40. I am grateful to you, Mr. President, for the opportunity afforded me to make the position of my country clear on the major issues now being agitated in this Assembly. Some of these issues are much older than our Assembly Hall. Some will, no doubt, continue to perplex mankind long after the voices of all of us present here cease to be heard in any part of the world.
41. Whatever the outcome of any single issue may be in the future, however, it will, I think, be generally agreed that all of us are bound here and now by the same obligation to strive, even to the limits of our strength, to resolve the issues which at the present time vex and bedevil the world. The obligation is equally binding on us, wealthy and poor, large and small. As one writer has recently put it: "We have become irrevocably involved with and responsible for each other." That you, Mr. President, are the first with your political affiliations to hold this office Is recognition of this interdependence, apart from your notable personal qualities attested to by everyone who knows you well. I congratulate you on your appointment and feel sure that your term of office will be a successful one.
42. I also wish to express the satisfaction of my country that, in the difficult events of 1967, this Organization was able to retain the wisdom, experience and high character of the Secretary-General U Thant.
43. It is in recognition of our own inescapable involvement that Trinidad and Tobago has, since our independence, adhered firmly to the principles of the United Nations Charter. Within the framework of the Charter we have sought to collaborate with all nations and especially with those having similar historical antecedents or social and economic experience. In particular, we have worked closely with our colleagues in Latin America and the Caribbean who are in geographical proximity to us. As a further development in regional collaboration, this year we sought and gained admission to the Organization of American States.
44. We do not accept that regional collaboration is inconsistent with national self-determination. In fact, we are convinced that national self-determination can often be most effectively pursued within the framework of regional groupings. We are firmly of the view that it is through such associations that small nations are afforded the best opportunity to contribute to the solution of the world's problems and their own.
45. Permit me now against this background to make reference to the Middle East. This subject has engaged the attention of the Assembly for the past two decades, but this year it has achieved a greater dominance than ever before. Throughout the most dangerous period of the crisis, our Permanent Representative, who also had the honour to be President of the Latin American Group, played a very active part. We adhered firmly to the stand of the Latin American Group, which sought to find a balanced solution based on the Charter provisions prohibiting the threat or use of force in the settlement of international disputes.
46. The problems of the Middle East remain unresolved. However, there have been continuing efforts during the last two months to find solutions to these problems. While the issues are still unsettled, it is, in our view, of considerable importance that attitudes do not become inflexible. We understand the strong emotions involved in this conflict. Accordingly, we welcomed the indications emerging out of the Khartoum Arab Summit Conference, held from 29 August to 1 September, that there might be some progress towards the end of the state of belligerency in the area.
47. In our view this is crucial to any resolution of the conflict. Similarly, there must be a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area occupied as a result of the fighting in June. We can in no circumstances accept that there is in the twentieth century a right to territorial aggrandizement by means of war. Acceptance of any such right would endanger the existence of all small States.
48. Accordingly, we stand by the proposals put forward by the Latin American group as still the most realistic basis on which the conflict might be resolved. Nevertheless, it is incumbent on me to say that the proposals put forward some time ago by President Tito of Yugoslavia do represent a definite step forward from the resolution of the non-aligned States put forward at the fifth emergency special session. In particular my delegation feels that the proposal enabling free passage for all ships through the Strait of Tiran would remove a substantial source of tension in the area.
49. We are particularly concerned about the humanitarian issues arising from the conflict. Human suffering must never be a matter of indifference, and the refugee problem should be approached with a much greater sense of urgency. We underline still further the importance of this matter against the background of the decision of this Assembly to designate 1968 as International Year for Human Rights [resolution 2217 (XXI)].
50. If the mutual goodwill of the peoples in the area is not an immediate possibility, then at least let there be a cessation of belligerency and let there be a search for peace among the statesmen of the area in the spirit of the Charter to which we subscribe. As the late Ambassador Stevenson once wisely observed:
"Many of the really hard problems in international relations may never be solved at all. The conflict between Moslem and Christian which dominated world politics for some 300 years was never resolved…So with the Thirty Years' War which started as a conflict between two ideologies, Protestant and Catholic.
"The underlying issues were never settled be cause they were logically irreconcilable; but they did cease to preoccupy the minds of men.
"Before that war finally petered out, curiously enough, a Catholic, Cardinal Richelieu, was organizing the Protestant League and a Protestant General was leading the armies of the Holy Roman Empire."
51. I turn now to another issue’ in which we of Trinidad and Tobago have sought to collaborate with our neighbours to achieve a satisfactory solution to one of the problems engaging the attention of this Organization at another level. Permit me to refer now to political and constitutional developments in the Caribbean area.
52. We have for a long time enjoyed social, cultural and economic ties with our neighbours in the Caribbean and we have, to a large extent, experienced parallel political and constitutional development. These affinities existed before any of the formerly British Territories in the area became independent and, with appropriate modifications, our relations have prospered subsequent to the achievement of independence.
