YouSaid · the spoken record

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lines on the record: 130
first: 1961-09-24
most recent: 1963-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-general-debate

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“Meanwhile, if general and complete disarmament needs more consideration, I must say quite definitely to this Assembly that we could have a nuclear test ban agreement and we could have it now. All the world wants it, therefore I hope we can get it. I should like to say why we could have this test ban now and to inform the members of this Assembly what options are open to our Russian friends. We have made two proposals. This is the first and the best: that there should be a comprehensive ban on all tests, with onsite inspection limited to those cases only where the international control authority says it cannot decide the nature of the noise unless somebody goes and looks. The international authority, in other words, will say, "We do not know whether this is an earthquake or a nuclear explosion.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“If this means that the Soviet Union is willing to take a realistic attitude on the verification of remainders, then we are a long step forward; if they are not so prepared, then I am bound to say that the proposal means nothing at all. 74. In this context, I hope that Mr. Gromyko will take a long look at verification because in the field of general disarmament there can be no advance unless there is inspection. I cannot understand, I am bound to say, why, when every other country in the world is willing to grant this amount of inspection in order to save the world from this arms race, Russia is not willing to do so. Is all the world out of step except Russia and its friends? 75.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“In addition, he raised the question of the possibility of non-dissemination of nuclear weapons and also an arrangement between the NATO and Warsaw Pact Treaties. Well, we must consider all these. One other question, in connexion with what he proposed, occurs to me. It is this: if the United States and Russia are to retain a certain number of nuclear weapons, and if those quantities are to be limited and agreed, how are the numbers to be verified? I noticed he did not say anything about that. Mr. Gromyko cannot, I think, be proposing that in such a vital matter as this, that the West should take the Soviet Government's word for how many intercontinental ballistic missiles they have retained, or that Russia should take the word of the West.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“He suggested that, instead of destroying all nuclear weapons in the first stage, that you might have a limited number and an agreed number of inter-continental ballistic missiles which should be retained by the Soviet Union and the United States, I leave aside for the moment that he left the United Kingdom out of the picture altogether, but we will consider any proposal of this kind, if it is fruitful. At first sight, and I hope I am wrong, it seems to me it is designed to eliminate the West's present superiority in nuclear delivery vehicles without considering the advantages which the Soviet Union has from its superiority in conventional forces now. However, I am only too glad to consider this new proposal.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“At present, I am bound to say to the Russian delegation that the Soviet plan is uneven in its programme for disarmament, mainly because it places, in phase one, the abolition of all nuclear delivery vehicles and all foreign bases. In the Western plan these categories are eliminated altogether, at the end of the day, but not all in one stage. If you put them into the first stage, of course, you immediately offend against the principle of balance, which I named, and the advantage must most definitely accrue to the Soviet Union. 73. Mr. Gromyko made a new proposal the other day when he spoke to the Assembly [1127th meeting].”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“1 have got no particular brief, I must say, for the present balance of strength where one side has an advantage in nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles, and the other side has a larger advantage in conventional forces, weapons, and the advantage, of course, of central communication. The point is that the present balance exists, and starting from there, percentage cuts can be fairly applied across the board. But if we begin trying to change the balance, then, of course, it is clear that the greatest complications will emerge. 71. I think, myself, that the important thing is to start some physical disarmament and turn the rising curve of armaments down. If that is what the Assembly wants, the way to do it, I think, is a percentage cut across the board. 72.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“If what I have said at the beginning of my speech today is true, that the peace, although it hangs precariously, depends on the balance of power being held, that is one of the principles which we must observe. And the other is that there should be adequate verification of disarmament to see that paper plans are fully observed. 70. On the first principle, the Western plan provides for a percentage cut across the board divided into three stages until disarmament is complete. At each stage, therefore, you will see that the relative strength, as it is at present, is maintained.