83. Two distinguished representatives of the first generation of architects of the United Nations, Mr. Pearson and Mr. Lie, have left us the memory of their devotion to the Organization and their faith in its objectives. They have been succeeded by persons whose selection, in each case, represents a genuine achievement for the United Nations.
84. I should like first to express my great satisfaction at the election of Mrs. Pandit, leader of the Indian delegation, to the highest and most responsible office in the United Nations General Assembly. By her elevation to that lofty position in international life, we have given due recognition not only to her brilliant intellectual qualities and unquestionably outstanding executive ability, but also to the contribution her great country has made to the United Nations.
85. We are also gratified by the accession of Mr. Hammarskjold to the difficult office of Secretary-General. When the world learned of his appointment only a short time ago, it was conscious not only of his many personal and professional qualifications, but also of the traditional role of conciliation so admirably played by the Swedish people, who have given so many noteworthy proofs of their equanimity and lofty idealism in the story of contemporary civilization.
86. This eighth session of the General Assembly is opening at an historic moment which may be decisive for the future of mankind. We cannot escape the overwhelming fact that the great Powers have devised methods of warfare and developed weapons of destruction of such magnitude that their use would result not only in their own annihilation, but in the end of civilization and the extermination of mankind. If we ponder the opinions of scientists and experts on this subject, we can safely say that the very existence of hydrogen and atomic weapons has irrevocably abolished the old concept of victors and vanquished. The potential adversaries have become united through those weapons in a common destiny — to live or die together.
87. Faced though we are with that stark prospect, the armistice in Korea gives grounds for hope of a just and lasting settlement which will lead to a gradual solution of other problems, so that step by step we may consolidate the peace.
88. In these dramatic circumstances, fraught with fear and hope, it is the duty of the United Nations — now that it has been successful in organizing collective action against aggression — to concentrate all its efforts on setting in motion and applying the means laid down in the Charter for the pacific settlement of disputes.
89. The time has come for us to strive to restore negotiation to the place of honour which it deserves in international relations and to its primary function in maintaining peace. We believe that the first step in creating a political climate more favourable to negotiation might be a revision in the attitudes and positions previously taken by Member States on outstanding political problems. We are certain that it is possible, without detriment to principles, justice and honour, to relax the opposing attitudes originally adopted on each particular problem. In many matters, the opposing positions are neither completely true nor completely false on either side. With sincerity of effort and purity of motive we can reach a common ground where understanding would be possible. The periodic restatement of irreconcilable positions will never shorten the distance between them.
90. We hope that the governments represented here will take advantage of the special circumstances in which this eighth session of the General Assembly is meeting, to examine their consciences and realize that the last word has not yet been said on any problem. It is urgent, for example, to reopen negotiations and to seek agreement on the following questions: the international control of atomic energy and other weapons of mass destruction; the limitation and reduction of armed forces and of all types of armaments; forced labour, and the admission of new Members. It will be easier to settle other important problems, such as the unification of Germany and the liberation of Austria, if the General Assembly makes some progress in the political matters on the agenda of the eighth session.
91. In our endeavour to revise our attitudes and return to the spirit of the Charter we should bear in mind that peaceful coexistence is, it seems, the only alternative to the disaster which would be visited upon mankind by another world war.
92. In the struggle of ideologies to destroy each other, victory over the mind of man is the primary and ultimate objective. We therefore believe that countries with a liberal tradition should energetically reaffirm what the democracies stand for, not what they stand against. It is urgent that the united democratic nations should mobilize, not in order to win the armaments race, which can only lead to the annihilation of mankind, but to strengthen, or, rather, to reconquer, the sympathy and confidence of the peoples of the world. That will be the only effective and authoritative answer to the riddle of our time, and the only moral force capable of counteracting and overcoming the effects of the most insidious propaganda on the minds of men. By a new apostolate, which will wrest man from apathy and doubt, and strengthen his faith in the highest spiritual values, it will be possible to chart the right course for us to follow and to relieve the anxieties of our time. This new apostolate has its gospel to preach which might be summed up as the observance of human rights and the fundamental freedoms of individuals and nations. To defend the exercise of those rights and freedoms, to respect them in practice, each of us in his own home, and to encourage their institution and enforcement everywhere is beyond doubt the noblest and most effective way of serving peace.