53. The success of our relations with the other independent Caribbean States is based upon mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial inviolability. As regards the non-independent Territories, our relations with them evolved out of the practical necessities and peculiar conditions of the area. We have scrupulously refrained from any interference whatever in their domestic politics. On the other hand, we have sought to collaborate with them in the pursuit of our regional interests in so far as these interests are common and to the extent that they are not incompatible with any of the commitments, obligations or alliances which individual Caribbean States may have developed in the exercise of their sovereign discretion. We have interests in the area and we are genuinely concerned about it.
54. It is with anxiety and anguish, therefore, that we have observed the development of the situation in respect of Anguilla — a matter which is engaging the attention of this Organization at another level. The Caribbean region, for historical and other reasons, is characterized by considerable fragmentation and constitutes an area of weakness which can be exposed to dark and dubious influences. We are seriously concerned that those speaking on behalf of the area should also speak In the interest of the area. And we are anxious that political solutions be sought not in the abstract but in relation to the realities of the region and the fundamental interests and aspirations of the people who inhabit that part of the world.
55. It must be recognized as a fact that excessive fragmentation can restrict and even nullify the power of self-determination. In recognition of this fact and bearing in mind the interests of the region as a whole, Trinidad and Tobago has, at the invitation of the British Government and the Government of St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla, and in collaboration with other independent countries of the Caribbean, sought to assist in finding a satisfactory solution to the issue of Anguilla.
56. Here let me say at once that we maintain — though this is contested — that ultimate responsibility for the administration of the Territory resides in the United Kingdom, which at the least admits constitutional responsibility for the Territory's external affairs. We agreed to assist only with the concurrence and at the request of the United Kingdom Government; and it was signified to us that this was the wish of all the parties concerned.
57. We noted that the demand of the separatist movement in Anguilla was originally for new constitutional and economic arrangements within the framework of the continuing responsibility of the United Kingdom. Having regard especially to the fact that some of the grievances of the Anguillans stem indisputably from the deficiencies of the previous colonial administration, we cannot support any attempt by the United Kingdom to wash its hands of and withdraw from the confusion created under its umbrella.
58. Our agreement to assist in the solution of the issue still subsists. We believe that a solution can be found which gives expression to the legitimate aspirations of the Anguillans and which does not further the process of excessive fragmentation and accentuate the weakness of the area and its exposure to questionable external influences.
59. The key to the situation remains a recognition of its responsibilities to the area by the United Kingdom, a signatory to the Charter, a Member of the Organization, and a guardian of its disassociated associated State.
60. I turn now to the matter of peace-keeping, which to many people represents the essential function of the United Nations, The prestige of this Organization, to a large extent, rises and falls with its successes and failures in this field. Those whose wish it is to propagate mischief against the Organization seize eagerly upon its shortcomings in the peace-keeping role. Whatever their motives may be, however, we cannot deny an element of reason in their attacks. If the United Nations must finally admit defeat as keeper of the world's peace this will be, in effect, an admission by our civilization that its continuance cannot be guaranteed having regard to the terrible weapons of destruction now at man’s command.
61. Moreover, the hopes of all of us who see in peaceful coexistence a framework for the reconciliation of conflicting ideological and national interests, will be dimmed and our efforts will be gravely discouraged If we see here in the United Nations, which should be the principal region of international cooperation, a continuing inability to resolve differences of opinion regarding so central a function as the peace-keeping role.
62. It is against the background of those observations that I offer a brief comment on the present situation in respect of peace-keeping operations. We do not oppose the request that the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations should be allowed to continue in being. We do suggest, however, that thought should be given to other possible approaches, lest prolongation of the Committee’s existence should turn into a ritual which can be an admission of failure. The danger we apprehend is that there will be an unwritten agreement among Member States that no further measures will be taken while the Committee is in being and before it resolves the basic disagreements within its membership. Could not some concrete advance be made in the voluntary provision of facilities, services and personnel while we await more general agreement?
63. We trust that the three aspects of the financial issue have now been sufficiently identified so that no one aspect will hinder the proper treatment of another. We urge, as a matter of separate distinctive and immediate concern, that the Organization be relieved of at least part of its continuing financial handicap.
64. Permit me now to refer to a few areas of tension which, while not in geographical proximity to Trinidad and Tobago, continue to attract our deep concern, either because of issues of principle or from humanitarian considerations. These areas, in our view, pose an ever-present threat to the peace of the world.
65. I refer first of all to Southern Rhodesia. Ever since the rebellious group of racists seized power in Southern Rhodesia we have maintained and continue to maintain that such constitutional violation for such iniquitous purposes and in defiance of world opinion should be resisted, and that the power of the Administering Authority should be used to defeat the rebels and ensure the orderly progress of the country to majority rule.
66. Instead, a programme of sanctions was embarked upon which, as we cautioned would be the case from the very start, has been restricted in its scope and limited in its effect. The result is that the illegal racist régime in Southern Rhodesia still stands as a source of continual irritation on the African continent, and in the world outside, a triumph of constitutional violation, a symbol of racial arrogance, a cancerous growth in the body politic of Africa, disseminating the poison of racial intolerance in Africa and throughout the world.