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“If the Assembly will have patience for a moment I should like to say a word concerning a wider question which affects us all, and that is disarmament. It would be foolish to suggest that the Geneva Conference has brought us even to the approaches of general and complete disarmament, although the. meetings of the seventeen nations have given us all a deeper insight into the problems of total and physical disarmament. During our discussions, when this question comes to be debated, we shall find that we shall return time and again to two principles, each of which is basic to the success of disarmament, and each of which presents great problems, let us admit it, in its application. The first is that at all stages of disarmament the balance of strength must not be disturbed.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“But I must tell this Assembly quite firmly that what the allies — and I believe the United Nations Organization and this Assembly would feel the same — cannot accept is a settlement of the Berlin problem which would be simply a cloak for a communist take-over of 2.5 million free people. That simply is not negotiable. So we must seek a modus vivendi which is fair and just. 68. I do not know whether the Berlin problem will come to this Assembly, but if it does I hope that everybody will make it unmistakably clear that this artificial crisis must be stopped, that the tensions on the wall and the cruelties on the wall must be ended and that a negotiated settlement must be made which would respect the rights and interests of all the parties in both West and East Berlin, It can certainly be done. 69.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“I hope that this will be conceded unanimously by this Assembly: that there should be self-determination for West Germany and for East Germany and they should be allowed to settle their destiny. But, as for the present, Russia, which preaches self-determination for everybody else — I have heard that done time and again from where I am standing now — refuses to allow self-determination to East Germany, and all we can do is to seek a modus vivendi. 67. Now I can think of a number of solutions, Mr. Gromyko is aware of them from many talks with myself and with Mr. Rusk. These solutions would be acceptable to the allies.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“It is an almost intolerable provocation to civilized people that this sort of thing should be allowed to happen in these days; it is an affront to all who recognize and respect man as a child of God. 65. But although we despise, from the bottom of our hearts, a system which can allow such callous cruelty, nevertheless the highest duty, and this is recognized by the people of Berlin themselves, compels us to control our emotions and to seek a settlement consonant with the obligations that we have as trustees of free and independent people. Only a settlement which is negotiated and a settlement which is just can bring lasting security to Europe and, I might add, to Russia. 66. The only permanent solution is one on which I hope this Assembly, if it is true to itself, will insist and that is self-determination for both Germanies.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Holyoake reminded us [1133rd meeting], surely the most extraordinary thing that has ever been done — a wall to shut people in and not to shut people out. I was there a very short time ago. I would like everybody in this Assembly to go and look at that wall. The day before I was there a boy tried to bring through his father and mother-in-law-to-be in order that they might attend his wedding. All three of them were shot at the point where I stood the next day. Every day people die on that wall. Only a short time ago a boy of eighteen, as everybody knows, was left to bleed to death in front of a whole lot of mocking East Germans, with 3,000 people watching this happen over one and a half hours, impotent to go to his assistance in anyway.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“These are the qualities the world will need if the world is to survive. 63. If the problem of Laos, the problem of Algeria, the problem of West New Guinea and the problem of the Congo could be settled peacefully in 1962, then the principle of order in international affairs, for which I am pleading, and of conciliation, would have won a notable victory. 64. There are other cases where the duty to negotiate is matched by the duty to uphold international law in the defence of freedom. I refer — and Members will not have any difficulty in realizing this — to Berlin. Reference has been made to the wall which has been raised by the East Germans and the Russians through the middle of the city — as Mr.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“I have not yet seen — and I do not think anybody in this hall has yet seen — the form of the draft federal constitution. I think, as I said at the beginning, that the main problem in the Congo is the relations between the provinces and the centre, and that the nature of the Federal Constitution is the key to peace in the Congo, the key to everything. I hope that this plan of reconciliation will be adopted and accepted, and we shall work for that as hard as we can, with the hope that before too long the United Nations activities can be transformed from a military operation to one of economic and technical assistance. 62. I would like to say to the Secretary-General how very grateful I am for the patience with which he is dealing with this problem. He and Mr. Gardiner deserve our gratitude for the tact and forbearance which they have used.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“If we were tempted to try and impose a solution by force, it would not last a day, unless the United Nations was prepared to assume the role of an occupying and administering Power and assume it for years. With all our many qualities, and we have a great many virtues and a great deal of strength, we are not equipped to do that yet. It may be that we shall be some day. Therefore, I have insisted always that the role of the United Nations in this affair must be to help the Congolese to find and agree on a settlement among themselves. We must use all the patience in the world to achieve that. 61. Therefore, we in the United Kingdom were extremely glad when the Secretary-General decided to concentrate everything on this plan of reconciliation, which has our full support and which has been accepted in principle by Mr. Adoula and Mr. Tshombé.