YouSaid · the spoken record

THORN

lines on the record: 229
first: 1969-09-24
most recent: 1980-09-24
sittings or episodes: 7
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

“It seems to us much more urgent to do everything possible to speed the conclusion of world arrangements, product by product, so as to guarantee a stable income to the developing countries that export raw materials. 148. The unprecedented exploit achieved this summer by the United States astronauts when they set foot on the moon shows us both what man is capable of when he directs his efforts with determination towards a specific goal, and also that there is very little in which we cannot succeed if we really have the political will to place all the human and material resources of our time at the service of an idea, or even an ideal. 149. Already our Governments are considering how we should celebrate next year the twenty-fifth anniversary of the signing of the Charter at San Francisco.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We are ready to co-operate with all countries in this field, whatever their political or economic systems, and with all international bodies that desire to end this great scourge of the twentieth century — under-development. 146. Moreover, in this connexion we should ask ourselves whether the 1 per cent formula for the developed countries’ contribution to the developing countries’ rise in living level should be regarded as a limit or a minimum. For my part I am inclined towards the latter view; for there is a great danger that the countries whose rate of economic growth is among the highest in the world may shelter behind that formula and refuse any aid beyond it. 147. Our Organization has placed great hopes in the system of generalized preferences. We too endorse this system but do not think that it will produce all the results expected.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It is true that certain counties have regarded our assistance somewhat askance, considering that the Community’s effort might shut the third world into a watertight compartment or even divide the world into certain geographic zones of influence. Happily events have proved that this reproach is undeserved, since the number of countries receiving our assistance has continued to increase. The recent negotiations leading to the renewal of the Yaoundé Convention have shown that the member countries of the European Economic Community were anxious not to place any obstacle in the way of an effort towards generalized world aid.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We are prepared to join other countries that are our friends in reconsidering the forms of assistance we give. It seems to me that we must move towards a new kind of aid, and abandon the old concept of bilateral aid for a communal strategy. We are proud, incidentally, of the good results of the aid programme launched within the European Economic Community. Here a group of highly-developed States is giving technical and financial assistance to another, less affluent group. This undeniably successful experiment deserves to be extended in such a way as to give an ever-increasing number of deprived countries a share in world economic progress. 145.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Moreover, this growth should always be aimed at a realistic and clearly defined target, so as to avoid expressions of vague hope lacking any real base or content. To pursue vain fancies would only arouse false hopes which in the end would be cruelly disappointing. To be content with past achievements would not meet the urgent needs that we now know. Mere retrospection is useful only as a source of lessons for the future. 144. I would not venture to say that what has been done so far in the First United Nations Development Decade boils down to. an admission of insolvency. But we are forced to recognize that praiseworthy intentions are being expressed in words rather than deeds. We shall not hesitate to criticize ourselves first, for no industrialized country is immune from criticism.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Moreover, our efforts unquestionably lack sufficient co-ordination and are not integrated into an over-all rational scheme. Numerous funds and international bodies — and I am not thinking only of those directly responsible to the United Nations — have undertaken the noble task of promoting economic progress; and many countries give constant bilateral co-operation. All too often, however, these efforts are fragmentary and isolated. Even if they do not actually cancel each other out, those of each giver are unknown to the others; sometimes they overlap instead of supporting one another. It is therefore necessary to try to establish a basic co-ordination that will produce continuous and well-balanced growth. 143.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We have been preparing ourselves for some time to put the finishing touches to the strategy that must be followed in the next ten years, to give a real meaning to world solidarity, and to translate into reality our acknowledged collective responsibility towards the least-privileged peoples. 141. One certainty seems clear enough at the outset. It is that the material resources made available hitherto are far short of the vast estimated needs. The gap between the rich and the poor countries is growing. Should we not ask ourselves from now on whether the method of pooling our resources that has always been used in the past is still adequate to the needs of the future? Can simple voluntary contributions, not based on real contributive capacity, still give the expected result? 142.