1. Madam President, let me begin by congratulating you on your election
to the high position of President of the General Assembly. Africa, your
own country and you yourself are being rightly honoured by this election.
We wish you well in your important assignment and we look forward with
great expectation to working under your inspiring leadership.
2. When the General Assembly meets this year for its
twenty-fourth session we have to recognize that no solution
has yet been reached of the many acute problems which pit
nation against nation and national group against national
group in armed conflict. Violence is a terrifying reality.
Justice does not prevail. Individuals and whole peoples are
denied liberty and human rights. The ideals of peaceful
co-operation which we have all pledged ourselves to follow
in accordance with the Charter are violated or ignored in
the practical policy of States.
3. If we want to be realistic, we can hardly expect our
debates here in the Assembly, or the efforts which are
deployed by the Security Council and the Secretary-General,
to result directly in settlements of current conflicts.
We must admit that States have not yet wanted to
limit their sovereignty to the extent necessary to make the
United Nations an efficient instrument for peace. The
principal role of the United Nations as far as current
conflicts are concerned is, therefore, for the present, to
serve as a centre for the expression and formation of
international opinion, to encourage and facilitate co-operation
and agreement between the States concerned and to
offer the formal framework for such co-operation and
agreement.
4. A sober analysis of this kind should not lead to
pessimism about the future of the United Nations. There
are many examples which show that Member States, both
big and small, find the United Nations to be the suitable,
sometimes the only possible, place for co-operation and for
agreement aiming at a peaceful solution of current conflicts.
This attitude is not due to any conventional faith in
the United Nations. It is based on firm experiences from
the history of our Organization, now a quarter of a century
old. These experiences reveal failures—that is true—but also
successes. Let us learn from both. We can then see more
clearly where the United Nations has its limitations and its
possibilities. We can then more easily choose methods to
expand the possibilities.
5. In Viet-Nam the war continues. The bombing of North
Viet-Nam has ceased, but in the South the war rages with
undiminished intensity. The severely afflicted people of
South Viet-Nam are exposed to terrible personal sufferings
and to heavy material destruction. Earlier costly experience
has shown that the conflict cannot be settled by military
means, It would now appear that the parties have come to
realize this.
6. At an earlier stage of the war we expressed the hope
that the United States, as being the party vastly superior in
strength and in view of its responsibility as a world Power,
should take the first step which could lead to negotiations
aiming at a cessation of the war. It is gratifying that, as
Secretary-General U Thant foresaw at the time, the cessation
of the bombing of North Viet-Nam did lead to negotiations
between the parties. Unfortunately these negotiations have not,
as far as is known, led to any results as yet. Let us hope that
the will to peace expressed by the parties will make it possible
for them to reach agreement on a way leading to a goal which they
have both announced: to bring the tragic conflict to an end and to
give the people of South Viet-Nam the possibility to determine
their own destiny.
7. In our opinion, the key to success will be found in military
de-escalation by all parties. We believe, however, that also in
this situation a special responsibility rests with the stronger
party to take the first steps. It is therefore gratifying to note
that President Nixon has now decided on further withdrawal of
American troops.
8. Irrespective of when the conflict is in fact terminated, it
is important to begin planning even now for the reconstruction
of Viet-Nam. People all over the world have followed the war with
strong emotional and moral engagement. This should be taken as a
commitment to help the Viet-Namese to restore their war-ravaged
country once hostilities have ceased. Therefore, conditions seem to
be present for a massive international relief programme as a powerful
manifestation of international solidarity. The Nordic countries, for
their part, have already begun to plan their contributions.
9. It is deeply regrettable that it has not yet been possible
to implement the resolution adopted by the Security Council on
22 November 1967 on the crisis in the Middle East [resolution 242(1967)].
The peoples in the area continue to live in a condition of political
tension, military actions and counter-actions, entailing the risk of
serious repercussions outside the area as well. This is possibly the
risk which has made the four great Powers conduct negotiations on a
method of implementing the resolution of the Security Council and in this
way to facilitate the task of the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General. The day the four great Powers reach agreement on such
a method, the parties must take it fully into account. The efforts of
the four Powers deserve our support.
10. A tragic facet of the world situation is the continued
civil war in Nigeria. The efforts which have been made by
African and other-statesmen to achieve peace have so far,
been without result. The civilian population on both sides
of the front is being subjected to severe suffering. An .
international relief action has begun to which the Swedish
Government, with the support of a strong public opinion,
has allocated relatively large funds. We deplore the continuing
difficulties in making that relief action effective. We have also
expressed our earnest expectation that the parties will be able
to initiate contacts for a peaceful solution. The African States
consider that their own Organization of African Unity has a special
responsibility and a special possibility of contributing to a solution.
We find that approach reasonable and realistic.
11. We shall elaborate on the problems of southern Africa
later in the session. The Swedish Government regards
colonial domination and racial oppression as detestable and
illegitimate residues of prejudices and power positions of
old times. Their continued existence constitutes a serious
threat to the stability and welfare of the African continent.
