Several countries, among them some that by the terms of the Charter have had special responsibilities laid upon them and special privileges accorded them, wherefore they are listened to with special interest by the Assembly, have decided to defer their participation in the general debate. They are waiting for the occurrence of developments that in their opinion may influence the decision of this plenary conference of the Member States.
71. The delegation of Chile reserves the right to take part again in the general debate should the developments I have referred to or any others particularly affecting my delegation make it necessary, I am therefore prompted to refrain from broaching at this time some of the most important political problems that appear on the agenda, such as the question of Korea, the report on collective measures [A/2215], disarmament, or the admission of new Members.
72. For some years, now, these political problems have been the main concern of the representatives of Member States and of the officers of the United Nations, and the general debate with which the Assembly begins its tasks has usually turned on them. This is because, as a result of the cold war between two great sectors of the world and the profound division between them of which these problems are the palpable manifestation in the United Nations, other questions that might be discussed by the Organization have been relegated to a secondary and almost obscure place. Furthermore, these disagreements have set at naught a great part of the efforts put forth by those who aspire after an effective international collaboration in all fields where a universal human problem exists, and the United Nations has consequently been put to such a severe test in the eyes of public opinion the world over that many have turned their backs upon it or have had their faith in it badly shaken.
73. That is why there is possibly something felicitous about this decision of some large Powers to postpone for a few weeks the great political debate centred upon problems which for some years now we have unsuccessfully been seeking to solve. I believe that this may be an opportunity to take up for the first time all aspects of some other problems that will doubtless turn out historically to be more important than the first. So far, the United Nations has considered only certain isolated aspects of these problems, despite the fact that they are of fundamental concern to the great majority of the Member States of the Organization and to more than two-thirds of humanity, and they have never appeared in the forefront of the debates of the Assembly.
74. Some of these problems are on our agenda; for instance, the so -called colonial question, in connection with the problems of Tunis and Morocco; the reports of the Trusteeship Council and the Administering Powers of Non-Self-Governing Territories; the report on the social situation in the world; the resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights on the self-determination of peoples; the accusations of violation of human rights in the form of racial discrimination, and the plans and proposals for speeding up the economic development of backward areas. These questions suffice to convince us that we are faced with a veritable world revolution that is assuming forms which, though diverse, are interrelated. The causes and repercussions of this revolution have never been examined with the necessary thoroughness by the principal organs of the United Nations. The fault for this lies, on the one hand, in the cold war and, on the other, in a traditional form of diplomacy under which action is confined to particular regions instead of to the world as a whole. An obligation rests with the General Assembly to make a more thorough examination of this phenomena if it is not to lag behind the march of events, if it does not wish this revolution, instead of developing in an atmosphere of co-operation, in keeping with the principles of the Charter, to lead to conflicts and war among nations as well as to social conflicts and strife within nations or, at best, to cause peoples to take refuge in national or regional autarkies, looking to economic self-sufficiency instead of to the co-operation which is so necessary in a world of growing interdependence.
75. The world revolution I have been referring to can be defined very briefly as a result of the increasing pressure of millions of individuals in the most diverse regions seeking to attain a standard of living that will enable them to satisfy their vital needs, in things material and spiritual, and of the ever clearer consciousness that they have of their rights and possibilities as human beings and as members of national societies and the international community. This will and consciousness on the part of individuals is reflected in those of the peoples, who seek to achieve or to strengthen their political and economic independence, and who claim just treatment in international affairs and the right to take part in the settlement of any international questions affecting them. I think it is useless to give examples to prove the existence of these ever-increasing efforts, which are the result of the tremendous technical progress that has been achieved.
76. In the last ten years, we have witnessed the advent of independence in dozens of countries, comprising nearly 1,000 million inhabitants and the struggle of dozens of others, who are knocking urgently at the doors of the United Nations to achieve independence. We have witnessed bloody social revolutions in countries which extend over more than half of Asia and in some countries of Africa; revolutions carried out by arms or by peaceful means in Latin-American countries; struggles of minorities in other parts of the world to combat discrimination. This is an irresistible avalanche, and the more quickly we take cognizance of these conditions the sooner shall we be in. a position to adopt the only logical course to cope with them, which is to give these movements a peaceful character by satisfying legitimate demands and ensuring collaboration for the common good and general progress. To be sure, the real causes underlying all those movements have been complicated by adventitious elements — religious and racial hatreds or class hatred, resentments, intervention of other States for their own national purposes, etc. But that detracts nothing from the justice of the cause, either from the point of view of theoretical international morality or from that of the solemn principles laid down in the Charter, for the right of peoples to self-determination, respect for human dignity, individual freedom and economic and social improvement of persons and peoples until they attain decent standards of living are proclaimed in the Preamble of the Charter and are among the basic objectives of the Organization.