67. Let no one underestimate the potentially injurious effects of such areas of pollution on all mankind. Already it is clear that the régime is in receipt of aid and comfort from the principal source of racist infection — South Africa, This is all the more portentous, as South Africa is itself in a posture of defiance against this Organization in respect of the Territory of South West Africa, and in all its deeds and its defiance South Africa is supported by Portugal, Every such example of the refusal or the incapacity of the nations to act is ammunition in the hands of those who advocate that force, not principle is the final arbiter and that violence is the most reliable means of redress.
68. I turn now to the conflict in Viet-Nam — a source of unbelievable distress to the people of that unhappy land and agony to the civilized conscience of mankind. We do not believe in the desert as a symbol of peace, nor do we believe that the destruction of a people can be in their interest or in the interest of anyone. Viet- Nam has been a theatre of war continuously for over twenty years. Within recent times the war has assumed the proportions of a major conflict and contains the seeds of general conflagration. My delegation urges the intensification of efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Viet-Nam, followed by negotiations among the parties to the conflict. We would support any reasonable initiative towards this end.
69. I cannot end this brief review of areas of tension over which my delegation is particularly concerned without reference to those States which indiscriminately seek by force to impose a pattern of government and of society on peoples outside of their borders. I refer particularly to the activities of the Government of Cuba in the Western Hemisphere. I say to the representatives of the Government of Cuba: unwarranted intervention in the affairs of other States cannot but Justify intervention in your own. Exporting revolution, be it remembered, is a two-edged sword.
70. Permit me now to turn to what my delegation considers to be the more positive aspects of the work of the United Nations. Representatives will remember the high hopes with which we inaugurated the United Nations Development Decade, designed principally to accelerate the pace of economic advance in the poorer countries and to arrest the growth of the gap in living standards of peoples in different parts of the world.
71. It now appears that, by a process of cumulative causation, we are in a relatively worse situation than we were at the commencement of the Decade. In trade liberalization, in aid, in capital flows, the picture for the poorer countries, generally speaking, is one of gloom.
72. While there have been considerable and noteworthy efforts in some of these fields, other developments have offset advances gained in an almost inexorable process. It appears that we are now in need of a total review of the strategy of development. My delegation is not of the view, however, that objectives must necessarily change. What seems to be required is a more intensive study and a more general awareness of cause and effect.
73. We are aware that in different ways some kind of review has been taking place. However, as a result of the resistance often encountered in the field of action, and the resulting slow rate of progress, there has, as a matter of strategy, been a tendency to concentrate on a single issue at one time. Experience has shown, however, that progress in one field is often accompanied by retrogression in another, and even where there is advance in a number of fields, but at too widely varying rates, the desired results will not be achieved.
74. Hence, we have been considerably heartened by the resolution of the General Assembly [2188 (XXI)] authorizing a general review of the programmes and activities in the economic, social, technical co-operation and related fields of the United Nations, the specialized agencies, the IAEA, the UNICEF, and all other Institutions and agencies related to the United Nations system. It must be admitted, however, that pending the outcome of this review, there will be no real alternative to an unsatisfactory piecemeal approach. In this setting, we urge that the major priorities should be UNIDO and UNCTAD.
75. On behalf of my delegation, I wish to express strong support for a general system of preferences. However, I wish equally strongly to emphasize the need, within such a system, for adequate accommodation of the special interests of countries which depend on the present limited preferences for their economic and political stability, Trinidad and Tobago, like many other countries, has only recently emerged into Independence. We are just five years old. Our economic system, like others, has been shaped over several centuries of Imperial rule and it would be unreasonable to expect the necessary structural changes to be achieved overnight. What is necessary is arrangements that will permit the structural transformation to proceed, even if they be of a transitional nature.
76. We anxiously look forward to proposals arising from the second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to eliminate the more adverse features of the experience of the poorer countries in respect of world trade. In this respect we stand firmly by the side of the Latin American countries and others of the Group of Seventy-Seven.
77. The extent to which the world environment has become hostile to economic progress in developing countries and the possible political and social consequences in these countries should not be underrated. Peoples all over the world are becoming increasingly aware of the great strides made in the scientific and technological fields. They are becoming more and more convinced that with the knowledge, instruments and resources available to man, his failure to control his economic, political and social environment no longer arises from Incapacity, but from a lack of will. There are signs among our younger generation of a growing crisis of confidence in our civilization; there are manifestations of disillusionment, unrest and alienation. The vision that can take us to the moon must surely be capable of new levels of political, economic and social cooperation.
78. It is these new levels of co-operation that we seek above all, here in the United Nations and in all the councils and assemblies which debate the great issues of our time. The new levels of co-operation must reflect the total involvement of all of us in an age when science has for the first time made possible the total destruction of all of us. In this enterprise there is no alternative to success. For the basic issue is the greatest that mankind has ever faced: it is life here on earth.