51. I hope that the distinguished spokesman for Laos will not misunderstand me if I do not follow and comment on some of the important declarations that he has made. My country, as a member of the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Laos, along with Poland and India, as well as in Cambodia and Viet-Nam, has a very important concern in these matters, but there may be, in another context, and at the appropriate moment and in another forum, an opportunity to deal with some of the vital matters referred to by the previous speaker under our responsibility as a member of the International Control Commission.
52. Mr. President, may I begin by congratulating you on your election to preside over the deliberations of this session of the General Assembly. In electing you to this high office, we have given recognition at one and the same time u) the distinguished services you have rendered to the United Nations, to the prominent part your country has played in the affairs of the Organization, and to the growing stature of Africa in the world.
53. I would also like to extend, if I may, a welcome to the delegations of Malawi, Zambia and Malta, which have joined our ranks for the first time. Their presence among us serves as a reminder of the transcendent political changes that have marked the first two decades of the existence of this body. It also takes us yet another step closer to universality of membership, which was the great issue of our debates some ten years ago and which must remain our ultimate goal so long as any significant segment of the world's population remains unrepresented in this forum.
54. Your own country, Mr. President, and mine are associated with these three new countries in the Commonwealth. We regard the development of this association as a vital and imaginative response to the political changes of which I have spoken. We believe that it provides a unique framework for constructive cooperation among peoples of different races, creeds and cultures, and this co-operation, as you know, Mr. President, rests on a partnership of equals and is designed for our common benefit. We have recognized that if the Commonwealth association is to continue to be meaningful, we would have to meet the challenge of racial equality and non-discrimination which is now very central to our partnership. We have not sought to avoid this challenge but we have met it firmly, I believe, and unequivocally by pledging ourselves to work towards "a structure of society which offers equal opportunity and non-discrimination for all its people, irrespective of race, colour or creed".
55. We are now on the threshold of the twentieth anniversary year of the United Nations. On an occasion such as this it is fitting that we should look back on the record of our accomplishments and achievements, and of our failures. It is equally fitting that we should cast a glance forward into the future to survey the opportunities that are open to us, and the means we must deploy towards their attainment.
56. The United Nations — and I have been one of those who was here from the beginning, and I was also in the League — was born of disenchantment, disenchantment with an order of things which twice in a single generation has engulfed us in armed conflict, with all the attendant destruction and human suffering. But the United Nations was also born of a determination to build a new and more rational world order based on constructive co-operation, collective action, shared responsibility, in the common interest of the world community as a whole.
57. It was the assumption and the expectation of the framers of the Charter that along this course the United Nations would be sustained by the strength and resources of the great Powers acting in concert. As matters evolved, as we know, this assumption was not fully realized, and this has slowed the pace of our progress toward a more rational world order, but it has not diminished, I think, the impetus which must inevitably lead us in that direction.
58. Indeed, when we look over the past two decades, we are bound to be struck by the extent to which we have come, over an increasingly wide area, to organize our activities on a basis of international co-operation. There is scarcely an area of human concern which we have not brought within the focus of one international organization or another. We have joined in concerted attacks on famine, disease and illiteracy. We have co-operated in freeing the flow of trade and capital. We have begun to mobilize the resources of the affluent world in support of the efforts of the developing countries. We have made arrangements for disseminating the achievements of science and technology. We have collaborated in drawing up a charter of human rights. And we have endeavoured to work out ways in which the disputes of nations can be contained and brought within the compass of negotiated solutions. In short, we have recognized that international co-operation, far from being incompatible with our national interests, is in many ways the most effective as well as the most enduring way of securing them.
59. Now this is, I think, a creditable record of achievement. It surely demonstrates that the United Nations has not become, as many feared that it might, a mere debating society. But it does not afford us any grounds for complacency. The world in which we live, as we know so well, is one of change, change on a scale and at a pace unprecedented in the affairs of men. If this body is to become the dynamic instrument of Governments which the late Dag Kammarskjold envisaged, it must not only be able to meet our present needs, but it must have the capacity to serve as an instrument of peaceful change. That is what we, all of us who are interested in collective security at this critical time in the history of the Organization, ought to bear in mind.
