YouSaid · the spoken record

Affo

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS AFFO

lines on the record: 65
first: 1984-09-24
most recent: 1985-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-general-debate

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“317. For four years—notably in its resolution 35/88 of 5 December 1980—the General Assembly has appealed to the international community to give financial, material and technical assistance to Benin in order to assist it in overcoming its economic difficulties. Meanwhile the Secretary-General has not ceased to take dynamic measures to mobilize and organize that special economic assistance to Benin. In particular, review missions have gone to Benin periodically to take stock, together with our authorities, of the progress of the programme. There was also a round-table conference of the socio-economic development partners of Benin, held at Cotonou in March 1983, which received crucial assistance from UNDP. 318.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“Here we may follow the path advocated by the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, providing for the creation of a development fund financed by reducing and transferring expenditure on armaments. 316. It is more important than ever today, as we face the unavoidable reality of poverty and hunger, which continue to be the cause of considerable political upheavals, to find solutions to the serious contradictions of our world in crisis. The prosperity of the wealthy countries cannot continue to be built on the destitution and poverty of the poor countries. It is impossible to think of any kind of development if the problems of survival facing some of the third- world countries are not overcome and equitably resolved. Helping the third world to create a more just international order means helping oneself and guaranteeing the progress of mankind.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“Close examination shows that the proposed rescheduling or refinancing of debts to ensure the maintenance of the rich countries' position in the existing economic system cannot bring about worthwhile improvements in the situation of our countries. 314. What our sick world needs today is to make financial management truly democratic, which requires the drafting of a contract of solidarity and therefore the establishment of a new international economic order. 315. The present system is blocked. Therefore, a restructuring which will help the development of such bodies as the IMF and the World Bank is more necessary than ever. If we are to succeed in this new task we must adopt other criteria than those of profitability. A genuine contract of solidarity between the wealthy and the poor countries has yet to be established.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“Obtaining liquid funds on the international financial market requires prodigious efforts, including blackmail and sordid deals. The biggest international borrowers cannot obtain what they need, and States with large budgetary deficits which try to siphon off world savings for themselves cannot do so either, despite various manoeuvres. 313. The survival of our countries cannot be accommodated to a world reorganization plan designed for and characterized by the technological and industrial domination of the rich countries. This solution, which seeks at all costs to restore profit levels in a rigid way, giving the strongest a privileged place, would undoubtedly leave the weakest by the wayside.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“Efforts at stabilization, growth and economic adjustment are thrown off course by rising interest rates and the soaring dollar, which are creating tension throughout the world. The external debt of the third world is now nearly $850 billion. The pernicious machinery which has created this stagnation must be changed. No one stands to gain by allowing the situation to develop to the breaking-point, which has already nearly been reached in some regions, where a suspension of payments to creditor banks has been ordered. Such scenarios, which mark a new stage in the economic decay of the third world, now bordering on total collapse and bankruptcy, involve the risk, if we are not careful, of bringing about deterioration in North- South relations, tension and confrontation on a frightening scale. 312.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“It is all the more important to recall these facts because certain of the richest States use the crisis as a pretext to make massive reductions in resources for development. A reduction of 30 per cent in total aid had even been envisaged without the slightest hesitation in certain decision-making circles. If that measure had been applied, it could only have seriously worsened the precarious position of the developing countries, some of which, lacking resources, no longer have access to lending markets. 311. One of the biggest problems facing the third world is the unprecedented growth in external debt, which means that our countries now produce only to pay to service debts which are increasing at a diabolical and unfair rate.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“The poor relations of the international economic system, the third-world countries, receive only small favours, given them because of their marginal participation in a hard and pitiless system that does not belong to them. The worst effects of the crisis are destined for them. 309. In this way, the aid planned by the institutions devoted to co-operation is considerably reduced. To monetary depreciation has now been added what some people call "galloping demography". In real terms, per capita transfers have declined by 20 per cent, for example, in the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, reducing the total aid in real terms to $4 per capita per year. 310.