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Above all, since the considerable growth in the number of Members of our Organization, the close interdependence between industrialized and less-favoured countries has stood out more clearly than ever. We are becoming increasingly aware that the world cannot find balance and calm and overcome the dangers that threaten it while it is divided into an affluent minority and a majority of countries lacking adequate resources. 140. We have within this Organization the experience gained during the first decade devoted to technical assistance and pre-investment programmes.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We think of it as a release of power that will lead to the solution of painful and therefore tension-generating problems such as the division of Germany. I have said that, besides a détente, we must seek co-operation between the two camps. The participation of the new States and a closely knit fabric of economic and cultural relations should restore the unity of our old continent, obliterate ideological differences, and replace the evil policy of selfish and protectionist blocs. 139. For about twenty years the world economy has known a period of unprecedented growth, and never before this has the process affected so many countries at the same time.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“In a world in which the sole guarantee of peace is often only a precarious and fragile balance of power, we are bound to give our full support to the proposal that has been made to us for a conference on European security. We think, however, that careful preparation is necessary in order to ensure at least a minimal chance of success; failure due to lack of preparation would only widen the rift between East and West. We remain convinced that such an undertaking, if well prepared, has every chance of leading to a détente and, in addition, of laying the foundations of fruitful collaboration. This conference should not be approached with the premeditated intent of consolidating the status quo, of further strengthening the yoke in which the two blocs confine themselves.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The Conference of the Committee on Disarmament, meeting at Geneva, will then be better equipped when it comes to answer the appeal addressed to it by the Assembly at its twenty-third session — “to make renewed efforts towards achieving substantial progress in reaching agreement on the question of general and complete disarmament under effective international control” [resolution 2454 B (XXIII)]. It will be possible to count on real progress in the various fields now being studied. 137. Disarmament is not, however, aimed solely at restoring mutual understanding among countries which have hitherto been divided into opposing blocs. It should also release the vast resources now devoted to military activities and enable them to do good, especially to all the developing countries. 138.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“By making clear that they intend to take effective measures leading to real nuclear disarmament, the Powers that have the privilege of possessing atomic weapons can give an adequate answer to the critics who are still rising up on various sides to oppose acceptance without reservation of the non-proliferation Treaty. Such an agreement must, in order to be effective, become universal as quickly as possible; and we are bound to.make a rousing and urgent appeal to all Powers to sign the Treaty. 136. A détente prepared in that way will, in our opinion, enable the current talks on disarmament to continue with greater chances of success.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“As we seek to establish harmony and understanding among all the members of the international community, with the aim of bringing about lasting peace and justice to the world, efforts to promote disarmament are rightly among our major concerns. Last year the signing by an impressive number of countries of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)], although it was a preventive step rather than a step towards disarmament proper, nevertheless helped to create a more confident atmosphere among the great Powers. That Treaty has opened up new opportunities of ending the atomic arms race.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“I invite this Assembly to consider — now that one of the fundamental principles of our Charter is at stake, not that a settlement seems unlikely save by violence and the inaction and silence of the nations make us mere anguished spectators of the appalling slaughter of a whole people — whether the United Nations is not in duty bound, if it is not to fail in its mission, to take up the problem, remove it from its present setting and impose a solution that will be just for all? 134. Addressing myself more particularly to the African States, I would ask them whether, in the presence of this situation and in the absence of a quick solution, and aware of our responsibilities, they do not consider that they should lay this problem before the Assembly themselves. 135.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“True, the Nigerian war is an African war, and the duty to end it is therefore in the first instance our African friends’. But, to judge by the latest events in that part of the world, our hope of a settlement of this fratricidal confrontation within the African continent is receding into the remote future and we recall mankind’s darkest hours. 