60. Already the focus of emphasis in the United Nations has shifted; and it has shifted in large part as a result of the emergence to independent nationhood of countries which now constitute more than half our total membership. These countries are seeking to broaden out the basis and the meaning of their newly achieved independence. They are seeking to provide improved conditions of life for all segments of their populations, and they are seeking to absorb the impact of the scientific and technical revolution of the twentieth century in conditions of reasonable social and economic stability. These are formidable tasks. They cannot be accomplished by these countries acting in isolation. They can be accomplished only in a co-operative world environment. This we all know.
61. Inevitably, the new balance of forces in our Organization has brought in its wake problems that will need to be met. For my own part, I am confident — just as I was in 1955, when my country had something to do with bringing in so many of the new nations and breaking the membership problem — that these problems can be met. I say this because it is surely in the interests of all of us that the United Nations should continue to command the widest possible support of those who are involved in the determination of policy in its Member States. Clearly, the greater the size of our membership and the more diffuse the interests represented in our deliberations, the more important it becomes that the conclusions we reach and the recommendations we put forward should reflect the broadest possible consensus of views, and I use the word "consensus” advisedly.
62. In this respect I am encouraged by the new emphasis that is being placed on the instrument of conciliation as one best calculated to reinforce the effectiveness of the United Nations. Conciliation was responsible in large measure for safeguarding the results of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Conciliation was also instrumental in enabling the General Assembly to embark on its work this year in circumstances which we regard as among the most critical which the United Nations has had to face in the twenty years of its existence.
63. The crisis we face — and I know some do not like this word — the crisis we face — and I cannot, in the name of my Government and the people of Canada who are loyal to the Charter, emphasize the point too strongly — is net merely a financial crisis, nor is it limited to constitutional issues. It is a crisis which touches upon our whole conception of the United Nations as the custodian of international peace and security. It is a crisis on the outcome of which hinges the hopes and the aspirations of the vast majority of its Members for a peaceful and securely ordered world.
64. Canada attaches the highest importance to the concept of peace-keeping. We regard the evolution of that concept, as distinct from the concepts envisaged in Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, as affording the most significant example of the vitality of this Organization and its capacity for change in response to changing circumstances. Peace-keeping has evolved steadily from the designation of an observer group to assist India and Pakistan in avoiding further conflict in Kashmir, to the dispatch early in 1964 of a United Nations Force to the island of Cyprus, where Canadian soldiers have been helping to keep the peace. This is a period which is almost coterminous with the whole period of existence of the United Nations. Increasingly over this period there has been recourse to and reliance upon the United Nations presence to prevent unstable situations from erupting into open conflict.
65. Because of the importance which my country attaches to this development and the implications which it has for the maintenance of world peace and security, we have participated in every peace-keeping operation mounted by the United Nations since 1948, and we have done our best to meet its calls for logistic and financial support. We are paying our own way in order-to help maintain peace in Cyprus. We have also over the past years maintained a standby force which is available on short notice should it be requested by the United Nations for participation in duly authorized peace-keeping operations.
66. The same motives which prompted us to respond readily to the calls of the United Nations also prompted us last month to convene a conference in Ottawa for the purpose of taking stock of the practical experience which has been gained in past peace-keeping operations. The conference was attended by representatives from twenty-three countries and I am pleased to take this opportunity of paying tribute to the excellent work they did. There was no attempt made by the conference, as we indicated clearly beforehand would be the case, to produce formal conclusions or to chart any forward course of collective action. But I am confident that the conference has done something to improve the capacity of the participating countries to respond more effectively and more rationally to future appeals by the United Nations.
67. I have been encouraged since the conclusion of the conference to note the proposal of the Secretary-General, who was ably represented at that conference, that the whole question of advance planning for peacekeeping operations be studied by the United Nations. In putting forward this proposal in the introduction to his annual report, the Secretary-General expressed the hope that such a study might "yield recommendations for consideration by the competent organs" which may then authorize him "to proceed along such lines as may be generally approved" [A/5801/Add.l, sect. XI]. We strongly support this proposal and we will naturally be prepared to play our full part in carrying it forward at the appropriate time.