All efficient measures which the international community
represented in the United Nations can agree upon must be,
taken to remove that threat. An absolute minimum demand
is that the resolutions of the Security Council calling upon
Member States to apply an arms embargo on South Africa
should be scrupulously and consistently observed. Moreover,
we consider that measures should be taken to increase
the efficiency of the Organization in following and supervising
the application of the mandatory sanctions against
Southern Rhodesia, It is deplorable, and highly disgraceful
for the countries concerned, that individual States should
ignore the decisions on sanctions and thereby jeopardize
the authority of the United Nations.
12. in this connexion I should like to mention an
international problem of a serious nature. What I have in
mind is that military conflicts both within and between
States are to a large extent fought with war material which
has been procured from abroad as gifts or purchases. I do
not wish, of course, to question the right of States to
acquire war material necessary for self-defence. Indeed, the
right of self-defence is laid down in our Charter. I only wish
to draw attention to the problems inherent in uncontrolled
arms traffic.
13. It would undoubtedly be a step in the interest of
peace if it should be possible, within the framework of the
United Nations, to agree on certain principles in this field.
The principal aim should be to endeavour to prevent such
trade in war materials as can obstruct a satisfactory solution
of a conflict or hinder the localization of such a conflict.
14. When Czechoslovakia was invaded last summer by
troops belonging to members of the Warsaw Pact, this gave
rise to a wave of indignation and disappointment. There
had been the hope that the evolution in the right direction
towards a more humane type of communism which had
begun in the country should be allowed to continue
without any outside interference. There had also been the
hope that the leading State of the Warsaw Pact should not
interpret that development as a threat against its own
security or that of its allies. Those hopes were frustrated.
What we have witnessed during the past year has been a
return to a policy whereby the freedom and the rights of
the individual are gradually curtailed. This policy is
conducted under the name of “normalization”. We doubt
whether the Czechoslovak people consider that description
correct.
15. In addition to other conflicts there is now the
increasing tension between the two communist great
Powers, the Soviet Union and China. There is a risk of
increasing violence. One conclusion which we consider
self-evident, is that an energetic endeavour must now be
made to engage the People’s Republic of China in international
co-operation by finally giving its Government the possibility
of taking China’s seat in all the organs of the United Nations.
16. Even if in the major current disputes the United
Nations can only exercise a limited influence, the Swedish
Government is convinced that the Organization has
acquired increased importance as a forum for long-term
peaceful co-operation. This applies in the first instance to
the disarmament efforts.
17. There has been very little success so far this year in the
field of disarmament. The hopes of considerable progress
towards nuclear disarmament which were raised last year at
the time of the conclusion of the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)]
have not been fulfilled. This can be partly explained by the
fact that the coming into force of that treaty has been
delayed. Only when its principal originators, the Soviet
Union and the United States, have ratified the treaty, will
we come closer to this goal.
18. The world also waits with growing impatience for the
two great nuclear Powers to begin their bilateral talks on
the limitation of missile systems. We hope that those
negotiations will take place soon.
19. If little or no progress can be registered in the field of
nuclear disarmament, the situation appears to be somewhat
more hopeful with regard to other weapons of mass
destruction, that is, the means for biological and chemical
warfare. The Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in
Geneva has made great efforts this year to find a
solution to the problems which those terrible weapons
create. Our hope is that additional tangible steps in the
direction towards common sense will be taken during this
session of the General Assembly. Valuable guidance has
recently been provided in the Secretary-General’s report on
the effects of the possible use of biological and chemical
weapons. In the introduction to that document the
Secretary-General has indicated towards which goals those
continued efforts should be directed. In our opinion it is
important that all States adhere to the Geneva Protocol for
the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating
Poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods
of Warfare of 1925. It is also important to have a uniform
interpretation of this prohibition which, in our view, i
total and categorical.
20. It has been obvious for a long time that the interdependence
of all peoples on our earth, both in war and in peace, is
constantly increasing. An expression thereof is the
increasingly strong pressure which is exerted by the
increasing population of the world on the limited supplies
of our planet, in the way of raw materials, water and air.
Two essential demands make themselves felt: on the one
hand, the supplies must be utilized rationally, efficiently
and with the greatest possible economy. The world cannot
afford unplanned exploitation of its scarce resources. On
the other hand, they must be distributed with more justice
than at present. It has become a matter of urgent
importance to diminish the differences in economic and
social development among the peoples of the world, a
matter which also basically affects the maintenance of
peace. In our time of increasing interdependence, poverty,
ignorance and hunger far from the borders of one’s own
country are conditions as unacceptable as if they were to
occur within that country itself.
21. In this perspective it is necessary that the work on
co-ordinated efficient strategy for the Second United
Nations Development Decade be pushed forward. The
objective must be the sustained improvement of the living
conditions of the individual. An increase of agricultural and
industrial production must therefore be integrated with
measures to achieve a fair distribution of income, better
dwellings and a sound environment with greater possibilities
for man to live his life in freedom and dignity. I am happy
to note that this view of the development process is shared
by an increasing number of people. In this connexion I wish
to draw attention to the international meeting of expert
on social policy and planning held in Stockholm from 1-10
September 1969 in co-operation between the United
Nations and the Swedish Government.
