99. I should like first of all to
offer our congratulations on the election of the honourable
Angie Brooks of Liberia to the Presidency of this twenty-fourth
session of the General Assembly. It is a fitting
tribute to her long association with this Organization, and
to her particular dedication to the cause of freedom of the
colonial peoples. We have every hope that under her wise
guidance this Assembly will make rapid progress on the
many important items of the present and the future.
100. I should also like to pay a tribute to the memory of
her distinguished predecessor, the late Mr. Emilio Arenales,
who presided over the twenty-third session of the General
Assembly with such courage and purpose. His untimely
death is a great loss to his country, to the Latin American
States and the United Nations.
101. Our distinguished Secretary-General, U Thant, who
has become, through the years, the repository of the
conscience of humanity, is carrying a heavy burden with
faith and fortitude. His role as peacemaker is difficult and
delicate and yet he has persevered relentlessly. We can do
no less than to assure him of our co-operation and support
for all that he is doing to uphold the Charter.
102. A full hundred years ago today, a light was lit in a
small coastal town in India. Within its life-span its brilliance
reached the dark corners in every land. It became the
symbol of hope for the down-trodden everywhere. Today,
we in India and millions of people all over the world
celebrate the centenary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. As
I speak to this august Assembly, the thought uppermost in
my mind is his message for his countrymen, for the peoples
of the world and for generations yet unborn. It is a message
of peace and co-operation.
103. The Mahatma demonstrated to us by his deeds that
man is capable of rising above his baser self to a plane that
befits his calling. Even while he fought the inequities of a
powerful colonial Power that subjugated his motherland,
he never let bitterness and prejudice envelop us.
104. Gandhiji set for us exacting standards. He wanted us
to be tolerant, non-violent and generous in our everyday
life. We do not claim that we have lived up to his precepts.
We have faltered many a time, even recently. But nobody
can accuse us of not earnestly trying to follow the path set
for us.
105. Permit me to say that those of us who saw this man
in flesh and blood, who were inspired by his soft voice
calling us to action, feel that this great Organization could
experience by his life-work and use some of his methods to
combat the horde of problems that beset the world
community today.
106. It is significant that the three causes for which the
Mahatma struggled non-violently throughout his life were:
first, elimination of racial, social and religious discrimination,
second, freedom from colonial subjugation of his own
people and others in different lands, and third, liquidation
of poverty and ignorance.
107. The Charter of the United Nations, which was
fashioned and drafted for the post-war world and in
Gandhi’s life-time, concerns itself with all the three:
discrimination, decolonization, and economic development
benefiting underprivileged everywhere.
108. Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister,
sought to reaffirm the Gandhian doctrine and to give form
and content to it in his policy of peaceful coexistence. He
proceeded on the basis that freedom not fear, faith not
doubt, confidence not suspicion can lead to friendly
relations between States in a world riven by conflict.
109. When he addressed this Assembly nine years ago he
drew attention to the fact that the propagation of this
concept was no empty idealism since, in practical terms, the
choice before the world was to co-operate or perish.
110. The adherence of all of us to the United Nations
Charter commits us to the principles of peaceful co-existence
between States with different social and political
systems; respect for the sovereignty, independence and
territorial integrity of one another; non-interference in the
internal affairs of each other; denial of the fruits of
aggression to the aggressor; respect for fundamental human
rights and the dignity and worth of the human person.
Yet, we see these noble ideas trampled upon in the march
of nations towards narrow selfish goals. Has the time,
therefore, not come when we should reaffirm our commitment
to these obligations and make a declaration which
will have, one hopes, binding force?
111. The Prime Minister of India, Shrimati Indira Gandhi,
speaking in this Assembly in 1968, said:
“Two years hence, in 1970, the United Nations will
complete 25 years. Can we make it a year of peace? A
starting point of a united endeavour to give mankind the
blessings of a durable peace?” [1693rd meeting,
para. 177.]
Can we not ensure that during this period we begin to
reduce expenditure on armaments and can we not also
ensure that a credible declaration for the renunciation of
force in settling disputes is made during this year?
112. Gandhiji believed that truth and non-violence could
bring peace, not only to individuals but also to nations and
the international community. More than 31 years ago he
wrote:
“Not to believe in the possibility of permanent peace is
to disbelieve the godliness of human nature ... If the
recognized leaders of mankind who have control over
engines of destruction, work wholly to renounce their
use, with full knowledge of its implications, permanent
peace can be obtained ... If even one great nation were
unconditionally to perform the supreme act of renunciation,
many of us would see in our lifetime durable peace
established on earth.”
