YouSaid · the spoken record

AMERASINGHE

lines on the record: 359
first: 1967-09-24
most recent: 1975-09-24
sittings or episodes: 8
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

“What sort of economic theory or moral philosophy is it that could justify the curtailment in food production at a time when many millions throughout the world are undernourished and millions die of starvation because of a lack of food or the inability to afford the soaring prices while at the same time, in regard to another essential commodity, condemning a price increase that does not threaten human survival? 87. Lest we be accused of ingratitude, my delegation would like to acknowledge, with thanks and appreciation, the economic aid given by the developed world to the developing nations, and especially the handsome contributions made by the developed world to humanitarian programs for the relief of famine and other forms of distress whenever the occasion demanded. But aid must not be regarded as an act of altruism.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“According to these economic theorists, it is a law of nature, unquestionable and sacrosanct, that the prices paid for the products of the developing world should be determined by the importing developed industrialized countries without regard to the conditions of poverty and privation under which the producers live, while the manufactured goods sold to the impoverished world make full provision to satisfy the limitless and insatiable demands of the peoples of the developed world for the material things of life. 86. The policy of curtailing crude-oil production in order to ensure fair prices has been criticized as almost a form of economic aggression by those who justify the curtailment of acreages under food grains for the purpose of maintaining fair prices for their farmers.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The world has been asked to forget that, long before the oil-exporting countries realized, even belatedly, the value of their product and the fact that for years they had been denied anything resembling the market value or the strategic value of their product, the international monetary system had been placed in grave peril by the soaring price bf gold and the nervous breakdown which the dollar had suffered. 85.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“It would be much closer to the truth to admit that a reduction in the astronomical expenditures on armaments, which create incomes without a corresponding increase in goods on which those incomes could be spent, could significantly ease the problem of inflation. The arguments advanced in criticism of the OPEC members are founded on the premise that the international trading system and the international monetary system must depend for their durability on the industrialized nations controlling the overwhelming proportion of the world's monetary reserves. 84. The increase in the price of oil has been condemned as arbitrary and totally unrelated to the economic determinants of pricing.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The threatened recession and the instability of the international monetary system, which have been linked with the energy crisis and the pricing policies of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC], have figured prominently in many statements, chiefly in those of representatives of certain developed countries. Many of the speakers who sought to condemn the members of OPEC and their pricing policies and indict them for precipitating a world-wide recession and wrecking the international monetary system have short memories and elastic economic theories doctored to suit their particular predicament and to absolve themselves. The OPEC members have been made to appear the villains of the piece. Even the problem of inflation has been laid at their door.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“In the social sphere, the World Population Conference held at Bucharest first brought together the nations of the world into open discussion of one of the most baffling problems of our time. 80. As regards the political sphere, I have already referred to the developments in the Middle East and in Cyprus. 81. In the legal sphere, the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea at its second session, held at Caracas from 20 June to 29 August 1974, completed its general discussion of the issues before it and decided to meet again in March and April of next year to begin the process of negotiation. This decision awaits approval by the General Assembly during the present session. 82. All those problems -economic, social, political and legal- imperiously demand our attention. 83.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“He has not spared himself in the process and has set a shining example of conspicuous devotion to duty. 77. In the general debate now coming to a close, almost all participants have voiced loudly and clearly their anxiety over the future of our world in all its manifold preoccupations economic, social, political and legal. We have heard many references to detente, inflation, energy, population, food and the international law of the sea. There have been feverish negotiations and intense United Nations activity over many of these problems. 78. In the economic sphere, the historic sixth special session on raw materials and development occupies a position of preeminent importance along with the forthcoming World Food Conference shortly to be held at Rome. 79.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“My delegation takes this opportunity of paying homage to those members of UNFICYP who volunteered to serve the cause of international peace and humanity and gave their lives to that cause, and also to those who have been wounded in the line of duty. To the families of those who were killed and to the Governments that dispatched them on their sublime mission, my delegation offers its heartfelt sympathy. At the same time we express the hope that those who have been injured may soon recover from their wounds and be restored to active life. 76. Permit me at this stage to pay a well-deserved tribute to our Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, for the zeal and speed with which he has acted, both in the Middle East and in Cyprus, in the cause of peace and humanity.