16. I think it is a good omen that our deliberations
this year are presided over by such a distinguished
personality as Miss Angie Brooks. The affection and esteem
in which she has been generally held for years in the United
Nations are well deserved and, on this occasion, she
embodies many of the values which constitute the nucleus
of the Organization’s concern, not only as a woman but as a
representative of a small country and of a race whose
influence extends to several continents. Colombia rejoices
at her unanimous election to preside over this Assembly.
17. Nor can I fail to record with a profound feeling of
sorrow the disappearance from our midst of our last
President, Mr. Emilio Arenales, the representative of a Latin
American nation and of a generation destined to face the
challenge of our times with personalities of outstanding
character such as his.
18. Reference has been made here on numerous occasions
to the heroic feat of a human being setting foot on the
moon for the first time. There can be no doubt that this
constitutes a decisive landmark in the progress of mankind.
The very destiny of man and his place in history have been
placed in a new light. In the last ten years we have made the
most rapid progress of the species in many centuries. And
notwithstanding the fact that the astronaut, Armstrong,
when he planted his flag stated that he did so “for all
mankind“, as a generous act towards his rivals in the space
race and towards those who will never achieve a comparable
degree of development, how many considerations does this
event not give rise to?
19. As inconceivable as the sidereal distances covered are
to the general public, so also are the technological,
economic and social gaps which separate some inhabitants
of the earth from others. The prodigious conquest, which is
said to have been carried out in the name of all and which
in an egalitarian society of nations, with a universal
Organization, should have been carried out under a
common direction and with the support of all mankind, is
but the accomplishment of one super-Power, in which it
demonstrates its unquestionable superiority.
20. As we enter this new era, new responsibilities and new
obligations are entailed for each one of us. This has been
perceived intuitively by churches, empires and States,
which have been shaken to their foundations by present day
developments known as aggiornamiento, or “decolonization”
or the “thaw” and bow to the signs of the times.
21. In contrast to this change amid stability, where
technology, science, religions and political institutions also
adapt themselves to their new context, the United Nations
remains the same, governed by a Charter, namely the one
signed in San Francisco, which was drawn up twenty-five
years ago to operate for geopolitical conditions which have
now been surpassed.
22. A few days ago [1756th meeting] the Minister for
Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union reminded us here how
this Organization had been conceived by a coalition of
peace-loving countries which, despite ideological differences,
succeeded in restoring the rule of international
law, making themselves responsible for the maintenance of
order against the law-breakers of the Nazi-Fascist axis.
23. This was the distribution of forces taken into account
by the Charter and which today no longer exists. The
designation “enemy” States is an anachronism which
corresponds to the conditions prevailing in 1946. After the
years of alliance against totalitarianism and of competition
among the super-Powers, we are returning to that path from
which we should never have strayed, namely that international
order is not the task of any State in particular but is
the collective duty of the community.
24. The enormous responsibility of maintaining world
peace which the United States assumed for the first time in
history, as President Nixon reminded us here [1755th
meeting], is also a thing of the past. What was a dissident
opinion a few years ago has now become a commonplace.
All of us, all States, large and small; see in collective
security the true guarantee of world peace and no one
fosters any longer the illusion that it can be the gendarme
responsible for maintaining international order. The persistence
of many conflicts between small States can rightly
be attributed to interference by the great Powers, as was
stated here by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Israel,
when he said:
“For when the complex national interests and rivalries
of great Powers are superimposed on a regional tension,
the result is often not to reduce the tension but to
broaden its scope” [1757th meeting].
25. Therefore, despite the inevitable setbacks in a process
as complicated as the maintenance of peace, we can
contemplate the future with optimism on the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the Organization.
26. The very nature of nuclear weapons, which, when the
United Nations came into existence, were in the hands of a
single Power, has forced all the participants in the arms race
to change their outlook. Today, with the new distribution
of power in the world, it is more imperative than it was a
quarter of a century ago to achieve disarmament and
agreement through dialogue and negotiation in a spirit of
mutual respect. Furthermore, it is known that in the wars
of our times and for all the more reason in future wars
there are no absolute victors or vanquished, nor will there
be, but rather that victory, which is more difficult to
achieve than in other ages, imposes obligations on the
victors themselves; it is also a known fact that between
countries whose economic and technological development
is comparable only a very transitory military superiority
can be gained. The ever more strenuous efforts required to
establish an immense industrial and military complex, while
they may make possible feats such as the voyage to the
moon, must ultimately be regarded as a waste in the light of
the urgency of human needs, not only in the underdeveloped
areas, but also in the industrialized countries
themselves.