113. Peace, renunciation of force, respect for international
law, these cannot be mere slogans. They need to be given
substance through greater co-operation in practical everyday
international life.
114. Unfortunately this co-operation has been lacking so
far. While every opportunity is taken to make good
pronouncements, the will to implement them is conspicuously
absent. We have heard, in this Assembly, many
intentions expressed, declarations made and resolutions
passed. But we have noted with great disappointment the
lack of enthusiasm in putting those intentions into action.
Disenchantment with the whole process of our way of
working in this Organization is growing. On the eve of the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the United
Nations we have to give serious thought so that this attitude
of despair is turned into one of hope. We have, therefore, to
devise effective means of implementing our declarations.
115. We are, even today, continuing to deal with some of
the problems which were with us when the United Nations
was born. The racist policies of South Africa, rampant and
oppressive colonialism of the Portuguese in Angola and
Mozambique as well as in other Territories, the racist
oppression and reactionary exploitation of the people of
Zimbabwe by a white minority and the lack of progress in
the liberation of Namibia are amongst such problems.
116. It is a terror of might and blackmail by means of
sophisticated weapons that is helping to keep the African
peoples in the southern part of Africa under racial and
colonial subjugation. This situation causes us great anguish,
more so because it was there that Mahatma Gandhi first
preached and practised non-violence in the struggle against
racial discrimination, colonial oppression and violation of
human rights.
117. The United Nations Charter contains within itself the
means for dealing with these problems. If this has not been
achieved so far it is because those Member States of this
Organization, which are in a position to bring about a
solution of these problems, have been evasive in their
response to the appeals and demands of the international
community. They have voted for, and supported, various
resolutions in these halls of the United Nations, against the
racist and the colonialist policies. But at the same time,
they have stopped short of taking effective action to
implement these very resolutions. Perhaps their attempt is
to persuade the international community that the problems
faced by the peoples of the southern part of Africa are
beyond solution. We cannot agree with them. This last
stronghold of prejudice, reaction and colonialism must be
made to surrender to the work of this august Assembly and
to conform to the objectives of the United Nations Charter.
118. In Asia, too, we see conflicts which have persisted
from the days of the founding of this great Organization.
I refer specially to Viet-Nam and to West Asia.
119. There has been no lack of appreciation of the desire
to achieve peace in Viet-Nam. But to what extent has this
desire been translated into action? The stopping of
bombing by the United States of the Democratic Republic
of Viet-Nam has enabled talks to take place in Paris to find
a peaceful solution. The next steps have now to be taken.
All parties to that dispute agree that the people of
Viet-Nam should be left free to determine their own
destiny, and no one seems to hold a brief for keeping
foreign forces in that land. The first step to be taken is the
immediate cessation of hostilities. Thereafter, necessary
arrangements have to be made for the withdrawal of foreign
troops to enable the people of Viet-Nam to decide their
future, free from foreign interference. This process can be
carried out effectively only if arrangements which inspire
the confidence of all parties concerned can be established.
It would, therefore, seem necessary to have a Government
which is adequately representative to command the confidence
and the support of all sections of the people. Such a
Government would be in a position in Viet-Nam to
supervise the withdrawal of foreign forces and prepare for
holding fair elections. To facilitate this process for bringing
peace to Viet-Nam the international community should
pledge its full co-operation and support.
120. I cannot conclude these brief remarks on the
situation in that country without paying a tribute to the
late Dr. Ho Chi Minh, in whose death Asia has lost an
indomitable soldier for freedom.
121. In the Middle East, Israel continues to be in
possession of large areas of territory it overran by force in
June 1967. The human problem of large numbers of Arab
refugees is an element in that tangled situation to which we
must not and cannot close our eyes.
122. Almost two years ago, on 22 November 1967, the
Security Council unanimously adopted resolution
242 (1967). The Security Council and its permanent
members have a special responsibility to ensure the faithful
implementation of the 22 November resolution.
123. The first thing should have been not to permit the
aggressor to retain the fruit of his aggression and use it as a
means of bargaining. However, we are given to understand
that, in the interest of a mutual adjustment, a wider
solution of the Middle Eastern problem is being attempted.