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“It is the responsibility of the entire "synod" because the issues involved are ecumenical in their reach and implications. The moving words of John Donne have been quoted here. To adapt them, I would say that we should not seek to ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for us all, nations great and small, powerful and weak, but chiefly for small defenseless countries and particularly those who, reposing their faith in non-alignment and in the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, disavow military alliances. But the bell tolls loudest of all for the only institution that can bring us together in the pursuit of peace, justice and fraternity within the international community, the United Nations. 75.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“There can be no partition, no enosis, no foreign occupation, but there can be a large measure of local autonomy for the two communities which would not be open to exploitation in a manner prejudicial to the survival of Cyprus as a sovereign, united and independent State. 74. This is the justification for the inclusion of the item "The question of Cyprus" in the agenda of the General Assembly as an urgent matter despite the fact that the situation created by the ouster of Archbishop Makarios, whom we recognize as the President of the Republic of Cyprus, and the subsequent events came within the purview of the Security Council's responsibility. This is not a matter that concerns only the five "bishops" of the Security Council and their 10 temporary "coadjutors".”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The agony of Cyprus is the agony of the non-aligned movement; the deliverance of Cyprus is the deliverance of non-alignment; the betrayal and abandonment of Cyprus is the betrayal and abandonment of the principles of the Charter. It is for this reason that, on the commendable initiative of the President of Yugoslavia, the non-aligned group has sought, through the appointment of a Good Offices Committee, to intervene in order to achieve a peaceful composition of the differences between the parties involved, Governments and communities alike, the withdrawal of all foreign military forces, and the complete restoration of constitutional government in Cyprus as the only means by which its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity can be preserved free from external influence and machination.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“Despite numerous resolutions of the Security Council calling for the withdrawal from the Republic of Cyprus of foreign military personnel present otherwise than under the authority of international agreements, recording its formal disapproval of the unilateral military actions undertaken against the Republic of Cyprus, and subscribing to the principle of respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the island, little or no progress has been made towards the full restoration of constitutional government in Cyprus. 73. There is much more involved in Cyprus than a bitter internecine conflict between two ethnic communities. We are all involved in Cyprus and not least of all the members of the non-aligned movement. The Government of Cyprus was one of the first to declare its policy of non-alignment.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“We earnestly wish to see an end to the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, as we are convinced that the talents and technology of the people of Israel in partnership with the human and material resources of the Arab peoples of the Middle East could transform that entire area from a battlefield into a domain of concord, peaceful co-operation and prosperity. We hope the debate on the question of Palestine will not be used as an occasion for an exchange of acrimonious charges and counter-charges, but for a sober analysis of the causes of the present situation in the search for a compact that, by securing justice for all, will offer a guarantee of enduring peace for all. 72. The crisis in Cyprus has exposed once more the tragic shortcomings of the United Nations.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“As one who has during the last four years been deeply involved in the Middle East problem in the unenviable capacity of Chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, and as the representative of a country that recognized the State of Israel at an early stage and maintained diplomatic relations with it until 1970 when we decided that the only means open to us of recording our disapproval of a Member State's defiance of the Charter was the suspension of relations with Israel until it relinquished its conquests of 1967 or until a solution acceptable to the Arab people of the Middle East was reached I can claim that our credentials and our impartiality cannot be impugned by anyone with the least pretension to objectivity or detachment. 71.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The question of safe and secure boundaries is a matter for negotiation, but it cannot be divorced from the recognition of the right of Israel to exist as a State and from the repudiation of belligerency. The time has come for all parties to eschew intemperance and extremism and to display restraint and moderation. Peace alone makes boundaries secure. 70.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“By the same token, the United Nations cannot, even by implication, acquiesce in the proposition or offer any support to the idea that Israel does not exist or that its social and political structure should be so radically altered as to obliterate the separate identity which it seeks. 