137. The Costa Rican delegation has pleasure in associating itself with the congratulations which have been addressed to Mrs. Pandit on her election to the presidency of this Assembly. Her election is a well-deserved tribute to her intelligence and to her outstanding personal qualities. It is also a tribute to her great country. And finally, it is a tribute to, and a sign of recognition of the ever-increasing part played by women of all countries in the-settlement of human problems, particularly those connected with the maintenance of peace. The proceedings of an organ whose principal object is the achievement of harmony and peaceful coexistence among nations cannot be better directed than by a woman.
138. It is our conviction that when the work of the present session of the Assembly is assessed, we shall see that the hope and faith placed in our mission by the mothers, wives and children of all peoples on earth, now quailing before the very thought of a new world war, have not been disappointed.
139. Costa Rica maintains friendly and cordial relations with all the democratic nations of the world. Our country, which is small both in area and in population, has no more armaments than are necessary to enable the police to maintain public order and national security. The Constitution of 1949 abolished the standing army. The last remaining barracks in the country were dismantled recently, and the place they had occupied converted into a national museum. Every year more than 500 new schools and colleges are built in different parts of the country. Costa Rica is proud to be able to state that its heaviest budget allocations are devoted to public education.
140. These facts, and our continuing devotion to peace and freedom among nations, confer upon us full moral authority to speak in defence of the fundamental principles of peoples and individuals and to condemn any attack on those principles and any act which might lead to violence or to a breach of the peace in any part of the world. We shall accordingly lend our most firm and determined support to all attempts to find a just and effective solution to the problems which are arousing fear and apprehension in both the large and the small nations.
141. It is hardly necessary to express the views and attitude of my delegation towards the problem of universal disarmament, and the aspiration thereto. We shall give full and unconditional support to all practical and well-intentioned proposals submitted on this most important item on our agenda, although we fully understand the difficulties of achieving an immediate solution, at least, while there is no relaxation of the tension and alarm which now prevail in the world. We can also see how this item can provide admirable opportunities for certain demagogic propaganda spread by the false apostles of peace, and we must be on our guard against that.
142. We must, however, explain that we have never made our dislike of militarism and our abiding devotion to peace and the civic virtues a pretext for an attitude of deceptive and harmful neutrality, nor shall we ever do so. We believe that peace is indivisible and that any attack on the life or liberty of a country is a threat to the security of all. Still less can there be any question of neutrality in the face of a Power which by its, doctrines and its acts betrays its policy of dominating the rest of the world and subjecting it to its own interests and will. For that reason, Costa Rica, despite its small area and its deep-rooted love of peace and tranquillity, has ranged itself unconditionally and resolutely on the side of the free nations; it will spare neither moral support nor any effort as a contribution to the generous and heroic struggle of the United States and its allies in defence of the principles of democracy and of freedom and security for all peoples and nations.
143. If we draw up a balance-sheet of the work so far achieved by the United Nations, the result will be satisfactory. It is true that we have not found a solution for all the problems which have been laid before us in the past few years and which are a cause of alarm and disquiet to all peoples. We have contrived, however, to contain aggression and to stem the totalitarian expansion which, if this Organization had not existed, would have continued unchecked its headlong career of domination and annihilation of small countries, as it was able to do in the period immediately following the end of the last war. It is clear that the checking of totalitarian expansion and agreement upon a policy of collective security have not been easy tasks. There have been many difficulties, and on more than one occasion concessions, have had to be made. We cannot discard the possibility that we may have to make further concessions. All that does not matter if, by paying that price, however high, the peace-loving peoples can achieve their purpose of living together in peace. The road to peace is not the broad and easy road which we should all have liked; at times it becomes almost impassable, owing to the obstacles constituted by the well-known ambitions of supremacy and world domination. But it does not matter whether the road is broad or difficult if it brings us to a lasting peace based on justice and respect for the rights and liberties of peoples and individuals.
144. Although there are reasons for satisfaction with the work hitherto achieved, there is no denying the expediency of considering a revision of the United Nations Charter. The United Nations must be realistic and dynamic if it is not to become an anachronistic and fossilized institution. In a world which changes daily, we cannot assume that our statute neither can nor should be revised. The Costa Rican delegation supports proposals for the study of amendments to the Charter designed to adapt that instrument to the new realities of the world and to add to it provisions whose need could not have been foreseen when the United Nations was set up. The international situation was different at that time, and it was believed that confidence and a spirit of co-operation among the great allied Powers would overcome any difficulty which might arise in the application of any obscure provisions or of any that were not fully acceptable to all the signatories of the Charter,
145. Costa Rica has always recognized the undeniable need for all peace-loving countries to be Members of the United Nations, and has accordingly opposed all political manoeuvres carried out with a view to preventing such membership. At former sessions of the General Assembly, Costa Rica has defended that principle and, in association with other Central American countries, has submitted various draft resolutions designed to secure the admission of other peace-loving countries. Unfortunately, this question has not been settled. Our attitude, however, remains unchanged; we believe that the legal solutions proposed so far, including that of the Central American countries, have not achieved the desired results, not necessarily because the majority of the members of the Assembly have found them fundamentally unacceptable, but because of political considerations. We shall therefore continue to hope that some solution will be found for the problem of the admission of new Members. We believe that- even if it is not possible to arrive at a solution of a strictly juridical nature, at least some compromise could be reached. In view of these considerations, Costa Rica will support any formula likely to lead to a solution, even if only a partial solution, of the problem of the admission of new Members.
