40. The last time, a long time ago, that I had the honour of
speaking from this rostrum [445th meeting], it was a
distinguished woman, Mrs. Pandit, who gave me the floor.
It is a privilege to be here again and to tell you, Madam
President, while paying a tribute to your great predecessor,
Emilio Arenales, how delighted the French delegation is to
see you elected to the high office of the presidency by the
almost unanimous trust of the members of this Assembly.
The emancipation of women, the emancipation of Africa
—France believes it had done good service to both these
causes which you, Madam, symbolize in the eyes of the
world.
41. As we consider together the problems with which our
Organization has been concerned since the twenty-third
session, I should like to express to the Secretary-General,
who is responsible for the continuity of our work, the
friendly confidence that my Government and my fellow-countrymen
place in his action.
42. We have recently had occasion to appreciate his
judgement and his attitude in political affairs. But we have
also been appreciative of his efforts to solve certain
problems of an administrative nature, in particular that of
the use of languages in the Secretariat.
43. It is true that there is still a great deal of progress to be
made if the management of our Organization is to be based
on more modern and more efficient methods and if its
structure is to be adapted to the priorities of the modern
world. We are therefore following with great interest the
work of your new Joint Inspection Unit, which will
facilitate the essential task of co-ordination among the
agencies of the United Nations.
44. Before reviewing with you the particularly serious
events of the year that has just elapsed, I should like to
summarize for you the main outlines of France’s basic
policy.
45. France has an overwhelming desire for peace, and this
desire has led it for many years, and continues to lead it, to
pursue three basic aims: first, we think that the balance of
world power must be consolidated, and this rules out the
development of new power structures, confrontations
between blocs and all manifestations of the spirit of
conquest, domination or intolerance. Secondly, reconciliation
between peoples must be sought tirelessly; it is this aim
which has led us to seek our rapprochement with Germany
and which in our view demands that East and West should
, continue to draw closer to one another without allowing
themselves to be embroiled in local conflicts. Finally,
justice and the general interest demand, in our opinion, that
aid from the most developed countries to the less developed,
far from dwindling as it seems to be doing, should be
continued, diversified and reinforced, and we believe that
we have always set an example in this matter. These three
aims are exemplified in the policy that France is pursuing
with regard to the building of Europe.
46. The slow process of European reconstruction was not,
as you know, achieved without difficulty or effort.
47. First, countries which had been dreadfully weakened
and in some cases ruined, physically and morally, by five
years of fratricidal war had to be put back on their feet.
48. Their independence and their individuality had to be
preserved at a time when the world was dividing into two
blocs which seemed irrevocably opposed to one another.
49. A climate of peace had to be restored between nations
which for generations had viewed each other as enemies,
reconciliation effected, ties of esteem and friendship
established and the younger generations drawn closer
together. Was there any more constructive step in this
direction than the Franco-German Treaty of Co-operation,
of which General de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer were
the architects?
50. Legislation and economic and social systems forged by
centuries of different customs and traditions had, and still
have, to be brought into harmony.
51. We are now at the end of what has been called the
“transitional phase” of the Common Market. The stage to
be completed by 31 December 1969 is, basically, the one
which Aristide Briand, one of the most distinguished of my
predecessors, already considered 40 years ago to be “the
most pressing need”: the economic stage.
52. But it is obvious that the achievement of the Common
Market is a phenomenon which has not only economic but
political significance. Europe's economic strength should
enable it to regain its proper place in the world, and the
impulse which has led the nations to unite in a search for
economic progress could then lead them to seek together
the conditions of a new political balance.
53. It seems to me that the whole world needs this new
political balance and that it will help to promote peace and
to relax tension between nations.
54. “France”, President Pompidou declared recently, “is
resolutely opposed to the policy of blocs and sees its
national independence, and what will one day, I hope, be a
European Europe—in other words an independent
Europe—as an essential condition for the security of this
part of the world.”
55. This close-knit community constructed by six countries
creates a pole of attraction for the other countries of
Western Europe, whose traditions as well as interests
compel them to draw closer to it.
56. There are numerous applications for associate and
even full membership, and it is not only conceivable but
eminently desirable that they may succeed.
57. Moreover, it is not impossible that this community,
which is free to determine its future, will enter into ever
closer contact with the countries of Eastern Europe—for
each of which we feel the same interest and the same
regard—and gradually overcome the distressing gulf that
separates one part of Europe from the other, in defiance of
20 centuries of history.
