129. My delegation, my Government and my country take particular pleasure in welcoming the well-deserved election of His Excellency Mr. Fanfani as President of the Assembly, because of his outstanding personal qualifications and the close ties of friendship that have always linked Colombia and Italy. We address to him the enthusiastic congratulations of a nation proud of the Latin origin of its civilization, of a people that numbers among its greatest intellectual figures the most brilliant translator of Virgil, of a country which deeply admires modern Italy and cherishes the Spanish language which is fortunate to have so worthy a representative occupying the chair at today's meeting.
130. This hall still echoes with the august words of the Roman Pontiff, which are destined to be a lasting inspiration to us in our pursuit of the ideals of the Charter. His moral standing immeasurably enhances his appeal, which, for our purposes, is, of course, much more important than any sizable military or financial support. Our Organization has been given an inspiring moral endorsement by His Holiness Pope Paul VI, whose recent address in this Assembly provides wise guidance for the solution of the problems that beset mankind today.
131. This session could have no better augury than the visit of His Holiness. The work which has begun with this general debate is particularly in need of the blessings of fortune, for our agenda is full of items requiring solutions that are both difficult and urgent.
132. Another hopeful sign has been the cease-fire between India and Pakistan achieved by the United Nations, whereby those two admirable countries have demonstrated in exemplary fashion their respect for the United Nations. Their attitude should be matched by all other Members in a determined effort to find formulas that will put an end to the Kashmir conflict once and for all.
133. We also have the good fortune to begin our work by deciding on the admission of three new Members — the Gambia, the Maldive Islands and Singapore — to whose delegations I am happy to extend our warmest congratulations.
134. My country, whose statement in the general debate at the nineteenth session [1302nd meeting] was devoted to emphasizing the urgent need for the Assembly to carry out the recommendations of the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development concerning the establishment of that Conference as an organ of the General Assembly, welcomes with satisfaction and a certain pride the establishment of that organ [resolution 1995 (XIX)] as one of the most important achievements of the United Nations in all the twenty years of its existence. It does not therefore, share the opinion of those who think that that session was less fruitful than other previous sessions, in which no step of comparable significance was taken. Nevertheless, my delegation is not unaware that, whatever judgment the nineteenth session truly deserves, it is now imperative — if the Assembly is to recover its prestige — that our discussions should lead to constructive and far-reaching understandings on at least some of the main items to be considered.
135. Two schools of thought, each of them covering a wide range of nuances, will probably vie with each other for control of the Assembly. Throughout the history of the United Nations the currents of opinion have split into these two general trends more consistently and more significantly than into other classifications, such as East and West, and industrial and developing countries.
136. According to one of these schools of thought, the Assembly is principally and almost exclusively a debating society, and the mere successful the United Nations is in preserving the status quo, the better it will have achieved its purposes. It gives special priority to national sovereignty and tends to place a restrictive interpretation upon the Charter and the other relevant statutes so far as the activities of the different organs are concerned. Consequently, it attaches particular importance to financial matters, in which its budgetary conservatism becomes an insurmountable barrier to the expansion of programmes that are frequently suspect in its eyes.
137. For the second school of thought, on the other hand, the Assembly is the organ that should actively promote the continuous and necessary expansion of co-operation among Member States, precisely because it is a forum of world opinion. National sovereignty and budgetary restraint are, according to this interpretation, less important than the seriousness of world imbalances.
138. Although the not inconsiderable frustrations suffered -by the United Nations cannot necessarily be attributed to the first school of thought, it is clear that the achievements of which it can be proud derive from the second. In so far as the second school of
thought has prevailed, the United Nations has advanced. Every step taken with regard to decolonization, human rights and economic co-operation can be attributed to its influence.
139. In the same way, the enormous task facing the United Nations requires that that school of thought should remain in firm control. Disarmament, the final elimination of colonialism, the necessary victories in the field of human rights and progress in economic co-operation demand a strong uninhibited United Nations, an Organization with a truly dynamic sense of its mission, prepared to interpret its mandate liberally and aware of the kind of world leadership that it is called upon to provide in the future.
140. Colombia has always sided in the United Nations with those who base their position on this general criterion, and will continue at the present session to remain faithful to the commitment imposed by that tradition. It has upheld that criterion ever since its representative at San Francisco, Mr. Alberto Lleras, a former President of the Republic, stood almost alone in opposing the veto, ever since another Colombian, Mr. Eduardo Zuleta Angel, in his capacity as provisional President of the first session of the General Assembly, defined the role of the Assembly, and ever since its representative at that first session, another former President of the Republic, Mr. Alfonso Lopez, predicted among other things that the United Nations is an organism which, as events develop, will take shape and assume functions beyond the anticipations of the Charter.
141. The duty to maintain international peace and security, which is one of the primary purposes and principles of the United Nations, is incumbent upon the Organization as a whole as well as on each of its Member States and all the groups of States associated together under regional agreements.
