91. Mr. President, it is a pleasure on this first occasion on which I have the privilege of addressing this Assembly to offer my sincere congratulations on your unanimous election to the presidency of the seventeenth session of the General Assembly. The progress already made in the business of the session bears eloquent testimony to your wisdom and experience and to the firmness of your guiding hand.
92. I wish also to extend cordial greetings to the people of the independent country of Algeria, scheduled to be formally admitted to this body tomorrow. In their valiant and protracted struggle for mastery in their own house the people of Algeria and their leaders have commanded the respect and admiration of free men everywhere.
93. Jamaica is a country of fewer than 2 million souls but we are a genuinely peace-loving people. Our way of life shows to the rest of the world that it is possible for men of different religious beliefs, different colours and different racial origins to live together in peace and harmony, merging their distinctions in a common nationality and according each to the other the respect which is due to him as a human being and as the citizen of a democratic country. We believe other people can find in our society features which are worthy of emulation but we are content that they should themselves conclude that this is so; we shall make no effort to persuade them. We make no territorial claims on our neighbours; we have no aggressive aims; we have no desire to export our particular views concerning what is the most desirable social system under which men should live. We scrupulously respect the integrity of all our neighbours and we expect all our neighbours to respect ours.
94. Whilst our attitude to all other nations is one of goodwill and friendliness, there are some with whom closer and friendlier relations have already been established. We have had special links with the nations of the British Commonwealth and we shall maintain those links. Our Government has expressed the desire that our country should become a member of the Organization of American States. We see no conflict between the obligations inherent in the one association and in the other; indeed, we know that we can bring to the counsels of the American States a valuable insight into the aims and attitudes of those diverse nations which make up the British Commonwealth, and we believe that in course of time we shall be able to bring to the counsels of the Commonwealth a helpful understanding of the outlook and aspirations of the nations of Latin America.
95. As a new Member of the United Nations we shall bring to its deliberations one more voice of sane reason and moderation, and whilst we fully support the objectives of the Charter and will never compromise on fundamental principle, we shall always be ready to seek practical solutions to the various problems which confront the United Nations from time to time.
96. I shall not burden this Assembly with a lengthy address. It seems to me, however, that the present world situation calls for an indication on the part of every nation of its attitude towards the urgent issues which claim our attention, and calls also, for expressions of faith in the future of the United Nations.
97. Speaker after speaker has come to this rostrum in the course of the general debate and has described the problem of the arms race as the most momentous and urgent of all our problems. Weapons of destruction have grown to such frightening proportions that the menace of their accumulation has come home to every man and woman. We know now that we enjoy the present precarious safety only through an uneasy balance of terror between the opposing nuclear Powers, but we cannot banish the thought: that some day some madman — for it would take a madman to release the terrors of nuclear war even upon his most hated enemies — might press that fatal button and unleash the catastrophe of nuclear war upon us. The overwhelming desire, indeed the will, to see the armaments race brought to an end is everywhere in evidence. Ways and means of bringing this about cannot long continue to elude us. A solution to this problem should take preference over every other subject on the agenda of this seventeenth session of the Assembly.
98. My Government is pleased to note the real progress which has been made at the Conference of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament in Geneva. It is gratifying to discover that East and West are closer together in their attitude towards disarmament than ever before. My Government congratulates the non-aligned nations for their contribution to the narrowing of the area of difference, and my Government very strongly supports the proposal that the Conference should resume its study of this problem at the earliest possible date.
99. I urge that such attention as the appropriate Committee of this Assembly will give to the subject should be directed mainly at facilitating an early resumption of the Conference and at rendering it easier for the opposing Powers to adopt practical compromises.
100. The information now available to us indicates that there is one phase or sector of the arms race which can be brought to an end immediately — I refer here to nuclear testing. No one would wish to halt experiments if their purpose was to advance the peaceful uses of atomic energy, but the great Powers are asking us to put up with the threat to life and health, indeed to the eventual survival of the human race, from atomic fall-out, for no more useful purpose than the perfecting of more and more destructive weapons of war. My Government supports the proposal that the ban on tests in the air, on the surface of the ground and under water should come into effect on 1 January 1963, without machinery for inspection, and I shall recommend that a new date should be set, not more than six months later, by which underground testing will also stop.
