Before expressing my country’s views in the general debate, I wish, on behalf of the Government of Brazil, to pay sincere tribute to Mr. Trygve Lie, who yesterday [392nd meeting} informed us of his intention to resign from his post as Secretary-General of the United Nations; While I appreciate the reasons and considerations which prompted Mr. Lie to take that decision, with the sole intention of facilitating the peace-making work of the United Nations, I cannot share his views and venture to express the hope that his decision is not irrevocable.
2. Peace continues to be the basic objective of the United Nations. The Organization was certainly not: established to perpetuate the world of 1945, with its fixed groups of victors and vanquished, nor to drag out interminably the settlement of the hates, destruction and rivalries of the last war. No more than any other political organization can the United Nations remain static. As a creation of man, it must follow the course of events, endeavouring at all times to devise methods which must always vary, calculated to provide better conditions of life for the international community.
3. This Assembly is a manifestation of the unqualified recognition of the principle of democracy, in that, free of coercion or restriction, it considers problems of common interest — not only those involving a threat to the peace but also those relating to the method of ensuring the peace. That, we believe, might be described as the technique of peace. The representatives of governments here assembled can freely express their differences of opinion, differences which are inevitable because the right to dissent and the freedom to exercise that right are the very basis of democracy. Totalitarian regimes are based on force, intimidation and silence; democracy alone is reinvigorated by the conflict of ideas. Even when the circumstances of contemporary life justify State interference in economic affairs to direct production, the distribution of wealth and consumption, the different schools of opinion must nevertheless survive, provided that civil, political and spiritual freedoms are protected. We, for our part, consider that controversy is not only natural but necessary and salutary, Unanimity almost always implies the unbridled and absolute domination of one opinion over all others, and Its effect on this collective body would be frustration through functional atrophy.
4. It would, however, be unfair criticism to stress only the negative aspect of our disagreements, without referring to the valuable work already accomplished by the United Nations; for example, its function as a place of permanent contact between all States, where major and minor differences are gradually whittled away by discussion and where action is taken to prevent the perpetuation of those misunderstandings which historians rightly detect at the origin of all wars. It is true that the efforts of the United Nations have not always produced positive results. In all great historical movements, however, there is always a stage of dialectical evolution in the course of which synthesis prevails over thesis and antithesis, which contemporaries are temporarily unable to distinguish.
5. Brazil is among those countries which place the greatest trust in the United Nations, its aims and its methods. It cannot be denied that through the United Nations the world has become aware of the political consequences of economic inequality among peoples, and has come to understand that the prospects of peace are bound up with the constant improvement of the conditions which make for general welfare, in which all peoples should be able to share without suffering the hazards and delays of a long evolution. In addition, the United Nations is making a decisive contribution to the creation of an international awareness of human rights, and has elevated all matters pertaining to human dignity and respect for individual freedoms to the rank of supreme international objectives. Only in such a spirit of internationalism, based on the principles of the Christian and humanist tradition which is the very foundation of contemporary civilization, will it be possible, with the free consent of States, to make the necessary legal changes, so that respect for sovereignty will find its natural, complement in the recognition of human rights and the proper safeguards of security and peace.
6. However, the United Nations will not achieve full vigour until it includes among its Members all nations which genuinely and sincerely support its basic principles. After all, the purpose of the United Nations is not solely to maintain peace among its Member States, but rather to establish peace on a universal basis. Hence all States that fulfil its fundamental principles should be admitted to membership forthwith. That is ray Government's position. It has always defended that position, and regrets that the Security Council is not able to recommend that the General Assembly admit certain States to membership, many of which, in the course of their long histories, have helped to enrich the highest values of our civilization. In addition to being absent from our midst, some of the countries concerned are at present subjected to special regimes which are contrary to the interests of peace. I refer particularly to Austria, whose unhappy people were among the earliest victims of nazi enslavement. The restoration of that country’s full sovereignty is being delayed and impeded in flagrant disregard of the ideals proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. My Government, faithful to the Brazilian people’s tradition of justice and concord, strongly urges all nations, and particularly the Powers directly responsible, to restore to that noble nation, situated at a spiritual crossroads where East meets West, its independent place in the modern world.