58. I should like on this point to recall the words spoken
by my predecessor, Michel Debré, from this same rostrum a
year ago:
“Europe is in need of détente, of deep and lasting
détente, which is the straight but necessary gate to
co-operation and understanding. We hope that each
European country which is aware of the responsibilities it
shares will help to build our common future. I repeat, the
task is not to alter social structures or principles of
economic organization; those are matters for each nation
to decide for itself. Nor is there any question of altering,
in the absence of a freely contracted general agreement,
the political balance set up after the war. What must be
done is to establish the conditions necessary for that
peace to which the men and women of the old world, in
the East and in the. West, thinking first of the tragedies
their fathers and they themselves have experienced and
then of the different future they. want for their sons and
daughters, believe they are fully entitled, France, for one,
has done a great deal in that direction in recent years and
is determined to continue along the same path.” [1683rd
meeting, para, 86.]
59. I shall add a few words to what Mr. Debré said last
year, It is not only on a continental scale but on a world
scale that the community which is being created is destined
to play a major role. For, amidst the ambitions and rivalries
that set the great territorial Powers against one another, a
group true to its alliances but conceived without any
ulterior motives, above all without any motives of domination,
can do useful service to the cause of peace.
60. Furthermore, in the great struggle, which should be
that of the entire human race, against poverty and
underdevelopment, where better can our eyes turn than to
this new, prosperous and independent Europe?
61. Truly, the stakes in the enterprise are such that no
man of feeling and intelligence could resign himself to
seeing it fail.
62. In fact, it is the economic unity of Europe that is
being established today which will determine the political
unity of the Europe of tomorrow.
63. As the Assembly is aware, the Heads of State and
Government of the six European countries, realizing the
seriousness of the choices confronting them, have decided
to meet at The Hague in November for discussions. It is my
firm hope that they will clear this hurdle, the last which
separates the Common Market from passage to the “final
period” for the greater good not only of Europe but of the
international community.
64. I will add that Europe is not the only part of the
world in which an effort of co-operation and understanding
among the nations can develop successfully. The United
Nations can only hope for the creation of regional groups
inspired by the same spirit of co-operation. France, for its
part, having welcomed and encouraged the efforts of some
African States, is interested in what may be attempted in
the same direction. by the States of Latin America, to which
France is, moreover, attached by so many bonds of
friendship. Listening to Mr. Carrillo Flores a few minutes
ago, I remembered the desire recently expressed in Latin
America, at Viña del Mar, that the countries which are
members of the Special Commission on Latin American
Co-ordination should affirm their economic and political
independence.
65. But, however encouraging these attempts may be, they
are only a small consolation in the face of the international
situation of this autumn of 1969, Everything that the
Charter was intended to eliminate remains, be it war or
incitement to violence, refusal to enter into discussion,
contempt for human rights, or the fundamental injustice
that we call underdevelopment.
66. Faced with this state of affairs, nations which, like
mine and many others represented in this hall, are the
trustees of a long peaceful and civilizing tradition are
conscious of a special responsibility.
67. France has always done its utmost to discharge this
responsibility, and during the past 11 years it has had the
good fortune to have in the person of General de Gaulle a
President whose actions, views of history, ideals of national
independence, co-operation, international détente, equality
of all peoples and of understanding between all nations,
have found, notably in this Assembly, a warm response.
You may be assured that General de Gaulle’s voluntary
departure does not change the line of policy that France
has followed in the international field and, in particular, its
devotion to the rules that govern our Organization and to
the great principles of which it is the defender.
68. More than ever, France is determined to support the
efforts that the United Nations, in the name of these
principles, could or should deploy in the world.
69. Having willingly renounced all forms of domination,
having established and developed for many years relations
of friendship and co-operation with the peoples formerly
belonging to its empire, in absolute respect for the
sovereignty of all, France is eager to see the disappearance
everywhere of all traces of policies of supremacy, always
based on force or manipulation, masked with false ideals,
and in reality profoundly anachronistic.
70. It is this form of political hegemony which today is
still causing discouragement and anxiety, the more so since
the nations that are still tempted to practise it are endowed,
through the unbelievable progress of science and technology,
with means of destruction and repression that cannot
be compared with those of preceding centuries. While
witnessing, thanks to television, man’s first steps on the
moon—the first steps of the American cosmonauts whom
my country is preparing to welcome—how much we should
like to hope that the immense admiration and exaltation
that we, like millions of others, felt will not be darkened by
the disturbing shadow of our earthly conflicts!
71. In Biafra, on African soil, where everything points to
the urgent need for cease-fire followed by talks without
prior conditions, the massacres are continuing, as is the
martyrdom of a population whose heroic spirit has been
affirmed by two years of suffering and whose annihilation
could only tarnish the image of Africa as well as the image
which, throughout the world, man has of man.
72. In southern Africa the régime of apartheid, so rightly
denounced in this Assembly, is being perpetuated and even
extended to a territory of international status.
