2. On behalf of my delegation and the people of my country, may I extend to you, Mr. President, my congratulations upon the distinction bestowed upon you. In our world, to earn the honour of being chosen President of the General Assembly of the United Nations is perhaps the highest recognition that can be conferred upon a statesman in acknowledgement of his endeavours on behalf of international peace and security. You more than merit this' distinction, Mr. President. As a parliamentarian, as a Cabinet Minister and as Prime Minister, you have fought for peace untiringly, with tenacity and talent. In your person there is represented the great nation of Italy, cradle of Latin culture, heir and herald of the Mediterranean civilization. We, the people of Brazil, treasure the memory of your recent visit with President Saragat to our land, on which occasion you were able to observe the interweaving of our two nations, as several million Iralians form part of the Brazilian people.
3. May I also pay tribute from this rostrum to our three new Members — Gambia, the Maldives Islands and Singapore — as they join the family of the United Nations. I should like to express my warmest wishes for their prosperity and complete success in their life as independent States.
4. Once again the delegation of Brazil opens the general debate. This practice represents a tradition of interest in the great debate engaged in each year by the nations of the entire world — a debate in which they seek, in the divergency of their points of view, some common ground and some fruitful understanding as a basis for the hope of harmony and accord which inspired the United Nations Charter but which, unfortunately, has so frequently been frustrated by international events. It is with the same faith we have always held in the future of the United Nations that Brazil appears today before this universal forum. We are aware of the special significance of the work we now embark upon as our Organization completes its twentieth year and is seeking to overcome perhaps the gravest crisis in its history.
5. After twenty years of activity, the United Nations finds itself confronted by a world which is perhaps as disturbed and uncertain as it was during the days of San Francisco, when the Charter was drawn up. Throughout the world, thinkers, philosophers, statesmen and scientists proclaim that civilization is in danger, that moral, spiritual and material values fashioned throughout history are menaced, and that the very survival of mankind is in jeopardy. Perhaps for the first time in history mankind really feels mortally wounded. There are those who, even more pessimistic, believe we are currently witnessing the twilight of our civilization, not by virtue of some historical process or some natural catastrophe, but by the political frustration of man, overwhelmed by the technology he himself has created. In a world in a state of trauma as the result of an ideological conflict without equal, in a world dubfounded by unprecedented economic and social problems, could it be possible that the scientific revolution, applied to the art of war, may have endowed human beings with a power greater than man's ethical structure can bear? Could it be possible that the alleged imbalance between technological and moral progress has divested man of his spiritual substance and transformed him into the fragile instrument of his own destruction?
6. Technological progress, which created thermonuclear weapons and which is pulling outer space into our world, has increased the feeling of insecurity among people and yet has not improved the living conditions of the large majority of mankind. The scientific revolution is contributing dramatically to multiplying the threats to peace and the threats to the very survival of our species. What is it that prevents nations from making the proper use of science? In my country, where the ethical and spiritual values are deeply rooted in our culture and in our history, we reject as an explanation that it is a feeling of disenchantment with, or lack of faith in, the ethical principles of life and of man, as created and consecrated by Christian and Western traditions we received through our Portuguese heritage. In our view, a political crisis is involved, a constitutional crisis of mammoth proportions: man would seem to be incapable of meeting the problems of international organization at a crucial moment in history. This seems the fundamental problem of our times, the great challenge to the statesmen of the era.
7. Unless we create a community of nations working effectively for the political and economic equality of States, for their freedom, and for the supremacy of law in their mutual relations; unless there is an international community able to assure at one and the same time fundamental liberties to the citizens of each State and equal opportunity for economic and social development to each nation; unless we proceed with the task of decolonization begun in San Francisco by democratic, and hence by exclusively peaceful means; unless we forge instruments for the prevention and punishment of international aggressions; unless we place armaments under effective international control; in a word, unless we solve the basic problem of international organization — we shall have built this House on sand. And we, this House, our people and even our future as a civilization will be inviting total destruction.
8. We should constantly bear in mind the fact that the United Nations Charter, however flexible, represents a style of political architecture that, as in the case of certain modern weapons, has been superseded by reality just when the blueprint is completed. The Charter in fact preceded the cold war and even preceded the eruption onto the political scene of a recent scientific revolution, with its important repercussions on world politics and from which fundamental phenomena of our times derive: the thermonuclear era, the space age and the full development of the Industrialized nations. The picture of the crisis is further complicated by two additional elements: first, the implementation of the Charter which accelerated the peaceful process of decolonization to a surprising tempo; secondly, the scientific revolution which multiplies wealth, and the population explosion which in a large number of non-industrialized countries multiplies poverty. On the one hand, man transforms outer space into humanity’s youngest province, while on the other, he becomes aware of his earthly poverty and realizes with anguish the uncertainties of a better future for his offspring.
