YouSaid · the spoken record

Carrington

lines on the record: 52
first: 1979-09-24
most recent: 1980-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“If new programmes are to be set up, we must find room for them by first identifying and then bringing to an end other programmes which are now obsolete or of little value. 29. It is easy to expect too much of the United Nation, and it is too easy to decry its achievements. The United Nations provides the forum where ideals and realities come face to face. Our Charter embodies the ideals to which we should continue to aspire. The world supplies the yardstick by which to measure our progress. Our task is simple but gigantic: to seek year by year to bring the reality closer to the ideal.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“The Organization must set itself the highest standards of good management and economy. Here, obviously much depends on individuals. The United Nations is fortunate to have in its Secretary General someone who justly enjoys the respect of all Members and who in his tenure of office has set the highest standards. We must ensure that efficiency, competence and integrity remain the prime considerations in every appointment to the Secretariat. We must exercise restraint over the proliferation of meetings, which often only consume money and effort with no hope of practical results. We must make the best use of the institutions we have. And, at a time of worldwide economic difficulty, we must eliminate wasteful expenditure and curb the constant expansion of the Organization's budget.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“We approach the second review session of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, due to begin at Madrid in November, determined, first, to conduct a thoroughgoing review of the way in which the Final Act has been implemented and, secondly, to examine proposals for its future development. 27. It should be clear from what I have said that the British Government continues to believe that the United Nations has an important role to play in the search for political solutions to the many problems that we all face. But if the Organization is to play that role, we must pay due regard to its structure and its management. We must be careful not to tamper with its institutions in such a way as to impair their ability to perform the functions assigned to them by the Charter. 28.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“The British Government remains fully committed to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and is playing a full part in the search for solutions to the outstanding problems and for a renewed consensus. 26. We remain committed to the undertakings we gave in 1975 under the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. We believe that the Conference process can and should play a valuable role in the management of international relations in Europe. But popular faith in this process has been shaken by the actions of the Soviet Union, not least its invasion of Afghanistan, which violated at a stroke all the principles of the Final Act.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“As we do so, we shall remind those with whom we negotiate that in military matters the key to building confidence between nations often lies in a readiness to publish information on such matters as budgets and force levels. The more is known, the less is feared; the more is concealed, the more is suspect. 25. Arms control agreements depend on the existence of a climate of trust; they cannot create it. That too is a matter of realism. Arms control must go hand in hand with security. This hard fact is reflected in the outcome of the Second Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. I know that progress in negotiations on nuclear disarmament has been slow, and that is frustrating. But I see no reason why our common interest in preventing nuclear proliferation should be diminished in any way.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“President, a few days ago you made an eloquent appeal for new efforts to halt the arms race. As you reminded us, the hopes attached to the Disarmament Decade of the 1970s were cruelly disappointed: global military expenditure continued to grow and arsenals of weapons multiplied. This is a field in which there are no short cuts. In arms control, above all, realism is called for. A comprehensive and step-by-step programme of attainable measures covering both nuclear and conventional weapons is the only realistic approach. Declaratory measures are of very little value; what matters is concrete results. The British Government will continue to work for agreements based on balanced and verifiable agreements.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“We consider apartheid to be morally indefensible and politically unworkable. But if change is to come peacefully in South Africa, it will have to be a step-by-step process. We shall not achieve change, peaceful change, by increasing South Africa's isolation, or by ostracism, or by threats. We cannot know how fast changes will come to South Africa, but there are voices inside the country calling for change and we should not ignore them. What the United Nations can and must do is to continue to remind South Africa that apartheid is a system repugnant to all Members of the Organization and incompatible with its ideals and those of the international community as a whole. 23. I should like to turn now to the efforts which are being made to deal with the larger and more general threats to international security. 24. Mr.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“We have cancelled $53 million of official debt and rescheduled the remainder on favourable terms. 21. Although a number of other offers of assistance have been made, I do not believe that the international community as a whole has yet done enough to put Zimbabwe back on its feet. The damage resulting from years of isolation and of war is enormous. The expectations raised by the peace settlement are high. An international effort to underpin the political and economic stability of Zimbabwe during its first few years as an independent State could secure its future prosperity and enable it to play an influential part in Africa. I believe it to be of the highest importance that such an effort should be forthcoming in the months ahead. 22. As regards South Africa, the British Government's view is clear.