93. The fight for freedom can be won only by the practice of freedom. Freedom is protected by exercising it. It is spread and strengthened by example more than by preaching. The greatest danger to democratic institutions in free countries does not always, we believe, come from the outside. It is often to be found at home and takes the form of threats to freedom of thought and expression, and the growing use of antidemocratic methods on the pretence of protecting democracy and its institutions.
94. Allow me to quote from a speech made by the President of my country to the Union Congress, in which he emphasized that Mexico must remain unswervingly true to its principles and uphold the rules and laws guaranteeing freedom of thought and expression, freedom of the Press, of work and of belief, and freedom to criticize the government; in short, spiritual and economic freedom. He was certain, he said, that the Republic was less in danger from the abuse of those freedoms than from the most moderate exercise of dictatorship.
95. There is another danger that causes us concern in the same connexion: I refer to the tendency in some sectors of opinion to attribute to communist infiltration every national aspiration to economic and social betterment, and to see a threat to democratic principles in the. methods adopted by a government, in conformity with its laws and in the exercise of its sovereignty and constitutional powers, to satisfy such aspirations.
96. We reject the idea, frequently expressed, that the task of safeguarding our democratic institutions, our way of life and our culture, as well as the duty to maintain order and defend ourselves against the inroads of foreign ideologies, has ceased to be exclusively a matter of domestic jurisdiction, to be dealt with by our respective governments, and has become a matter of international concern, susceptible of collective action. That doctrine violates the principle of non-intervention, which has received full recognition within the community of American States and is enshrined among the principles of the United Nations.
97. Another question of great concern to our Organization is that of its relationship to the dependent territories and peoples who have not yet achieved self- government. The continued existence of large groups deprived of the fundamental right of peoples to political self-determination cannot but weigh heavily and menacingly upon the destinies of all States, with their growing interdependence, and is a matter which especially involves the moral responsibility of the United Nations.
98. No purely legal argument, no circumstantial explanation of political expediency, will persuade peoples who consider themselves fit to exercise their right to sovereignty that they must abandon their aspirations or delay their realization until some later time. In discussing that problem, which, like all the others, is affected by the international tension arising from the ideological struggle of our era, we should avoid injecting into our debates factors which do not concern either the origins of the problem or its development. We must recognize that the standard raised by the masses in the modern world, both in the dependent and Trust Territories and in some independent States, bears the device, not of subversive ideologies, but of the basic needs which have gone unsatisfied for centuries: the need for bread, land, freedom, peace, the desire for self-determination and development of their own cultures. That standard was raised long before all the “isms”, and will outlast them so long as large sectors of the world’s population cannot satisfy their basic needs and fulfil aspirations which they consider just and legitimate.
99. The countries which have set themselves up as leaders of the free world can and must win the friendship of those groups and convert their ideal into the basis of a programme of action designed to gain their confidence in democratic principles.
100. At this eighth session, we have again to deal with problems of economic development and technical assistance. There is unquestionably general agreement that the improvement of the living standards of the economically under-developed peoples is an essential factor in the maintenance of peace.
101. Although we in Mexico are convinced that economic development should be founded primarily on the rational and efficient utilization of each country’s resources, we consider that in specific circumstances, countries should receive supplementary financial assistance from abroad, such as that given through international development agencies or that which it is hoped will be forthcoming from the bodies envisaged in the report of the Economic and Social Council [A/2430].
102. We need, too, a technical assistance programme which can be integrated with national development plans, and encouragement should be given to all measures of an international character that are calculated to diversify the economies of the under-developed countries, promote their industrialization and lessen their dependence on exports of raw materials. Until that final aim is achieved, we must seek to balance foreign trade and to establish a fair relation between the prices paid for raw materials and those demanded for industrial products. Exports of raw materials constitute the main source of revenue of the underdeveloped countries, and any fluctuations in the terms of trade which are unfavourable to those countries make it difficult for them to obtain foreign exchange to pay for their imports from abroad and to accumulate the national savings required to finance their economic development.
