Because I am the first representative to have the honour to address the fifth session of the General Assembly, I beg to pay tribute to the memory of one of the founders of the United Nations, Field-Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, who passed away last week. In doing so, I feel sure that I speak the thoughts of all of us. Marshal Smuts was a brave soldier and it was because he fought many wars that he became one of the most enthusiastic leaders of the movement for peace in the world.
2. The General Assembly of the United Nations is not a stage. However, as we gather here, the eyes of the world turn to us as though we were on a stage; and this is due to the fact that all believe this Organization to be able to help the world to live. It is still the hope for peace that unites us, as figures in a drama, to the vast attentive audience.
3. Such hope has come to take the place which belonged, and should still belong, to confidence. There was confidence at San Francisco when, on stating the vote of Brazil for the rule of veto, it was possible for me to say: “Such constructive step is taken as a demonstration of our belief in the good faith with which the four sponsoring Powers seek the granting of the right of veto as an inescapable necessity to the maintenance of peace and as a token of our confidence that they will make a prudent use of said right.”
4. None of us would today reiterate those words, for the plain truth is — and we all know it — that the right of veto has been abused.
5. If, just for the sake of demonstration, we wished to substantiate that assertion by the enunciation of a single fact, we should hardly need to do more than to ask why the noble Italian nation has not yet been allowed to sit among us, in keeping with what was solemnly stipulated at the Paris Conference. Is it not true that the new Italy was given the assurance that it would come to work with us, on an equal footing, once the peace treaty it signed with its former enemies was ratified? Have we not seen, and are we not still seeing, as a consequence of the veto, fundamental decisions affecting Italy being taken without its full participation therein?
6. On the other hand, as was said from t this very rostrum one year ago, whoever purposely misuses this forum shows thereby an implicit belief in it. It is evident that the Soviet Union would not be arousing the ever growing condemnation by the whole world of its hitherto negative attitude, were it not inspired by some constructive aim. May the Soviet Union some day decide to set forth the motives behind this unwarranted attitude, thus clearing the road for an understanding with those who put trust in its loyalty when it joined us as a co-worker for peace. Is it not expressed in Article 1 of our Charter that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to be a “centre for harmonizing the actions of nations”? A man has grounds to suspect he is wrong when he is sure he is right at a moment when everybody else thinks otherwise.
7. The events in South Korea, arising from the aggression unleashed from the north, motivated immediate and effective action by the Security Council. But they demonstrated also — and there no longer seems to be any doubt on this point — that it is necessary better to equip our Organization, the establishment of an international force and the creation of a system for the prompt mobilization of all common resources being kept in mind. The Member States did not fail to show solidarity with the United Nations. But upon one of them, one whose action in the cause of democracy commands the respect of all free men, has fallen almost the entire burden of the fighting. Some are joining it in this effort. Many others have not yet been able to transform their good intentions into actual material assistance.
8. This deficiency on the part of many — a deficiency arising through no fault of theirs — stems partly from economic under-development. The generous idea of helping those regions to help themselves, so that for the benefit of all they may produce and consume more, can never be deemed overly ambitious. This problem is one of such magnitude that, although the Organization has already given attention to it, more and more comprehensive and positive measures are still needed.
9. Moreover, the fact can never be too often emphasized that, owing to the lack of an adequate programme for economic and financial assistance, many Member States are not yet in a position to render to the United Nations all the co-operation they would like to give. The problem which confronts those States is the simple one of developing their physical strength in order that they may offer it for the defence of the Organization.
10. Mutual assistance among the Member States is the corner-stone of our grand alliance. In the introduction to the excellent report in which he demonstrates how much has been achieved by the United Nations during his tenure of office, Mr. Trygve Lie directs our attention to Article 103 of the Charter, which rightly determines that the obligations assumed by Member States in the Charter shall prevail over any other international obligations.
11. Apart from the paramount task of preserving peace, many questions were successfully settled. Others still challenge our decisions, among which I beg to mention those on the disposal of the former Italian colonies and on the adequate protection of the Holy Places, including — which is equally important — the free access thereto.
12. On the other hand, horresco referens, we have not as yet conceived a practical device for compelling States to respect or to restore, when by any means violated, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. However, so dominant was the desire in San Francisco to ensure definitely such rights and freedoms that the promise is six times enunciated in the Charter. And those who, like my very dear friend, Sir Gladwyn Jebb, happened to sit in the Co-ordination Committee at San Francisco, will recall that the same promise appeared twice as often in the drafts voted upon by the twelve committees.
13. It is quite impossible to go on without referring to the proceedings of the Security Council. When normally carried out, its activities are an indication that everything else in the Organization is functioning normally. If, on the contrary, this main spring gets jammed, everything else — even the specialized agencies — will be headed for trouble. The least of those predicaments — but still a serious one — is a resulting atmosphere of distrust, and sometimes of acrimony, among people who should work with a mind always open to unlimited co-operation.
14. It has been suggested that the way to deal with the situation would be to enlarge the functions and strengthen the powers of the General Assembly, to the detriment of the Security Council. But the Council is the organ primarily responsible for the maintenance of peace, and it would be impossible to curtail its powers without incurring risk. What is truly indispensable is to achieve a complete change in the state of mind which has prevailed in the Security Council. We should think of what the Council should and can do and should not concentrate merely on technicalities of its rules of procedure, which are intended to guarantee the honest search for truth but which have nonetheless been used to block the functioning of the United Nations. The men who sit in the Council and the governments they represent ought to prove themselves equal to their mission, and so restore universal confidence in the Security Council. The world needs that confidence.
15. This severe but constructive criticism does not apply to the General Assembly or its Interim Committee, generally known as the “Little Assembly”, over which Brazil had the gratifying honour to preside this year. But even in those organs the proceedings are often inadequate and incomplete, and this can be traced back to the atmosphere to which we have referred.
16. The Brazilian Government awaits with the utmost interest the report on the measures to be taken towards avoiding the proliferation of our agencies and meetings, the number of which, as was ascertained during the fourth session, have been increasing at an alarming rate.
17. This fifth session of the General Assembly, proclaimed by the President of the fourth session, General Romulo, as the most historic of all, is, in the words of one of my colleagues, pregnant with destiny. Let us be worthy of this opportunity, which faces us with a dilemma: either to keep harrowing ourselves, thus destroying the hope still placed in the United Nations, or else, with our eyes set on the Creator and our hearts raised in a resolute effort to spare mankind the scourge of a new war, to reascend to a level which we should never have abandoned.
18. Peace is a matter of honesty. What was said over twenty years ago holds true today more than ever. Let us be honest with one another. Let each of us be honest with his fellow nationals who, without exception, hate war and detest violence. Let us be honest with the men and women of the generations to come, whose only inheritance from us will be intricate problems, whereas it is our clear duty, in recognition of the fight for democracy put up by their fathers, to pave their way to a destiny of happiness.
19. We all speak earnestly here of peace and disarmament, human rights and education, security and freedom. But we cling — why not avow it? — to rigid points of view, and that is why we do not reach the understanding which is the very reason for our association. Musical notes are likewise diverse and immutable, but from their harmonious fusing arise the most inspired melodies. Why not boldly seek to reduce our differences and reconcile our divergent opinions?
20. The fifth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations is confronted with a most dramatic choice: light or darkness.