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“The British Government remains firm in the belief that the United Nations plan provides the only sure route to a peaceful and democratic settlement with general international recognition. We shall continue to work with the Secretary General and the African States most closely involved to achieve the long overdue agreement on implementation of this plan. 20. I have already referred to Zimbabwe's advance to independence and to membership in the United Nations. That has given my Government great satisfaction, which 1 know is shared by every Member of this Organization. But this new Member of our Organization needs more from us than congratulations. It needs substantial aid to rebuild its economy from the ravages of civil war. My own Government has pledged $180 million of aid to Zimbabwe over the next three years.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“I pay a tribute to the efforts of the United Nations agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] and the many nongovernmental organizations which have mounted the relief programme in Cambodia, often in conditions of personal danger. By the end of this year, the joint UNICEF/ICRC operation alone will have spent some $500 million, or $100 for each Cambodian. But there are limits to what we can achieve by humanitarian means. So long as there is no political solution, so long will the suffering continue. 19. Another area of tragic armed conflict is Namibia. Here too a political solution must be found by negotiation. But, unlike the position in the other area, here there already exists a plan approved by the Security Council and negotiations are already well advanced.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“We cannot undo the tragedies that have occurred, but it is not too late to remedy their consequences. 17. Let us take just one case, that of Cambodia. That country is a picture of the human misery that results if the Charter of the United Nations is not respected. The Vietnamese invasion and occupation of Cambodia have created tension and conflict in Southeast Asia. The stand taken by the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN] has my Government's full support. We believe that there must be a political solution but that there cannot be such a solution without the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Cambodia. That must be the first aim of any negotiations. 18. Meanwhile, the United Nations is doing what it can to alleviate the plight of the people of Cambodia and of the refugees.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“It is our common duty and our common interest to condemn such acts and to ensure that international terrorism, whatever form it may take, is never allowed to achieve its objective. The British Government is glad that this session's agenda includes proposals to enhance the safety of diplomatic and consular representatives. 16. An increasingly worrying phenomenon in recent years has been the mass exodus of refugees from their own countries. When the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was set up as a "temporary" organization nearly 30 years ago, there were 1.2 million refugees in the world, mainly in Europe; there are now nearly 16 million refugees and displaced persons, principally in Africa and Asia—three decades of achievement by the international community.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“Judging by what they themselves have announced, Iran and Iraq are now in a state of undeclared war. I share the view and the fear expressed yesterday by the Secretary General that this conflict could have serious and unpredictable consequences and I echo his call for the utmost restraint, for an end to the fighting and for a negotiated settlement. This surely is no more than the United Nations has a right to expect from two of its Members. Therefore I welcome the fact that, on the Secretary General’s initiative, the Security Council will be meeting in informal consultations here this afternoon. 15. Acts of terrorism against diplomatic and consular premises and staff have increased alarmingly in recent years. They threaten the basic fabric of international relations.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“The occupation of Afghanistan is not the only violation of the United Nations Charter that we have seen in Southwest Asia in the past 12 months. The detention of the American hostages in Iran is another. International law and common humanity require their immediate release. I take this occasion to remind the Iranian authorities of their obligation under international law to protect the rights of all foreigners residing in their country. I am, of course, especially concerned for those British subjects who are at present detained in Iran and to whom my country's representatives have been denied any access. 14. Speaking of violations of the Charter, the United Nations surely cannot ignore the grave situation that has developed in the past 48 hours between two Member States.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“Nine months ago both of those principles were violated by a country which is a permanent member of the Security Council. I refer, of course, to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. One hundred and four Member States voted in this Assembly to condemn it. Nine months later, no end to the conflict is in sight. One million Afghans have sought refuge outside their own country. Tens of thousands of Soviet troops remain there; but they have failed to subjugate the people of Afghanistan. Here, too, let there be a political solution—a solution which will remove Soviet forces from Afghanistan restore to the people of that country their sovereignty and their independence and enable them to choose for themselves how they shall be governed. 13.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“The British Government welcomes the news that the leaders of Egypt, Israel and the United States are to meet again before long. In the meantime Europe has not been inactive. Britain and its partners in the European Community committed themselves to search for common ground and to gain acceptance of the principles set out by their Heads of Government in the declaration which they issued at Venice on 13 June this year. We believe that these principles, and only these principles, can form the basis for a just and lasting settlement. 