92. Madam President, may I mention first the generosity of a
life which, for the good of all, culminated and was
consummated here during the last session of the General
Assembly, that of our deceased President, Mr. Arenales.
93. To console his family, the people of Guatemala and all
those who knew him, his successor in the presidential chair
had to offer new hope. That is what you bring to us,
Madam President, by illustrating at one and the same time
the eminent role which so many women can play in public
life and the substantial contribution of Africa to our
Organization.
94. This session of the Assembly is to be the last before
the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the
signing of the Charter at San Francisco. That celebration
next year either will be marked by ceremonies, recollections
and the exaltation of our ideals — and this will already be
valuable — or will be a truly fruitful event because we shall
have used it as an occasion for reflection, resolution and
progress. In that case, we must start preparations immediately
and must take advantage of our present session
not only to speak frankly but also to act.
95. We are all struck by an indisputable fact which has
been mentioned by several previous speakers: the twenty-five
years which will soon have elapsed will have witnessed
an advancement of mankind accompanied by more changes
than occurred throughout several earlier centuries. Like my
colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Argentina, we
feel that the twenty-five years or so that still separate us
from the third millenium of our era will witness the same
acceleration of history.
96. Thus the universe changes its dimensions. Thanks to
men of science and courage, from this year onwards the
earth will no longer be isolated from the other planets, and
on our planet all peoples will live a little closer to each
other with each succeeding day. They have the feeling of
their interdependence before even gaining an abstract
awareness of it. Henceforth we shall live in conditions of
ever more intense intermingling of interests, races, religions
and political and social systems, thus progressing towards
new oecumenical developments. That is why the approach
of the twenty-fifth anniversary must find us convinced that
the United Nations is more necessary than ever. The
question we must ask, however, is whether our Organization,
which was conceived twenty-five years ago and built
for a world which has undergone considerable changes, is
itself changing. Are we really assuming leadership in the
movement of the earth towards unity?
97. The continuing evolution of the world should lead us,
therefore, to mark this twenty-fifth anniversary by an
effort designed to give the United Nations an image in
keeping with events. This is equally necessary in the
political field, where we must ensure peace by preventing
conflict, and in the economic and social fields, where the
differences in the human condition between the northern
and southern hemispheres are intolerable.
98. In the political field, Belgium sees five kinds of
progress which we hope will be achieved in 1970 and to
which my country is ready to contribute.
99. The first type of progress that our institution should
achieve, of which we are mindful because today it seems
more within our reach than before, concerns the regional
arrangements and agencies that are mentioned in Chapter
VIII of the Charter.
100. At the time the Charter was drafted, every State in
Europe was dressing its wounds and was not yet able to
think of taking part in regional arrangements. In Africa,
Asia and Oceania, most territories either had not achieved
independence or else were in a special situation vis-a-vis a
European country. Only America already had its present
political configuration. At that time, therefore, it was
difficult to conceive of the establishment of regional
organizations within the United Nations.
101. The founding Members of the United Nations,
however, already thought that regional agreements would
serve as useful relay points for our world institution and
that they could play an essential part in the maintenance of
security by guaranteeing peace to each State, by assuming
special responsibility for the prevention of conflicts and the
reduction of tension, and by offering assistance in situations
where internal conflicts arose and where our world
Organization would therefore find it difficult to take
action. It was thought at the time that such agreements
could be applied not only to whole continents but also to
smaller regions determined in accordance with the needs. It
was thought, too, that, even when the philosophies of the
States were different on many points, regional political
organizations could effectively solve common problems,
beginning with those to which natural configurations and
physical interdependence gave rise. Finally, in the last
resort, it was thought that such agreements, because of
their flexibility, could go so far as to associate in specific
actions countries which were not yet Members of the
United Nations with those which were.
102. Twenty-four years later, all of that has become more
obvious and, consequently, more desirable today when, at
least in theory, the States of all continents are equal but are
also more aware of their physical and economic interdependence.
103. In this connexion I should like to point to, and
commend, the experience of the Organization of American
States, the first such organization, which recently was able
to settle the armed conflict between Honduras and El Salvador.
