Sir, I should like to begin by congratulating you on your election to
the presidency of the thirty-seventh session of the General Assembly
and to offer you my best wishes in the tasks which lie ahead of you.
I should like, too, to join other speakers who have expressed their
gratitude to the outgoing President, Mr. Kittani, for his
distinguished efforts on behalf of the Assembly. It also gives me
particular pleasure to pay a tribute to the Secretary-General, who in
his first year in office has shown admirable flair and discretion in
discharging his responsibilities. His dedication and integrity are
beyond praise. He has already brought the Organization much credit.
The United Nations could not be in better hands.
165. The maintenance of peace, the development of friendly
relations between States, the promotion of social and economic
progress and of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms
through international co-operation-these are the noble purposes for
which, under the Charter, the United Nations exists. Once more we
must assess how far those purposes have been achieved; we must
examine the problems facing the world community, and see how better
to realize our joint purposes. These purposes are by no means
exclusively political, and neither, of course, are the problems. The
daily lives of all our peoples are just as much affected by the
decisions we take and the progress we can make on economic, social,
humanitarian and commercial issues. The United Nations has rightly
involved itself in such questions as agricultural productivity,
energy and food programmes and population control. These are issues
to which Britain attaches great importance, as we do to international
economic matters, such as the role of the financial institutions and
the avoidance of protectionism and trade wars.
166. I do not intend today to deal comprehensively with all the
problems that confront us. That would make my speech intolerably
long. I would also be repeating much of what the Foreign Minister of
Denmark said at the 8th meeting in the name of the European Community
and its member States. I propose to concentrate today on questions of
peace and war. This year we have little cause for satisfaction, and
none for complacency. The world is no more peaceful than it was 12
months ago. On the contrary, new conflicts have arisen-several of
them. Old ones have worsened. Since the last session of the General
Assembly thousands of innocent lives have been lost. Hundreds of
thousands have been forced from their homes to swell the growing
flood of refugees. Countless others have witnessed the destruction of
their property and livelihood. Who is responsible for this misery and
waste on such an enormous scale? I do not think that the blame can be
laid in any way at the door of the United Nations system as such. The
Charter remains as valid today as when it was drawn up almost 40
years ago. Nor does the fault lie in the way in which the organs of
the United Nations are constituted.
167. The fault lies with us, the Member States. The
Secretary-General, in his report on the work of the Organization, has
drawn attention to the need for us to re-examine the way in which we
use the system we have inherited. I warmly endorse his thesis. We
have received his proposals with respect and will study them with
care. The Secretary-General has also emphasized the fundamental need
for Member States to recommit themselves to the Charter. Clearly, the
system cannot perform the tasks which the founders gave it when there
is so widespread a tendency for Member States to flout the
obligations they have assumed under the Charter. Time and again we
encounter the depressing fact that if a State is determined to resort
to force or to violate international law it is virtually impossible
to stop it. Wars arise not because of any failing on the part of the
United Nations system but because national ambitions and rivalries
prove stronger than respect for the principles of international law
and the Charter. The impotence of the United Nations in these
circumstances may seem to historians in the next century to be one of
the more extraordinary facts of contemporary international life. I
know that the Secretary-General is determined to do what he can to
improve the record. We for our part will do all we can to help him.
The first step must be to discard preconceptions and self-serving
analysis, and to look again at the roots of the problem.
168. What are the principles of the Charter whose violation is at
the heart of so many of our conflicts? First and foremost is the
requirement in Article 2 of the Charter to settle disputes by
peaceful means and to refrain from the unlawful use of force. As the
drafters of the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of
International Disputes, which is to be considered at this session
and, we hope, approved,^ have so aptly put it, neither the existence
of a dispute nor the failure of a procedure to settle it peacefully
can justify the use of force by any of the parties to it. Otherwise,
in a world where there are such disparities between nations, the
strong will inevitably batten on the weak and we shall all be subject
to the law of the jungle.
169. By extension of the same principle, terrorism, too, must be
rooted put. Terrorists can only discredit the causes for which they
claim to work. We will always listen to civilized advocacy. But
terrorism means the massacre of innocent people. Bombs planted in
crowded restaurants, airline passengers held hostage or sprayed with
gunfire, diplomatic personnel assassinated-this can be condoned by no
one. The international community should unite to condemn terrorists
and bring them to justice. To make exceptions is to spread the
scourge.