101. Speaking as I do for a country which has newly come to independence, I publicly express my gratification at the work which the United Nations has done and is doing to put an end to colonialism. World opinion brought to bear in this Assembly has done a great deal in the past few years to make the position of the colonial Power indefensible, but in large areas of the world the people are still denied the fundamental right of self-determination, and my Government urges this Assembly to continue and intensify its efforts to secure for these people their freedom.
102. Moreover, there is one aspect of the emancipation process to which I wish to call special attention. I cannot Join in praising those colonial Powers which have for generations monopolized the seats of authority in their dependent territories, denying the peoples of these territories even a rudimentary experience in the art of managing a country's affairs; and which, with a great show of enlightenment, suddenly relinquish their political hold with little concern that the people are unprepared for stable and efficient self-government. I do not advocate that the process of ending colonialism in the still-dependent countries should be delayed by even a single day. Rather I urge that the process of preparing, the people of these countries for stable and efficient self-government should be resolutely and systematically pressed forward. The United Nations and the specialized agencies can give powerful aid in preparing, dependent peoples to manage their affairs efficiently, by expanding their training, programmes and fostering the establishment of modern institutions in these territories. The remaining colonial Powers should be forced by world opinion in this Assembly to collaborate with the United Nations and with indigenous organizations in preparing the people of their dependent countries for stable self-government.
103. Other representatives have been expressing during this debate their pleasure at the emergence of four new nations to full independence, and they have been anticipating the early appearance of a fifth and sixth new nation. It is important, however, to bear in mind that political independence will fail to fulfil the basic desires of the people of these new countries unless it is supported by economic independence.
104. We are all agreed that political independence must stand on the firm base not only of stable but of expanding economies. For this reason, my Government welcomes General Assembly resolution 1710 (XVI), which designated the current decade as the United Nations Development Decade, and I think I express the hope of all developing countries when I say that we expect concrete action aimed at accelerating the progress of the developing countries towards self-sustaining growth to emerge from the discussion at this session. I also endorse the plans to expand the United Nations activities in the field of industrial development.
105. In his address to the Board of Governors of the World Bank, the outgoing President made an earnest appeal that the funds at the disposal of the Bank and the International Development Association should be increased. Until such an increase is provided, a larger and larger number of necessary and basic projects in the developing countries will go by default for sheer lack of funds. I appeal to the Members of this Assembly to see to it that the needed expansion in the resources of the International Development Association is not refused.
106. Within the advanced countries complaints are heard from time to time about the burden of the demand from under-developed countries for technical assistance, long-term loans and grants. The heavy demands complained of represent, however, no more than evidence of the enormity of the problems of poverty, illiteracy and disease in these countries, and it is to the removal of such conditions that this Organization and its agencies are dedicated.
107. In my view, United Nations agencies are appropriate channels through which international economic aid should reach developing nations. For this reason, my Government also welcomes General Assembly resolution 1706 (XVI), on a United Nations capital development fund. We should, like to see its established on a universal basis, and it is to me a matter of regret that so many potential contributors to that Fund are opposed to its creation.
108. The time is now ripe to revise our terminology as it relates to one aspect of international economic aid. I fail to see why the outflow of capital funds from one advanced country to another should be called investment, but the outflow of capital from an advanced country to a less developed one should be called economic aid. Where capital moves between countries on purely commercial terms, it should be identified simply as international investment. The term "economic aid" should be reserved for the flow of funds which move on other than strictly commercial term. This revision in terminology would establish that the performance of some capital-exporting countries is not as impressive as it now appears from some United Nations reports.
109. live have already been shown one obvious source of the needed increase in capital funds for developing economies. We have noted the information in the Secretary-General's report on the Economic and Social. Consequences of Disarmament and I am pleased that a programme for the use of the resources to be released by even partial disarmament is an item on the agenda of this session of the Assembly, [agenda item 33].
110. Let me not appear to minimize the problems involved, for developed and developing countries alike, in the reduction of expenditure on armaments. Clearly, such reduction can only be progressive, it must be taken in stages, but such spectacular results in economic, educational and other social improvements could be achieved if only a small fraction of the world's military expenditure were diverted into international lending to developing countries, that the consideration of a specific programme to that end is by no means premature.