104. The same is or will be true with respect to the
Organization of African Unity in Africa. A few days ago,
the Secretary-General underlined the importance of that
organization by taking part in its work. We, for our part,
have already, on various occasions, noted how useful the
interventions of the Organization of African Unity have
been and there is no reason why it should not become an
institution that can prevent conflicts in Africa. I should like
to point out that it was at OAU’s request that the United
Nations refrained from taking a position on the tragic
conflict in Nigeria. But it would not be possible for the
United Nations not to help to remove the obstacles in the
way of providing effective help to the civilian population.
Solutions must be found to that humanitarian problem
during this session. I shall return to this point.
105. On the basis of these two regional experiments, from
which, of course, one cannot expect everything, and whose
development depends on the political will of the Member
States, we are thinking more actively of the possibility of
similar experiments for Asia and Europe. In Asia, as
Mr. Aichi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, pointed
out in his statement [1756th meeting], the Economic
Commission for Asia and the Far East and the Asian
Development Bank are already functioning, but many
people are suggesting that there should be arrangements of
a more political nature.
106. In this connexion it seems to us significant that both
Mr. Brezhnev, in June, and Mr. Rogers, in August, emphasized
the value of a collective security system for that part
of the world.
107. But be that as it may, stability in.South-East Asia, as
we have been saying here for four years, requires that the
treaty that will put an end to the conflict in Viet-Nam
should be accompanied, as in 1954 and 1962, by a regional
agreement to which the great Powers and the Asian Powers
would accede. Would this not present an opportunity for
those same States to undertake to respect the independence
and integrity of other States and to renounce the use of
force for settling possible disputes?
108. This, of course, raises the problem of continental
China; would it take part in such a regional agreement? We
must hope so. This might result in progress in another
question, namely, whether mainland China will one day
become a Member of the United Nations. I should now like
to say a few words on that matter. My Government regrets
that it is not possible to place the question squarely before
the General Assembly, in clear terms. For several years we
have spared no effort to attain that goal, but we have not
been able to persuade the Assembly of the value of our
suggestions and we shall not put them forward again.
109. With regard to the substance of the problem, we
continue to think and to act in the conviction that the
interests of peace require the adherence of mainland China
to our Charter and its presence here as a permanent
member of the Security Council. But if the price for the
participation of mainland China in our work is the
exclusion from the, United Nations of another State, a
legitimate Member of our Organization, we shall never cease
to oppose so unacceptable a requirement, which would do
an injustice to a State that we recognize and respect.
110. As far as procedure is concerned, we profoundly
regret that during this session we shall once again have to
vote on a draft resolution which, in our view, presents the
problem wrongly and therefore makes it impossible for our
vote to reflect the position of our Government correctly.
111. To revert to the question of regional arrangements,
which have already proved their usefulness for three
continents, why should we not consider the same question
with regard to Europe, which in this century has known so
many internal conflicts, has given rise to two world
conflagrations and is still the dangerous focus of the
opposition between parliamentary democracy and the
communist system?
112. We know what has already been accomplished in
Europe, however incomplete it may be; we know about our
Economic Commission for Europe, the Council of Europe,
and the economic organizations such as the Common
Market, the European Free Trade Association and the
Council for Mutual Economic Aid. On this subject the
Foreign Minister of France spoke yesterday [1763rd
meeting] about the dynamism of these regional organizations
in Western Europe.
113. Can we now go further? Should all Europe seek
among all its peoples, whatever their régimes or alliances,
regional agreements to reduce tension, limit armaments,
increase economic and technical co-operation, and, after a
quarter of a century, clear up the problems of Germany and
of Berlin?
114. We for our part think that the effort should be made,
despite all that has happened in Czechoslovakia to darken
the horizon during the past year. There is no shortage of
proposals for the reduction of tension in Europe; they
come from all sides. For this reason, the Western countries
are endeavouring to draw up lists of matters of common
interest on which such agreement could be rapidly sought.
It is of little consequence that these lists are limited to start
with, so long as the political content of the resulting
agreements gives concrete evidence of a common will for
multilateral co-operation and if we can thus translate into
deeds the spirit of Chapter VIII of our Charter.
115. It is along these lines that our efforts will have to be
unremittingly directed in 1970, and it is on this condition
that the convening of the necessary conferences for the
conclusion of such regional agreements can be expedited.
We are convinced that such agreements will strengthen the
United Nations.