Even so, there is no movement towards a peaceful solution,
and hostilities continue to flare up from time to time, with
even more dangerous consequences.
124. Furthermore, there is an unfortunate attempt by
some interested parties to give religious overtones to a
problem that is essentially political. This could only play
into the hands of those who wish to confuse the issues in
the Middle East and fan religious emotions, making the
quest for an objective political settlement even more
difficult.
125. My Government has welcomed the initiative of the
permanent members of the Security Council to engage in
negotiations amongst themselves on this question. We have
no desire to prejudge or to prejudice the outcome of those
efforts, especially as those efforts continue to be made,
albeit at a leisurely pace. We feel, however, that the
responsibility cannot be that of the permanent members of
the Security Council alone. All States Members of the
United Nations have a collective responsibility in all such
matters.
126. I have just referred to the trouble spots of the world
where the return of peace must become an international
responsibility. However, a serious threat to international
peace and security today stems from the spiralling arms
race. This race is entering a new stage, both in terms of
sophistication of armaments and expenditure involved.
There is a systematic attempt to widen progressively the
gap between the military Powers and the weaker nations.
Concentration of enormous power in the hands of a few
nations is leading to a division of the world into spheres of
influence, in which might alone becomes right in the
relationships between States. It is imperative that this drift
towards a new and unequal balance of power be halted and
reversed. It is the responsibility of all peace-loving States,
particularly the non-aligned ones, which are adversely
affected by the emergence of new power patterns, to
restore the balance. They must seek to widen the scope of
international co-operation based on the sovereign equality
of all nations.
127. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)] represents an effective
demonstration of the latest trends in relations between
States. That Treaty is as unequal as it is ineffective. It
cannot contribute in any way to a balanced process of
disarmament, on which alone the security of nations can
depend. We have, on a matter of principle, rejected the
validity of an instrument which seeks to bind the hands of
the powerless and to licence the further accumulation of
armaments by those whose stockpiles threaten our very
existence. It is for this reason that we remain unable to sign
the Treaty.
128. That unequal Treaty has become even more unacceptable,
because of an attempt on the part of the big
Powers to modify assurances of security, implicit under the
provisions of the Charter, to those who do not subscribe to
the Treaty. These new tactics are symptomatic of the
growing tendency to make power and might the basis of
international relations. It also represents the increasing
attempts to settle questions of war and peace outside the
forum of the United Nations. We cannot be a party to the
weakening of the basic tenets of the Charter and to the
whittling down of the inherent responsibility of Member
States. This serious situation can be solved only by
increasing Our co-operation so that a more scrupulous
adherence is obtained for the provisions of the Charter.
129. Domination and exploitation continue to be a
normal feature of international life because of a toleration
of the persistence of inequality. It is this approach which
requires to be overhauled. It is only enlightened economic
co-operation on a global scale that can set a new process in
motion and contribute to a more durable peace and stability.
130. It is not enough for those of us who belong to the
developing world: merely to expose the hypocrisy and
hollowness of the assertions of the developed countries that
they are straining every muscle to give us help, when they
are not prepared even to respect, in practice, the commitments
which they make year after year through resolutions
sponsored in the various forums of the United Nations. The
time has come for us to indicate frankly and clearly what
are the responsibilities of the developing and the developed.
131. I had the privilege of presenting the report of the
second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development to the twenty-third session of the General
Assembly [1708th meeting]. Since then the Trade and
Development Board has met in Geneva in its eighth and
ninth sessions. I said then that the eyes of the world were
fixed on results we might be able to obtain from the
continuing machinery. Those very eyes, I fear, have
witnessed the futility of the ninth session. I therefore ask
myself, and I also venture to put this question to this
Assembly: what has gone wrong with the developmental
process and with the climate for international economic
co-operation?
132. To aggravate matters further, there is a growing
tendency to detract from the importance of the basic
objectives and put emphasis on palliatives. In spite of a
reasonably thorough identification of the problems of
development through numerous studies, there is an attempt
to initiate new studies and reviews, in a vain attempt to gain
more time and to evolve a plausible philosophy for the
present state of stagnation and withdrawal. The effective
multilateral agencies are progressively failing to reflect the
collective will of the international community. Instead,
efforts are being made to base such activities on unilateral
and at times even paternalistic patterns of providing
assistance.
133. To my mind, the basic cause for widespread disenchantment
with international co-operation lies in the
deliberately exaggerated dichotomy between the responses
and interests of the affluent and the poorer nations.