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“The painful efforts of the developing countries to restructure their economies are cancelled out by the constant worsening of the terms of trade. It seems that nothing can alleviate the poverty of the developing countries. The return to arbitrary and unjustified protectionism has a constant effect on the production and export prospects of the developing countries, blocking their access to foreign markets. These countries seem to have been struck by a blind fate, but a closer examination shows that there are reasons for the situation from which they are suffering. Those reasons are to be found in the logic of a system based on profit dictated by the multinationals for their own selfish interests.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“It is the sole solution to our world in disarray, where the human rights recognized and inscribed in the Charter of the United Nations are everywhere trampled underfoot and no longer effectively applied, because of the burdens which weigh so heavily on freedom, the right to decide one's own destiny, the right to food, the right to a roof over one's head and the right to take care of oneself and to be educated. 308. To mention these fundamental rights today is to take note of the tragic situation at the end of this twentieth century of the billions of people who make up the third world and who are totally disregarded in a system which does not pay them enough for their efforts and their production, thus giving rise to a cycle of impoverishment.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“How is it that, everywhere, we see, rising up in ever greater numbers, sorcerer's apprentices desperate to destabilize and compromise everything? We cannot resign ourselves to accepting these signs as heralding disruption and cataclysm, because our problems and difficulties are not insurmountable. 307. On the world economic scene, where the most serious disorders prevail, a common political will to link all the major regions of our planet in brotherly action to avert hunger and guarantee progress is the only answer.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“The floodlights that we direct today upon the status of mankind force us to face many painful facts that do not make for a great deal of optimism. Indeed, on the horizon the clouds of disaster and collapse arc building up. 305. In the throes of selfishness, of the will to power and of greed, our world has turned into an overheated planet subject to increased tensions of all kinds that are seemingly impervious to joint action, dialogue, understanding, and recognition of the inevitability of our common fate and the universality of our problems the better to solve them. Awareness of the common dangers awaiting us, instead of inspiring us to unite to avert them, makes us lose our heads and pushes us into taking defensive measures each as irrational as the other. 306.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“My delegation would like to extend to him the sincere thanks of the People's Republic of Benin for the friendship he showed our country by paying an official visit to Cotonou in January 1984, following the thirty-eighth session of the General Assembly. The National Executive Council of the People's Republic of Benin wishes, through me, to reiterate to the Secretary-General its total support for him in the heavy responsibilities he has assumed. 303. I should also like warmly to welcome Brunei Darussalam, the new Member of the United Nations. 304. Each year, impelled by the inevitable surge of solidarity that must unite us, we meet here to take up the major problems of our time, those that affect the life of our States and our peoples and constitute a threat to the fragile balance of today's world and that of the future.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“Jorge Illueca, President of the Republic of Panama, who led the work of the thirty- eighth session of the General Assembly with great wisdom and remarkable clear-sightedness and firmness. We pay him a heartfelt tribute. 302. The delegation of Benin would also like to pay a tribute to the Secretary-General in keeping with the outstanding qualities he displays in putting into practice courageously and with perseverance the noble ideals of the Charter of the United Nations. The brilliant report on the work of the Organization that he has submitted to us is further evidence of his courage and clarity of mind.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“The People's Republic of Benin is especially pleased that the difficult and important task of leading our discussions has this year been entrusted to an outstanding, experienced man such as yourself, whose thorough knowledge of all the inner workings of the organs that make up the United Nations system is incontestable. Above all, however, you represent a country that has achieved an undeniable reputation on the international scene, and especially in Africa, through the tireless efforts it has constantly made in the search for a lasting solution to the problem facing our brothers in southern Africa who are the victims of all types of racial oppression. 301. You are taking up your important lofty task in the footsteps of Mr.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)
“It is a signal honour for me to speak for the first time as head of the delegation of the People's Republic of Benin to the representatives of the international community gathered here to explore, together, ways and means to ensure the peaceful coexistence and security of all the peoples of the world, for which we all yearn and for which we strive with all our strength, and to bring about the best conditions for mutually beneficial international cooperation. 300. I should like, Sir, to add the warm congratulations of my delegation to the unanimous chorus of those addressed to you by preceding speakers on the occasion of your election as President of the thirty- ninth session of the General Assembly.”
1984-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 39 (1984)