116. The second type of political progress which our
Organization can and should achieve concerns the Security
Council and the role of the great countries in it. The
example which I shall choose to illustrate this point is the
dangerous continuing crisis in the Middle East.
117. I prefer to say nothing about all the acute and
disappointing aspects of that conflict; too many incidents,
already serious in themselves, are all the more dangerous
because of the spirit they reveal and the obstacles that they
place along the road to any political settlement.
118. For us, the only hope for peace in the Middle East
lies in global negotiation, with the Security Council in the
pivotal role. Only the Council is capable of leading the
belligerents towards peace.
119. The resolution of 22 November 1967 [242 (1967)]
was indeed a remarkable and exceptional event, for by it
the Security Council succeeded, unanimously, in laying
down the general conditions for an equitable political
settlement. Nearly two years have passed since that time,
but the Security Council has not been able to work out a
programme under which any belligerent that took a first
step towards the restoration of peace would have the
assurance that the other party would, in turn, take a similar
step, and so on, step by step, until all the goals set by the
resolution of November 1967 were attained.
120. To this end, the four-Power negotiations suggested
by France and, more recently, the conversations between
the United States and the Soviet Union constitute, in our
view, the only approach by which the Security Council will
at last be able to propose to the belligerents the outlines of
a fair settlement.
121. Not only is the Security Council in duty bound to
prevent the spread of conflicts; it also bears the
responsibility for eliminating their causes. Action by the
permanent members in this regard is, in our opinion, the
counterpart of the specific powers entrusted to them by
our peoples.
122. At San Francisco we recognized their power, but we
asked them to place that power at the service of peace. If
we in the United Nations agreed to States not being given
equal treatment, it was not for the purpose of dividing the
world into spheres of influence, much less to enable certain
States to practise a policy of hegemony with respect to
territories beyond their borders.
123. What we all wanted, and what we are banking on in
the Middle East crisis and other crises, is that the very large
States will propose to the non-permanent members of the
Security Council and to the States at the centre of the crisis
concrete terms for fundamental agreements that will restore
peace to the areas devastated by war and political strife.
This, we know, is something they can do; furthermore, in
our view, there is no other possibility, no alternative.
124. This is not to deny the specific responsibility of the
belligerent States or of the other Members of the United
Nations. I wish merely to stress the fact that the
responsibilities conferred on the Security Council by all the
Members of the United Nations have their natural counterpart
in the obligation to support the Council’s action.
125. What we expect from the very great countries is that
they should show the initiative, imagination, perseverance
and authority without which we should become here a sort
of tower of Babel. Today, at the time when the very great
States have undertaken essential action, I wish to state that
if that action fails, a fatal blow will be dealt to the United
Nations, but that if it succeeds the Middle East will not be
alone in benefiting from it. By following the only possible
direction, the direction indicated by the Charter, we shall
be strengthening our Organization to a considerable degree.
126. I should not be frank if I did not say how
disappointed I was to note how little convergence there was
in the statements made here by President Nixon [1755th
meeting] and Mr. Gromyko [1756th meeting]. How can
we explain the fact that, forty-eight hours after Mr. Nixon
had formally announced the intention of the United States
to withdraw all its forces from South Viet-Nam on the
sole condition - a legitimate one — that the South Viet-Namese
people retained the fundamental right to determine
their future without any foreign interference, Mr. Gromyko
could affirm that the aim of the United States is to
establish itself politically and strategically in Viet-Nam?
127. We find such statements which cast doubt on
intentions disquieting. For how can we believe in the
possibility of peace if the protagonists themselves continue
to show their lack of understanding of each other?
128. For a long time the United Nations has been
convening the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament
at Geneva. We shall certainly not make ironic
comments on the slowness of its progress when we
remember the important agreements it has drawn up or is
preparing. But how are we to explain all these efforts to
bring about a reduction of armaments in time of peace if
we find it quite natural that no action should be taken to
slow down or control deliveries of weapons or ammunition
to the opposing parties once conflicts have broken out?
129. We know that this is a difficult problem because
clandestine arms traffic is harder to control than deliveries
made from State to State; we realize, moreover, that
countries that have no arms factories must be able to
acquire what they need for their defence.