133. Last year from the same rostrum Mr. Debré, speaking for France, laid particular stress on the right of peoples to self-determination. He asked our African friends what they themselves intended to do in regard to the principle of self-determination, and reminded them of what Europeans had learnt from long and painful experience. He said: “Intolerance can exist among brothers too” [1683rd meeting, para. 79].”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It is no good claiming that these efforts are in fact only concessions distilled drop by drop, gestures of appeasement and understanding meted out too sparingly. We think that, on the contrary, each and every one of us should express the wish that small steps or gestures on one side might be met by an equal number of moves on the other, thus making possible a gradual advance towards a comprehensive and final solution. 132. Although it is not for our Organization to deal with a crisis which under the terms of the Charter is exclusively within the jurisdiction of one Member State, we cannot refrain indefinitely from expressing our concern at the progress of the civil war which has been raging for more than two years in Nigeria.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It is impossible to hide a feeling of regret and disappointment when faced with the fact. that so far these talks do not seem to have led to any real progress. It therefore remains to be hoped that the positive gestures that have been made repeatedly by the United States Government will meet with a real response, and that both sides will agree to give the people of Viet-Nam complete freedom to decide their own fate, safe from intimidation and from threats of overt or covert intervention from abroad. 131. For my part, I regret that the recent efforts of the Government of the United States have not been appreciated equally at their true worth by all Member States and that, on the contrary, certain States have responded to them only by casting doubt on their intentions.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“To give the peace-making machinery — now maintained by voluntary contributions — a solid institutional and financial basis, and to make of it an effective and undisputed instrument immune from last-minute improvisations, seems to me one of our most important goals. 130. With the same anxiety as they feel for the Middle East, the peoples of the whole world impatiently await the end of the bloody battles which continue to ravage Viet-Nam. Public opinion has followed with close attention the negotiations which were finally started last year in Paris and which then seemed to express a true and sincere desire to end the war as quickly as possible. The continuation of the conflict is an imminent danger to world peace, not to speak of the terrible loss of human life, goods and resources that it entails.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We hope that through their mediation, even without direct contacts—which we still hope for as keenly as ever—, at least an indirect confrontation of the various parties will begin. 129. For its own part the United Nations, whose observer groups have often in the past fulfilled their delicate missions with competence and dedication, could by its presence again substantially help to bring back a state of appeasement and thus eventually facilitate the establishment of a just and lasting peace. Let the success of the practical measures taken to restore peace in Cyprus be an example to us in the future.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It seems to us that the four great Powers are in absolute duty bound to persevere in the course which they have sketched for themselves by tirelessly continuing their efforts to bring about a rapprochement of the points of view which still divide the opposing parties so deeply. They must not impose a ready-made solution from outside, but must none the less make moves that. will restore calm in that troubled area. We fully endorse what the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs said on this point [7765th meeting], and we are bound to be gratified to note that on this occasion the four great Powers, which enjoy special rights in the United Nations, are also assuming special responsibilities.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We believe that we can attain this goal only by solving the unavoidable problem of the Palestinian refugees; and to do this it seems to us essential to establish direct communication with their authorized and properly-qualified spokesmen. 127. Even if today the antagonisms are too greatly exacerbated, even if there obviously seems no longer any prospect of the dialogue so long desired between Israel and the Arab States, even in the face of our Organization’s inability to enforce respect for its resolution of 1967, we still hope that the parties will rely upon the good offices of the great Powers. 128.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Not only should these acts of terrorism and piracy — what else can I call them? — be formally condemned by our Organization, but each Member country should undertake to apply severe sanctions against the authors of such crimes and, above all, should refuse to derive the slightest advantage, either direct or indirect, from such acts of piracy. 126. Who in this hall could still fail to recognize the scale of the problems, particularly that of the Palestinian refugees? In our view our efforts should not be aimed solely at establishing a cease-fire, ensuring the recognition of frontiers of reopening the Suez Canal, but should also tackle the actual causes of the unrest and trouble.