At a time when Paris is celebrating the bi-millenary of its foundation, fate has ordained that the United Nations should hold its sixth session in this bright and everlasting city, thus paying tribute to immortal France of heroic tradition, which is an inexhaustible source of culture and freedom, and where the purest expressions of the mind and spirit are forever established.
63. Greetings to France on behalf of Nicaragua. Our countries have always been closely linked together, and even more closely since the time of our immortal Rubén Dario, who extolled France in verse with the best of his gifted inspiration and with love and devotion for her finest sons.
64. Greetings to President Auriol and to his renowned colleagues of the Government. We who come from America are more impressed each time by the indestructible ties which have bound us and which will always bind us to this noble country, the cradle of the glorious Revolution of the eighteenth century, the city where the Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed.
65. A few months ago the Foreign Ministers of the American States, who held their Fourth Meeting of Consultation in Washington, heard the eloquent words of President Auriol. Moved by affection and admiration for France as the parent of culture and freedom, and inspired by the traditional links which strengthen our common civilization of Graeco-Latin origin, we heard our eminent guest state that a powerful force unites us beyond frontiers and oceans: liberty; that a common need was our driving force: prosperity; and that a common will inspired us: peace.
66. Our enthusiasm however, knew no bounds, when President Auriol said: “Your continent continues to be for us what it was for Columbus through the tempests and moments of doubt, what it was for its pioneers and liberators, what it is today for the entire free world: hope.”
67. France and the rest of the world can be sure that our America, as an eminent Argentinian said, stands for humanity. And we Americans who truly love peace and who seek universal harmony believe that the prophetic words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt are already being fulfilled, when he spoke of America’s faith in and ardent desire for world peace and our ability to extend that faith, as a firm hope to our brothers beyond the seas.
68. The love of peace of the American peoples — who, conduct their external affairs along the lines of their regional system — is inspired by the sincere wish of all to respect the rights of others and to order their lives in conformity with the principles of law and international morality.
69. We come to this session after crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Mare Nostrum of those Americans and Europeans with whom we wish to live in peace and spiritual harmony. We arrived on these European shores at a time when world peace was going through its most critical period. The anxious eyes of all mankind are fixed on the discussions in, the Palais de Chaillot. In many ways it would seem that we are nearer to peace than when we held our 1948 session under the same roof. In many other ways we feel we have come closer to war. The hope of men who do not wish a third world conflagration, because they know the horrors and have personal experience of the tragedies of the two wars we have suffered in our generation, reside in the belief that the great Powers must come to an understanding based on respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter in order to foster reconciliation and restore international goodwill.
70. The ways to final international peace are beset with various obstacles, but we are convinced that, with patience, goodwill and that stubborn perseverance we have shown in previous years, and with the experience we have gained, we shall be in a better position to attain our main objectives and to fulfil the obligations and responsibilities we have undertaken towards the peoples of the world when we agreed to represent them at these supremely important discussions.
71. With the rebirth of international harmony, the human race will be able to devote its best efforts in tranquillity to implementing moral and legal principles, to improving the collective concept of the individual freedoms and to seeking a satisfactory solution for all problems and disputes by the peaceful methods indicated by international law.
72. The Nicaraguan delegation attends this session of the General Assembly with the keenest desire to co-operate; and we feel bound to repeat that we are ready, as we have been for the last six years since our Organization was established at San Francisco, to extend our enthusiastic support to every project designed to strengthen the possibilities of a stable and lasting peace.
73. Our country, amid so many tribulations and so many and anxious expectations, takes a certain pride in the peaceful and constant contribution it has made at the various meetings of the General Assembly and in all the bodies where its co-operation has been requested. Inspired by that consideration we supported at the last session, with all our faith and enthusiasm, the “Uniting for peace” resolution [377 (V)] of 3 November 1950, submitted to the General Assembly by the eminent Secretary of State of the United States of America, the Honourable Dean Acheson.
74. This memorable resolution, which contains practical provisions of incalculable value, brings hope to all those who, desiring the success of our system of collective security, were discouraged to see the Security Council and the entire machinery of the Organization almost paralysed and subject to the inexorable and obstructionist will of Article 27 of the Charter.
75. Under this resolution the General Assembly — which is undoubtedly the most representative and democratic organ of the United Nations — assumes functions which it should logically exercise in order to maintain the peace of the world and, as the Charter says, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind”. If the Security Council is paralysed by the abuse of the veto, the General Assembly can take action at an emergency session and recommend the measures it considers appropriate for the establishment of order and the maintenance of international peace and security.