69. Likewise, Security Council resolution 242 (1967), in which the Council affirmed that every State in the Middle East has a right to live within secure and recognized boundaries, cannot be interpreted as conferring on the State of Israel the unique prerogative, totally incompatible with international law and the principles of the Charter, of determining for itself and by itself where its boundaries should run in order to ensure its security. If that right were extended to all and sundry, the outcome would be universal anarchy.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The principle of a separate Palestine State was an integral feature of the partition. The United Nations must accept it and make it a reality. It is an impudent challenge to the authority of the United Nations, the creator of Israel, and miserable travesty of the very principle of justice which the United Nations sought to apply, even if under intimidation and pressure, by creating the State of Israel, for Israeli leaders to have the temerity to state that "they" -meaning the Palestinians- "did not exist", or to proclaim slogans of intransigence such as "Jerusalem Never". These slogans and these tendentious distortions of history do not provide the material out of which the edifice of peace can be built. They are irresponsible, inflammatory, uncompromising and unacceptable.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“It is only by ensuring for the Palestinians the exercise of their right of self-determination that the United Nations can terminate the grim ordeal of a people who have for more than 25 years been compelled to lead a life bereft of hope, dependent on the charity of the international community, betrayed, as no other people in the world has been betrayed, by the very Organization that helped create the State of Israel. It is not by raining death and destruction on the defenseless women and children in the Palestinian Arab refugee camps and by enveloping them in a constant nightmare of fear and terror that a solution can be found. This derelict mass of displaced humanity must be given a home and a State in which they can live in honor and dignity without being left to languish and decay in humiliation and desolation. 68.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The third element is the guarantee of freedom of navigation through international waters in the area. Finally, and most important of all, there is the need for a just settlement of the refugee problem, which is a piece of circumlocution and a euphemistic synonym for the restoration of the right to self-determination of the peoples of Palestine which would give them a separate Arab Palestinian State as provided for and endorsed by the United Nations in the Partition Plan of 1947 [resolution 18/ (II)].”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The essential elements in the proposed settlement must be recognized and accepted without equivocation by one and all. Chief among them is the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war. In accordance with this principle, Israel must withdraw its armed forces from the territories occupied by it as a result of war. If this principle is rejected, the Charter becomes a dead letter. The second element is the acknowledgment, not merely in words but in policy and practice as well, of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area, including Israel, and of the right of every State in the Middle East, including the State of Israel, to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or use of force.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The agreements on the disengagement of forces in the Sinai-Suez front and the Golan Heights must not be regarded as anything more than a brief respite. Disengagement could be a mirage, unless it is accepted by all sides as only the first stage of a complex and difficult process leading ultimately to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967. This resolution presents the best hope of a fair settlement, despite some of the ambiguities that have conveniently been detected in it and exploited to prevent and defer a final settlement while lands and territories conquered in war are being systematically incorporated into the territory of the occupying Power in contempt of the United Nations and the principles of its Charter. 67.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The Secretary of State of the United States wrought a miraculous change through his whirlwind diplomacy and his imaginative statesmanship. We should neither exaggerate nor belittle his achievement. But the future of the Middle East does not depend on one single individual, however talented, resourceful and indefatigable he may be. 65. The changed situation provides a slight impetus to peace, but it must be sustained by a display of self-restraint and moderation on all sides. The only answer to the indiscriminate violence that erupts from time to time is the elimination of the factors and circumstances that drive individuals and organizations, out of frustration, despair and disillusionment, into a state of dementia in which intimidation proves more alluring than negotiation. 66.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“It will not be long before reason, humanity and self-interest prevail over perversity and racial arrogance and a peaceful settlement is found which results in the total emancipation of the black majorities and the colored communities of South Africa and Rhodesia and in the establishment of democratic rule on the principle of the equality of all races in those regions, thereby enabling them to live and work together in peace and good will in their mutual interest and for the greater good of all Africa. 64. When I spoke of developments that offered some hope for the future, I had in mind the changes in the Middle East situation after the October 1973 war, and particularly the disengagement agreements relating to the Sinai-Suez front and the Golan Heights.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“There remain only two racist regimes which have yet to abandon their obnoxious and inhuman policy of apartheid and to accord to the black African majorities, whom they dominate and persecute, their birth-right of self-determination and freedom in their homeland. The United Nations cannot tolerate any longer the pursuit of these policies which are an affront and a disgrace to modern civilization. Portugal's example is the light at the end of the tunnel.