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“123. Daily experience also shows us ever more clearly that the repeated use of force, the progressive escalation of violence and repeated declarations of intransigence only stir up passions and emotions even further, strengthen the position of extremists of every kind and.threaten to wrest control of the situation from the responsible political leaders. 124. It is my duty to condemn the terrorist activities which are increasing in “third countries” not involved in the conflict. How do the leaders of these movements dare to hope that they will win over public opinion to their cause by outrages and acts of piracy in countries which have always argued for a peaceful settlement of the dispute? 125. We fully endorse what the Secretary-General has said on this subject in his annual report [A/7601, chap. I, sect. D.1].”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It is perfectly possible to disapprove of a choice; but to go on indefinitely disputing a historical fact seems to us unreasonable. In our opinion, to dispute a majority decision of the United Nations is equivalent to disputing the authority, not to say the value, of the Organization to which we all belong; and this seems to us even more regrettable. 122. In this instance the lost time clearly does not word in favour of peace. To escape from the present vicious circle it will in any case be necessary eventually to renounce for good and all the acquisition of any territory by force and to recognize in practical terms the political independence and territorial integrity of all the established States in the Middle East. Inflexibility met only with. intransigence would inevitably entail suffering for those who live in that part of the world.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Resolutions adopted in this forum should never at any cost remain dead letters. If they are not respected by the parties, the United Nations may lose its role of guarantor of the peace. How can we understand and a fortiori explain or even justify the conduct of countries which, while calling upon the authority of the United Nations to ensure respect for what they consider their legitimate rights and to put an end to a dispute, deliberately refuse to implement and respect a resolution adopted unanimously by the Security Council of the United Nations? 121. Similarly, I cannot accept the idea that Member countries of our Organization should after so many years still stubbornly refuse to recognize a State that has been admitted to full membership of our Organization by an overwhelming majority.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It seems to us that not until the general atmosphere is improved will peace and calm be restored to the regions of the world where fighting is only too often preferred to a direct, frank and honest dialogue. 119. In the Middle East, above all, the lack of success of the attempts made so far to find a way out of the impasse seems to us fraught with serious dangers for the future. All the unwearying efforts there have been made both by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Mr. Jarring, and by the four great Powers still have not induced the parties to comply with the body of directives contained in the resolution [242 (1967)] adopted nearly two years ago by the Security Council. 120. Allow me to express here the fear of a small nation which has put all its trust in the United Nations.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Let us recall the prophetic words he uttered before the closing of the twenty-third session, summing up for the last time in a few meaningful phrases the lamentable and congenital weakness of the United Nations: “... the evils of this world cannot be cured simply by negotiated resolutions, but only by the actions of Governments” [1752nd meeting, para. 483]. 118. We have only to analyse the events of the past year from this point of view to see that we are certainly not justified in displaying an optimistic attitude. The same disputes may not have actually grown worse but still claim the distraught attention of international public opinion. Unfortunately their persistence has widened the rift separating the opponents in current conflicts and made the search for compromise solutions even more precarious.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“At the same time I should like to convey once again to our Secretary-General, U Thant, an expression of the confidence that my Government has always shown in him for his tireless efforts to bring about a permanent understanding among all peoples so as to eliminate the conflicts that still threaten international peace and security. I particularly wish to congratulate him on the report he has submitted to our Assembly [A/7601 and Add.1], which is the most complete and lucid analysis possible of the world situation. 117. As we resume our work it is my duty to pay sincere homage to the memory of President Arenales, who was taken from us prematurely by his death a few months ago. In guiding the Assembly’s debates last year this distinguished man, now departed, showed objectivity, efficiency and wisdom.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“115. Madam President, it is a source of satisfaction to me that the unanimous choice for the exalted office of President has fallen upon you, whose smiling authority merely emphasizes the great competence you have acquired by long familiarity with this hall. My pleasure in greeting you is all the greater because you are the eminent representative of a young continent whose problems are particularly close to my heart. I am convinced that your appointment is a good omen and fraught with significance today, the eve of the Second United Nations Development Decade. 116.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)