170. I therefore urge all those that have not already done so to sign
and ratify the Hague/ Montreal and Tokyo? Conventions concerning the
safety of civil aviation and the Conventions against the taking of
hostages and on crimes against internationally protected persons. And
I hope that those that have signed and ratified those Conventions
will do their utmost to carry them out.
171. A second basic principle of the United Nations is respect for
human rights, entrenched since 1948 in the Universal Declaration to
which we all subscribe. Respect for the Declaration is easy. What
remains is for us to ensure that its provisions are observed. That is
far harder. In many countries the spirit and the letter of the
Declaration are persistently and deliberate^ ignored. In recent years
the United Nations has made some limited progress in developing its
ability to respond to such situations. But all too often its
responses have been and remain pitifully inadequate.
172. Another of the basic principles is self-determination. It is
a principle whose implementation has preoccupied the Organization and
informed its proceedings ever since its inception. The right of all
peoples to self-determination is enshrined in the two International
Covenants on Human Rights and underlined in such important United
Nations documents as the Declaration of Principles of International
Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in
accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. Indeed, the United
Nations has long since come to regard self-determination as not just
a principle but an inalienable right.
173. Self-determination is therefore fundamental to British foreign
policy. Thanks to our recognition of this right in regard to our own
dependencies, nearly 50 members of the General Assembly have taken
their places here. Never in the whole history of the world has there
been such a massive transfer of power, voluntarily and deliberately
undertaken. The legacy of our imperial past is not bitterness or
suspicion, but friendship and co-operation.
174. The achievements of the British in decolonization since the last
war have been our expression and application of the principle that we
have long supported in other parts of the world. To take one example,
early in the nineteenth century, Britain recognized the struggle of
the newly emerging Latin American nations for independence. We stood
by them and gave them support. We were among the first to realize the
justice of their aspirations, and we laid a basis of friendship and
mutual respect which has persisted to this day.
175. The example of Latin America showed the world that respect
for self-determination was the right and natural way to discharge
colonial responsibilities. Next year is the bicentenary of Simon
Bolivar, and I should like to pay a tribute to him and to the nations
which he brought to birth. Our relations with the countries of Latin
America which reflect that history have been and remain of great
importance to us.
176. This last year, Britain itself has been involved in a major
conflict, a conflict which we and our fellow members of the Security
Council tried strenuously to avert. On 1 April 1982 the President of
the Council, in the name of all its members, appealed to Britain and
Argentina to exercise the utmost restraint. Britain responded
positively to that appeal. The response of Argentina was a military
invasion of the Falkland Islands. Following an authoritative
determination by the Security Council the next day that Argentina's
invasion of the Falklands had created a breach of the peace, and a
mandatory demand by the Council in its resolution 502 (1982) that
Argentina withdraw, we went to every conceivable length to avoid
having to resort to force in self-defence.
177. The Security Council thus sought first to deter Argentina
from aggression and then to induce it to withdraw. The efforts of the
United Nations-the efforts of the Security Council and of the
Secretary-General himself-to achieve a peaceful settlement had the
full, active and whole-hearted support of the British Government.
They failed through Argentine obduracy.
178. Throughout our campaign to repossess the Islands, we took
immense care to act strictly within the framework of the Charter, at
each point reporting our actions to the Security Council. The force
we used in self-defence under Article 51 was the minimum necessary to
remove Argentina's occupying forces. We made it clear that in so
acting we were showing our absolute determination to implement to the
full our obligations towards the populations of our dependent
Territories under Article 73. We will not be deflected from that
determination and I make that quite clear.
179. By liberating the people of the Falklands from alien
domination, we were also standing up for the right of a small but
authentic people to determine how they should be governed and how
they should live. Our tragic losses in men and ships were
considerable, but we were able to prove that in some cases, given the
will and the courage and the professionalism required, aggression
does not pay.
180. The Argentine invasion took place when negotiations in good
faith were actually in train between Britain and Argentina. We were
talking round the table with the Argentines at the time. Suddenly and
brutally they decided upon a military invasion. That flagrant
violation of the principles of the non-use of force and the peaceful
settlement of disputes has radically altered the situation. It will
be difficult indeed to revive our confidence in Argentine intentions.