142. From the point of view of the United Nations, the regional organizations are instruments for decentralized collective security action. However, they cannot effectively solve the legal, economic and political problems which occur among their members, or further the co-operation within their geographical regions that would benefit them all, if they do not have adequate means of maintaining in the regions concerned an atmosphere of confidence and of justice based on the law that alone can enable them to make immediate use of their own resources for the peaceful settlement of disputes and for the prevention and suppression of acts jeopardizing security of their members, whether such acts originated in their own regions or outside them.
143. Inasmuch as the Charter of the United Nations gives first place to the inherent rights of States to individual or collective self-defence, it is only being consistent when it attributes to the regional arrangements in Chapter VIII the function of collective security in their respective regional spheres as laid down in the relevant treaties.
144. As regards collective security, powers conferred under regional arrangements do not affect nor have any reason to affect the corresponding powers of the Security Council. On the contrary, under the Charter of the United Nations itself, they are accessory to and compatible with the powers of the Security Council. The Security Council itself has repeatedly and authoritatively interpreted the provisions of the Charter and of the corresponding regional agreements in the sense that the latter may apply all the procedures laid down therein to the limit, as is stated in article 2 of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance. The only measures subject to the approval of the Security Council are the enforcement measures mentioned in Article 53 of the Charter, measures designed to restrain or subdue, which are altogether different and far removed from those intended to dissociate or separate. No restrictions or conditions can be placed upon the right of a group of States, duly associated and bound reciprocally to respect each other's sovereignty — a right which individually they cannot be denied — to keep their distance from a threat to the peace or to disassociate themselves from centres of unrest that threaten international security by preaching and practising violence, subversive infiltration and intervention.
145. My delegation believes that it is appropriate to stress in this respect the need for a vigorous reaffirmation of the principle of non-intervention, which is the cornerstone of respect for the personality of States and an essential element of peaceful international coexistence. Repudiation of this principle is incompatible with the very existence of international organizations which were established by sovereign States and which would have no basis for existing if that principle were abandoned. In the light of elementary political considerations and in view of the legal basis on which the international community must be founded, nothing can justify the intervention of one State in the domestic or external affairs of another: not even the threat of intervention from another source, since the second would be justified a posteriori by the first.
146. The satisfaction with which we all participated in the decision of 1 September 1965 that enabled the work of the Assembly to proceed normally cannot, of course, blind us to the fact that there is no agreement whatsoever on the substantive aspects of the problem raised by peace-keeping operations. It is logical, therefore, that we should give special, priority to consideration of that problem and that we should all endeavour to prepare the ground for a substantive solution. In our opinion, such an agreement could in no circumstances detract from our recognition of the Assembly's powers in the matter of international security contained in resolution 377 (V), entitled "Uniting for Peace". At the same time, without excluding other possible procedures, we have no hesitation in supporting the proposal of Brazil [1334th meeting, para. 11] concerning the adoption of a new chapter of the Charter dealing with this type of operation, since a matter of such importance deserves such special treatment.
147. Disarmament, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the suspension of nuclear tests are, of course, our main concern. As in the Disarmament Commission, my delegation will support the convening of a world disarmament conference, since, while acknowledging that agreements on disarmament desired by all the peoples of the world could be worked out in the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament, it considers that such a conference would give full play to a factor that might be decisive: the weight of world opinion.
148. Colombia is participating with particular interest in regional efforts to establish a denuclearized zone. The two sessions already held by the Preparatory Commission for the Denuclearization of Latin America represent the beginning of an undertaking whose importance cannot be over-emphasized and one which, as it progresses, is bound to be confronted by formidable obstacles, among them the difficulty of delimiting the proposed zone — as the problems relating to Cuba, Puerto Rico and the French and British possessions are so discreetly referred to — and the difficulty of obtaining the necessary guarantees from the nuclear Powers.
149. My country, of course, views the delay in concluding agreements to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons with the greatest alarm and hopes that progress in this direction will be achieved at the current session. The atomic threat, which has been so seriously increased by the addition to the group of nuclear Powers of a regime which has persistently demonstrated its scorn for peace and which makes war its most valued banner, is growing while international action to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons is lagging behind.
150. For the basic principles of the Charter to be properly fulfilled steady progress must be made to promote respect for human rights. For this reason, my delegation will support the timely proposal submitted by Costa Rica [1342nd meeting, para. 53], on the creation of the post of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [A/5963].
151. The items allocated to the Second Committee are among the most important on our agenda. At a time when there is an urgent need to forge ahead in fields such as those I have mentioned, it is also absolutely necessary to make progress in the crucial matter of co-operation for development; both a hasty glance at the relevant economic indicators and the most comprehensive analysis of those indicators lead to the conclusion that the United Nations is very far from meeting its responsibilities in this respect.