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The year that has elapsed since the twenty-eighth session of the General Assembly has been marked by several momentous developments, each of a distinctive character, whether it be epoch-making, or pregnant with promise for the future, or even deeply disquieting. 62. The change of government in Portugal has happily resulted in a final renunciation of the former Government's anachronistic policy of colonial repression. The new Government's recognition of the right of its colonies to self-determination, beginning with Guinea-Bissau, and to be extended before long, we hope, to Mozambique and Angola, is a supreme act of redemption which merits universal approbation. 63.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“We sincerely hope that the nations of the world will help it generously to recover speedily from the indescribable devastation and suffering which it has experienced. 60. As in the case of Bangladesh, natural disaster has wrought widespread havoc in the territory of another Member nation—Honduras. My delegation extends to the Government and people of Honduras our profound sympathy over the loss of life and the destruction resulting from the hurricane that recently struck it and trusts that it too will receive from the international community all the help that it needs to repair the damage to its economy. 61.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“We have the utmost confidence in their capacity and willingness to make an effective and constructive contribution towards the attainment of the aims and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations. 58. The admission of Grenada and Guinea-Bissau marks yet another milestone in the progress towards self-determination of subject peoples and their liberation from foreign rule, as well as the attainment of universality of representation of the peoples of the world in the Organization. 59. The admission of the People's Republic of Bangladesh brings to a close a poignant episode in the history of the subcontinent to which that country belongs. The malevolence of nature has inflicted on it the severest tribulations at the very moment when it was making a desperate effort to revive its shattered economy.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“Leopoldo Benites of Ecuador presided over the twenty-eighth session of the General Assembly. His reputation as an eminent jurist, his vast experience as a diplomat and his penetrating knowledge of all aspects of United Nations activities, combined with his human qualities of courtesy, tact and patience, were fully manifested in his conduct of the twenty-eighth session. 57. The delegation of Sri Lanka extends a fervent welcome to the three new Members which have been admitted to the United Nations during this session: the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Grenada and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. We offer them our cordial congratulations and best wishes.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“The non-aligned group is today more united, numerically Stronger and better placed than it ever was to exert its influence on the course of international relations in the political, economic and social spheres and thereby to fortify the United Nations in all efforts directed towards the application and enforcement of the principles and purposes of the Charter. If we are to fulfill this high mission, we must be wary of besmirching our credentials by the least manifestation of partisanship. The non-aligned group must treat all nations as friends while dissociating itself from, and striving united to secure the abolition of, policies and practices repugnant to the ideals and objectives of non-alignment. 56. My delegation takes this opportunity of expressing its great admiration for the skill and ability with which Mr.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“Founded on the principle of detachment from great-Power rivalries, the Non-Aligned Movement is pledged to the principles of peaceful coexistence and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations; to the assertion protection of fundamental human rights; to recognition of the equality of all races and of all nations, large and small; to abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country; and to the settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means. Through fidelity to these principles and policies, the Non- Aligned Movement has consistently sought to provide that element of moderation in international affairs which could be the most vital contribution to relieving international tensions and thereby promoting peace and harmony throughout the world. 55.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“We salute him, not only as a true representative of the continent of Africa and one who personifies the spirit of a people that fought valiantly to free itself from the bondage of political subjection and still carries on with indomitable perseverance the struggle to erase the last vestiges of external economic exploitation, but also as the Foreign Minister of the country which happens to be at the moment the Chairman of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. 54.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“Rarely, if ever, in the history of the United Nations has a President of the General Assembly been elected unanimously and without the whimsical aberration of a vote cast .in support of an imaginary candidate. Mr. Bouteflika has also perhaps achieved the record of being the youngest incumbent of this exalted and responsible office. 53. Through the delegation of Sri Lanka I offer to the President, on behalf of the Government and people of Sri Lanka, our warm felicitations and our best wishes for his success in the office which he has assumed.”