68. The availability of properly trained and equipped forces is one element of an effective United Nations capacity to keep the peace. The availability of the necessary financial resources on an assured basis is another. It would be tragic, it would be tragic indeed, if in a future crisis this Organization were debarred for lack of funds from intervening in the cause of peace, and I need only remind all of us of the situation in this regard in Cyprus,
69. Canada has always supported the view that the responsibility for maintaining peace and security is one which is shared by all States Member of the United Nations. We regard it as a logical consequence of that view that the cost of peace-keeping must also be shared equitably by all with due regard to their relative capacity to Contribute. We believe this principle of shared responsibility to be inherent in the Charter and we find ourselves confirmed in that belief by the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. According to that opinion, the expenses incurred by the United Nations in the Middle East and in the Congo are expenses of the Organization and the assessments for them approved by the General Assembly are binding assessments.
70. I am bound to acknowledge, however, that some important Member States do not share this view either of the principle or of the law involved. In circumstances where the five permanent members of the Security Council between them are responsible for meeting two-thirds of the costs of this Organization, the dissenting views of two of these permanent members are clearly of critical importance. The divergence between their views and those of the majority of members has set us on a collision course which, if not diverted, can only have the gravest consequences for the United Nations, as we understood it to be, whatever the outcome. In this situation then, it is incumbent on each and every one of us to reflect on the implications of our present course and to explore all avenues of reaching an accommodation to which we can all subscribe.
71. The vital importance of this problem has, of course, been recognized for some time. As far back as 1961, the Canadian delegation, in an effort to find a solution, sponsored the proposal which led to the establishment of the Working Group of Fifteen. In this group — and subsequently in the Working Group of Twenty-One — we sought actively to reconcile the fundamental divergences which have threatened the capacity of the United Nations to keep the peace. We deeply regret that it has not proved possible so far to arrive at any accommodation.
72. Such an accommodation must be found. If it is to be found, I recognize that there will have to be a willingness to make concessions on all sides. I am confident that, in the same spirit of conciliation which has attended the opening phase of our deliberations, the necessary concessions can and will be made. Agreement on this issue is vital to the future of the United Nations, but I believe it will also have implications beyond this body. It could be as important as the nuclear test ban treaty as a means of broadening the basis of international understanding, that is to say between East and West. For it is surely in the interests of the great Powers that the international community should be free to act in situations which might otherwise have the effect of extending the area of confrontation between them.
73. The search for agreement must be initiated at once and it must be pursued vigorously. We welcome the steps that have already been taken by the Secretary-General toward this end. We look forward to the early advancement of the more restricted discussions now under way to the point where the Group of Twenty-One can be called into action. We believe that at that stage the detailed explorations of this issue, which has been carried out by the members of the Working Group over the past few years, will be of value.
74. The Canadian objective in these discussions will be to achieve an accommodation, not a capitulation. I would not want to leave this subject, however, without affirming once again our belief that the principle of shared responsibility must form the basis of any ultimate consensus. We believe, in particular, that the responsibility for meeting the costs of operations such as Cyprus, the need for which has been acknowledged by the Security Council, must be shared by all Member States rather than left to a few. The pattern of operation in Cyprus oh the financial side cannot be used as precedent for our future settlement; that, in our judgement, would cause a great impairment in the strength and integrity of this, the second attempt in the history of man to create a world collective security organization.
75. With regard to the maintenance of peace and security, I wish to emphasize as strongly as I can that it is not enough for the United Nations to rely on the goodwill of a few; it must be able to count on the response and the responsibility of the whole membership.
76. I believe that there will continue to be a need for peace-keeping operations in the foreseeable future, unless we want to take a regressive step, and I say this because we have witnessed great political and social changes in our world, which will take time to work themselves out and which cannot be counted upon to do so without some element of upheaval. Meanwhile, there is an obligation which the Charter places upon us, to settle our disputes by peaceful means and to refrain from the threat or use of force against one another in any area. We also have an obligation to carry forward our pursuit of peace and security by working towards our agreed objective of general and complete disarmament.