7. If we are now able to say that there exists a state of equilibrium in military forces which ensures peace, however precarious, that situation is undoubtedly due to the work of the Collective Measures Committee and to its enunciation of the principle that, in taking military action to restore peace, the United Nations is not engaging in an act of war but in a police operation against crime and in defence of law.
8. Problems of such magnitude necessitate constant vigilance by the United Nations, and particularly by the General Assembly, if we wish to prevent diversity from destroying the united world we aspire to achieve. I have in mind the problems and the claims of certain communities which do not yet enjoy sovereignty. In accordance with its traditions, the Brazilian people genuinely sympathizes with the legitimate aspirations of those peoples, and appeals to the parties directly concerned to reconcile their divergent interests through the recognition of reciprocal rights, in a spirit of sincere co-operation, excluding any circumstances and conflicts which can only injure both sides and endanger world peace.
9. I am convinced, however, that our greatest problems are our economic problems, and that what is needed here is a dynamic policy, capable of satisfying the reeds arising in many countries as a result of their growth. It is well known that Member States in the so-called under-developed areas are suffering the effects of a crisis which influences every aspect of their daily life. Unable to obtain the equipment necessary not only to meet the growing needs of their industries but also to replace equipment worn out through constant use, unable to renew the tools essential for their economic expansion, deprived even of their traditional customers owing to the shortage of currency for the purchase of the consumer goods produced by the under-developed countries, these countries are faced with a problem which, complex in itself, is further aggravated by the progressive depletion of the currency reserves they had succeeded in accumulating at the cost of tremendous effort. It is therefore a matter of imperative necessity for them to restore their prosperity — -indeed, to secure at least a reasonable standard of living. These countries are in the grip at once of a crisis of growth and a crisis of impoverishment. That is why those who have the power to guide the reconstruction of world economy and trade must first of all classify and evaluate economic problems in terms not only of priorities but also of urgency.
10. Unfortunately, there being few States which have completely industrialized their economies, the world is in process of being divided into a group of wealthy States and another, much larger, group of poor States. As the minority accumulates wealth, the majority is impoverished. States in the latter category are ill the position of coloni; or, to apply internationally a classification used in national affairs, we may say that today we have a small number of prosperous communities vis-a-vis a vast international proletariat. The States in the so-called under-developed areas are seeking to emerge from the stage of primitive economy based on agriculture and stock-raising. They are seeking desperately to benefit by the resources of modern technique, and are endeavouring to profit by the experience of nations which are more advanced on the road of industrial progress. The United Nations must also devote more attention to the problem resulting from the fact that all the goods and all the resources are concentrated in the hands of certain States, while other States, lacking means and opportunities, are on the road to terrible poverty because they do not have the capital and adequate technical equipment to exploit their agricultural and mineral resources.
11. If the United Nations aims at establishing the principle of the dignity of the human person as an integral part of the international legal order, it must take advantage of man’s powers as a creator of work and of wealth. In the interests of international solidarity, plans for raising living standards in the under-developed areas, which constitute the larger part of the world, must be put into effect without delay. The time has come to give careful consideration to this very serious problem, with the definite and unambiguous intention of understanding and solving it. Immediate steps must be taken to frame a broad programme of action for the benefit of the under-developed countries and those which have not even reached an economic level ensuring mere subsistence. Unless such action is taken, these countries will not only continue to lack the means to resist the domestic repercussions of economic crises in foreign countries, but also the opportunity of accumulating the reserves of goods, labour and foreign currency necessary to ensure continuing prosperity.
12. Such is the broad policy, vast in scope, limitless in vision and continuity, which considerations of every kind require of the United Nations. In the final analysis, only such a policy will be able to inject new strength into democratic institutions throughout the world, counteract the resentment of the States whose progress has been retarded and set the United Nations itself on firm foundations.
13. Clearly the task is a challenge to the constructive forces of the world. It would be vain to try to close our eyes to the dramatic problems of the present day; better bring them into the open and courageously set out to seek their solution. Recognition of the existence of these problems is an initial step toward solving them; not to recoil from them is in itself a degree of progress. During the last seven years, the world as it existed on the morrow of the war has been left far behind. Other changes will be brought about by events. Our chances, however, of guiding these changes along the lines of world order, peace and prosperity depend not only on man's will but also on the grace of God.