77. This pressure from millions of human beings to obtain political and economic independence, freedom, equality of treatment and economic progress is particularly strong in under-developed territories, whether they are partly or wholly self-governing, or colonies. The reason for that is simple enough. In these countries there dwell 1,600 million individuals, whose standards of living range between poverty and utter pauperism. Economic statistics tell us that the national per capita income in such countries ranges between $20 and $200 a year, the average being below $60. Three or four hundred million persons whose standards of living has gone up considerably in the last fifty years live at points a few hours’ distance by aeroplane and united by a whole system of modern communications.
78. Year by year, the Secretary-General, in his economic reports, tells us that the chasm between the wealth of the industrial countries and that of the under-developed ones is widening in a dangerous manner; that while the latter are getting poorer every day the former are becoming richer.
79. During the last session of the Assembly, in Paris, the delegation of Chile examined this process in detail, supplying figures that substantiated the dramatic facts that I have just mentioned. Nevertheless, many have argued that the national per capita income cannot be a fair index of the standard of living in the various countries. This year, however, the Secretary-General has swept away any delusions we might have had as to the possibility that, despite this meagre national income, the under-developed countries might be capable of maintaining at least a decent standard of living. He has submitted to us the first report covering the social situation of the world [E/CN3/267] drawn up at the request of the General Assembly. It is extraordinarily eloquent, not because it says anything that is new to many of us, but because in the aggregate it paints a picture that makes it possible to conclude that the world, as such, is in but an early stage of progress, since two-thirds of the inhabitants of the earth do not live appreciably better than did their ancestors, on average, a thousand or two thousand years ago. I am merely going to cite some details given in the report. The report shows, incidentally, over and over again, that although no statistics are available, for the poorest and least developed countries, it may be presumed that the actual, figures are, even more striking.
80. While the general mortality rate in North America is 10 per thousand per annum, and in Europe 13 per thousand, it is between 28 and 32 per thousand in Asia and 17 per thousand in Latin America. The mortality rate of infants and adolescents is so great in the under-developed countries that life expectancy, which in North America and in the industrialized countries of Western Europe is over 65 years, averages 30 years in the under-developed countries for which statistics are available. The great social diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, decimate the population in the regions where those diseases are prevalent. Whereas the under-developed countries have only 17 doctors available for every 100,000 inhabitants, the advanced nations have 106. In the matter of diet, the under-developed countries have great shortages in calories and proteins. The average number of calories per day and per person is 2,150, as against 3,040 in the developed countries. If we take 100 as the pre-war index for the food products availably we find that North America in 1950 shows 125; Europe, 89; the Far East, 87; and Latin America, 70. This means that the countries of Latin America have in fifteen years experienced in the aggregate a decrease of one-third in their already inadequate diet. This is something to which our attention is called each year by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Secretary-General — the very grave problem of a population that is increasing while at the same time the production of food is decreasing.
81. Whereas in the industrial countries at least 90 per cent of the population can read, there are countries, such as Haiti and Egypt, where the rate of illiteracy is 85 per cent, or India and Libya, where only 10 per cent can read. There can be no doubt that, in some of the colonies, these indices show even greater- educational backwardness.
82. This situation of permanent poverty has been aggravated, in the last few years, by inflation, which to an ever increasing extent has affected the underdeveloped countries, particularly as a consequence of economic developments originating in other countries, with which they have had nothing to do themselves and for which they are in no way responsible.
83. The rise in the cost of living has reached alarming proportions in many such countries. The last report of the Secretary-General tells of rises from 80 to 90 per cent in a year and a half. This decrease in the purchasing power of the population of these countries has been and continues to be a factor in the social unrest prevailing.
84. Moreover, the balance of foreign trade of the under-developed countries has deteriorated heavily in the current year. The statistics for August 1952 snow the following deficits in their balance of trade during 1952 in millions of United States dollars: South America, 665; Central America, Antilles and Mexico, 385; Middle East 374; Far East 1,972; Africa 1,139. This means that the under-developed countries are faced with an impoverishment totalling $US4,535 millions during 1952.