22. Economic and social development in our time is
characterized more than ever by progress made in the field
of science and technology. At a pace that could not be
imagined only a few decades ago, new discoveries, inventions
and industrial products come forth which radically
change the environment in which we live. The time interval
between an invention and its industrial exploitation is
constantly diminishing. The telephone was invented in
1820 but did not come into general use until half a century
later. It took more than 15 years from the time of the
invention of radar before it came into practical use. Now
the situation has radically changed. Research has become
incorporated into the actual economic process and its
results are immediately utilized in the production. Of
decisive importance is the question of according to what
laws and for what purpose this unprecedented expansion
takes place. It is often determined by accidental factors. In
other cases, developments are decided by individuals or
groups whose interests do not always coincide with those of
the vast majority.
23. In our times the need is acutely felt for a more
conscious and more rational guidance of these processes,
with regard both to research and to the technical and
industrial utilization of the results of research. It is
characteristic that most Governments, irrespective of the
political system they represent, have found it necessary to
create consultative scientific and technological organs, and
that they seek to work out certain guidelines for research
and development work in their respective countries. At the
same time, we have to keep in mind that theoretical
research is already a teamwork of mankind, and that
applied science and technological development work should
become so. The national policies of the various countries
must be co-ordinated on the international level, whilst
retaining the free and open channels which are the
necessary condition for the work of the international
scientific community.
24. A special problem is the transfer of science and
technology to developing countries in order to accelerate
their economic and social development. This problem is
part of the task of reducing the gap between countries
having different levels of development. This has been
discussed in different United Nations organs: for example,
in connexion with the planning of the Second Development
Decade. It deserves systematic discussion during the years
to come.
25. The investments of funds and personnel required
nowadays for research and technical development work are
so enormous that only a few of the highly developed
countries can make advanced contributions in this important
field. Thus there is a risk that the prominent economic
and politico-military positions of those countries will be
still further strengthened in relation to the rest of the
world. In the case of certain research work, they can come
to hold virtual monopoly positions. Such a development
would in the long run lead to a lack of balance in the
international system and could increase frictions between
the technologically superior Powers and other States.
26. The conclusion must be that the new role of science
and technology in the development of society and in
international co-operation must be the subject of exhaustive
debate in the different organs of the United Nations.
We also believe the time has come to make a general survey
of the institutional apparatus for dealing with the relevant
problems. There is thus reason to undertake a comprehensive
study of such questions as the tasks of the General Assembly
and the Economic and Social Council in this field, the organization
of the United Nations Secretariat, the role of the specialized
agencies, etc. Our hope is that the idea of such a study will meet
with general approval by many Governments and result in more efficient
international measures adapted to the new perspective which I
have just outlined.
27. The landing of the American astronauts on the moon
was a triumph for modern science and technology. Admiration
is felt for the men who accomplished that bold mission
and for those who planned it. That latest achievement in
the field of outer space technology should logically mean a
strong push forward for international co-operation. The
space Powers have now shown what they are able to achieve
in competition with each other, motivated to some extent
by political and military prestige. Would they not now
stand to gain if the suspicious competition were replaced by
open co-operation involving a rational distribution of the
work on the continued exploration of outer space? And
would they themselves not benefit from involving other
countries more fully in this venture, utilizing their assets
and letting space research, with its vast possibilities for
scientific and industrial progress, become a matter for the
whole human race?
28. Co-operation under the auspices of the United Nations
has already begun. I recall that the General Assembly last
year decided to instruct a special working group to study
the social, legal and economic implications of satellite
broadcasts to individual receivers [resolution 2453 B
(XXIII)]. In the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space there is also discussion of such questions as increased
technical assistance in the field of space research. Let us
hope that these efforts are only the modest beginnings of
increasingly fruitful co-operation in the future.
29. The unprecedented possibilities of modern science and
technology can also be used to improve the quality of the
human environment. The importance and urgency of this
problem are increasingly felt all over the world. The
General Assembly decided last year to take up the
environmental question and to convene a United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment in 1972
[resolution 2398 (XXIII)]. It did so with the consideration
in mind that modern technology can help man to improve
his physical and social environment and to prevent its
degradation caused by the uncontrolled application of
certain types of technology. We hope that the General
Assembly will this year decide on preparations for the
conference which will assure the fulfilment of its basic
objective. That objective is to work out, and to make
available to Governments and international organizations,
guidelines for practical action designed to save and to
improve the human environment in the whole world.
30. Let me conclude by emphasizing once again the
demand for universal solidarity among human beings and
among nations. This is a demand which we must obey if the
new military technology is not to destroy us all. In an
epoch when man can observe his own planet from another
celestial body, many differences and conflicts appear as
minor local quarrels. Solidarity implies a struggle against
economic and social injustices, a struggle against abuse of
power, and a struggle against the oppression of man’s
natural aspirations to a life in freedom and dignity.
Ultimately, the outcome of that struggle will determine the
question of war and peace and, indeed, the continued
existence of mankind.