103. May I, lastly, draw attention to another measure of prime importance to the economic development of insufficiently developed countries, namely, the strict observance of resolution 626 (VII) approved by The General Assembly at its last session. Under that resolution, any attempt to promote economic development internationally must be based on respect for the political and economic independence of countries receiving aid, so that under-developed nations may not be obliged to accept, as the price of progress, economic subjection, the undermining of their democratic systems or perpetual threats to their national sovereignty. With these considerations in mind, the General Assembly earnestly recommended that Member States should “refrain from acts, direct or indirect, designed to impede the exercise of the sovereignty of any State over its natural resources”.
104. The Korean question continues to be the most immediate problem for our Organization and for world public opinion. When we turn our eyes towards Korea, the least we can do is to bear constantly in mind the prolonged and difficult negotiations which led to the signing of the armistice, and the constructive debates in the Assembly which finally led to the exchange of prisoners of war on the humanitarian basis of voluntary repatriation.
105. We can say with true satisfaction that this Assembly made a mighty contribution to the cessation of hostilities in the devastated peninsula, thereby fulfilling one of the noblest of our Organization’s aims.
106. The United Nations has done what the League of Nations was never able to do and has thus enormously strengthened the collective security system. I wish publicly to record my delegation’s gratitude to those who answered the Security Council’s call to defend the Republic of Korea. Now a new task lies before us, no less important than resistance to armed aggression: to consolidate the uneasy truce agreed on at Panmunjom and unite Korea by peaceful means.
107. Paragraph 5 (a) of General Assembly resolution 711 A (VII). of 28 August 1953, recommended that only Member States with armed forces in the peninsula, and the Republic of Korea, should attend the political conference mentioned in paragraph 60 of the Armistice Agreement on behalf of the United Nations. It thus established the precedent that in a collective action carried out in implementation of a United Nations decision, only those countries which made a military contribution to the dispute are entitled — as was the case with the alliances of history to take part in the subsequent peace conference.
108. This exclusion of States which could make a most valuable contribution to the success of the peace conference has deprived us, at least temporarily, of what we consider to be one of the most promising ways of achieving our aims without too serious difficulty.
109. We believe that the system and structure of the Charter are opposed to such a division into belligerents and neutrals, friends and foes, of the Member States of the United Nations associated in the same collective action. In our opinion, the spirit of the Charter does not justify such a division, even in the case of coercive action decided by the Security Council. We believe that Member States, united in collective actions of the Organization, bear an equal moral responsibility, however different may have been the nature or the magnitude of their material contribution. The moral support of all the free nations of the world in a common cause justifies that cause in the eyes of history.
110. For those reasons my delegation expressed its doubts at the seventh session, when the draft resolution U the First Committee [A/2450], originally sponsored by fifteen Powers, was debated in the Assembly. Nevertheless, we are always prepared to respect the Assembly’s decisions, and we feel that in the present circumstances it would be inexpedient to reopen the question; on the contrary, we support those whom the General Assembly has nominated to represent us, leaving to them the choice of any peaceful means available to them for reaching agreement with the peoples’ republics of North Korea and China on all the questions referred to the political conference.
111. That opinion, which we openly stated at the appropriate time, does not prevent us from agreeing with those who think that at this juncture a reopening of the exhaustive debate held during the meetings last August would merely create fresh obstacles to delay the proposed conference. The vital and urgent point is that the conference should begin forthwith. The question of the co-operation of other States in its work now depends on agreement between the parties; we hope and trust that agreement will be reached.
112. The suggestion made by the United States representative, Mr. Lodge, in the General Committee [88th meeting] and in the Assembly [440th meeting], is a most important step toward an understanding. We trust the other party will consider this suggestion, and will co-operate in achieving an early meeting of the political conference. The aims of the United Nations in Korea are unchanged, and the political conference has been charged with achieving them; in that task it can count on the moral support of all peace-loving countries. No matter what the vicissitudes of the conference, both in its successes, for which we hope, and in its difficulties, which we trust will be overcome, we must bear constantly in mind the goal, so often restated, of achieving our ends by peaceful means.