85. These 1,600 million under-nourished, disease- ridden human beings, whose standards of living do not attain to half of those of the United States or the United Kingdom, are not really poor. On the contrary, in the countries to which they belong there is immense natural wealth that is not exploited or is not adequately exploited, or else the nationals of such countries do not get the benefit they are entitled to as owners of the land and as principal factors in such exploitation through their labour.
86. A few months ago, one of the most significant documents of recent times was published, the report to the President by the President's Materials Policy Commission. For almost two years, this Commission studied the problems of production, prices, conservation, consumption, future requirements, techniques, etc., of the raw materials of the world, with the exception of the Soviet Union and the other countries of Eastern Europe and China. I shall quote some of the most telling figures.
87. As regards the part of the world to which the report refers, the under-developed countries have the following percentages of reserves of the raw materials named: manganese, 90 per cent; copper, 85 per cent (Chile alone has about 40 per cent); tin, 97 per cent; aluminium, 85 per cent; petroleum, 67 per cent.
88. As regards the present production of these raw materials, the percentages shown for the underdeveloped countries are a little lower than the percentages of reserves, because some of their resources are not exploited as intensively as they are in the industrial countries. In all cases, however, the percentage, is everywhere over 50 per cent, and sometimes over 80 per cent. These materials are naturally consumed to the extent of more than 90 per cent in the industrial nations; they are fundamental to the industry of these nations and therefore of the standard of living of their inhabitants.
89. However, the Commission supplies some other interesting information, which shows the importance of these raw materials derived from the economically backward countries. Taking into account technical advances, and even possible substitutes resulting from scientific discoveries, the Commission holds the view that in the next twenty-five years the consumption requirements of raw materials will increase in the following manner: tin, 68 per cent; copper, 97 per cent: zinc 100 per cent; iron, 127 per cent; petroleum, 384 per cent; aluminium, 706 per cent. These figures show that the world, and especially the industrial countries, will depend to a growing extent upon the raw materials emanating from the under-developed countries,
90. Two years ago, the General Assembly approved the resolution [377 (V)] “Uniting for Peace”, which many have stated is the most important resolution the United Nations has adopted so far, since it provides the means for repelling any aggression. The Soviet Union and the other countries that pursue the same policies voted against that resolution. Only one section of the resolution was adopted unanimously and that was section E, which I had the pleasure of proposing on behalf of my country, reading as follows: “The General Assembly “. . . is fully conscious that, In adopting the proposals set forth above, enduring peace will not be secured solely by collective security arrangements against breaches of international peace and acts of aggression, but that a genuine and lasting peace depends also upon the observance of all the principles and purposes established in the Charter of the United Nations, upon the implementation of the resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly and other principal organs of the United Nations intended to achieve the maintenance of international peace and security, and especially upon respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all and on the establishment and maintenance of conditions of economic and social well-being in all countries; and accordingly “Urges Member States to respect fully, and to intensify, joint action, in co-operation with the United Nations, to develop and stimulate universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to intensify individual and collective efforts to achieve conditions of economic stability and social progress, particularly through the development of under-developed countries and areas.”
91. It seems to me that the resolution that I have just Quoted contains all the elements that are required to enable the Member States, through the agency of their common Organization, the United Nations, to direct towards the general well-being that universal revolution of which I have been speaking. The first thing of which the resolution reminds us is the inseparability of the purposes and principles of the Charter, as essential elements of peace. Peace is based on the principle of the pacific settlement of disputes, joint action against aggression, the development of friendly relations among nations, respect for treaties and other sources of international law, but it is also based on the principles of self-determination of peoples, of respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms with distinction as to race, sex, language or religion, and on the promotion of social progress and the raising of the standard of living in larger freedom.
92. The Assembly now has an opportunity to demonstrate how far it is prepared to put this solemn declaration into force. For example, it will have to envisage the question of implementing the principle of self-determination of peoples when it studies the different items on the agenda which I mentioned at the outset.
93. I merely wish to point out that the General Assembly only recently reaffirmed this principle and decided to incorporate it in the draft international covenants of human rights which are feeing prepared by the United Nations, and to recall that the will of the peoples to enjoy self-determination is so strong that it would be most dangerous folly, for the future of world peace, to resist it.