9. In the context of these already grave problems, still other serious attritions and conflicts are emerging, luckily not yet so widespread as to render the threats to world peace even more ominous. Two great nations, outstanding Members of this Organization, are today still plunged in a struggle of unforeseeable consequences. On the same long-suffering and troubled continent, the Viet-Namese situation continues to represent one of the greatest dangers to the preservation of world peace. Brazil trusts that India and Pakistan will be able to find a peaceful formula for the final settlement of their controversies. And may I say that we congratulate both countries and the United Nations for the cease-fire which has already been obtained. In like manner, we dare hope that the Government of Hanoi will accept the constructive proposals made by the United States of America, as well as by the United Kingdom, the non-aligned countries and the Secretary-General, U Thant, to discuss the problems of Viet-Nam at the negotiating table, in search of a solution which would make it possible to free South-East Asia of the war which has for so many years been inflicting bitter suffering on the people of that region.
10. It is not the intention of the Brazilian delegation to sketch here the outlines for a revision of the Charter which would endow the United Nations with the instruments it needs to create the international community to which we have alluded. The task is not for one country alone, but for all of us. However, we could try to analyse, in the light of the foregoing ideas, the more important problems which face us and point out approaches that might perhaps contribute to the reformulation of our political structure.
11. One of the most serious signs of the need for a revision of the Charter is to be found in the crisis that virtually prevented the nineteenth session of the General Assembly from being held. In my view, the crisis has yet to be conclusively settled. The United Nations did not touch upon the core of the problem. The strained consensus which was arrived at constituted merely an interim plan of action; you might call it a truce. The problem is a constitutional one. The problem of the payment of the assessments for peace-keeping operations arises out of diametrically opposed interpretations of the Charter, and in matters of principle any compromise is precarious for it does not alter the substance of the divergent positions. At the last session of the General Assembly the Brazilian delegation suggested [1289th meeting], as an adequate solution for the crisis, a revision of the Charter which would take the form of a new chapter on peacekeeping operations. The efforts and discussions of the Committee on Thirty-three, as well as the provisional solution agreed upon, served but to strengthen our conviction of the urgent need for such a revision.
12. Brazil considers it essential to maintain the United Nations peace-keeping operations as one of the most useful and effective remedies for the settlement of conflicts which threaten world tranquillity. My country gave its enthusiastic support to the Suez Force, in which we have participated from the very outset with a battalion of soldiers and which is currently under the command of a Brazilian soldier. It has likewise contributed to the operations of the United Nations in she Congo and bent every effort to gain approval for the Security Council resolution [186 (1964)] which gave origin to the Cyprus operation. It never hesitated to meet the ensuing financial obligations.
13. In the regional sphere, my country made an effective contribution to the establishment of another peace-keeping operation through the Inter-American Armed Force in Santo Domingo — a subject of much controversy. The facts have proven, however, that it was a sound measure which helped to enable the Dominican people, safeguarded from civil strife, to set up a provisional Government and guide the country toward democratic normalcy and social progress. I would like to point out, apropos, that the regional systems, within the structure of the United Nations, should be understood as a deliberate effort of their members to show their firm belief in the solidarity of their common interests and in the benefits of recourse to consultation whenever controversy threatens. By their access to collaboration and consultation during international emergencies, the regional organizations represent, within the framework of the United Nations, an imperative of our era.
14. Returning to peace-keeping operations, we are rather at a loss to understand why the United Nations should neglect to write into its Charter one of its most efficient political tools. What indeed could be more apt to stabilize situations that could degenerate into conflicts and to establish conditions leading to the halting of already declared conflicts? The delay in the spelling out of the constitutional pattern to be given peace-keeping operations causes us serious apprehensions.