113. The United Nations had recourse to collective military action with the sole aim of resisting aggression and re-establishing peace. In Korea, its aim has always been, as it has proclaimed, the unification of the country by peaceful means, and the reason for its use of armed force was precisely in order to resist the attempt to unify Korea by violence.
114. The Armistice Agreement is the vindication of those principles. The attempt to unify Korea by violence has failed, but the task of unification by negotiation and agreement remains. Our aims have therefore not changed, and we must remember that unification of Korea by force has never been, is not now, and must never be in the future, one of those aims. In view of that conviction and hope, the statement made by the Canadian representative, Mr. Pearson [441st meeting], appears to me to be particularly significant and constructive. He said: "So far as the Canadian Government is concerned, v will not support any military action in Korea that is not United Nations action, and we would, of course, be opposed to any attempt to interpret existing United Nations objectives as including, for instance, the unification of Korea by force.”
115. The Korean conflict has proved the efficacy of a subsidiary collective security system, based on the General Assembly resolution [377 (V)], entitled "Uniting for peace”, which enables the General Assembly, in case of default by the Security Council, to act in all cases of aggression. We must, however, remember that this auxiliary collective security system must give place to the system expressly established by the Charter as soon as Member States are able to conclude the special agreements mentioned in Article 43 of the Charter, by which they will make available to the Security Council armed forces, assistance and facilities necessary for the purpose of resisting aggression.
116. If the political conference succeeds in unifying Korea by peaceful means, we shall have made an advance of immeasurable importance towards the creation of a climate favourable to the study and solution of other serious problems.
117. Our task, particularly during this initial stage of the General Assembly’s eighth session, is, as we understand it, to point out to our organization the targets at hich it should aim in future and the measures still to be adopted for the full implementation of the purposes of the Charter. I therefore wish to refer to certain previous remarks of mine on the need to construct an effective system for the peaceful settlement of disputes.
118. Without a genuine peace system or an adequate body of rules based on the principle set forth in Article 2, paragraph 3, and other articles of the Charter, we shall never have peace in the true sense of the term, by which I mean a state of tranquillity and confidence in a legal system which will be universally respected and will provide the necessary means to ensure that no dispute fails to find a peaceful solution. Collective security is certainly a necessary condition for peace, but it is not peace itself, since no system of sanctions and punishments, however perfect, can be the ultimate aim of the coexistence of intelligence and free beings. Hence, the disequilibrium inherent in the unchecked growth of a collective security system not counterbalanced by a system of pacific settlement is harmful in every way and must be avoided. Loyalty to our Organization consequently leads us to point out the great defect in it, and in certain regional organizations or agreements, whose sole justification is the desire, in the words of Article 52 of the Charter, “to achieve pacific settlement of local disputes”, to which end Member States are required to “make every effort” by an express stipulation of the Charter.
119. In that connexion I should like once again to call attention to the example set by the republics of the New World. The Charter of the Organization of American States does not, like the charters of other regional bodies, merely pay lip-service to the principle of the pacific solution of disputes; on the contrary, it states, in article 23: “A special treaty will establish adequate procedures for the pacific settlement of disputes and will determine the appropriate means for their application, so that no dispute between American States shall fail of definitive settlement within a reasonable, period.” As many of us well know, that principle was followed to the letter by the same conference which adopted the Bogota Charter, when it drew up the American Treaty on Pacific Settlement. That instrument, also known as the Bogota Pact, provides that any international dispute must necessarily, in the fullest meaning of that adverb, be solved by pacific means, including, in the final instance, compulsory settlement by the International Court of Justice or, where that court is not competent, by arbitration.
120. The famous rule of the inviolable sanctity of the law is nowhere better exemplified than in the Bogota Pact, a monument to American legal skill. I shall not trespass on your patience by further reference to that pact, and I merely bring it to the notice of those who are not familiar with the legal institutions of the New World as an example of what we can and must do in the international sphere in order to achieve a genuine organization of peace.
121. The Mexican delegation hopes that, at its eighth session, the General Assembly will show by word and deed its steadfast faith in the basic principles of the United Nations.