130. This is nevertheless a real problem which, in the end,
can change the dimensions of a conflict. How can we
preserve the fiction of the internal nature of conflicts such
as that between Nigeria and Biafra when such a war cannot
continue or be supplied except through foreign intervention
and when, in fact, we are witnesses of a transfer of
responsibility at the international level? We have often
spoken about this general problem with various European
and African colleagues in the light of present examples, and
we have become convinced that the United Nations must
examine it in all its aspects. Rules and procedures should be
laid down enabling the Security Council to decide to
control all deliveries of weapons, and especially clandestine
traffic, in areas of conflict.
131. Belgium asks the Secretary-General to think about
this matter during the present session and to tell us which
United Nations bodies would be in the best position to
examine it. Belgium, for its part, is ready to subscribe to
any international undertaking which might result from such
a study.
132. A fourth type of progress, in our opinion, would
concern the reprobation and prohibition of everything
leading to total war where civilian, non-combatant inhabitants,
who often have nothing whatever to do with the
conflict, become the victims of war through being starved,
prevented from receiving the necessary care or from being
evacuated, through being the victims of attacks or of the
hijacking or destruction of aircraft, or because bacteriological
or chemical weapons are used against them.
133. On several occasions, my Government, like many
others, has expressed its concern for the fate of victims of
internal conflicts such as the one in Nigeria that I have
already mentioned. It notes that, despite the efforts of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, there is still no
agreement making it possible to ensure, in acceptable
conditions, the dispatch of help to the civilian inhabitants.
134. Undoubtedly, the difficulties would be more easily
overcome if the international conventions were more
explicit. The Belgian Government hopes that the studies
that the International Committee of the Red Cross will
undertake as the result of the resolutions adopted at the
Conference at Istanbul will make it possible to afford to
the victims of non-international conflicts the humanitarian
protection to which they are entitled.
135. Confronted with two serious and urgent legal
problems - assistance to civilian populations in case of internal
conflict and the hijacking of aircraft — the Belgian Government
will undertake consultations with other Governments,
members of all the groups in the United Nations, in order
to determine whether the Assembly should not take up
these matters forthwith with a view to formulating recommendations.
We are also ready to take part in a convention
on the cessation of underground nuclear tests, as also a
treaty supplementing the Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibiting
the use of bacteriological and chemical weapons.
136. Lastly, my country thinks that the United Nations
could give a fifth proof of its determination not to neglect
any possibility for progress. This is in regard to a problem
we have already raised here, namely, the relations — at
present non-existent except in the case of UNESCO — between
our Organization and the hundred or so scientific
institutions all over the world that devote themselves to
research on the problems of peace.
137. No endeavour in the world, in any field, can make
any progress without resorting to research institutions. Why
should the United Nations be an exception to that rule?
On the one hand, we, the politicians, have been trying for
twenty-five years, often by empirical means, to settle
conflicts as they occur. Sometimes the United Nations
brings about peace, sometimes it does not. There would be
much food for thought on the subject of our successes and
our failures, but nobody draws lessons from this already
considerable experience.
138. On the other hand, many scientists are engaged
mainly in two kinds of research: how, by what methods, to
prevent conflicts, and how to stop them. They approach
these problems, as is right, in a hundred different ways. I
cannot believe that scientific research of such vital interest
to us should not claim our Organization’s attention.
139. My Government thinks that we would be acting
wisely if we asked the Secretary-General to submit to the
Assembly, every two years, a report summarizing the
scientific research programmes that are of interest to the
United Nations. The discussion of this report would enable
our States to indicate the subjects which are not being dealt
with and which they consider essential.
140. If that practice were to be inaugurated on the
occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United
Nations, we should furnish one more proof — perhaps not a
decisive but a characteristic one — of the fact that we do not
wish to miss any opportunity to establish a system of
relations among States that may prevent conflicts and
protect us from them.
141. I should like, Mr, Secretary-General, to avail myself
of this opportunity to say once again how impressed we
were by the far-sightedness with which you expressed
yourself in the introduction to your annual report
[A/7651/Add.1]. I do not wish to go into details about
your suggestions, but I hope that in our statement today
you will find support for the appeal that you addressed to
the two largest Members of our Organization for the speedy
opening of negotiations on the reduction of strategic
nuclear weapons, as also for your efforts to promote
disarmament and respect for human rights, two subjects to
which my country attaches particular importance.