77. The events of the past few months have made it clear that the central issue in the disarmament field at this session of the Assembly is the need to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. When I speak of events of the past few months, I have naturally in mind the nuclear test conducted by Communist China on 16 October 1964. We deeply regret that the Chinese Communist Government should have chosen to disregard world opinion in such deliberate fashion. We also look upon this development as profoundly disquieting for the future. If it does nothing else, I would hope that it will impart fresh urgency to our efforts to reach agreement to limit the spread of independent military nuclear capability.
78. The nuclear test ban treaty, for the time being, is the only international instrument inhibiting an expansion of the number of nuclear Powers. The Canadian position has been that nuclear and non-nuclear Powers should be bound reciprocally in an undertaking to prevent the dissemination of nuclear weapons. The need for such agreement is greater now that the number of nuclear Powers has increased. It is no longer sufficient to depend on the restraint of the nuclear Powers themselves. What is now required is the elaboration of an international agreement or agreements by which the nuclear States would undertake not to relinquish control of nuclear weapons nor to transmit the information necessary for their manufacture to States not possessing such weapons; while the non-nuclear States, for their part, would pledge themselves not to manufacture or otherwise acquire control of nuclear weapons. In the Canadian view, an agreement on these lines would have a significant contribution to make to the enlargement of world peace and security.
79. My country has been in the forefront of the development of nuclear energy. The manufacture of nuclear weapons has long been within our technical capability. It has, however, been the deliberate policy of successive Canadian Governments to refrain from exercising that capability and to concentrate on the peaceful uses of the atom. That remains the position of my Government. There are other nations, notably India, which though within range of a nuclear capability, have taken the same position of self-denial. We believe that this is the position best calculated to advance the cause of peace.
80. I have been speaking about the part the United Nations has played and must continue to play in the enlargement of world peace and security. World peace and world prosperity, as we know, are closely linked together. A climate of world peace is indispensable if the struggle against poverty, hunger and disease is to be waged effectively and with the full mobilization of all the resources at our command. Conversely, there cannot be any assured prospect of peace and security in a world in which affluence and poverty are so unevenly distributed. *
81. We are now approaching the mid-point of the United Nations Development Decade. The object in designating the 1960’s in this way was to achieve in the developing countries targets of economic growth that held out some prospect of narrowing the gap between their living standards and those of the developed countries. These targets were set as minimum targets, representing as they did a compromise between what needed to be done and what was considered to lie within the realm of practical achievement. Experience has shown that even these minimum targets can be met only if domestic effort in the developing countries is properly deployed and if it is supported by appropriate international policies. Experience has also shown that trade has a vital contribution to make to the total development process.
82. And so it was with the object of bringing trade and development into closer focus that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was convened in Geneva earlier this year. This was the largest economic conference held, as we know, in the history of this or any other organization. It was also the first such conference to concern itself comprehensively with the problem of under-development which affects two-thirds of the world's population. It enabled us jointly to take stock of the magnitude of this problem. It brought about a substantial measure of identification of the interests of developing countries as a group. Indeed, the coalescence of the seventy-five developing nations within the larger community of interest which includes all of us was perhaps the most significant single feature of that Conference. I think it is fair to say that the Conference enabled us to arrive at a much better understanding of the broad lines along which domestic and international effort must henceforth be directed. It also produced broadly agreed recommendations on a number of important questions, especially those relating to development planning in a framework of international support.
83. Inevitably, the Conference did not go as far as many wished it to go. But I think it would be wrong to judge the Conference only in terms of its short-term results. World public opinion is now seized of the problem of under-development as never before. We can also now look forward to the establishment of an institutional framework within which the work that was begun at Geneva can be carried forward in depth. For my part, I look upon the Conference as a turning-point in history, marking the vital challenge of the next decade or so. It has set in train developments which I am sure will not be reversed and which are bound to make a lasting imprint on the whole pattern of international economic relations.