94. After the First World War, a clear trend was seen towards continentalism and great associations of countries and territories, as a result of the growing interdependence of the different parts of the world and the consequent necessity of international co-operation. This phenomenon was often adduced to buttress arguments against the national independence of peoples who, allegedly, would not be able to subsist on their own resources. The concept of self-determination, it is argued, is antiquated, and progressive reforms must be carried out within the structure of multinational systems. The truth, however, is different. In order that a regional or inter-continental system — as in the case of the British Commonwealth — should be able to function properly, it must be based upon the absolute political sovereignty of the countries that make it up. Only an association of independent and sovereign countries can create multinational systems wherein the interests of all are observed. Only an association of free peoples can work usefully for the progress of all and for the progress of the international community. The whole history of the world affords proof of this.
95. However, the economic and political interdependence to which I have referred shows that, just as international political tension affects all countries and territories, so also economic tensions are universal in character. In fact, the latter can bring about the former. As a consequence of this analysis, the delegation of Chile maintained, at the sixth session, in Paris, that the free right of self-determination of peoples ought to include the right to dispose of their own natural resources. We refer to politically free countries that are not in command of their resources and cannot on their own authority dispose of their resources. Many of the under-developed countries, which represent the greatest part of the world and of its population, base their economic life principally upon certain natural resources. I have already pointed out the importance of these material resources for the whole of humanity. For historical reasons, the greater part of these resources belong to foreign companies, and the prices are generally fixed abroad. Since their economy is almost wholly based on such revenues, these countries are conscious that they are not truly free to govern their own destinies.
96. In April of this year, the Commission on Human Rights, accepting a proposal submitted by the Chilean delegation [E/CN.4/L.24], embodied in the draft international covenants, on human rights, which the General Assembly is now going to consider, an article proclaiming that “the right of the peoples to self- determination shall also include permanent sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence on the grounds of any rights that may be claimed by other States”.
97. This article, received the unanimous support of the representatives of the under-developed countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America on the Commission on Human Rights. It does not, as many people have alleged, mean an invitation to expropriate foreign interests. It is a solemn affirmation of the permanent right of a country to defend its own resources, to have an active share in the profits, to prevent any attempt to squander them, and even to nationalize them or to demand the revision of contracts which do not take these rights into consideration. I am confident that the General Assembly will confirm this declaration.
98. I have already mentioned resolution 377 (V), in which the General Assembly, two years ago, voiced its unanimous opinion that a lasting and true peace depended upon the establishment and maintenance of conditions of economic and social well-being in countries and urged Member States “to intensify individual and collective efforts to achieve conditions of economic stability and social progress, particularly through the development of under-developed countries and areas”.
99. One economist after another, commissions of experts and technicians appointed by the United Nations, other commissions appointed by governments, authors, journalists and university professors, have for years been repeating that the economic development of the under-developed countries is the key to world economic stability, the most important factor in the maintenance of full employment in the industrial countries and the only means of preventing a world depression’ if, as we all hope, we can put an end to rearmament.
100. But despite that solemn declaration, and in spite of the technical reports, what has actually been done along these lines is so little that a world authority in economy and sociology, such as Professor Gunnar Myrdal, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe, stated last May that, for the moment, all our efforts to extend progress to the underdeveloped regions were homeopathic.
101. The United Nations has been studying the problem for years, has drawn attention to it, has proffered solutions, has roused public opinion, has taken stock of the poverty and backwardness of many areas, has drawn up recommendations showing how economic development could be speeded up by action both within the countries themselves and through international cooperation. In a word, the United Nations has completed all the preliminary stages for final action on this universal problem by the international community. This has been its greatest achievement. Without the United Nations, the problem would remain imprisoned in the universities or other intellectual centres or in the files of governments. The United Nations has brought it into the light and has placed it in the forefront of our concerns. Today, for example, the British House of Commons is discussing the subject on the basis of our discussions in the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council.
102. It must be admitted that it is the under-developed countries which are responsible for the fact that this victorious stage has been reached, for it is thanks to their insistence, their unity, their vision of the future and their patience that there has been such a thorough examination of the question. The delegation of Chile is proud to have had an active part in this common action, from 1947 to this very day.
103. The odd thing is that while nobody has denied the conclusions arrived at by the different organs of the United Nations, the achievements, on one pretext or another, are still, as Professor Myrdal says, of a homeopathic character. At the sixth session of the General Assembly, in the Second Committee, I gave the whole problem a thorough study, on behalf of my country, and considered what international collaboration was doing to solve if, I am not going to repeat the figures. I shall merely state that between technical and financial assistance, the nations, acting in concert both within the framework of the United Nations and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and outside, and including ordinary budgets and direct assistance, have devoted not more than $1,000 million per annum to the solution of what the United Nations has officially, through its Secretary-General, called the most important long-term individual problem besetting the world and the United Nations. This is less than 1 per cent of what the world is spending on armaments, and 25 per cent of the foreign trade deficit of the under-developed countries. This year, the prospects are no better, for even the modest but effective United Nations programme of technical assistance will have fewer funds available than last year, since some countries have decreased their contributions.