142. So far I have spoken only of the political progress
made necessary by the changed dimensions of the world in
the past twenty-five years. What can I say about economic
and social solidarity among all the regions of the world, and
the progress that can be achieved in that respect only by a
true world authority that cannot be found anywhere except
here?
143. I must first declare with the most ardent conviction,
on behalf of my country, that the restoration of a better
balance between the wealth of a few countries and the
poverty of most of the others is not a problem of
generosity but of social justice — that is to say, an absolute
duty. The moral and spiritual forces in the world can do
much to develop an awareness of this new duty, but we also
believe that, in order to solve problems of such tremendous
complexity, the bodies responsible for the regulation and
distribution of resources will have to come more and more
within the orbit of the United Nations and its specialized
agencies. It must be recognized that world-wide co-operation
in the two inseparable fields of social and
economic development will doubtless remain the best fruit
of the twenty years of its existence.
144. I should like to say how happy and proud I am that
my colleague and friend Mr. Raymond Scheyven, the
Belgian Minister for Development Co-operation, has for the
second time been elected President of the Economic and
Social Council. In his closing statement to the Council
[1637th meeting], Mr.Scheyven stated that it seemed to
him an excellent thing that that body — and the same is true
of the other international organizations — should be alert to
new problems such as the human environment, the sea-bed,
pollution, urbanization, demography, technology and
science. It is of the very essence of the economic and social
role of our Organization that it should progress, not by
spectacular initiatives, but by the accumulation of a
multitude of modest and patient efforts. Only concerted
and creative action can bring about balanced progress.
145. This, unfortunately, is not the place in which to
enlarge upon the reflections which this essential chapter of
our activities inspires in us. The representative of my
country will revert to the subject in the Second Committee,
to which the Belgian Government intends to submit two
specific proposals: one concerning the action to be under-taken
to foster co-ordination at the regional level of the
various plans and projects for development and assistance
to the developing countries; the other on the need to give
greater emphasis in those plans to the processing and
marketing of raw materials in the places where they are
produced.
146. I have expressed today our opinion about the
measures that would give our twenty-fifth anniversary a
true significance for the future. I am encouraged in this by
the memory of something that happened twenty years ago.
It was at Lake Success, during the fourth session of the
General Assembly, of which Mr. Romulo, the then
President, reminded us from this rostrum this week
[1760th meeting]. The dark years of 1948 and 1949 had
destroyed most of the dreams of an easy peace and of a
harmonious functioning of the United Nations; on the
contrary, the tensions and tragedies in Europe and Asia
were already leading to intensified rearmament and were so
many indications of the crisis which was to culminate in
1950. We were deeply worried, but we went on preparing
the future of the United Nations and its further development.
It was the time when, twenty years ago almost to a
day, we were present at this very spot, but on the naked
earth where only bulldozers were in command, for the
laying of the foundation stone of the building in which we
are now meeting. The plans for this site were on too vast a
scale then for the fifty-six Members, but already there were
indications of the forthcoming emergence of new independent
States and of the progress of the United Nations
towards universality. Despite the uncertainties and
anxieties, we were building for and looking towards the
future.
147. Today, twenty years later, we are in a very different
situation: while major catastrophes have been averted,
never has the world been in such an explosive state, for
never has there been such an accumulation of means for its
destruction. Never as the world been in so unstable a
situation because of the increasing gap between the
resources of the northern and the southern hemispheres; a
never has the world been more a prey to a kind of universal
doubt, which is the superficial result of the fortunate event
of the intermingling of peoples who, once they have
listened to one another, are no longer to believe that they
one possess the truth.
148. We must dispel these nightmares of fear, poverty and
doubt. It is here, not elsewhere, that the earthly hope of a
more united mankind must be nourished by deeds: putting
an end to the stockpiling of weapons one upon the other
and simultaneously reducing part of the atomic arsenals;
developing new regulations on trade and the sharing of
resources; and improving, in all parts of the world and in
the Security Council, our procedures for the prevention and
settlement of conflicts.
149. Thus, modestly but with deep conviction, Belgium is
ready to play a practical part in the common effort for
what we hope will be a fruitful twenty-fifth anniversary.