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“To play according to the rules of the Charter, is not easy, but I submit that unless we do, the United Nations will not succeed in its role as a peace-maker. 60. I would like to apply some of these considerations which I have advanced to some of the situations which confront us and which have been mentioned by speaker after speaker in this debate. It is this paramount need for conciliation which has greatly influenced the attitude of my country to the problems of the Congo, It Is quite clear that what is required above all in the Congo is a reconciliation of the interests between the provinces and the centre, and one other thing is surely clear, that this conflict of views can only be resolved by the Congolese themselves.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Because I believe in facing facts, I am going to say a word about Article 2, paragraph 7. I know some people find this very irksome, particularly those who wish to see the rapid emancipation of countries to be brought to independence. But the authors of the Charter embodied this rule for very good reasons, and they did so deliberately, because they realized that if the United Nations was ever tempted to interfere in the internal political situation of independent States, or in matters under their jurisdiction, that would create trouble and not calm it down. I would ask my fellow colleagues in this Assembly this: if each of us thinks of this rule in relation to his own country, I think he will be bound to admit its wisdom.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Here I would touch on an even greater evil, and this is racialism, I would not excuse a great many things that the old nations did in the past, I have no doubt they were very often wrong in what they did and were sinners, but it would be a tragedy if, in revenge for what the new nations conceive was white arrogance in the past, they allowed the prejudices of colour and race to have full rein. 58. The Charter recognized the importance of change based upon order, and it gave to this Organization the twin task — and let us not forget it — of keeping the peace and assisting peaceful change. The authors of the Charter recognized that neither task could be achieved unless there were rules and disciplines which were observed by the Members of the Organization. 59.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“This is more than ever true — and, if we are realistic, I think we must take account of it — when the emancipation of a great many small nations from colonial rule has given a strong impetus to nationalism. We have been in the first ranks in bringing our colonial territories to independence, and I am strongly in favour of having that policy proceed with all speed. But I must say that, when one looks round the world, it is extremely disheartening to find that there are so many new countries which have not advanced some claim against the territory of a neighbour. Because that is so, I think it does enjoin upon this Assembly and upon Governments a need for constant vigilance, to see that the legitimate enthusiasm of patriotism does not overflow into aggressive nationalism.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“The Chinese are now 150 miles inside Indian territory. The Indians are forced to rearm. Everybody knows they are a peaceful people; everybody knows they are being subjected to aggression. I shall look forward to this resolution of Mr. Gromyko's with some anticipation and interest, because there are some questions which must be asked. 56. I know that there are a number of people here who want to keep out of the cold war, and I have every sympathy with them. They can ignore it if they choose. But, if India is not immune from it, who is? And self-interest, if nothing else, should encourage those people to look at its origins and causes. 57. It really is too dangerous to all of us in these days to allow politico-ideological crusades backed by arms. We cannot have that in the late twentieth century.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Gromyko said, rather rhetorically, last week, in connexion with the United States-and-Cuba situation: Does this mean that a stronger State has the right to gobble up a weaker one? Well, he ought to know and, if he does not know, he might perhaps ask the Chinese. When we come to the debate, I shall look forward with the greatest of attention, I am bound to say, to Mr. Gromyko's promised proposal on the economics of disarmament. I agree with him, it is a terrible thing that we should all be forced to pay millions of our wealth to sustain these huge armaments and these colossally expensive arms. I hope this inquiry, when we come to debate that resolution, will not embarrass Mr. Gromyko, because I am going to ask him how the Chinese invasion of India, which forces India to arm, fits in with his thesis.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“The first and the most dangerous cause of conflict is the communist intention to impose their system on the rest of the world by the type of political warfare backed by force which is curiously called "peaceful coexistence". Neither my country nor any other country has the right to criticize Russia or China if they wish to adopt the communist philosophy and wish communism to be their own political system. But what we cannot tolerate, and what no free people that wishes to practise another philosophy can tolerate, is that we should be press-ganged into the communist service. And attempts are being made, as everybody knows, to do that up and down the world. 