84. The Canadian Government is prepared to play its part in the co-operative effort that will be required if the developing countries are to be brought to the threshold of self-sustaining economic growth. We are expanding and broadening our programmes of economic assistance. We were able at the Geneva Conference to announce a 50 per cent increase in the volume of Canadian assistance during the current year. Only four days, ago, on behalf of the Government of Canada, I signed an agreement with the Inter- American Development Bank under which we have agreed to make loans on favourable, very favourable, terms to Latin American countries for programmes designed to accelerate their economic, technical and educational development. I mention this agreement because it provides for the first concerted programme of Canadian assistance to our neighbours and friends in Latin America and thus an extension of the area in which Canada has carried out such programmes in the past.
85. I would also like to say a brief word about the World Food Programme of the United Nations. We regard this programme as contributing significantly to economic development and we look forward to its renewal in 1965. The present contributions to this programme have been either used or committed, and so, in these circumstances, the Canadian Government has authorized me to say that we have decided to make a further contribution of $2 million to be added to the $5.4 million of our original pledge.
86. The United Nations itself is on the point of consolidating its development assistance by merging the Special Fund and the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance. The Canadian Government supports the considerations which have prompted this move. We attach importance to the new combined programme carrying forward the same sound policies which have characterized the operation of the present programmes and commanding the same confidence and support.
87. We recognize that there will be a continuing need for both bilateral and multilateral assistance to sustain the efforts which the developing countries themselves are making to mobilize their resources for development. We also recognize that these countries look towards a world trading order that is in the closest possible harmony with their interests. The Canadian market imposes no barrier other than the tariff to the products of the developing countries. We are prepared, in the context of the negotiations which have now formally been launched at Geneva, to reduce our tariffs with particular regard for the trading interests of the developing nations. In common with other developed countries, we are prepared to do so without requiring an equivalence of concessions from the developing countries themselves. W-3 believe that a stable world trading order is of interest to all countries, including particularly those in the process of development, and that there cannot be such a trading order without some balancing of rights and obligations. On the other hand, we are prepared to recognize the special position of the developing countries in the world trading context. I believe that the agreement which has now been reached to give statutory recognition to this special position of the developing countries in the context of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is one we all welcome as a significant step in the right direction.
88. In the introduction to his annual report the Secretary-General speaks of the new conciliation procedures which have emerged from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as adding to "the broad concepts of negotiations and co-operation inherent in the Charter" [A/5801/Add.l, sect. IV]. As I have already indicated, my country attaches importance to this concept of conciliation, particularly at this stage of the evolutionary process of this Organization. We regard it as a valid and efficient concept in the management of our domestic affairs, although its application demands patience and goodwill. We also believe that if we are to proceed to a closer identification of the attitudes and activities of members of the world community at large, we can best do so by taking serious and realistic account of one another's concerns. Any other course is likely, in our view, to weaken the very organizations which embody our hopes for a new world order4and among which the United Nations itself must stand first and foremost.
89. World peace and world prosperity — these are the twin pillars on which the United Nations must stand or fall. We have now reached, as I said at the outset, a critical juncture in our affairs. What we must decide is whether the United Nations is to be enabled to play its appointed part in securing world peace and world prosperity, or whether its capacity to do so is to be seriously impaired, if not crippled. For let us not think that the ability of the United Nations to serve the broader interests of the world community will be unaffected by the way in which we solve the present crisis.
90. We have made great progress in the course of international co-operation over the past two decades; of this there is no doubt. We must now consolidate that progress and build upon it. We cannot afford to go back on what we have achieved. Here in the United Nations are embodied the hopes and the aspirations of mankind for a better world order. We have an obligation, as we see it, each and every one of us acting within the concept of shared responsibility, to see that these hopes and aspirations do not go unrealized.
91. I close my remarks by saying to you: let it not be said of this session of the General Assembly that we failed to discharge that obligation, with all the consequences this could have for the future course of international co-operation.