76. We are glad to have co-operated in every way in the approval of that most important resolution. The Peace Observation Commission and the Collective Measures Committee are to provide the services indicated in their terms of reference, and the free nations of the world who wish to maintain peace and put an end to aggression will place their armed forces at the disposal of the United Nations, as they have done in Korea, so that those who violate the rights of other peoples may learn that the universal system already has sufficient force to keep the world under the rule of law and justice. We shall not forget the historic words of Secretary of State Acheson when he said in New York [279th plenary meeting]: “ ...if the Security Council is not able to act because of the obstructive tactics of a permanent member, the Charter does not leave the United Nations impotent... The Charter... also vests in the General Assembly authority and responsibility for matters affecting international peace. The General Assembly can and should organize itself to discharge its responsibility promptly and decisively if the Security Council is prevented from acting”.
77. The American Republics, at their fourth meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, repeated their conviction that “ the strengthening of the action of the United Nations is the most effective way to maintain the peace, security, and well-being of the peoples of the world under the rule of law, justice, and international co-operation”.
78. And in approving their second resolution the Foreign Ministers declared as their firm intention “that each of the American Republics immediately examine its resources and determine what steps it can take to contribute to the defense of the Continent and to United Nations collective security efforts, in order to accomplish the aims and purposes of the ‘Uniting for Peace’ resolution of the General Assembly ”.
79. Thus the American continent, meeting in the Pan American Union’s Salon de las Americas, expressed its solidarity of action through its most authoritative spokesmen on foreign policy when it endorsed the resolution which has made it possible for the General Assembly to obtain new powers that will put an end to the vetoes and obstructionist tactics used in the Security Council under cover of Article 27 of the Charter.
50. I have mentioned Korea. When hostilities broke out — immediately subsequent to the resolutions of the Security Council — as a result of the flagrant aggression of those who avail themselves of whatever means to satisfy their absurd ambitions of conquest — many feared that the flame of a third world war might be set alight in those areas.
51. Today, when there is less likelihood that that will happen, we feel, cheered by the repeated victories and the magnificent bearing of the brave soldiers fighting under the flag of the United Nations, that it was on the battlefields of the Korean peninsula that the military machinery of our system was successfully applied and that the aggressive action of unscrupulous imperialists was paralysed. Let me express on this occasion our admiration for the noble conduct of the valiant soldiers of various nationalities who are courageously fighting to defend the peace of the world.
82. My delegation’s views on the various proposals connected with the items on the agenda will be presented in due course, in the Committees and plenary meetings of the General Assembly.
83. I should like, however, to take advantage of your patience in order briefly to explain our opinion and clarify at this time our position with regard to the joint proposal on disarmament submitted by France, the United States of America and the United Kingdom [AI1943].
84. My delegation is prepared to support that proposal. In addition to disarmament being universal and general, the surest means must be sought to enable the United Nations to guarantee the most complete control over the future production of war materials. Similarly, we have also decided to support the United Nations plan for the control of atomic energy.
85. If we achieve a reduction of armaments based on good faith, or if we even lay the foundation for an agreement at an early date, we may consider that we have saved the future of humanity, and we should see with great satisfaction the disappearance of the present state of armed peace and its replacement by what Aristide Briand, the well-remembered French statesman, had in mind when he aspired to “found the peace of the world on a legal order”.
86. The world would then appreciate the truth of what President Truman said when he informed the people of the United States of the submission of the joint proposal of France, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. President Truman stated: “New hope and opportunities would be given everywhere for better conditions of life. There would be greater freedom — greater production — greater enjoyment — of the fruits of peaceful industry. Through the United Nations we could wage the only kind of war we seek: the war against want and human misery”.
87. The future of the world rests with the deliberations in the Palais de Chaillot. If during this session of the General Assembly an agreement is reached on the vital question of the reduction of armaments, or some other agreement of a similar kind, we are sure that just as the third session which met in Paris in 1948 is called the “ Human Rights Assembly ”, so the sixth session will be known, with the assent of all humanity, as the “ Assembly of Universal Reconciliation ”.
88. May God inspire our minds and enable us to achieve such vital aims in the discussions in the august Palais de Chaillot, so that tomorrow, free from the fear of a new conflict, we can dedicate all the constructive forces of good to the perfecting of our international machinery, so as to encourage our fraternal association, strengthen the freedom of the individual and promote the social and economic progress of all the peoples of the earth.