152. All of us, even the most steadfast advocates of the present international economic order, agreed some time ago that the target of an annual growth rate of 5 per cent set by the Assembly for the
Development Decade was modest rather than ambitious, since it is only very slightly higher than the rate achieved in the previous decade. However, as indicated in Economic and Social Council resolution 1089 (XXXIX), based on the reports of the Secretariat, the rate of growth of the national income of most developing countries has been, for the first half of the current decade, considerably lower than that modest target.
153. It is well known that, in accordance with the recommendation contained in the Final Act of the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, each developed country should supply financial resources to the developing countries in the form of investments, loans and grants, of a net amount approaching as nearly as possible to 1 per cent of its national income. Although that recommendation, which was rather revolutionary, was adopted without opposition and with few abstentions, the efforts to promote its implementation have not been very striking; on the contrary, there have been signs of a backward trend. One telling example will suffice: the annual appropriations approved by the United States House of Representatives for that country's foreign aid programmes are, compared with its national income, among the lowest ever approved for such programmes.
154. Similarly, little attention has been paid to the final recommendations of the Conference on Trade and Development concerning better terms for commodities, recommendations which are generally designed to increase the export income of the developing countries. Both the members of the European Economic Community and the other developed countries are completely disregarding the Final Act of the Conference. In that connexion, I should like to draw the Assembly's attention to resolution 252 (XI), adopted by the Economic Commission for Latin America at its eleventh session, on the proposal of Colombia, which recommended that special priority should be given to urgent efforts to eliminate all discriminatory treatment in trade affecting the exports of the Latin American countries in accordance with the relevant recommendation of the Conference. The agreement reached at that Conference on this delicate matter could not be put into writing without encouraging to an unforeseeable extent movements favouring the establishment of hemispheric preferences which have already gained considerable impetus both in Latin America and in the United States.
155. The setting up of a specialized agency for industrial development within the United Nations family was first proposed by Colombia and a few other countries. After a long-drawn-out process in which the opposition of the developed countries led to one report after the other, one group of experts after the other and identical resolutions, one after the other in a different body, the proposal was adopted at Geneva by the Group of Seventy-Seven and is recommended in the Final Act of the
Conference. Finally, at its recent session, the Economic and Social Council, basing itself on yet another Secretariat study — and we hope this one will be the last — once again endorsed it and requested that the final decision should be taken by the Assembly at the current session. There is, however, little reason to be optimistic about the position of the developed market-economy countries on the matter. In any case, their support for this proposal which is so dear to the hearts of the Group of Seventy-Seven, or their rejection of it, will be eloquent testimony of their general attitude to the problem par excellence of two-thirds of the people of the world.
156. The indifference of the developed countries to the recommendations adopted by the Conference on Trade and Development and, in general, to their responsibilities to the developing countries forces the latter to close their ranks, to safeguard their unity whatever the cost and to defend their basic tenets even more stubbornly. The formation of the Group of Seventy-Seven has been considered potentially one of the most significant events of this period of history, since together, the developing countries will thus carry the negotiating weight of a super-Power. Such possibilities, which are dependent on the strict maintenance of the union, will be put to the test during this session, although the transformation of world trade into an effective instrument for development is a programme which will continue to be a matter of concern to the low-income countries for the rest of this century.
157. Since it is convinced that the future of such countries is linked to the strengthening of the Group of Seventy-Seven, my country is particularly interested in the proposal, put forward on 23 September in this hall [1334th meeting] by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Senegal, on the convening of a conference of those countries.
158. Particular attention should be given to item 96 of the agenda of the General Assembly entitled "Review and reappraisal of the role and functions of the Economic and Social Council", since it is advisable, in the light of the new international trade machinery now established, to consider the courses of action and opportunities open to that body which has been responsible for such important achievements as the regional economic commissions and the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. My delegation considers that retention of the important powers given to the Council by the Charter is in no way incompatible with recognition of the powers of the Trade and Development Board and that the functions of each are mutually complementary. It is also clear that the increase in its membership, which fortunately was effected by an appropriate amendment of the Charter [resolution 1991 B (XVIII)], will greatly enhance the authority of the Council and make the new phase of its work all the easier.
159. On the regional level, the main thing is, certainly, to forge ahead despite all disappointments with the Alliance for Progress which, if the letter and the spirit of Punta del Este is adhered to, is an irreplaceable programme of co-operation, and also to work together to promote integration. In accordance with a decision taken by the Economic Commission for Latin America, a large amount of the necessary technical work has been begun at the headquarters of that Commission for the purpose of reaching urgently needed agreements for strengthening the machinery to promote progressive integration. My Government, no doubt, like those of other countries in the region, attaches particular importance to that work and is prepared to participate in any new commitments which may seem desirable in the light of the conclusions reached, so that the artificial frontiers which separate our great fatherland may be gradually removed.
160. These are some of the views which will guide my delegation when it considers our agenda. All these views, and the views which it will express in the various committees, are all based on one solid premise: Colombia's enthusiastic support of the United Nations and its constant loyalty to the cause of our Organization which represents the best hopes of mankind.