It will take a long time. Why, even now, has Argentina not accepted
the definitive cessation of the hostilities which it so mistakenly
initiated? Is it not for Argentina to prove that it has renounced any
thought of using force? Is it not for Argentina to demonstrate
respect for the right of self-determination, including the right of
the Falklanders? Will Argentina now abide by the principles of the
United Nations and the precepts of international law? Those are the
questions which must be answered if confidence is to be rebuilt.
181. But the Falklands dispute, though it loomed large for
Britain, is far from being the only example of defiance by Members of
fundamental United Nations principles. It is certainly far from being
the most costly in lives. The region which has suffered most from war
over the past year has undoubtedly again been the Near and Middle
East.
182. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon has been horrifyingly
destructive and has taken a terrible toll of innocent life. Israel
has legitimate security concerns, but the operation undertaken
against Lebanon went far beyond the requirements of Israeli security
and was pursued in defiance of the explicit demands of the Security
Council. Force was used disproportionately and relentlessly, and in
the process the Lebanese people and Palestinian civilians have paid a
cruel price. It does not require much imagination to realize the
bitterness and resentment they must feel.
183. At the heart of the issue is the Palestinian people's right
to self-determination and their aspiration for a land of their own in
the West Bank and Gaza. Only by reconciling that right with Israel's
right to a peaceful existence within its own borders will there be a
lasting end to this appalling conflict. I believe -and we must
certainly hope-that a significant proportion of people in Israel and
the Arab world are now convinced that war is not the answer and are
prepared to compromise for peace. Experience does not encourage us
here, but the proposals put forward by President Reagan and by the
Arab heads of State have created a new opportunity and a new outlook
for negotiations which none of us can afford to see wasted. The
choice lies with the peoples of the region but they are going to want
and to need all the help the rest of us can give them.
184. The conflict between Iran and Iraq has equally been ruthless
and bloody. It has cost many thousands of lives. Obviously it has
seriously endangered the stability of a crucial region of the world
vital to the interests of many countries outside. Surely by now both
sides must accept that further conflict is fruitless. As so often in
war, both sides have been the losers. To prolong the conflict will
only increase the suffering of their own peoples.
185. Although the Middle East has recently held the main focus, we
must not forget that the same principles are involved in other areas.
It is now nearly three years since the Soviet Union mounted its
massive military invasion of Afghanistan. The General Assembly has
three times cried out for the self-determination of the Afghan people
to be respected, cries which have been cynically ignored by the
Soviet Union. No one knows how many people have been killed; no one
knows how many villages have been destroyed or how much the lives of
innocent people have been disrupted. All those facts are suppressed,
and people can well understand why. What we do know is that some 3
million refugees have fled their country, imposing an enormous burden
on its neighbours. Pakistan's impressive and generous handling of
this problem deserves our admiration. We also know that the Afghan
people continue to resist the imposition by Soviet arms of a regime
they do not want. What a crime against humanity war is, and what a
blot upon our collective record.
186. Then, in Kampuchea, an unrepresentative regime is also kept
in power by the armed forces of its larger neighbour; in this case
the invader was Viet Nam. The regime was imposed by military invasion
more than three years ago. All the efforts of the United Nations and
the neighbouring countries of the Association of South-East Asian
Nations-which we have whole-heartedly supported-have so far failed to
move the Vietnamese from their insistence on maintaining by force in
Kampuchea a regime to suit their own interests. The recent formation
of a coalition of Kampuchean resistance forces could prove a
significant step towards a comprehensive political solution based on
self-determination, and we wish it well. As in the case of
Afghanistan, Britain will continue to work with every other
freedom-loving country for a just solution to this dispute and to
ensure that these continuing injustices are not forgotten.
187. And the same is true concerning Poland. As a European country
Britain has been profoundly concerned with events in Poland. The
struggle in that unhappy country may on the face of it seem to some a
domestic problem. But of course it is far more than that. This time
last year the Polish people were seeking peacefully to liberalize and
reform their society under a regime that was originally imposed on
them from outside-and incidentally, with no consultation and no
reference to their rights of self-determination. Since then, with
full Soviet encouragement and support, the Polish regime has taken
deliberate steps to crush the hopes of the people for a freer and
more just society. No freedom-loving person, no true democrat, no one
with any feeling for human rights can fail to be concerned that a
wave of oppression has once again swept across that long-suffering
country and its valiant and noble people. We shall continue to call
on the Polish authorities to fulfil their undertaking to return to
the path of renewal and reform, and we shall continue to urge and
press the Soviet Union to allow the peoples under their tutelage to
develop in ways more in accordance with their natural traditions and
aspirations and. in accordance with the principles of the Charter of
the United Nations.