12. I said earlier that the great majority of States Members of the Organization had been faithful to the Charter. I wish I could say "all". We are pledged to respect the sovereignty of others. We are pledged to refrain from the threat or use of force in international relations.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“I should now like to refer to some of the major conflicts which are on the agenda of this session and to offer some ideas, which I promise will be brief, about how, in the view of the United Kingdom Government, progress can be made towards peaceful solutions. 10. The Middle East conflict is, above all, one which, in our view, cries out for negotiations leading to a peaceful solution. The violence has gone on far too long. Negotiations are bound to be a lengthy and complex process, and they can hardly succeed unless a calmer atmosphere can be created than that which prevails today. Britain appeals again to all concerned to refrain from inflammatory acts and statements. Such restraint would be a major contribution to the attainment of the goal of peace. 11.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“In 1979, 18 per cent of Britain's total imports came from developing countries. They were worth $19 billion, or 4.6 per cent of our gross national product. In addition, we continue to work with our partners in Europe to increase aid, trade and investment for the benefit of developing countries. For example, through the Second ACPEEC Convention of Lome signed at Lome on 31 October 1979, the European Community has given to 59 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific guaranteed access to our markets for an assured quota of their products. That Convention has also provided and does provide aid and. technical cooperation on a very large scale. 9.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“I am disappointed that it proved impossible to reach agreement on procedures for global negotiations. But discussions will continue during this General Assembly. We shall work for a successful launch of the global negotiations on a generally acceptable basis. 8. Meanwhile, I should point out that, despite our own domestic economic problems, the aid programme of my own country is substantial. It is the fifth largest among the aid programmes of the industrialized countries and the seventh highest as a percentage of gross national product. But aid is only one factor in the development process. Private investment and private flows are also essential. In 1978, for example, net private flows from the United Kingdom to developing countries amounted to $8.7 billion, or 2.8 per cent of our gross national product. Trade too is vital.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“The United Kingdom supported that collective attempt to set a framework for development over the next decade. It was a positive act that accorded well with the ideals of our Charter. Britain accepts, as we all do, that many developing countries face immense social and economic problems. A common effort is essential to ensure that the world economic system evolves to meet the needs of all. But, in making that effort, we must not weaken the foundation of the world's trading, monetary and financial system which has been built up gradually over the years and which has seen an increase in world prosperity unprecedented in human history. 7. I am glad that the special session was able to agree on an International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade and on a resolution concerning the least developed countries .”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“But long, complex and, at times, painful negotiations succeeded in finding a basis on which it could be ended and on which the people of Zimbabwe could be given the opportunity to decide for themselves how and by whom they should be governed. I should like to suggest that, as we enter this thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly, the example of Zimbabwe should inspire us to search all the harder for peaceful, practical and realistic— and I cannot emphasize the last adjective too much— solutions to the major problems that confront the world today. 6. Before briefly surveying those problems, I should like to say a word about the eleventh special session, devoted to development and to international economic cooperation that has just ended.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“And things have happened to inspire us and to persuade us, if persuasion were needed, that conflicts can be resolved; that peaceful negotiations can uncover compromises on which warring parties can settle their differences; that perseverance, goodwill and realism, here at the United Nations and elsewhere, can end wars and save human lives. 5. When I last addressed the Assembly, war was still raging in that country which is now called Zimbabwe and which, last 25 August, was welcomed as the one hundred and fifty-third Member State of this Organization. That conflict had been going on for 14years— some, I suppose would say longer.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“There has been much cruel and cynical defiance of the principles on which our Charter is based. It would be difficult to say that the world is a safer, more prosperous or happier place today than it was a year ago. Indeed, within the last few days the emergence of a fresh conflict in the Middle Eastern region has given us further cause for anxiety. The tasks confronting all of us remain formidable. 4. But what has happened during the last 12 months has not all been bad. The great majority of the States Members of this Organization have observed the Charter.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“Mr. President, may I first congratulate you on assuming the presidency of the General Assembly at this thirty-fifth session. You have taken on a task which demands many qualities, not least stamina, firmness and tact. It is a task for which your distinguished record at the United Nations has shown you to be well qualified. I offer you the best wishes of the British Government and of its representation at the United Nations in the weeks and months ahead. 2. In so doing, I wish also to join those who have expressed their appreciation of the efficient and statesmanlike way in which your predecessor, Ambassador Salim of the United Republic of Tanzania, conducted the business of the presidency over the past year. 3. Since I last addressed this Assembly 12 months ago, many terrible things have happened in the world.”