55. Mr.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“And the two most important institutions which we must support are the Charter and the International Court of Justice. If we do not set an example in observing the law, who will? 52. If what I have said is true, it is clear that peace will only be preserved if each and all of us are prepared to subject our passions and prejudices to strict discipline. And this, I suggest, is something that the United Nations should help us to do. 53. At this point, I do want to name certain dangers to law and justice, and therefore to peaceful change, which I detect as being present among us. I think it is best to put these dangers under the public eye, because it is only when they are recognized that they can be exorcised or controlled. 54.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“I should like to say that, in our experience, exactly the opposite is the truth: the observance of law and order is a sine qua non of peaceful change. 50. The point was made very well yesterday by the representative of Australia — and I need not elaborate it — that the rule of law is a lesson we have learned from many mistakes and much suffering and it is only by submitting ourselves to the law that we can reconcile conflicting ambitions and serve the interests of progress [1132nd meeting]. 51. That is why — because it is our British experience, in particular, in translating our colonial empire into a Commonwealth of free and independent nations — I have always insisted that it is the plain duty of this Assembly to uphold the rule of law and to support and strengthen its institutions.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Men who live in a nuclear age and pick quarrels are fools. But men who live in a nuclear age and stir the pot of trouble when it is simmering are worse than fools; they are knaves. 49. There is another lesson that I would add. We must jettison the idea that the object of negotiation is to gain the victory round the table which you were not able to gain by force. Victories round the negotiating table are Pyrrhic victories. Those who suffer defeat at the conference table feel resentment, and resentment breeds revenge. Therefore the task of the diplomat and the negotiator is reconciliation and justice and order. I emphasize justice and order as the basis of interdependence, and indeed of progress, because I believe that I detect a certain suspicion in some minds that law and order is a trick to freeze the status quo.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“It may be that we only hold the peace by the balance of terror; nevertheless the peace is held, and for that at least we should be grateful. However, it must be apparent to everybody who considers these matters and to all my colleagues here that, if man is to be certain of survival, clearly this situation is not good enough and we must do better. The way we can do better is this; so sure is it that fighting anywhere will start a chain reaction that we must draw the conclusion that fighting must not be allowed to start or, if it does start by accident, must be isolated and put in quarantine. Therefore, the first resolution that I should like the Assembly to pass, although I have not yet put it on paper, is this — that we should decide that in every situation, however testing, our minds must control our emotions and our passions.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“There was very hard bargaining and, even now, vigilance is necessary to see that the agreement sticks, but nevertheless eighteen nations were able to sit down and reach an honourable settlement. There is peace in Laos, and this has been a demonstration of the practical working of the art of conciliation. 48. There are, Mr. President, certain lessons which I think we can learn, first, from the destructive power of the nuclear bomb and secondly from the negotiated settlement in Laos. The first is this, and it is perhaps the over-riding fact of our present situation. There is, in fact, today a stalemate in nuclear power and, because there is a stalemate in nuclear power, there is in the same way a stalemate in power politics. It is true that it is a stalemate of fear, nevertheless it has brought as a respite from war.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“There you would have thought there was a country which was very far removed from the rivalry of the great Powers, yet the people were divided among themselves in the country, there was a local dispute and each side began to seek outside help. Eighteen months ago in Laos the great Powers confronted each other on the brink of war, and that war — and I am quite certain that both the East and the West made the same assessment — could not have proceeded very far before it got out of control and tactical nuclear weapons were used. The event, of course, would have brought ruin to South-East Asia and to much of the world as a whole, and the Powers looked over the abyss at the prospect and they did not like what they saw. They decided to talk it out and not to shoot it out. The process was not easy.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Therefore the overriding fact, of which I believe no political system has yet assimilated the full consequences, is that we have arrived at a point in time when men and women and Governments everywhere have to decide whether we are going to continue in the old way, in which we tried regularly to solve disputes through the test of war, or whether we are going to try the new way of abandoning unilateral action in favour of negotiation, burying our emotions and our passions and making up our minds that, however long the process of negotiation and conciliation lasts, we are determined to carry it through. 