27. In this way we return, after many high hopes of global
strategy, to the concept which took shape with the
reconstruction of Europe and Japan, following the San
Francisco Conference, namely that peace rests equally on
strength of arms and on social stability based upon the
satisfaction of a minimum of needs which, for twentieth-century
man, is as important as his own particle of freedom
was for the man of previous centuries. Therefore, in 1946,
paraphrasing a great Latin American who said a century
ago: “Peace is respect for another’s rights”, we could then
say: “Peace is the satisfying of another’s hunger”, with the
prospect that large economic resources diverted from the
arms race would be channelled, at least in part, towards the
development of the least developed regions of the world,
giving bread, literacy and work to millions of human beings.
Article 26 of the Charter states the same thing when it
affirms:
“In order to promote the establishment and maintenance
of international peace and security with the least
diversion for armaments of the world’s human and
economic resources, the Security Council shall be responsible
for formulating... plans to be submitted to the
Members of the United Nations for the establishment of a
system for the regulation of armaments.”
28. What have we achieved in this respect? It is true that
significant progress has been made, particularly in regard to
the outlawing of chemical and bacteriological warfare, and
the results of the nuclear non-proliferation treaties, both
world-wide and regional, are encouraging in some respects;
but it is no less certain that we have lived for years on end
under the strategy of terror in search of a détente, of which
the words which we have heard here are harbingers, in that
they relate to renunciation of unilateral action, of spheres
of influence, of the Great Powers’ role of gendarme, in
order to return to the collective concept of the rule of law.
29. We see how little by little strategic concepts of the
period prior to modern intercontinental missiles, when the
range of armaments necessitated a policy of alliances
designed to secure launching bases, which today are an
anachronism, are being relegated to oblivion. The most
advanced types of rockets allow the super-Powers to take
charge of their own security without the need for partners,
and the large States can now boast of not having in their
continental appendices any “soft bellies” where they can be
hit.
30. We have before us, however, armed conflicts which
have remained unsolved for years, in the face of the
impotence of the United Nations and of the super-Powers
themselves. The cases of Viet-Nam and of the Middle East,
no less than civil or racial wars, are obvious examples. Here
in this very Assembly, we have witnessed the great paradox
that Viet-Nam, which is not on the agenda of the
twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly, has been
the central theme of many speeches. In like manner, we
have seen how the Middle East conflict, on which there was
rare unanimity in Security Council resolution 242 (1967)
of 22 November 1967, has been delegated to the so-called
Big Four, with a last hope of reaching agreement, in view of
the failure of the regular organs of the Organization to
make their own resolutions effective. Colombia regrets this
state of affairs but understands it. It is better to seek, at
whatever cost, the re-establishment of peace through the
agreement of the great Powers than definitely to give up the
search. But does not this state of affairs indicate to us not
only the need to assess the results achieved by the
Organization in this quarter of a century but also the
desirability of its being restructured institutionally in some
respects?
31. No one would venture to deny the balance of
beneficial results that have been achieved by the United
Nations in its brief existence in the fields of culture, health,
nutrition, economics and peace itself. There have been
many conflicts of all kinds that the Organization, sometimes
discreetly and sometimes dramatically, has helped to
settle. Barely a month and a half ago the Organization of
American States, a regional organization which forms part
of the world system, ended an armed conflict between two
sister nations when events as serious as the occupation of
territories had already occurred. In the same way, over the
years, imminent or real threats to the peace have been
averted with honourable and satisfactory solutions for the
parties in dispute.
32. Nevertheless, Colombia considers that even though
this balance is so positive, in view of the new circumstances
of the present-day world, some reform to bring the Charter
up to date is imperative. For this purpose it intends to
request the holding of a General Conference, as provided
for in Article 109 of the Charter itself, trusting that
although this initiative comes from a small country, from
one of those countries which are generally assigned the role
of spectators and not of actors in this Assembly, the
experiences of the last twenty-five years may prove the
timeliness and appropriateness of such an institutional
readjustment.