1980-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 35 (1980)
“It will be even harder if each country or grouping tries to make it separately. 248. We are one world, bound to support each other if we are not to undergo greater hardships on our own. This is true of our search for prosperity and it is true of our search for peace and security. In both fields the United Nations provides an essential forum for discussion which can lead to useful action. The tasks of the 1980s are formidable and they face us all. We can overcome them, but only if we allow our common interests to bring us together and work out our solutions as one community.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“On the contrary, we recognize that in an interdependent world Britain has a vital interest—both economic and moral—in bringing prosperity to the poorer nations. That is why we have made it abundantly plain that we are in favour of maintaining the open trading system and of increasing overseas investment. Indeed, to encourage the latter, my Government has introduced considerable relaxations in exchange control. Provided the climate is right, these relaxations should be of direct benefit to the developing countries. Increased trade and increased investment are contributions we can make now. In due course increased growth should make it possible to provide more aid. But there are no easy short-cuts. The road back to greater prosperity—for North and South—is unlikely to be either easy or short.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“And without increased production how can there be a transfer of resources from rich to poor, whether at home or overseas, through increased aid, trade and investment? So our first priority must be to bring about the right framework in which more resources can be produced. 247. That is why my Government has taken steps to cut public expenditure right across the board. That is inevitable, if we are to put our economy in order and if we are to be able to help the less developed countries to achieve prosperity. We are no less concerned than others about the large proportion of the world's population that is unacceptably poor. Nor are we turning our backs on the North-South dialogue, despite its frustrations.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“We are certainly ready to consider all these proposals sympathetically in the hope that we can agree on the way ahead. 246. Finally, I should like to say something very shortly about the North-South dialogue. At a time when both developed and developing countries are struggling to stave off the effects of recession, it is hardly surprising that progress should be slow. I have spoken of the dangers of rhetoric. In this field of international economic relations, the dangers of rhetoric are perhaps at their greatest. We must all guard against the creation of new bodies whose primary function is the exchange of rhetoric. The first step has to be a substantial improvement in the shape and state of the world economy. It is increased production, not increased words, which creates resources.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“We all need to do what we can to use them properly and to reduce our consumption of oil. The British Government stands by the recent decisions of the International Energy Agency, the European Community and the Tokyo Economic Summit. These should have an important impact on the oil market by reducing demand for oil and by encouraging the development of other sources of energy, new and renewable. 245. But we cannot solve our problems by acting in isolation. In energy, almost more than anywhere else, the world is one world. There needs to be joint consideration of world energy problems and closer contacts between those who produce oil and those who import it, whether developed or developing countries. A number of proposals to this end have recently been made.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“For this reason my Government supports the work of the Committee on Disarmament. We shall continue to take the position that measures to curb the nuclear arms race must go hand in hand with measures to reduce conventional weapons. 243. This year this Assembly's deliberations take place against the sombre background of tension in several different parts of the world. The economic background is grim too. The large and sudden increases in the price of oil this year have serious and damaging implications for the world economy. They will lead certainly to higher inflation and to balance-of-payments difficulties for very many countries. The oil-importing developing countries will be the hardest hit. But we are all affected. 244. The world's reserves of oil are not limitless.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“I much regret that it has not won universal adherence. I hope that further progress can be made before the Review Conference next August. If universal membership of the Treaty could be achieved, it would halt the spread of nuclear weapons. 241. As members know, a comprehensive test-ban treaty is being negotiated between the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. We still have difficult problems to overcome. But when the treaty is completed, it will, I hope, meet the objections of those who argue that the non-proliferation Treaty discriminates in favour of the nuclear-weapon States. The latter have also, of course, given the non-nuclear- weapon States various assurances that nuclear weapons will not be used against them. 242. Progress is important, too, in the field of conventional arms control.