47. The year 1962 has seen a case in point, in Laos.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“We might try to do so, but with the best will in the world you cannot, with one kind of equipment, fight another kind of war. 46. I agree with Mr. Gromyko when he says that only a mad man could pursue policies of "positions of strength", so long as this stricture is directed against his own country as well as others.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“But, Sir, there is an even more pressing reason why we should take a decision about the future role of the United Nations in the world, because all of us are up against a choice which is even more stark than that posed by Mr. Hammarskjold. Nuclear science has now brought weapons to a point of efficiency where a few missiles can destroy millions of people. I do not know if it is common knowledge to this Assembly, but the latest estimate that has been made of the casualties in the first exchange in a nuclear war is over 300 million people dead in the first few days. Three hundred million. That is almost incomprehensible, and I would add to that unpleasant fact that there is the near certainty that local conflicts, which draw in the great Powers, could not possibly be confined to wars with conventional weapons.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“We believe that Members should pay their assessed levies both for the operation in the Congo and for the operation on the Palestine border. We do not like some features of the Congo operation, as I shall show, but nevertheless we pay our assessed dues and I hope that this Assembly will make it unmistakably clear that those who fall two years in arrears in their assessments should lose their votes. 45. There are some other things that this Assembly ought to be doing of we were not frustrated by the cold war. We ought to enlarge the Security Council to take account of the changes in the structure of a modern world society.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Not only for the reason given by the representative of the Philippines, that this would introduce the cold war into the Organization; that is true, but also because if we introduced the "troika" it would ensure the extraordinary paradox that the world Organization would remain stagnant while the mainstream of international life passed it by. And, of course, it would introduce as well the most reactionary of all ideas when you are thinking in the context of this Organization, that a servant of the United Nations should give his first loyalty to his own country. 44. It is Mr. Hammarskjold's analysis, and conclusions too, which persuade my Government to support the ruling of the International Court of Justice on the payment of dues.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“The signs of the times point urgently towards interdependence in positive co-operation, and I find myself in the very closest agreement with what President Muhammad Ayub Khan of Pakistan yesterday said [1133rd meeting] that we are proceeding apace towards the conception of one world. It was the conclusions of Mr. Hammarskjold, endorsed by our own reasoning, which led my country in association with the great majority in his hall to vote against the "troika", and I would like to say that if this proposal is renewed we shall vote against it again.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Under this conception, as I see it, more and more Members could default in their financial obligations if they chose; and if we really wanted to bring this Organization to a grinding and impotent halt, we could cap it all with introducing the "troika" at the top. Or, we could choose the way of dynamic diplomacy, and while not stretching the Organization beyond its natural strength, for it is yet young, and while playing within the rules of the Charter, each of us would be willing, slowly and by degrees, but nevertheless deliberately, to subordinate our national interests to the collective will of the United Nations as a whole. 43. I would like to tell my colleagues in the General Assembly that I agree with Mr. Hammarskjold's analysis and with his conclusions.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“I should like, too, to great as others have done the new Members who have joined us for the first time, with particular feelings of warmth for Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, who are our Commonwealth partners. 42. Mr. President, before he died in the service of this Organization, for which he gave his life, you may recall that Mr. Hammarskjold, in the introduction to his report to the sixteenth session of the General Assembly, left us a testament and a guide to the future of the Organization. He said that we were near a point of decision, and the choices, in his view, were these. We could mark time in a phase of static diplomacy, each country advancing its own claims, airing its own opinions, passing resolutions but doing nothing about them.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Mr. President, like all the speakers who have preceded me, I am very proud that we are privileged to sit under your Presidency. You have, of course, given the most distinguished service to your own country and have been an ornament for a long time of the Commonwealth association of countries. We count ourselves extremely fortunate that all your qualities of character and intelligence have been put so ungrudgingly at the service of this Organization. I am sure that you will have the full support of the Assembly in the conduct of its affairs all through this session and I might add, Mr. President, that I think that you can do almost anything with us. You have already achieved the impossible of making the Assembly punctual, and that really is something. 41.”