33. My Government’s reasons are very clear, and I have
been very much pleased to see that they are shared by other
States. The balance of power in the present-day world is
not the same as it was in 1946. The Secretary-General,
U Thant, who is so objective and impartial and whose
opinions deserve all our respect, said at a press conference
that for some years to come the international scene will be
dominated by the nature of the relationship between
mainland China and the two super-Powers, and it is an
obvious fact that world peace cannot be organized while a
nation possessing the capacity for waging war on such a
scale as People’s China is excluded.
34. This was recognized in this very same hall some years
ago by His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff of Rome and,
more recently, by President Nixon when he stated that the
United States would have no objection to a request for
admission by People’s China if there was a willingness to
abide by the rules of the Organization. The question of the
admission of mainland China, if indeed it wishes to form
part of the Organization, cannot continue indefinitely to be
treated as a procedural question involving a decision as to
whether it is one of the so-called important questions
requiring a two-thirds majority or whether it is a simple
matter of credentials. What is at stake are the general
interests of peace, respect for. the right of self-determination
of the people of Taiwan, whom the Organization
could hardly exclude, and a number of other
questions relating to a general settlement of disputes on the
continent of Asia.
35. As more and more voices are heard calling for
universality in the United Nations, voices like that of the
President of Colombia, like those of 16 June 1969 in the
Security Council, and like those of many illustrious
personages who are calling for a study of the participation
of People’s China and other new countries, the conclusion
is reached that it is essential to stop evading the question
and face up to it, while simultaneously undertaking a
general consideration of the rules for the admission of new
States to the United Nations, and defining unequivocally
what, by general consensus, is meant by “a new State” in
the international community.
36. It is not possible, without a new and close examination
of the principles that allow of such events, to continue
indefinitely studying limitations with a view to conferring
on small States the status of associate members, because of
their small size, while at the same time failing to investigate
whether 700 million human beings in the Asian continent
would be interested in enjoying the benefits of the world
Organization and abiding by its rules. This is an unanswered
question which must be cleared up in order to decide upon
a course of action which is in harmony with the purposes of
the United Nations.
37. Equal importance should be attached to the reform of
the functions of the Security Council and of the Secretary-General
himself as far as his good offices for the purpose of
bringing about an understanding between the parties in
dispute are concerned. The persistent disregard of resolutions
against racial discrimination, of those which order a
return to the status quo ante or those whose purpose is to
protect the rights of minorities makes it imperative to
provide the Security Council with a force of its own, a
secular arm. Such a force, permanent in character and not
created to deal with a specific case, would replace the
occasional expeditions which, organized in the midst of
power conflicts and in the ebb and flow of momentary
interests, have the result that the financial and material
contributions of each State subsequently become a breeding-ground
of further difficulties for the proper functioning
of the Organization.
38. The will to strengthen world security cannot be
limited, as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has
requested, to calling for the withdrawal of troops from
occupied territories, which would be merely a solution for
transitory difficulties, properly speaking. It must be accompanied
by measures which, within the framework of
the Charter and the rules of procedure, invest the Security
Council with greater enforcement powers, such as the
creation of a permanent force, international in character, to
give effect to its resolutions, by force if necessary.
39. Naturally, the establishment of such a force would
have to be accompanied by a clear definition of what is
meant by aggression and by an unequivocal differentiation
between internal conflicts and international conflicts, over
which latter the United Nations has jurisdiction and in
which, without renouncing the concept of sovereignty, it is
possible to frustrate the already traditional gambit of
evading the Organization’s resolutions condemning discrimination
based on religion, race or nationality, by alleging
that the problems concerned are internal ones. In the same
range of ideas, the question of disarmament, now entrusted
to the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament, should
be the principal item on the agenda of the General
Conference which Colombia intends to request.
40. When the studies for the Second United Nations
Development Decade are beginning, and in view of the
failure to reach the goals set for the First Decade, the
reduction of military expenditures, with the consequent
utilization of part of those resources to raise the living
standards of backward areas, becomes particularly relevant.
A number of countries have repeated, at this session, their
intention to devote 1 per cent of their gross national
product to the development of the less developed areas.