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“Nor can we accept that detente should be a principle applied in Europe but ignored in the rest of the world. Detente, if it is to work anywhere, must work everywhere. The British Government is ready to work for greater confidence, stability and real co-operation. But this must be a two-way process, with give and take coming from both sides. It is certainly in that spirit that we shall approach the review session of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe to be held in Madrid next year. 240. But work to reduce the threat of war must go wider than East-West relations. Above all we must avoid the spread of nuclear weapons, while at the same time permitting access to the benefits of peaceful nuclear energy. The 1968 Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons now has 111 parties.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“We welcome the signature by the United States and the Soviet Union earlier this year of a second Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms and hope that it will soon be ratified. That agreement is an example of the kind of detailed and verifiable arms control arrangement that is needed; mere talk of a desire for peace and co-operation is not enough. 239. Meanwhile, the scale of the military build-up of the countries signatories of the Warsaw Treaty is a matter of serious and legitimate concern to all other European countries. So far the Warsaw Pact has shown little willingness to allay these concerns in any practical way, so we on the Western side have no alternative but to respond. Otherwise, the balance on which detente depends will be lost.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“Unless those on the spot allow large-scale relief operations to start soon, the people of Cambodia will face yet another catastrophe. Food must get to these people soon, and those who want to help should not be asked to pay a political price for being allowed to do so. I shall only say now that in the British Government's view the Cambodian people has the same right as any other to live in peace under a Government freely chosen by itself. Without a settlement in Cambodia, stability and peace in South-East Asia will not be possible. 238. In Europe itself possible sources of tension remain. The maintenance of stable East-West relations remains a foremost priority for us and for our allies, most notably the United States.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“My Government fully understands the problems which the refugee influx posed for those countries. But the problem is likely to remain until the Vietnamese Government stops bearing down harshly on elements of its population. Meanwhile, I hope that that Government will abide by the undertakings it gave in Geneva about future action. 237. Yet the most serious problems in Indo-China are perhaps to be found in Cambodia. The years of suffering to which that unhappy country was subjected by the Pol Pot Government are well known. That regime s human rights record is among the worst of any country in the world. The then British Government was among the first to draw attention to it. Then the country was brutally invaded by the armed forces of one of its neighbours. Now it is prey to starvation while fighting continues with the occupying forces.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“I refer first to the Vietnamese Government, which, as I said on 20 July at the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia, in Geneva, has driven so many people to flee its shores that the problem has become one of international concern. I was in Hong Kong in May. I saw there the misery of the people who had risked perilous journeys in unseaworthy craft to escape the tyranny in their own country. It is not an experience that I shall ever forget. Nor can I forget the tens of thousands of those unhappy people who were simply lost at sea. The Secretary-General chaired, with his customary skill, the Geneva Meeting, which my Prime Minister had suggested should be held. As a result, a start has been made to resettle the refugees who did not perish. Most of them came either to Hong Kong or to the ASEAN countries.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“That Government's present policy prejudices the chance of progress in the autonomy talks and makes the achievement of a comprehensive settlement much more difficult. We deplore' its recent decision to allow Israeli citizens to buy land in the occupied territories. And moreover, while we understand the Israel Government's preoccupation with security, we urge it to refrain from its present policies in south Lebanon. These undermine the authority of the Lebanese Government and frustrate the efforts of UNIFIL to fulfil its mandate. In that context, I pay a tribute to the dedication and courage with which the officers and men of UNIFIL are carrying out their dangerous and difficult task. 236. Another area of dangerous tensions is IndoChina, where suffering due to natural causes has been made worse by the regimes which took power in 1975.