1962-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 17 (1962)
“Careful of the Organization and jealous of it because It is young, we want it to give confidence to all nations; prudent in its use of power in the meanwhile, because, until it is equipped with real peace-keeping machinery it would be fatal to exceed' its strength; but determined to build steadily toward the day when the principles set forth in the Charter can be accepted and operated by the vast majority of the nations here, and so arrive nearer the time when constructive interdependence between nations will be the order of the day.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“So my purpose this morning has been to analyse the reasons why the United Nations is handicapped in its work for peace and the international aspects of this problem which we have to resolve. 118. There are many frustrations, but through them all the United Nations can count on the support of the United Kingdom to sustain the principles set forth in the Charter.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“But we have recognized the intense interest in these matters of constitutional and political progress every where, and particularly in the Assembly, and I am confident that we can enlist the understanding of the Assembly and of the United Nations when they see our policies and the steady way in which we are directing them to bring independence to the nations in our colonial empire. And we take this step confident in our record, that it will be a mark, and a major mark, of co-operation in this matter with the United Nations. 116. We cannot share our responsibility, we cannot shift our responsibility. But as the story is unfolded it will carry conviction and it will be found, I hope, to be in tune with the wishes of the Assembly and certainly in tune with the guiding principles set forth in the Charter. 117.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“There are many difficult problems still to solve because in some of our territories we have different races whose interests have to be harmonized together, But so certain am I that this process of creating new nations in the British Commonwealth is right, that my Government is now ready to provide full information to the United Nations on the political and constitutional steps we are taking in the territories which remain under British administration. 115. The Assembly will recognize that this is a decision of the first importance. There is nothing in the Charter which requires us to submit political and constitutional information. Article 73 e puts a specific limit on information which has to be "information of a technical nature relating to economic, social and educational conditions".”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“We have established courts of law with independent executive authority, giving impartial judgement and respected for their devotion to equal justice. We have trained career officials in the public services who give their loyalty not to a tribe or to a party but to their country. We have trained police forces who maintain law and order with public consent. We have Established elected parliaments and taught them the principles and practices of free elections. We have raised standards of living, improving agriculture and industry, and extending technical aid. In pursuit of these main purposes of our policy, we have found that this does not delay independence. On the contrary, it hastens it and it makes the transition from dependence to independence faster and more smooth. 114.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“If in the course of time all our colonies are as prosperous and as happy as the United States, then there will be a queue of others lining up to be exploited a little further. And how happy we in the United Kingdom would be. 112. The truth of the matter is this; all but 5 per cent of the 660 million people who live in territories that were British are now living in independent territory. Last year our Prime Minister called the roll. Since he spoke Nigeria and Cyprus have come along. Sierra Leone happily comas to the Assembly this afternoon, and soon it will be the turn of Tanganyika. We have been faithful with the many, and equally we shall keep faith with the few who remain. 113. We have always believed and repeatedly shown that the best way to train people in responsibility is to give it to them.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“And if that is the road which the Assembly chooses, then they will not find that the United Kingdom is lagging behind. On the contrary, we have worked for interdependence within our Commonwealth. We are working for greater interdependence within the Continent of Europe. In this matter we shall be the most ready collaborator. 