73. In Southern Rhodesia, the policy of sanctions adopted
by the United Nations and scrupulously applied by my
Government has not led to the recognition of the rights of
the majority.
74. Even dear Ireland—towards which European civilization
owes a debt that is more than a thousand years old—is
being rent by new and cruel factions.
75. In Asia, our vigilant and active hope—albeit a slight
one—is still that of seeing the tragedy of the Viet-Nam war
brought to an end and we are, you may be sure, on the
watch for everything we can do to further that objective.
The friendship that has bound us for so long to these
peoples, on whom history has imposed such terrible
sufferings, the friendship which binds us to the United
States and which in a sense goes back to before its birth as a
nation, gives us the right to deplore all the delays and
complications which are postponing the time when the
rising toll of death and ruin will finally cease and the
immense task of reconstruction can begin, in independence
and in the guaranteed neutrality of all the peoples of the
peninsula.
76. In Czechoslovakia our disappointment and anxiety
would be profound if the hopes of liberalization—bold
indeed in their expression but so reasonable in their
substance, so consistent with the essential needs of man—were
stifled once and for all. Here too the best hopes still
lie in repudiation of the policy of blocs and in a determined
effort to attain mutual understanding.
77. However, it is especially in the Middle East that the
establishment of a just and lasting peace, taking account of
the legitimate interests of all parties, would appear beyond
our reach if we were not determined to overcome our fears
and despondency.
78. France’s policy there, as elsewhere, is based on the
principles that my predecessors have already affirmed from
this rostrum: the right of peoples to self-determination;
respect for international law; balance of power; and
maintenance or restoration of peace. The strict application
of these principles is the only way to end the rapid
worsening of the situation in the area.
79. Nearly two years have elapsed since the adoption of
Security Council resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November
1967, which is our law.
80. My Government, having learnt from events that only
through concerted international action can a satisfactory
solution be formulated and implemented, proposed last
January that the four permanent members of the Security
Council, in view of their special responsibilities, should
meet to study ways of facilitating the implementation of
resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967, and should
examine at the same time the measures necessary to prevent
the situation from deteriorating.
81. When that proposal was accepted by our three
partners, we became able to examine together in detail the
different aspects of the conflict and the possibilities of
settlement consistent with the spirit of the Charter and the
resolutions adopted by the United Nations.
82. I thank the Secretary-General for the recent valuable
lead which has enabled the four to resume their task. This
must now be pursued unremittingly; to dispute or hinder it
would be to assume the heavy responsibility of obstructing
the only means of reaching a general, equitable and lasting
settlement respecting “the inalienable right to exist as
independent and sovereign States” of all the States of the
Middle East, in the words of our joint communiqué of last
Saturday, 20 September. Need I add that this settlement
must include international measures for the preservation
and protection of all the holy places and for free access to
them by all? All mankind is awaiting this essential prelude
to a new era of reconciliation and co-operation.
83. Once again, in this field as in all others that concern
peace and progress we expect the most successful results
from consultation between the leaders of the major Powers,
itself the consequence of a policy of détente and dialogue.
We recalled a short white ago that it was encouraging to
note how far the European nations had gone in that
direction after centuries of fierce conflict. Could not a
similar trend influence much larger nations, which still
prefer reciprocal denunciation to co-operation and peaceful
competition? I am thinking, of course, of China, shut out
of our Organization, and of the two great space Powers,
whose willingness to enter into dialogue we welcome
though it perhaps still shrinks from that exercise on equal
terms with their other partners which we should like to see.
84. However, are not all efforts for peace condemned to
remain incomplete and illusory until we tackle that most
important and difficult of world problems—disarmament?
85. My country has for many years attempted to define
the true conditions for solution of this problem.
86. We do not consider that world security can or should
be confused with the fragile equilibrium between a few
nuclear States. Hence disarmament cannot, in our view, be
limited to certain partial measures which only strengthen
the monopoly of the nuclear Powers. Nor can it be limited
to bilateral agreements, which, though useful in relaxing
tension, aim essentially at slowing the growth of the
armaments of already over-armed Powers.
87. The security of mankind—that is, the safeguard against
any form of war, and first of all, quite obviously, against
the worst form of annihilation, atomic war—depends on a
set of strict conditions which have for a long time
determined the shape that we wish to give to disarmament.
88. We want disarmament to begin with the Powers
possessing nuclear weapons; and we want it to lead, under
strict and effective control, to elimination of these weapons’
vehicles and arsenals.
89. We want nuclear disarmament to be accompanied by
disarmament in conventional weapons, in such a way that
no imbalance of power may result from the completion of
its successive stages.