Yet, natural wealth and resources are concentrated to such
an extent in the hands of those States which are the leaders
in the armaments race that it would be utopian to think of
an improvement in general conditions, while relying solely
on the good intentions of the small States but without the
determined will of those States which to a greater degree
are contributing to the strangulation of the international
economy through military expenditures at an almost
exclusively national level. This economic process not only
consumes the money of the great Powers but determines
the whole gamut of contemporary problems as well: the
problems of poverty, of racial differences, of education, of
housing and employment, not only in the competing
countries themselves but also in those that could receive
greater attention were it not for the pernicious obsession
with armaments.
41. The complex processes involved in manufacturing
modern weapons also concentrate employment in only a
few centres of industrial and technological development in
the world. When battles were fought with arrows each State
found work for its inhabitants, whose job it was to sharpen
them. In the era of rockets and supersonic planes there are
few indeed, outside the industrialized countries, who can
participate in their production.
42. The Powers of Europe, America and Asia which were
exposed, during the great depression of the 1930s, to
massive unemployment among their workers, find a palliative
for this scourge in the employment brought about by
contemporary war industries and their related industries. In
this way, unemployment among men and women, which
mentally we associate with the last crisis of the industrial
world, has been transferred to the developing countries,
with its train of poverty and disorders, in proportions and
with characteristics never before recorded in the history of
mankind. It is essential that at this session of the Assembly,
at which the Second United Nations Development Decade
will be discussed, there should be a clear awareness of how
serious is the problem of unemployment in the rural and
semi-industrialized areas of the world.
43. Many of the world’s resources are lying idle, are
unexploited or are in process of disappearing because of
imbalances caused by mankind itself. It is incumbent on the
Assembly at the present and at forthcoming sessions to
make a thorough study of the exploitation of the resources
of the sea-bed, of the definition of the limits of territorial
waters by agreement between States, of the use of outer
space for peaceful purposes and of many other equally
important items which are on the agenda.
44. However, undoubtedly the most important item
before the Assembly, particularly for countries like
Colombia, must be the one relating to development. The
very notion of development implies the concept of making
the most of something that already exists, be it labour, the
resources of the sea-bed or the resources of the subsoil, but
which cannot be used for lack of means. Many factors —
indeed the same factors which, channeled on a vast scale
into the armaments race, have made possible the achievements
of the new era — are involved in the process of
development. Firstly, economic resources when they are
allocated on a vast scale to mobilize inert wealth and to
promote full employment assist nations in their so-called
“take-off” towards consumer societies. The application of
science and technology — in a word, education — plays a
similar role in both cases, whether it be to turn inventiveness
to the making of war material or to awaken societies
that have been sleeping in a centuries-old lethargy.
45. Therefore, the effort to make the objectives of the
Second United Nations Development Decade a reality must
combine the question of the reduction of armaments with
positive measures, in order to start diverting energies which
are today devoted to preparations for a hypothetical war
towards the benefits of a better distributed and more
widely enjoyed world prosperity, and, first and foremost,
to face the problem of unemployment which, either openly
or in disguised form, afflicts the under-developed regions.
Will not this then be the real challenge of our times, in the
Second United Nations Development Decade?
46. Our countries do not aspire, however, to receive from
alien hands the benefits of progress. We only want to
change in the framework within which other countries
achieved it in the past. We only seek access to world
markets on a non-discriminatory and non-reciprocal basis.
A greater participation of our continent in the world
market would be tantamount to setting out on the road to
development with a resolute step. But, as my Government
has stated repeatedly, for this to occur there must be
established a reciprocity between the backward and the
developed regions going beyond the supply of raw materials
subject to ruthless competition both from the older
producers and from the manufacturers of artificial substitutes.
A division of labour similar to that which occurs
naturally in large countries, leaving industries requiring a
large volume of manpower in areas where this is plentiful,
and large concentrations of capital in areas where this is to
be found, should also take place on a world-wide scale.
47. Thus, with wider horizons for world trade, with the
abandonment of imperial or post-colonial preferences, the
semi-industrialized countries would be able to have access
to the large markets, with indisputable benefits to the
consumers themselves. This is why we attach such great
importance to the task of trade liberalization which the
United Nations is promoting for the Second Development
Decade.
48. We seek less power for States and more welfare for the
individual, a larger trade flow and less interchange of strong
words and missiles among nations. Optimistically we believe
that, given the will to change existing conditions, we shall
be able to forge ahead. To the great States we say: Create
the: conditions, give us the tools, and we, by our own
efforts, will carry out the task of freeing two thirds of the
human race from hunger, ignorance, disease and unemployment.