104. The main argument adduced lately for deferring any decision on really effective action with regard to economic development is the lack of resources due to the rearmament forced upon us by the aggression in Korea. This argument was completely refuted by the under-developed countries in the General Assembly last year. They proved that sufficient resources existed to carry out both programmes, and in particular that the funds required for the financing of development projects were infinitely less than what was being spent on armaments; and they further proved that an active policy of economic development was an essential part of any programme for combating aggression, The Secretary-General himself stated in the introduction to his annual report on the work of the Organization: “The strength necessary for peace will never be found in arms alone”; and elsewhere he adds: “There are, I am convinced, sufficient productive and financial resources in many of the developed countries which, if mobilized and wisely used for these purposes, might in fact lead to improvement in the economic position of these same countries rather than increase the burdens upon them”.
105. The people will gladly accept collective measures against aggression, provided that they are accompanied by collective measures against poverty. But the fact is that the leaders of the world have lacked the conviction and decision to view the problem and plan its solution as they should in this second half of the twentieth century. They are still fascinated by and cloistered in a political and economic outlook which has long been out of date. They believe that the problem can be solved by private capital investments. However, those who have the capital are unwilling to invest it in genuine economic development projects; furthermore, such capital cannot be employed in undertakings which, while they do not pay dividends, are essential for the implementation of a rational programme for the development of under-developed countries. And they believe that the methods by which other countries were industrialized and developed in the nineteenth century — in quite different geographical, demographic and historical circumstances — can be applied today to the intensive development of India or Indonesia, of Africa; Brazil or Chile.
106. So far, we have shown that a great programme of economic development of backward areas must be undertaken at the international level for three main reasons: First, the duty of human solidarity in the face of poverty; secondly, the need to ensure world economic stability by creating new consumer markets, and to settle the problem created by the permanent dislocation of the balance of trade of Western Europe; thirdly, the necessity of strengthening, both materially and spiritually, the peoples who have been called upon to collaborate in the work of the United Nations on behalf of peace and against aggression.
107. We shall now add two new considerations of no less importance, which are the natural sequel to what I have just set forth. The first is that it is by a bold and sweeping programme of economic development that we can best ensure that the great world revolution of which I have spoken is directed towards the goal of international co-operation and solidarity, for the benefit of all and for the prevention of social struggles and international conflicts. The second is that the under-developed countries are today conscious of the fact that their natural wealth is just as vital to the industrial countries as are the equipment, machinery, technical knowledge and capital of the latter countries to themselves. They are aware of their strength and consequently of the fact that they can negotiate on an equal footing with the industrial countries and demand that the economic problem which faces the world, the problem of expansion, production, conservation, transformation and distribution of wealth, shall be solved for the benefit of all, as an undertaking of common concern, by the co-ordination of all the available resources.
108. This last conclusion is so obvious that the United States Commission of Policy of Materials explicitly acknowledges it when it states in the part of its report entitled “The Fundamental Concepts”: “We believe that the destinies of the United States and the rest of the free non-Communist world are inextricably bound together. This belief we hope will color everything we have to say about the materials problem. It implies, for example, that if the United States is to increase its imports of materials it must return in other forms strength for strength to match what it receives. It is this Commission’s belief that if we fail to work for a rise in the standard of living of the rest of the free world, we thereby hamper and impede the further rise of our own, and equally lessen the chances of democracy to prosper and peace to reign the world over.”5 The Commission goes on to state its conviction that if the United States and other countries wish to be strong, they must co-ordinate their resources with a view to common development, security and. welfare.
109. It is the duty pf the world's leaders to impress upon their peoples the absolute necessity of planning and carrying out a great, new and bold programme of economic development for the under-developed countries, by reason of the political, economic and human considerations to which I have drawn attention. This programme must satisfy the following requirements.
110. In the first place, it must be inspired by the firm conviction that it is for the good of all. Consequently, although it may appear to some to be a rather revolutionary idea, the programme must be based on the concept that its execution is the common, responsibility of every country and every individual. But this concept is no more revolutionary than that which in the past demanded individual sacrifice for the achievement of local and national aims. Only through increasing economic action on a world-wide scale, in a free and peaceful world, can we maintain and even increase the prosperity which is now enjoyed by a minority of the peoples.