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“My Government believes that a settlement which does not command the broad assent of the Palestinian people cannot last. But if the Palestinians are to exercise the right to determine their own future as a people, this must be in the context of a negotiated peace settlement which guarantees Israel's right to a peaceful and permanent existence within secure borders. Only if both parties recognize the legitimate rights of each other will it be possible to achieve the durable peace which all the peoples of the Middle East so desperately need. 235. In the meantime, it is our earnest hope that all parties will avoid doing or saying anything to make it harder to establish the minimum trust without which successful negotiations would be impossible. We call on the Israel Government to cease its policy of settlement in occupied territories.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“This involves the acceptance by all parties of Israel's right to live in peace with its neigh- ours within secure and recognized boundaries. And, equally, it requires the withdrawal of Israel from territories occupied in 1967. 233. There is one area in which a broad international consensus has recognized that resolution 242 (1967) is incomplete—that is, in the handling of Palestinian rights. The resolution takes no account of the legitimate political rights of the Palestinians, which go well beyond their status as refugees. Nor does it take any account of the Palestinians ' belief that they are a separate people with a right to their homeland. This, I believe, is an area in which resolution 242 (1967) may be supplemented—not, I emphasize, replaced, amended or distorted, but supplemented—to meet this point. 234.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“In this way we can all contribute towards peaceful change in South Africa. Otherwise the future promises only violence and misery for all the people of South Africa, whatever their race. 232. In the Middle East, the British Government greatly welcomes what has so far been achieved through the process begun at Camp David. It is in the interests of all parties to explore fully the opening which was created there. We hope that these continuing negotiations will lead to transitional arrangements which will lighten the burden of occupation in the West Bank and Gaza and help to create a climate of confidence and co-operation in practical matters. But the ultimate goal must remain a comprehensive settlement, based on the effective application of Security Council resolution 242 (1967) in all its parts.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“Our aim is to achieve early and complete agreement so that a date can be fixed for a ceasefire and the beginning of the transition to independence. Given goodwill and flexibility on the part of all concerned, this goal should not be beyond our reach. 231. Namibia and Zimbabwe-Rhodesia are the immediate issues in southern Africa. But in the longer term it is on South Africa that the stability of this troubled region will depend. We share the international community's distaste of apartheid. It is neither just nor workable. But will threats and isolation bring about the changes we all wish to see? We in the British Government doubt it. We believe that the better course is to accept that the Republic's plural society gives rise to unprecedented problems and to offer our help to the leaders of all races to work together to find just solutions.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“I hope that it may be our privilege before too long to welcome an independent Zimbabwe to this Assembly as a full member of the United Nations. 230. Namibia is another Territory where we must try to find an internationally acceptable solution through free and fair elections and not through bloodshed. The five Western countries, in close consultation with the Secretary-General, are pressing on with the search for a solution which would open the way to the arrival of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia. Discussions are now concentrated on the detailed arrangements, which will need to be carefully worked out with the parties concerned, for a demilitarized zone. The idea of such a zone was proposed by the late President Neto of Angola, whose death we all deeply mourn.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“A heavy responsibility will lie on any who fail to respond to this opportunity to achieve for the people of Rhodesia a fair settlement which will bring international acceptance and an end to the war. Much difficult negotiation undoubtedly lies ahead before the foundations of an independent and democratic society," in which all the people of Rhodesia will be able to live in security and at peace with each other and with their neighbours, are laid. I do not underestimate the difficulties which remain to be overcome, but I dare to hope that the moment may not be too far away when the British Government and Parliament will be able to grant legal independence to Rhodesia on the basis of genuine majority rule. Many attempts to solve the Rhodesia problem have failed in the past.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“Our first task has been to seek agreement on an independence constitution comparable with the constitutions on which we granted independence to other former British dependent territories. It would be idle to pretend that in the special historical circumstances of Rhodesia, such a task is proving easy. Compromise on both sides is essential. We have already secured from the Salisbury parties agreement in principle to British proposals on the constitution. This was a bold decision by Bishop Muzorewa's delegation. 