111. I must now call attention to another aspect of the problem of providing international aid, one which affects countries at the stage of development in which Jamaica finds itself. Our experience is that the problems of countries in the earliest stages of economic development are well understood by those who provide economic aid. The techniques of reconstructing the productive sectors or expanding the economy of advanced countries are similarly well understood. What is not so readily understood is the technique of meeting the particular needs of countries which have moved beyond the first stages and are just on the point of attaining self-sustaining growth. It seems to me that in the further use of international resources, special attention must be paid to the form in which assistance can most profitably be given to countries which have already attained a rising level of per caput income but are not yet able to find all the external funds they need on commercial terms in the world capital markets.
112. In concluding this portion of my address, I turn now to the question of world trade in the commodities produced by developing countries. My Government supports the proposal that an international trade conference should be called in 1964 under United Nations auspices. This is without prejudice to the work being done by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. We too in Jamaica have suffered by the adverse movement in our terms of trade. Between 1954 and 1960 the price index of the goods we important these "are mainly manufactured goods — rose by 31.7 per cent, while our export price index — mainly of primary products — rose by only 9 per cent. The present trading terms for many of our commodities could not be better described than in the words of the distinguished Foreign Minister of Belgium. I quote from his address to this Assembly a week ago: "The old system of aid to the under-developed countries, as it has been practised for a long time, is now finished. That system was to buy at low prices the primary products of those countries and then, with a certain remorse, later to give gifts to those with whom we had not dealt honestly, but that is a thing of the past. We have now realized that that is not the way to treat people. . ." [1138th meeting, para. 172].
113. The preference of developing countries for trade Instead of aid has been stated and restated and needs no further emphasis. It is intolerable that a small farmer in a primary producing country should toil for ten or twelve hours a day, all year round, only to find that his earnings are insufficient to maintain himself and his family at even a minimum standard of health and nutrition. It is time that international schemes for stabilizing the prices of the major primary products, especially tropical products, should be introduced, and I submit that it is the duty of the United Nations to take the initiative now in promoting such schemes.
114. There is no doubt whatever in the mind of my Government about the value of the United Nations to the world. We envisage this Organization as discharging responsibilities of increasing importance. We expect it to extend the area of its operations and we wish to see it becoming daily more effective in the discharge of the duties the nations entrust to it. It is important that the Secretariat should carry out single-mindedly the tasks assigned to it by the Councils and the Assembly leaving political hesitations to the deliberative bodies. It is for this last reason that Jamaica could not support a proposal to make a triumvirate of the post of Secretary-General. Our experience leaves us in no doubt that a single administrative head should remain in charge of this organ. To divide his functions would in our view be simply to paralyse the United Nations Secretariat,
115. It is apparent that one of the great unsolved problems of this age is the translation into actual practice of the democratic ideal of fundamental concern for individual rights and for the basic freedoms with which man has been endowed by the Creator.
116. In this field of human rights, as it is aptly called by our Charter, the world lags far behind. Indeed, in many areas of the world, even in the so-called advanced civilizations, we are still groping in the darkness of centuries long past. This occurs even as our scientific and technological advances literally take us out of this world into the reaches of outer space.
117. The United Nations must continue to play a key role in the advancement of man's knowledge of man. The United Nations can and must serve as the instrument for bringing about the peaceful solution of all human rights problems. The United Nations cannot, of course, substitute for national policy itself. It can, however, seek co-operative methods of curing the denial of human rights whenever and wherever such a condition persists.
118. Jamaica is proud of its progress in this area. Our motto, "Out of many, one people", is actually a way of life as opposed to a. mere shibboleth. I propose, therefore, that the United Nations concern in this area be intensified through an international year for human rights. The objective of such a world-wide co-operative endeavour would be the polling of talent, experience and knowledge to the end that the total world would be concerned for the total world. In proposing this revitalization of interest, I am not unmindful of the many gains already made in human, rights under United Nations sponsorship.
119. If the world can benefit as if did from an International Geophysical Year — and many of the spectacular achievements we are now witnessing as a direct result of that effort — then surely we may expect that out of a world-wide human rights campaign there might come some equally spectacular gains In man's relationship to man.
120. Finally, in the name of the Government and people of Jamaica I urge upon the Assembly that a fresh approach be made to the problems of the international community. Let us deal with the areas of conflict between nations in a spirit of humility and readiness to compromise. Let us look at the ills of poverty, starvation and disease which afflict the majority of the people of the world in a spirit of generosity. If we can succeed in such a new approach to the problems before the United Nations, concrete and definitive results will flow from our deliberations and we shall indeed make this seventeenth session of the General Assembly a, memorable one.