111. I want to close by carrying a step further something which my Prime Minister said to the Assembly at its fifteenth session [877th meeting] last year on the matter of colonialism and the British Commonwealth. I noticed that the President of the United States in his speech said that the United States had been a colony and the victim of all the exploitation associated with that status. I could not help thinking that America looked pretty well on it.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“No action can be taken in the field of collective peace-making machinery if the Member countries feel that the executive and the administration are taking orders from national Governments. That is really the decisive answer' to the "troika" or any variant of the "troika", and we should decide now and show the world that we mean to have in this Organization a truly international civil service. 109. If ever we admit the proposition that no one man can be impartial, then the Members of the United Nations had better pack up their bags and go home, because the world will be morally bankrupt and the forces of reaction will have won the day. 11 The modern tendency is towards interdependence. In the opinion of my Government, an international civil service is a necessary part of progress on that road.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Is the Assembly prepared to set up and equip an international police force which is more than a scratch collection of national forces? Because that is necessary. An amateur force sent out into the blue these days is apt to get into great difficulty. A true international police force is needed, 106. Is each country in the Assembly willing to stand up and say that it will pay its share, and are all nations ready to face the consequences of United Nations intervention in a particular matter on the vote of a majority? 107. Until those questions are answered this Organization, which is young, can only act strictly within its strength and only undertake those police actions strictly within its compass. 108. As I have indicated, there is one matter which must be settled now.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“What contribution can we make, so that the United Nations may be seen as a body which can keep the peace and so that we may add to its authority? 104. The late Secretary-General posed the problem very simply in the introduction [A/4800/Add.l] to his report, and as my colleague from the Netherlands said yesterday [1016th meeting], this has, by reason of his death, become his political testament. He has asked whether the United Nations is to remain merely a debating society or whether it is going to be given, the peace-keeping machinery envisaged by the Charter. With all the risks — and, there are many — I would opt for the latter. But if that is the decision, then certain questions have to be answered with precision, and I hope that we shall do so. 105.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“But if the United Nations is to be the body which we wish to see, which guards the weak and is jealous of the independence of small nations, then they must not yield to the temptation to put public pressures always upon the reasonable nations because they feel that, in the last resort, those nations will be decent and therefore will give way. That would be to deny the justice to others which they themselves wish to enjoy. 102. I trust, therefore, that the result of the sixteenth session Assembly will be that it will use its authority to assert the purposes of the Charter, that it will declare itself in favour of an international civil service, in favour of the sanctity of treaties and in favour of change and progress, but change by consent and true co-operation, 103.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The United Nations, and in particular the Assembly, must show itself to be impartial and must be seen to be impartial — I am only going to ask this question, I am not sure of the answer — is there growing up almost imperceptibly a code of behaviour where there is one rule for the Communist countries and another for the democracies, one rule for the bully who deals in fear and another for the democracies because their stock in trade is reason and compromise? 101. I think we want to search our consciences, I wonder, if it had been the United States and the United Kingdom which smothered the world with fall-out, whether the critics would have been so hushed? I think it is very understandable; they have my sympathy. The unaligned nations do not wish to be caught up in rival political ideologies.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Therefore, as far as my Government is concerned, its authority must be sustained. One thing we can do immediately to sustain it is this: to insist that there should be a chief executive supported by an international, civil service, none of whom takes his orders from individual Governments. That is essential and that is what the people of the world want, and that is what we ought to try to give them. 100. There is one other matter in this context of impartiality and justice which I feel I must raise now.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)