15. We see another motive for concern in the stalemate in the negotiations conducted by the Eighteen- Nation Committee on Disarmament in Geneva. The constant harping on problems completely unrelated to the recommendations addressed to the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament by the Disarmament Commission — actually a sad survival of cold-war issues — precluded in the course of the recent Geneva talks any further agreement leading to the reduction of international tensions. No headway was made toward extending the Moscow Treaty to underground nuclear weapon experiments, as the mediating countries — of which Brazil is one — proposed time and again in Geneva and in the Disarmament Commission. Nor has anything yet been done to solve the problem of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The nuclear club gained a new member — I might say: what a member! — and may dangerously increase in the near future with the acceleration in various countries in carrying out research programmes and programmes for nuclear production for military purposes. In spite of some suggestions and proposals that have been submitted — and your proposal, Mr. President, was very noteworthy — nothing was accomplished in Geneva to prevent this proliferation. This task requires the best efforts of all those who, without losing sight of the ultimate goal of general and complete disarmament under effective international control, fear the risks run by an international community whose survival will depend upon the fragile correlation of forces based exclusively on the nuclear balance. May the extensive exchanges of views in the debates of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament assist all Powers concerned in narrowing their differences when they again take up negotiations on disarmament.
16. In the regional sphere, however, note should be taken of the efforts of the Latin American countries to transform the area into a nuclear-free zone. General Assembly resolution 1911 (XVIII) served as a point of departure for the study of a programme for the denuclearization of Latin America. At the meetings of the Preparatory Commission for the Denuclearization of Latin America, the Latin American countries have worked hard to overcome certain difficulties which, by their nature, slow down the drafting of a treaty of such great scientific, military and political importance, a treaty without precedent.
17. The geographic demarcation of the area subject to the future statute, as well as the obtention of formal guarantees on the part of the nuclear Powers that the statute will be respected, constitute, in the opinion of my Government, essential requisites for the preparation of an instrument which will prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and yet not imply any present or future risk to the security and to the scientific advancement of the countries signing the treaty.
18. It is worthwhile noting today that the inclusion in the United Nations Charter of what now constitutes its Chapter XI was not altogether a peaceful and simple matter at San Francisco. Some colonial Powers were opposed to Chapter XI at that time and proposed that its principles merely form an appendix to the Charter. Time has shown that the decision adopted was a wise one, for the problem of decolonization was soon to emerge and it would have been a blunder for the United Nations not to have foreseen it in the Charter. We would now have been confronted with one more constitutional crisis. Unfortunately, however, the fact that it was foreseen in the Charter did not prevent the occurrence in these last two decades of many serious conflicts involving the process of decolonization. I might point out here that the only form of decolonization envisaged in the Charter is that accomplished by peaceful and democratic means. Recourse to violence, to armed fighting, and, above all, the interference of a State or group of States in the process of decolonization being carried out under the responsibility of another State, not only flouts the principles of the Charter, but could retard that process. If military in nature, this outside interference not only produces the retarding mentioned, but also engenders tensions and conflicts which can spread, to the detriment of international peace and security.
19. Brazil, true to the commitments assumed when it signed the San Francisco Charter — and, furthermore, true to its own history and destiny — firmly supports the principle of self-determination for all peoples, provided the desire for self-determination represents their will, freely expressed and free of outside interference. It is in keeping with this principle, moreover, that we wish to see the German people granted the right to express their will, through freely held elections, on the question of being reunited as one nation.
20. In order to understand the roots of the political crisis which rocks a large part of the under-developed world, it might perhaps be useful to seek a parallel in history. The principle of the equality of the individual before the law revealed its limitations during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was found that merely acknowledging a man’s rights as a citizen was not enough. Only in the twentieth century, through the extension of the same principle to the economic and social plane, did the ideals of political equality begin to be satisfied in full. Without economic and social equality, the Western industrialized societies would inevitably have been the prey, for a long time, of totalitarian régimes which, in the final analysis, would render impossible that equality longed for by the masses.
21. At the present time, owing to the new communications systems, it would be impossible to convince the countries in process of development that their poverty and their backwardness cannot be speedily eradicated. A machinery must be created on the international plane to facilitate the transfer to the developing countries of the instruments and techniques created by the scientific revolution, as well as of the necessary capital for their full development.
22. The foregoing considerations stem from the observation of the economic picture of a large part of the under-developed world. Indeed, if we examine the current world economic situation objectively, we note that concrete progress, although considerable in absolute terms, has been relatively slight. Despite the goals of the United Nations Development Decade, the truth is that the difference between the per capita income of the industrialized countries and that of the poor countries continues to rise. Relatively speaking, the poor countries are even poorer today.