111. Secondly, its main and final objective must be to safeguard the dignity of the human person, as the United 'Nations has consistently proclaimed. Fundamentally, therefore, it must strive to raise the standard of living of the masses, in each country, increasing the value of the work they perform within a broad concept of liberty.
112. Thirdly, it must be directed in such a way as. to help the peoples to realize their right to self-determination.
113. Fourthly, therefore, it should aim at the diversification of economies, in order to eliminate or decrease the economic dependence of these countries on their raw materials. It should envisage a rational and harmonious development of industry, minerals and agriculture.
114. Fifthly, it must be drawn up with a view to the general interests of humanity and not those of a specific country or region. It should therefore tend towards a co-ordinated, inter-regional and inter-continental economic development.
115. Sixthly, it must be based on national efforts, economic and otherwise; but it must also envisage financial and technical assistance to the degree recommended by economists and technicians.
116. Finally, it must of necessity be accompanied by a new and different policy in regard to raw materials and international trade. Nothing can be achieved by economic and technical assistance if the underdeveloped countries have to go on exhausting themselves as a result of the present policies of control and establishment of the prices of raw materials by a few purchasing countries, as well as of the present pattern of international trade which impoverishes them more every day. To think otherwise would be a childish illusion.
117. General agreements should be concluded in which the under-developed countries can participate on an equal footing with the industrialized countries and in which the interests of both sides are safeguarded, so that all types of resources — raw materials, labour, technical processes, equipment, machinery and capital — may be used co-operatively. Only in this way can the general welfare be promoted in an equitable manner. The only way to see to it that an adequate programme of economic development satisfies the essential requirements which I have outlined, is to entrust its execution to the United Nations; for then the countries which receive assistance will have no fear that their interests will be sacrificed for the benefit of other countries or groups.
118. The United Nations, through its regional economic commissions, is in a position to carry out objective investigations — as it has already been doing — of the needs of each country, and to recommend the internal or inter-regional policies that are indispensable if the plans are to be carried out in conformity with the general needs. Only the United Nations, by coordinating, through the Secretary-General and the Economic and Social Council, the work of these commissions, can harmonize the development of the various regions and ensure that the final objectives and essential principles are not forgotten. Thus a United Nations programme would guarantee to the countries of Latin America and Asia that the necessary development of Africa would not be carried out in such a way as to prejudice the development of Latin America and Asia, but would on the contrary, be co-ordinated with it, and would at the same time respect the principle that the purpose of the programme was to raise the standard of living of peoples, not to secure raw materials for industrialized countries at a low cost.
119. The outgoing President of the General Assembly, Mr. Luis Padilla Nervo, emphasized the primary need for strengthening the United Nations, for increasing its prestige and for striving to achieve greater public support for it, particularly at this time when political tension is weakening its very foundations. Until some progress is made in solving the present serious international conflict, I see no better way of achieving this than to make a resolute attempt to solve, completely or partially, the tremendous problem of poverty and hunger which confronts two-thirds of humanity, and the problem of economic instability which confronts the other third.
120. Mr. Padilla Nervo also told us that the people of the world had a firm faith in the work the United Nations is doing in the economic and social fields. I believe this to be true — at least up to now. There are indeed many who know of the patient and laborious work of study and investigation, of analysis, dissemination of results, planning and programme drafting which the United Nations has carried on to date in these fields. Unfortunately, however, this work has reached the man in the street only in a very limited form — in homeopathic doses, as Professor Myrdal said. But it is the man in the street, who, in the end, is the one who forms public opinion in all countries.
121. If we do not advance in the direction I have suggested, faith in the economic and social work of the United Nations will disappear, just as the hope that the United Nations will be able to put an end to the present acute political tension is disappearing. If the United Nations fails to take a definite, clear, active and bold position on the questions arising in connexion with the implementation of the General Assembly resolution [377 (V)] on “Uniting for peace" if it does not take a clear stand in support of the principle of self-determination, of respect for human rights and of the economic progress of underdeveloped countries, it will be turning its back on the commandments of the Charter and, what is even more serious, it will be turning its back on reality. An organization like ours, if it is incapable of understanding the burning issues of the day, will be of no value whatsoever in the task of maintaining peace; other forces and other principles — not those of the Charter — will then direct the great avalanche of mankind’s yearnings for justice, liberty and progress.