188. By contrast it is a relief to be able to record that in one
of the world's major disputes progress has been made recently towards
a settlement based on a Security Council resolution. I am glad that
Britain, as a member of the contact group, has been able to
contribute towards progress over a settlement in Namibia. For
progress there has undoubtedly been. Although it is premature to
assume that the many obstacles in the path of Namibian independence
will all be overcome, it is not, I think, too much of hope that the
people of Namibia may soon have the opportunity to determine their
own future and to do so in elections held under United Nations
supervision. If a solution can be achieved in this way in Namibia it
will indeed be a success to chalk up for persistent and patient
diplomacy backed by the United Nations. I should like to pay a
tribute to the constructive way in which the parties to the dispute
and the front-line States have approached these lengthy and delicate
negotiations.
189. A settlement in Namibia, if it can be added to that in
Zimbabwe, would provide further proof that the complex problems of
that troubled region of Africa can be solved through peaceful means
rather than conflict and violence. There is no need for further lives
to be lost. We hope for peaceful evolution within South Africa itself
and the emergence there of a form of government based on the consent
of the South African people as a whole.
190. I should also like to welcome signs of progress in another
region where the United Nations has long been directly involved,
namely Korea. We are encouraged by the positive attitude to contacts
with the North shown by the Government of the Republic of Korea. This
should contribute to the prospects for a lasting solution to the
Korean question based on genuine understanding.
191. There are many Member States which are not directly involved
in any of the problems I have touched on. But there are some
international issues which affect us all. One of them is disarmament.
I want to say that the British Government remains fully committed to
the pursuit of realistic, balanced and verifiable arms control and
disarmament measures in both nuclear and conventional forces which
will promote peace with freedom and security at a lesser cost.
192. The second special session on disarmament did serve to
concentrate the minds of world leaders on this subject. But it was a
forum for stimulus and review, not negotiation. The straight talking
and the hard work has to be done in the negotiations taking place
elsewhere, in talks on strategic arms, intermediate-range nuclear
forces, mutual and balanced force reductions and chemical weapons.
193. Britain's principal purpose, the principal purpose of the
United Nations, is peace. In the absence of a world-wide will for
peace, it can be achieved only if each and every member of the
international community respects the principles of the Charter. All
Members of the United Nations bear a heavy responsibility to remember
that it is an organization designed to preserve the peace. To use it
as a forum for ideological rhetoric is to undermine the respect in
which it should be held and to diminish its capacity to fulfil its
purpose.
194. I referred earlier to the importance my Government attaches
to international economic co-operation. Our record speaks for itself.
I wish that that were true of all who orate on the subject in this
Hall. To say that this co-operation presents a moral challenge is not
new. But the concept gains force in face of the current painful
realities of the world economy, with growth barely visible, inflation
a persisting plague, and unemployment still rising. For developed
countries these problems have been serious; for developing countries
they can be devastating.
193. So today it is more than ever in the mutual interest of
developed and developing countries to pull together. Renewed stable
growth in the world economy, the balanced and reciprocal development
of world trade, the social and economic well-being of the developing
countries, especially the low-income countries, are in the general
and the particular interest alike. Cur conviction that current
problems need to be tackled positively is underlined by the United
Kingdom's strong support for IDA and the recent release of our third
instalment for the sixth replenishment of IDA, our continuing support
for an open world trading system, our resistance to protectionist
measures, and our maintenance of a high level of official development
assistance and essential private capital flows. I fully associate
myself with the remarks of the distinguished Foreign Minister of
Denmark, who spoke at the 8th meeting on behalf of the 10 member
States of the European Community. North-South matters require a
continuing commitment from all of us.
196. Britain's foreign policy is firmly based on respect for the
principles which I have been talking about today. We sha31 continue
to strive for the maintenance of peace, acid we shall work for that
with all our friends and allies in all parts of the world, in this
search for peace there is no place for make-believe or deceit. Unless
we face up to the issues involved in each conflict and in each
disagreement squarely, unless we decide to face them together with a
will to resolve them without recourse to violence or war, we will
never be successful.
197. So let us go forward from here now, with dedication and
realism, to work together for the peace which the billions and
billions of people we here represent long for.