146. The Korean war, to which this Assembly has devoted so much of its time, has happily been brought to a close, at least for the time being. The United Nations has laid down the principles on the basis of which a final solution of this problem may be reached and a just and permanent peace established in that unfortunate country, now ravaged and laid waste by the war. The discussion of the peace in Korea offers the communist leaders a new opportunity to make good their statements that they really want peace in the Far East, an end to the cold war and a final settlement of their difficulties with the Western nations. The peoples of the world look with hope and anguish towards a final peace settlement in Korea. If good faith and good will are shown in solving the Korean problem, it may be possible to find a satisfactory solution for other burning questions, such as those of the war in Indo-China and the treaties of peace with Germany and Austria.
147. The great surge of hope and relief felt by mankind upon the signing of the armistice in Korea was followed by a period of unease, which still persists, and which was caused by the refusal of the communist countries to accept the formula adopted by the General Assembly at the end of the last session [resolution 711 (VII)}. The Costa Rican delegation considers that resolution final and fails to see what good it would do to reopen the debate on this question; the only result would be to obstruct the work of the present session of the General Assembly and to create an unfavourable atmosphere for the solution of the problems before us. Nevertheless, we cherish the hope that hostilities in Korea will not be reopened, for there is a strong desire for peace in the world, and the country which gives or provokes the order to open fire will find itself rejected and condemned by all the peoples of the world, with consequences no one can foresee.
148. So long as a final peace has not been concluded in Korea, so long as the war in Indo-China is kept alive through the overt intervention of the communist nations, so long as the problems of Germany and Austria remain unsolved, there is, as Mr. Dulles explained with consummate clarity in his statement [434 meeting], no hope of a disappearance or lessening of the present tension between the democratic and the communist Powers. Unfortunately, the United Nations cannot do much more with regard to these questions than it has already done. Whatever remains to be done depends almost entirely on the attitude of the communist Powers towards the just and practical solutions proposed by the United Nations and the democratic governments of the West.
149. Although the Soviet Union and the other communist countries may not have decided upon war, neither have they decided to work sincerely with us for peace. It would seem that their policy was to provoke and maintain discord and unrest among the free peoples of the world, confident that they would have no such problems with the peoples' under their iron rule. This clever policy, in addition to keeping the world in a state of unease and anxiety, compels the non-communist Powers to invest vast sums in armaments, funds which were it not for the devious and provocative methods of the Communists, could have been devoted to the solution of the problems of production and of the social and economic development of the democratic nations. This situation has existed for some years; if it is to continue, it would be advisable for the democratic Powers to review their policy and to adopt new measures enabling them to thwart the designs and objectives of the Communists.
150. The first step would be to seek an immediate solution of certain serious problems which have arisen among the countries of the Western bloc and which furnish the communist leaders with material for propaganda and agitation. The just demands of certain peoples who are trying to achieve complete freedom and independence by means of negotiation and agreement, and who are really ready to assume sovereignty and to discharge the obligations that go with it, cannot and must not be ignored by the United Nations, and especially by the nations which are parties to the conflicts provoked by these demands. These nations would do much towards bringing about collaboration and security in the democratic world if they were to smooth the path of their former colonies and possessions to independence and give them the opportunity, thanks to the efforts of their valiant peoples and their natural resources, to join in the great work of building a better world where men may live in peace.
151. The Costa Rican delegation cannot remain indifferent to the just aspirations of peoples fighting for their independence and will support any measure designed to settle these problems through conciliation and agreement; these problems affect world tranquillity and can fortunately be solved even without the cooperation of the communist countries.
152. My delegation feels that, in addition to the purely political problems, special attention should be given to the oft-noted fact that there is a growing discrepancy between the level of income of developed countries and that of countries on the threshold of development or in its initial stages. We agree that the. development of the latter, as recognized by the General Assembly in its resolution 400 (V), depends primarily upon the efforts of their peoples. This is the case with Costa Rica, which in recent years has established a number of institutions whose task it is to encourage production and a better use of natural resources. We feel, nevertheless, that international cooperation, in the form of financial aid and technical assistance, can be of great value in this field. My delegation will therefore continue to support, as it has done at previous sessions, the plan to set up a United Nations special fund for the purpose of extending subsidies and low-interest, long-term loans to underdeveloped countries. We shall also support the plan to set up an international finance corporation for the purpose of promoting economic development by stimulating private investment, as also the plans for technical assistance which the United Nations has been carrying out so efficiently and successfully.
153. Satisfaction of the demands for freedom of the peoples outside the Iron Curtain and effective aid to the under-developed countries are problems which can be solved without the collaboration of the representatives of communist countries; their importance should be recognized and their solution advanced during the present session of the General Assembly. In the world struggle between the communist system of oppression and the democratic system of freedom, the democracies will be victorious only to the extent to which they are able to solve their own problems. Let us perfect democracy, both internationally and inside the countries whose political systems are based on the noble postulates of peace and freedom. Let us do all in our power to enable peoples to enjoy complete freedom in directing their own destinies and choosing their own governments. Let us endeavour to prevent a state of affairs where peoples are ruled by foreign governments or dominated by governments which, although made up of their own nationals, do not represent the true will of the people.
154. When the democracies, without neglecting their basic problem of preventing, and preparing to defend themselves against, totalitarian aggression, have succeeded in solving their own problems, when human freedom and political freedom are a reality in all the countries of the Western bloc, when there are no oppressed peoples in the world except those living under communist dictatorship, the democracies will be able to look to the future without misgivings, since their unity, based on reason and justice, will be indestructible. They will then be able to count, not only on their own peoples and resources, but also on the support and sympathy of peoples who are still called neutral and of those behind the Iron Curtain. The peoples who are neutral today and the peoples suffering under communist oppression and exploitation will be the best allies of the democratic world, if democracy shows itself to be what it really is — a political system of social justice, welfare, improvement and progress, bathed in the warm rays of human freedom and self- determination. Let us perfect democracy and we may look to the future with confidence.