1974-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 29 (1974)
“Political considerations today count for much less than economic factors. But in any attempt at reform we must reckon with the fact that once conferred special privileges are difficult to withdraw. The most urgent reform of all is reform of ourselves.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“In our opinion, the Charter remains the best instrument for international cooperation to secure peace, harmony and progress and the establishment of a stable world order that human ingenuity could have devised to suit the fickleness and frailty of human nature and the unavoidable partisanship that is dictated by expediency and overrides principle. There are some aspects in regard to which the Charter requires revision to bring it into line with contemporary realities. Changes of a fundamental character, especially those affecting the relationships that existed between the members of the victorious alliance of the Second World War 28 years ago. have taken place and must be considered in any revision. Two continents do not enjoy the privilege of permanent representation and the power that goes with it in the Security Council.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“If the extra financial costs imposed on the Organization as a result of this development in the world's money markets has to be met at the expense of humanitarian programmes undertaken or contemplated by the Organization, the prosperous economies should not begrudge the United Nations this special measure of relief. While on this theme, we should like to congratulate the Government of Japan on its special grant of $10 million and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on its special grant of $ 1 million to meet part of the deficit under which the Organization is now staggering. Those are examples worthy of emulation by others. 185. The need for a revision of the Charter has been referred to by many speakers.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“It would appear that the nervous breakdown of the United States dollar — and I deliberately describe it as a nervous breakdown, as the decline in the value of the dollar has nothing to do with economic factors such as the productive capacity of the United States economy and its competitiveness — has resulted in an increase of as much as 25 per cent or more in the cost in dollars of purchasing the currencies required to meet the United Nations regular budget obligations in Geneva, Vienna and elsewhere. 184. It would not be unfair to suggest that that extra cost should be borne by those countries whose currencies have strengthened against the United States dollar. Some of those countries have acquired that position of strength and superiority largely owing to the generosity of the United States.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“Relief often comes too late, and in the meantime avoidable hardship is inflicted on the staff. 183. In section XI of the excellent introduction to his report on the work of the Organization the Secretary-General has drawn attention to the additional burden imposed on the Organization's finances through the exchange fluctuations that have occurred in recent times, particularly the decline in the value of the United States dollar.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“promotion, free from any suspicion of political influence, and that recruits to the international civil service have an assured prospect of steady advancement unaffected by extraneous factors, provided they maintain the requisite standards of integrity, efficiency and loyalty. 182. Another aspect of the problem which deserves attention is the remuneration of members of the Secretariat. The currency fluctuations of recent times have caused hardship to many, especially those in the lower grades. An arrangement should be made whereby the adjustments in allowances can be effected with the least possible delay where currency fluctuations have an adverse effect on the emoluments of the staff. Such an arrangement could conform in large measure to the policy and practice of the host country in regard to the members of its own civil service.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“Every Member has a right to ensure that the principle of equitable geographical distribution without sacrifice of merit and efficiency is strictly observed, but we cannot blind ourselves to the fact that there are occasions when undue pressure is exercised by delegations in regard to appointments and promotions. Where such pressures are successful and affect the legitimate career prospects of permanent members of the Organization, some degree of demoralization must result. The Members should extend their co-operation to the Secretary-General in ensuring that the highest standards are maintained in regard to recruitment and .”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“The United Nations is the hub of the international civil service and should serve as a model to all the other members of the United Nations family in regard to the maintenance of efficiency, morale and that essential ingredient of all forms of service, loyalty to the employer — in this instance the international community. Without loss of national identity there could be subordination of it in the larger interest of the world community. Morale can be sustained only if the permanent members of the international civil service are assured of fair treatment in the matter of promotion and remuneration. Recruitment policies must similarly be designed to secure the best talent available subject only to the requirement stated in Article 101, paragraph 3 of the Charter. 181.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“More than anything else, this attitude undermines the Charter and impairs its effectiveness, while at the same time dealing a mortal blow to the prestige of the principal organs of the United Nations — the General Assembly and the Security Council. The lofty sentiments often heard in this Assembly lose their meaning when they are belied by actions and policies which reject or ignore Charter obligations. 180. In the general debate scant attention is paid to one of the principal organs of the United Nations — the Secretariat.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“The savage and ruthless suppression of liberation movements in Portuguese colonial Territories by the Government of Portugal, the odious and obnoxious racist policies of the Smith regime in Southern Rhodesia and of the South African Government continue unabated. Civilized opinion throughout the world remains outraged but helpless. The only effective weapon, short of armed intervention — which is beyond contemplation — is sanctions if they are scrupulously enforced. It is too often pleaded that a Member State's duties and responsibilities under the Charter must be governed by realities. In the language of diplomacy, reality is only an imaginary obstacle to the fulfilment of a binding obligation. This plea or pretext is most often advanced in regard to the enforcement of mandatory sanctions against racist regimes.