229. Significant progress on certain points has also been made in discussions with the leaders of the Patriotic Front. All parties must sustain their efforts to continue the momentum of the Conference if the gains so far made are not to be eroded.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“In Lusaka our proposals for a settlement were discussed and endorsed by a very important cross-section of the world community, including three of the front-line States. I wish to pay a tribute to the Heads of Government present at Lusaka for the helpful and constructive attitude which they all displayed during our discussions on Rhodesia, and especially to the wise chairmanship of President Kaunda of Zambia, which made a huge contribution to the successful outcome. The essence of the Lusaka agreement on Rhodesia was the acceptance by the Commonwealth of the British Government's constitutional responsibility to grant legal independence to Rhodesia on the basis of genuine majority rule. 228. In our negotiations with the Salisbury parties and the Patriotic Front, we have continued to be guided by the principles defined at Lusaka.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“We also remained in close touch with our other friends and allies and took account of their views. These consultations were invaluable, and formed a sound basis for our present approach to a settlement. 226. From these consultations two main conclusions flowed. The first was a general recognition of the extent of the changes which had taken place in Rhodesia, despite the short-comings of the Salisbury constitution. The second was the unanimous conviction that there should now be a further attempt to involve all the parties to the conflict in an attempt to find a solution, and that any solution should emanate from Britain as the responsible Power. 227. The next stage was the Meeting of Heads of Government of Commonwealth Countries as Lusaka in August, and it was here that the foundation of our present approach to a solution was laid.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“The constitution under which those elections took place was marred by certain deficiencies. But to decry and dismiss the elections would have been to discourage further change. There was a need for urgent and imaginative action to exploit the opportunity which had been created to achieve a settlement that would gain wide international acceptance and, we hoped, bring an end to the war. Past efforts to solve the Rhodesian dispute showed, however, that it was essential to proceed step by step to build a solid foundation for negotiations. 225. We therefore immediately engaged in an extensive series of consultations with all the parties concerned in the conflict in order to identify the elements for a solution. We spoke to the leaders of the Commonwealth, of the front-line States, of the Patriotic Front, and of the Salisbury parties.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“The reality of change for the better had been symbolized in the elections which had taken place in April of this year on the basis of the principle of "one man, one vote. “Those elections have had many critics, but the plain fact is that they have led to the emergence of a parliament and an administration, most of whose members belong to the majority community and which is led by a member of that community. This represented a substantial step forward towards the abandonment by the white community of its privileged position, and my Government was determined to build on that, so as to make a further effort to bring Rhodesia to legal independence in a context of wide international recognition and acceptance. 224. But the Patriotic Front did not participate in the April elections, and the war continued.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“But I thought it right to come to New York to inform the General Assembly of the stage that we have now reached. 222. I do not intend to go back over the history of the Rhodesian dispute, now some 14 years old, apportioning blame to this party or absolving that. I would like to emphasize at the outset one point: throughout the vicissitudes of the Rhodesian problem, Britain has never succumbed to the temptation to abandon its responsibilities towards that unhappy country, leaving majority and minority alike to endless war. The whole approach of the present British Government is indeed based on a determination to fulfil our responsibilities towards the people of Rhodesia. 223. When my government came to power in May this year, we were confronted with a new situation, though there were also some depressingly familiar features.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)
“The dismantling of the British Empire has led us either to join or create two new institutions, the European Community, whose President spoke earlier on this afternoon—and whose remarks I warmly endorse—and the Commonwealth, an institution sometimes referred to as a talking shop. If you are looking for an example of how valuable a talking shop can be, you need go no further than the Meeting of Heads of Government of Commonwealth Countries in Lusaka two months ago. Talk there led first to greater understanding between the countries concerned, and then to action to try to solve the problems of Rhodesia. 221. During the last two weeks, the British Government has engaged in intensive negotiations on Rhodesia, and these negotiations are continuing.”
1979-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 34 (1979)