23. We all realize that the process of development is first and foremost the internal responsibility of each country, the result of a national decision to affirm and fulfil itself, even through sacrifices. Whatever international contribution might be possible, there is no substitute for the desire to attain the objectives dictated by the special needs of each nation. The developing countries are fully aware that this truth is valid, not only on the political plane, wherein they achieved independence through the process of enforcing their legitimate claims, but also on the economic level, wherein prosperity is the result of persistent courage and hard work. As an example I can cite the efforts made by the Brazilians, which are being carried forward with unwavering tenacity by our Government: efforts to curb inflation, to foster development by promoting reforms in the agricultural, fiscal, banking and housing sectors, as well as in others; in sum, retrieving the country from the brink of chaos and resuming, in an orderly fashion, the road to progress. My country is firmly striving to prepare the basic conditions’ demanded for the continuation of our march towards economic development, in the persuasion that this is the only way to guarantee prosperity and fair distribution of wealth and social benefits.
24. Yet, problems remain whose solution continues to escape the internal sphere of the developing countries. Among those problems one could mention the large degree of instability affecting raw materials and basic commodities on the international market.
25. As for the international efforts being made to solve these problems, we cannot fail to refer with satisfaction to the establishment on a permanent basis of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, with its own governing Board and secretariat — indeed, a proof of the political foresight of the last session of the General Assembly.
26. Within the framework of the institutions of the United Nations, a specialized organ of great importance awaits international action for its establishment. I refer to the agency for industrial development. The approval, at the last session of the Economic and Social Council, of the resolution [1081 F (XXXIX)] proposed during the fifth session of the Committee for Industrial Development, indicates that the idea has developed sufficiently and has the firm support of those who have the greatest interest in it, that is, the less industrialized countries. The fact that the percentage of technical assistance expenditures for industrial development has decreased in the last three years — they represent today only 11 per cent of total assistance expenditures — is an undeniable indication that, under the present set-up, it is not possible to provide for the growth of the industrial sector of the developing countries.
27. Still within the context of multilateral co-operation for economic development, particular mention is due to special assistance activities sponsored by the United Nations, notably in connexion with the pre-investment programmes of the Special Fund. According to the data submitted to the twentieth session of the General Assembly, after six years of technical assistance operations, 485 projects are in progress, benefiting about 130 developing countries and territories. These projects, some of which have already been completed, made possible the specialized training of more than 70,000 nationals of developing countries and, on the other hand, contributed to attracting investments in different sectors of the economy mounting to over $1,000 million.
28. The above data present modest but encouraging dimensions and results in the area of technical- economic co-operation which serve to strengthen our conviction that we should redouble our efforts to meet the needs of the under-developed countries and help them to surmount the problem of the under-utilization of their natural resources. However, for these initiatives of the United Nations to produce the desired effect on the economy and technology of the under-developed countries, multilateral co-operation must not be limited to pre-investment activities.
29. Within this context, two other complementary initiatives of the United Nations which are already in progress merit the attention of the General Assembly for speedy implementation, with resulting general benefits. The first of these has to do with the formation of the United Nations Development Programme, stemming from the merging of the two principal organs of technical co-operation, including the Special Fund. Following this train of thought, the second initiative relates to the gradual participation of the new programme in the area of direct investment in accordance with the proposal for the creation of a capital development fund, thereby rounding out the role of the United Nations in the area of economic co-operation through the mobilization of capital for development projects.
30. As regards the efforts of the regional organizations in this sphere, Brazil places well-founded hopes in the success of the task being pursued by the Latin American Free-Trade Association. In its first years of activity, it already presents very encouraging results, not only towards strengthening interregional trade, but also in the preparation of other bases of the move towards the economic integration of Latin America. This ideal has for some time been claiming the attention of those Governments, and particularly that of the Chilean Government, which has brought it up again, to general applause.
31. These are the observations of the Brazilian delegation at this opening of the general debate. They arise from our desire to seek to contribute to the solution of the problems which trouble the international scene. To accomplish the task before us, we cannot, remain wavering between "fear and trembling hope". We need great courage and steadfast hope.
32. This courage and this hope are now to receive renewed vigour from the forthcoming visit of the Sovereign Roman Pontiff, who adopted the name of the Apostle of the Gentiles, and whose words of wisdom and peace will inspire us to bring our task to a successful conclusion. The Brazilian nation, the largest Catholic nation in the world, hails this unprecedented and most significant gesture of the Common Father of Christendom — a pledge on behalf of the establishment of a climate of peaceful brotherhood, so vital to the building of a better world.