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“Any law or custom governing the conduct of nations in their relations with one another must be based on principles of equity and international social justice. If a genuine and durable reform of the law of nations, whether it be in regard to the law of the sea or other aspects of international law, is to be achieved, there has to be a willingness on the part of the powerful and affluent to accommodate the interests and aspirations of the less privileged nations of the world. A law which will ensure order as well as justice must be free from extravagance and must take into special consideration the interests of the land-locked countries, if they are to be treated as equal partners with an equal right to the common heritage of mankind. 179. The United Nations has made little progress with the problems of Africa.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“Tamper with it, and the whole structure will collapse in ruins. 177. It is in that spirit that the efforts to implement Security Council resolution 242 (1967) must be renewed. 178. The members of the international community will soon face their severest test in co-operation and compromise for the establishment of a stable and viable law of the sea when the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea is convened. We shall be called upon to review existing international law and transform it, especially that part of it that derives its authority from custom, to suit the moral values, ethical standards and political principles of the twentieth century. These are entirely different from the values, standards and principles of the generation of Grotius and Selden.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“There are even reports, still to be confirmed, that fatal casualties have occurred among the families of foreign diplomats. Against this background of savagery, the Israeli Foreign Minister's impassioned and propagandistic reference at the 2139th meeting to atonement sounds utterly hollow and hypocritical. 176. The inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by force is a principle that must be accepted and honoured without qualification or equivocation. It is a principle that is not open to modification or attenuation. Any attempt at manipulating it through prevarication to suit a particular nation's policies and designs will deceive nobody. It is, as it were, the coping stone of the archway of peace through which all posterity must be free to pass in safety, in honour and in dignity.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“The Charter is a document that has a sanctity of its own, even if it lacks Messianic inspiration, and any violation of the Charter is a greater blasphemy and sacrilege than a decision to assert one's rights while one antagonist is absorbed in a spiritual exercise of supreme significance to him — even if that were actually the case. All faiths must be held in reverence, but it is no less a blasphemy and sacrilege to plead that the most sacred hour in one's calendar must be invoked to secure one's immunity from the consequences of one's own wrongdoing. 175. The latest news is that civilian targets in densely populated areas in the heart of Damascus are being subjected to intensive and ruthless bombing by the Israeli Air Force, the excuse being that they are close to military headquarters.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“The State of Israel has a right to welcome Jews from all over the world — no one questions that right — but it must not be left free to encroach on the territory, and extinguish the rights, of the Palestinian Arabs. 173. As long as the occupation in its present form continues and is consolidated by the practices and policies systematically pursued by the Government of Israel, the conditions required for negotiation will never be created. The hope of peace will remain as remote and evanescent as ever and the danger of the outbreak of hostilities will haunt us, undiminished by considerations sacred or secular. The fighting that flared up on 6 October was a grim warning. 174.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“We wish to see a partnership established between them that can be of lasting benefit to both groups. But we must hold the scales evenly and create conditions in which negotiations, direct or indirect, can start. To invoke Security Council resolution 242 (1967) is meaningless if the violation of the human rights of the population of the occupied territories continues to pass unchallenged and unchecked. The present policy of Israel can only be described as one of territorial aggrandizement based on the territorial claims of Israel and in transgression of the very instrument that created the State of Israel within clearly demarcated boundaries.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“This pretext cannot be reconciled with the declarations of Israeli leaders that the State of Israel commands overwhelming military superiority over the combined forces of the Arab world. This is no idle boast. More disturbing, however, are the statements of Israeli leaders that they are acting in accordance with the doctrine of the power of right or the right of power, the most naked and unabashed assertion of the principle that might is right, which is totally at variance with the fundamental principles of the Organization to which they belong and to which they have pledged their support. 172. We wish to see a settlement in the Middle East — one that will guarantee conditions of peace and security not merely to the people of Israel but to all the peoples of the Arab world that are their neighbours.”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)
“Institutions and individuals that ardently support respect for human rights and express their indignation over the denial to a certain group of the right to leave their country do not show any concern over the fact that the assertion of that right results in the flagrant denial and destruction of the human rights of another group. I refer to the policy adopted by the State of Israel of establishing along the perimeter of the occupied territories a pattern of settlements in which for the most part Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union are settled. 171. Why do the champions of human rights fail to voice their objections to the expropriation of the lands of the Palestinian Arabs and to their use for the establishment of Jewish settlements on the pretext of security?”
1973-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 28 (1973)