90. We want these measures of prohibition and control to
be extended to biological and chemical weapons, whose
fearsome effects were recently described by the group of
experts appointed by the Secretary-General of our
Organization. France, which, it should be remembered, is the
depositary of the Geneva Protocol which prohibits this type
Of weapon, would like to see this instrument applied
universally.
91. Lastly, we must also prevent the militarization of a
new field open to human activity: the sea-bed and the
ocean floor.
92. These are the conditions for a genuine disarmament.
To embark on this undertaking with the desire to bring it to
a successful conclusion requires that the nuclear Powers
should first agree and co-operate; and that implies a
determined search for a lasting détente. France wishes to be
among the first to reaffirm that it is ready for this test of its
co-operation and sincerity.
93. The coming decade will only deserve the fine title that
our Organization is bestowing on it for the second time if
all the Member nations learn to esteem one another more
highly, to aid one another more effectively, and to cease
denouncing and fighting one another.
94. Allow me to express first of all the hope that this
Second Development Decade may be marked by a real
effort of imagination and concerted action. The difficulties
to be combated are better known than they were ten years
ago; the measures to be taken are already clearer.
95. For its part France, to which many African States and
the Malagasy Republic have given proof of their confidence
and friendship by instituting and maintaining with it a
system of relations of a kind that is new and fruitful
because based on free choice, has had experience of every
form of aid and co-operation: the bilateral form, the
regional form—of which the recent renewal of the Yaoundé
Convention is an interesting example—and the multilateral
form, by its contribution to the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development and to the United Nations
Development Programme.
96. The network of institutions which the Organization
has created and which now needs to be made to function
more effectively rather than to be extended, the experience
accumulated by thousands of experts, by tens of thousands
of young people associated with these programmes, and
particularly by all those whom France sends as technical
assistants—these are encouraging factors, or at any rate
factors that should prevent discouragement.
97. It is, however, obvious that in this field also immense
efforts have still to be exerted. The points that my
predecessor made before the Assembly last year are still
timely. The percentage of the gross national product that
the developed countries have agreed to devote to development
aid remains insufficient. How many of them respect,
as France does, the minimum of 1 per cent that we have
allocated ourselves? After all, what is 1 per cent in view of
the ever-growing disparity between the poverty of some and
the prosperity of others? Moreover, what progress has been
made with the project of organizing the markets of the
main primary products, of which I spoke here many years
ago and to which Mr. Debré drew the Assembly’s attention
last year at the 1683rd meeting? That is one specific and
highly important instance in which our Organization could
have given better proof of its practical effectiveness.
France is ready to support any move in this direction.
98. Yet, just as I am not unaware of the extent of the
efforts being made to promote development, I should not
like to remain silent about the major role played by the
United Nations in promoting human rights; and on this
encouraging note I should like to conclude.
99. Since the Charter signed in San Francisco and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the
General Assembly in Paris in 1948, the United Nations has
been progressively erecting a monumental work, to which
France—predictably, since it is faithful to the traditions of
1789—attaches particular importance.
100. Our representatives are still participating actively in
this work of codification; and I am happy to announce to
the Assembly that the French Government has decided to
request Parliament to authorize France’s accession to the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination [resolution 2106 A (XX)] an
instrument which should be one of the pillars of the new
international law. For many years we have striven to
respect both its letter and its spirit.
101. We consider that this gesture by France manifests the
importance that we attach to the studies and efforts
undertaken by the United Nations. We know full well,
however, that in the promotion of human rights and the
fundamental freedoms, in the struggle against intolerance
and discrimination, to create the appropriate international
instruments is not enough. We must still be, at all times,
determined to apply them to their fullest extent.
102. If we celebrate principles and anniversaries too much
without clear evidence of progress, we risk disappointing a
generation which is not content with words but expects our
Organization to help to mobilize the century’s resources on
behalf of more liberty for each and more justice for all.
103. The resources at our disposal are far from negligible:
immense progress in the exact and natural sciences, in
technology, in communications; less spectacular but no less
important progress in the sciences of man and society.
There is a growing awareness—shown excellently in the
recent African Festival at Algiers—of the great human
communities’ spiritual resources which will restore the ideal
of a peaceful and creative society. There is a vast movement
among the young people of all countries who are noisy and
sometimes provoking but essentially generous and impatient
to give mankind a new page, a new chapter, to write.
104. Why do men and women come from all over the
world to New York, to this annual Assembly? Because,
despite all the tragic events that have occurred—and perhaps
because of them—they remain deeply convinced that true
solidarity can be created and strengthened.
105. In this speech, my first from this rostrum as Foreign
Minister of France, I have desired to tell the Assembly that
France will use all its energy and its faith to promote that
solidarity.