunger have not been overcome. These dismaying contradictions must be eliminated, so that we may give rapid and urgent attention to the task of removing the differences in the levels of living of the nations we represent.
44. The creation of economic groups is perhaps the most striking characteristic of the present-day world economy. Nations bound together by geographical, political and economic ties have formed or are forming groups in which the participating countries tend to create common markets and to co-ordinate their economic policies.
45. In my Government’s view, not only are these movements based on legitimate considerations, but they may come to profit the whole world, In order for this to be, however, the economic groups must not withdraw into themselves and form self-contained entities but must rather open outwards and contribute to increasing world trade.
46. Also, it is of particular importance to the developing countries that no discriminatory practices should be adopted against them whereby they would be prevented from selling to the developed countries the products in which they have traditionally traded. For Latin- America, the loss of such markets would mean a further decline in its commercial capacity and a further decrease in the capital formation which it urgently needs for its economic and social development,
47. Faced with this situation, the Latin American countries have promoted the establishment of the Latin American Free Trade Area as a means of achieving economic integration, which is a step along the road towards political integration, and are seeking to set up a Latin American Common Market which will take into account the need for universal co-operation which we have just mentioned and will be adapted to the reality that all countries and regions are interdependent. We trust that the bonds needed to safeguard the general interests of all peoples will soon be established between our Organization and those which have been set up in other continents. My Government, for its part, intends to spare no effort to achieve such an association as quickly and effectively as possible. That is the shortest road open to us to bring about the rapid industralization which our countries need in order to make possible for the masses of our peoples the standard of living to which they aspire.
48. Instability and slow economic growth are characteristics common to nearly all Latin American economies and are due to an excessive dependence on foreign trade and to a low capital formation, a situation that is aggravated by what has now become a chronic deterioration in the terms of trade between our countries and the highly industrialized nations. We continue to see, in fact, that while the prices of our raw materials tend to decline, the prices of the capital goods and manufactured products which we must import are constantly rising. This problem is common to all underdeveloped areas of the world, as the Secretary-General has recognized in his report to the Assembly. We believe that the United Nations should give priority to the study of this phenomenon. We trust that the coming Conference on International Commodity Trade will arrive at results that may promise an equitable solution to this acute and, at the same time, vast problem.
49. I would not wish to conclude my remarks on economic and social problems without referring to the Conference on the problems of economic development that was held at Cairo a few months ago. Chile attended this Conference as an observer, and I should like to say — in addition to emphasizing the remarkable contribution which the Asian and African peoples are making to the success of the common task of improving the levels of living — that at this session of the General Assembly we shall lend our support to the recommendation made at the Cairo meeting for the holding of a world economic conference in the near future. This idea is fully in keeping with those which inspired this Assembly when it proclaimed the United Nations Development Decade.
50. Latin America's problems, far from finding a solution, have grown worse since the last General Assembly. There has been no improvement in the economic situation; political and social tensions have been increasing. We would be straying far from the truth and presenting an illusory and perhaps naive view of the present situation if we were to say today as we have said on previous occasions that our hemisphere is united and working together closely. It is sufficient to recall that diplomatic relations have been broken off or suspended between many Latin American States.
51. We are particularly concerned, however, by the fact that the cold war has penetrated into our hemisphere, and that situations which formerly affected us only as members of the world community are today having decisive repercussions on inter-American relations and are even likely to endanger peace among the countries of America.
52. Chile has profound faith, however, that the spirit of peace and the w ill of our peoples — unless despair paralyses our efforts — will facilitate the search for means to solve adequately the problems which have unfortunately arisen in our continent. Our conviction is strengthened by a full awareness of the vitality of our ties of brotherhood which, all during our history, have enabled us to overcome difficult circumstances together.
53. On behalf of my Government, I should like to say once again that Chile is especially concerned with maintaining, particularly with the countries of America, the most cordial relations of friendship and cooperation. Our faith in Americanism inspires our whole national life. The principles of international law, respect for treaties and the legal tradition inherent in the inter-American system govern our conduct abroad. Because of the spirit which guides us, any temporary difficulty which may arise between Chile and another American country will never be so great that it cannot be resolved by peaceful means so long as those means are appropriate to the nature of the dispute, that is to say, juridical means for legal disputes and political means for political disputes.
54. On the first of next January, Chile's term of membership in the Security Council will come to an end. We have the satisfaction of having actively contributed to the maintenance of peace. This has been our main objective. We have, in the Council, always acted with an independent mind and have zealously sought formulae for settlement which would be unanimously acceptable and satisfactory to the contending parties.
55. We are, now as ever, firmly resolved to contribute to the strengthening of the United Nation, so that it may indeed be an instrument of peace, security and progress for the smaller and weaker countries. We cannot allow this Organization to become ineffective or powerless as was the League of Nations in its later years,
56. We are here to delve into the deeper causes of international realities and to clear the world's atmosphere of harmful influences such as hatred and violence.
57. The world does long, not for an armaments race, but for a race towards progress; not for the building of nuclear arms, but of dwellings, schools and hospitals. To prevent war with the threat of war is as dangerous as it is senseless.
58. We hope that this General Assembly will boldly draw the necessary conclusions from the present international situation and the world's economic and social conditions. We are confident that the prestige and authority of the United Nations will increase and so facilitate a rapprochement between the great Powers.
59. We will not receive peace as a free gift, but rather it will be the fruit of the day-by-day victory of the concerted efforts of reason and understanding.