Contrary to: the facts of economic history, people in
positions of power have come to believe that the process of
transmission of growth impulses is unilateral or irreversible.
One has only to reflect on the rise and fall of nations to
come to the conclusion that such a belief is totally
unwarranted. Some of the centres of economic power
today have derived their present strength and their present
potential for transmitting growth from the investment and
the skills that flowed to them, when not so long ago they
were not in such a happy position. This process cannot but
repeat itself in the case of the developing countries which
are striving to break the vicious circle in which they find
themselves enmeshed by the accident of history, and
through the operation of an economic order erected on a
very narrow base.
134. In the developed world, the inevitability of rapid
change has yet to dawn on those entrusted with the reins of
authority. We need to remind ourselves that when we
launched the First United Nations Development Decade and
when we approved the Final Acts of the Geneva and New
Delhi Conferences of UNCTAD, we committed ourselves to
the establishment of a new and dynamic international
economic relationship and to the achievement of a new
world economic order. The fulfilment of this commitment
requires not only determined efforts and perseverance but
also imagination and courage of conviction. We will be
judged harshly by history if we do not display these
qualities at this crucial moment on the eve of the launching
of the Second United Nations Development Decade.
135. We have been conscious of the fact that the primary
responsibility for the development of developing countries
rests on themselves.
136. In Asia, Africa and Latin America a beginning has
been made, however modest, to advance the objective of
co-operation between developing countries and to prove
that they do not intend to spare their own efforts but are
serious in carrying out the recommendations of the Algiers
Charter and the second session of UNCTAD. The real
security of the developing countries can be ensured only if
they are able to develop their own strength, vitality and
vigour; secure for their people economic and social gains
and foster the habit of meeting together to pursue common
objectives.
137. In Asia we are attempting to evolve a strategy for
integrated development of regional economic co-operation
which represents a well co-ordinated attack on the manifold
problems and deficiencies in Asia. The move has been made
to provide an Asian answer to Asian problems. What Asia
needs today is not military pacts but economic co-operation.
138. Regional economic co-operation, and particularly
socio-economic resurgences in Asia can, in the ultimate
analysis, be sustained only on the basis of better utilization
of Asian resources and a more even distribution of wealth
and opportunities within our respective societies. We, in
India, have not flinched from taking decisions which alone
can ensure that the wealth of the nation is utilized for the
welfare of all its peoples without distinction. We have been
trying resolutely to work in the context of the phenomenon
of rising expectations. In so far as our society is
concerned, we have, in the two decades of our independence,
tried to organize ourselves in a manner to ensure
that the response of our socio-economic structure to the
demands on it are quick, unequivocal and progressive.
139. We have also attempted to forge closer economic
relations with our neighbours and, indeed, with other Asian
countries represented on the Council of Ministers for Asian
Economic Co-operation. Significant arrangements have already
been concluded with some countries. More are under
negotiation. It is our hope that all Asian countries will
respond favourably to these efforts for co-operation and
that we shall receive the necessary assistance from others so
that we will be able to establish in Asia, torn by conflicts
for centuries, new associations of co-operation based on
equality and friendship.
140. There are a number of items on the agenda and we
shall naturally express our views on them when they come
up for discussion. Here I have spoken of colonialism in
Africa and the conflicts in the tortured continent of Asia
because these concern us directly. I have spoken of the
socio-economic resurgence of Asia because we are involved
in it. I have spoken of economic development because we
are a part of it. I have also spoken of the arms race and the
attempts that are being made to carve out spheres of
influence in our world. I have talked of the United Nations
and its role in the field of international relations. I have
drawn my inspiration for all this from the message of
Gandhi for our own generation and for generations to
come. Permit me to end my speech by quoting a statement
made by Mahatma Gandhi to the representatives of a
resurgent Asia at the Asian Relations Conference in New
Delhi 10 months before his martyrdom. He said that the
world “is despairing of a multiplication of atom bombs,
because the atom bombs mean utter destruction”. He went
on to say: “It is up to you to tell the world of its
wickedness and sin — that is the heritage your teachers and
my teachers have taught Asia.” This was the reaffirmation
of his belief which he expressed thus:
“My nationalism is fierce but not exclusive and not
devised to hurt any nation or individual. India’s freedom
as conceived by me can never be a menace to the world.
The whole of my country may die so that the human race
may live.”
It is in this spirit that we shall endeavour to work.