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

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  1. “It is the duty of all those who are outside the conflict to use their influence to close that gap between desire and fulfilment. It is equally our duty to remain loyal to the substantive principles of the Geneva Agreements. 47. The intention of the Geneva Agreements was not that there should be two Viet-Nams but that there should be one. And yet we find a school of thought contending that the decisive question is not whether North Viet-Nam will come to the conference table, but whether it comes to the conference table genuinely prepared to negotiate a compromise peace in which the people of South Viet-Nam can freely determine whether it wants to be governed by the Communists or not, allowing North Viet-Nam to go its own way.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)

  2. “It is, therefore, imperative that we seek to restore conditions as nearly as possible approximately to the situation that existed in 1954 immediately after the conclusion of the Geneva Agreements. This requires the unconditional cessation of the bombing of North Viet-Nam. 46. It is most encouraging to note that a military solution is not being sought in Viet-Nam and that a political settlement is the professed aim and desire of the United States. It is also encouraging to note that even in the United States the opinion is very widely held that the bombing of North Viet-Nam is no longer a military imperative. What is left now is to translate into concrete action the desire for a cessation of the bombing and for a political settlement.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)

  3. “In any objective assessment of the course of the Viet-Nam conflict we must recognize the fact that at the end of the struggle for national liberation from colonial rule in the former Indo-Chinese States, the outcome of which was the Geneva Agreements of 1954, the balance of advantage lay with the liberation forces of Ho Chi Minh. That balance of advantage was renounced by Ho Chi Minh in the faith that elections would be held to determine the wishes of the people of both parts of Viet-Nam, The provision in the Geneva Agreements calling for elections in July 1956 for the reunification of Viet-Nam was, like the other provisions of those agreements, unexceptionable. 45. The Geneva Agreements, after an interval of thirteen years, still command universal respect. The havoc of war has only reaffirmed their validity.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)

  4. “The fighting has stopped there but the Organization has yet to find an answer to Israel’s continued defiance of the principles on which the Charter is founded as well as of United Nations resolutions that have received overwhelming support. 43. The origins of the Viet-Nam situation as it exists today lie with the end of the struggle of the Indo-Chinese States to free themselves from colonial rule. As it was the Geneva Agreements of 1954 that brought French colonial rule to an end in Indo-China, they alone can provide an appropriate framework for an abiding settlement in Viet-Nam and for the restoration of peace in that area. Those agreements were not merely an epitaph on French colonial rule in the East. They were meant to be a prologue to a new era and a new order. 44.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)

  5. “These are the thoughtful reflections of the Chief Executive of this world Organization, a man whose patent sincerity, moral integrity and honesty of conviction are beyond doubt and whose faith in the Organization has not wavered in the face of repeated discouragement. His complex task in the course of which he is often called upon to reconcile irreconcilables is not made easier by criticism, which, however well meant, takes no note of the fact that there is no room for expediency where conscience must prevail. 42. There are two main areas of crisis — Viet-Nam and the Middle East. In each of these areas the situation is grave and portentous. Although our main attention is necessarily directed towards Viet-Nam where fighting is still in progress, the Middle East crisis should not be relegated to a position of secondary importance.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)

  6. “We trust that the spirit of mutual tolerance which enables the two systems and the two blocs to exist side by side will, in turn, engender a spirit of mutual respect that would lead them towards closer co-operation in the use of their power and influence for the good of all mankind. There are, happily, signs of increasing co-operation between the two superpowers. The hope of the future lies in the promotion and acceleration of this process. 41. The Secretary-General’s annual report for 1966 [A/6701] makes depressing reading. The fault, however, lies not with the author but with the material — that is, ourselves. Every reference to achievement, whether in the political or economic sphere, is followed by an unambiguous expression of disappointment.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)

  7. “Each of the systems has its own efficacy and value, and the lesson that twenty-one years of the United Nations existence has taught us is that the two political and economic systems must exist in a spirit of mutual tolerance if peace and harmony are to prevail in the world. 39. We meet also at a time when an event of epochal significance is to be celebrated. Fifty years ago a country that was little more than a gigantic feudal estate, with a backward agrarian economy, underwent a revolutionary transformation, politically and economically. Today we salute the Soviet Union and acclaim the phenomenal scientific and technological progress and the impressive economic achievements which have made it one of the two most powerful nations in the world. 40.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)

  8. “We should like to express our admiration of the equanimity, patience and conscientiousness with which he discharged a most onerous task. 38. It has taken the United Nations twenty-one years to bring to this podium, as its President, a representative of one of the socialist group of countries. This is significant and symbolic. The United Nations has come of age and has demonstrated that degree of political maturity necessary to appreciate the process of political and economic evolution that has resulted in two principal political and economic ideologies establishing themselves in the world, each with its right to exist and to compete for recognition and acceptance without resort to violence and compulsion.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)

  9. “36.Mr. President, it is deeply gratifying to the Government and people of Ceylon that you should be occupying the Chair at the twenty-second session of the General Assembly. On behalf of my Government and my delegation, I offer you our cordial congratulations and sincere good wishes on your election to this high office. We are confident that the Assembly will, in its deliberations, be well served by your experience and ability. 37. I wish also to take this opportunity of expressing our high appreciation of the contribution made by your predecessor in office, His Excellency Mr. Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, the Permanent Representative of Afghanistan. He had to preside over this Assembly during a most crucial period.”

    1967-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 22 (1967)