YouSaid · the spoken record

Carl BERENDSEN

lines on the record: 134
first: 1946-09-24
most recent: 1950-09-24
sittings or episodes: 4
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 was of the utmost importance that the world should possess such a forum as the United Nations, where all the nations of the world could gather to discuss their mutual problems and endeavour so to adjust matters that the common welfare of all might be achieved. There had been many examples of such success. 68. The United Nations therefore deserved and might demand the fullest encouragement and support from every honest citizen in every country in the world. That support must be accorded, continued and increased. 69. The representative of New Zealand believed that unless at that very time and in the years immediately to come the United Nations was successful in preventing war, the soaring hopes of mankind would fall broken to the ground.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“It could scarcely be suggested, for example, that a people which could sink to such a depth of turpitude as to be guilty of genocide was likely to attach any meticulous importance to its pledged word on a convention. The mere signing of a convention did not necessarily lead to the elimination of the horror of genocide; it must be enforced. Human rights could not be preserved for all time merely because the nations declared that they should be enforced. 67. The fundamentally important functions exercised by the United Nations in the promotion of understanding among its Members and in the field of conciliation must not be overlooked.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“The emphasis, however, should be put upon the examination of the numerous problems to be solved before full employment policies on an international level could be made effective. 66. Sir Carl Berendsen wished next to emphasize the importance of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They marked a very important step forward in man’s development, but there again Members should not deceive themselves. The drafting of conventions did not in itself effect anything; it merely pointed a way. The conventions would mean little or nothing in practice unless and until the nations of the world adopted them. Even then they might be largely ineffective unless they were implemented.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“The aim of the United Nations should be words which were followed by deeds. 65. The New Zealand Government noted with interest and warm approval the importance attached by the Economic and Social Council, and by very many Members of the United Nations, to the adoption of policies calculated to lead to full employment everywhere. That was a fundamental requirement and it had been an essential policy of the New Zealand Government even before the establishment of the United Nations. Success would require co-operative action in many spheres and by many of the specialized agencies, and all that work had to be co-ordinated by the Economic and Social Council in the first place, and supervised by the General Assembly itself. That was most important and urgent, and New Zealand hoped to play a full part in committee discussions on that subject.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“He thought it proper in that connexion to pay tribute to the spirit animating President Truman’s “fourth point” and to the activity of the United States Government, which was endeavouring so strenuously to give effect to the proposals under consideration. That, indeed, was one way in which the sufferings of a large proportion of mankind could be relieved, provided — and that condition applied to many of the matters discussed in the United Nations and its subsidiary bodies — that activities were not confined to words but were translated into deeds. Words, however noble, were not enough. One of the greatest and most common fallacies was the apparently unshakable belief that when people had passed a resolution they had done something. That belief in words, and words alone, could bring to naught the noblest of intentions.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“Sir Carl Berendsen expressed his Government’s earnest hope that the scheme for technical assistance for economic and social development would be quickly worked out and put into practice. In fact, to the extent of its capacity, New Zealand had already been assisting in international work for economic and social development. It had, of course, contributed to UNRRA and to the International Children’s Emergency Fund. In addition, it shared other work with countries which had interests in the South Pacific. He referred particularly to the South Pacific Commission, where the countries concerned had adopted a joint programme designed to raise the economic and social standards of the islands of the Pacific under their care. His Government had already undertaken substantial obligations in that field of international assistance.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“Hundreds of millions of people did not have enough to eat and to wear, and had neither the tools nor the skills which could help them to improve their living standards. Those people were mainly in the under-developed countries and they could be assisted by the nations which were fortunate enough to have more fully developed economies. The New Zealand Government firmly believed that the economically strong should assist the economically weak and, as its delegation had already announced in the Economic and Social Council, when the scheme of technical assistance for economic development came into operation, New Zealand would make a full contribution to that inspiring means of international co-operation. 64.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“All had probably been shocked and astonished by the figures quoted by the Brazilian representative (222nd meeting) as to the number of meetings held under the aegis of the United Nations alone, namely between 3,000 and 4,000 meetings annually. One wondered how such meetings could possibly be adequately maimed and how the cost of such meetings could possibly be met. Clearly, if meetings went on multiplying at that rate, many Members, and certainly the smaller States, would be unable effectively to cope with those demands. The United Nations must see to it that first things came first. 63. The ninth session of the Economic and Social Council, held during July and August 1949 in Geneva, had been distinguished by the consideration given to the highly important question of technical assistance to under-developed countries.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“Those intimately associated with the Council’s proceedings would agree that it was overcoming many of the weaknesses apparent in its early stages, and in particular that it was endeavouring to concentrate on measures of a constructive character. 62. In that connexion Sir Carl Berendsen had to point out a very serious difficulty. Members should not allow their hearts to run away with their heads; they should not allow their anxiety to achieve results, as quickly as possible over as wide a field as possible, to lead them too far and too fast. There was a danger that they might so dissipate their energies and their resources by endeavouring to do too much too soon that in the long run they might fail to do enough.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“There was very much in the work of that Council which gave ground for encouragement, and the New Zealand Government felt that the steady and consistent work of international cooperation in the economic and social field was one of the most hopeful measures of the success of the United Nations. 60. New Zealand had had a very special interest in the Economic and Social Council during the current year — its final year as a member of that body — because one of its representatives had held the office of President of the Council. The work of Mr. Thom in that office had been a matter of great pride and satisfaction to the people of his country. Another New Zealander, Mr. Sutch, had been chairman of the Council’s Social Commission. 61.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“All agreed, for instance, that peace would be greatly strengthened by the removal or alleviation of the admitted economic and social injustices and inequalities which were so prevalent throughout the world; and that if the United Nations could make a determined, enduring and successful effort in the international field to ensure greater equality in the distribution of the material resources and amenities of life which were possessed in such full measure by the more fortunate nations, then one potential cause of conflict would be removed or greatly reduced. It was to rectify or alleviate that sort of injustice — and that was indeed within the power of man — that the Economic and Social Council had been established.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“That the United Nations existed at all was in itself a matter of great and happy moment to mankind; whatever its merits and defects, there should be such an organization if man was to discuss man’s problems in a manly and sensible way. And even in the matter of achievement there was much that was gratifying, much without which the world would be less happy, less secure and less hopeful. 59.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“Sir Carl Berendsen said he had not intended to take part in the general debate. An annual stock-taking, however, was of immense value to the millions of right-thinking men and women who pinned their highest hopes on the success of the United Nations. He felt, therefore, that it was his duty to give a brief outline of the New Zealand delegation’s views on the progress of the United Nations, its successes, its failures and its prospects for the future. 58. There was much — and it was well to place that fact in the foreground of any appraisal of the work of the United Nations — on which Members could congratulate themselves, much for which the world should be truly thankful.”
1949-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 4 (1949)
“There is little that the lesser Powers can do to solve this problem. The problem was created by the great Powers, and its solution lies with the great Powers and the great Powers alone. That problem, that issue, is squarely before them.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“Realizing as we do, most fully and most regretfully, all the difficulties that must be faced and overcome before we can hope to achieve any mitigation of this crippling veto power, we shall nevertheless feel compelled to vote as we have voted in the past, with that moderation and understanding of the problems of others which is, I hope, characteristic of New Zealand. We shall support any proposal which tends toward the moderation or the elimination of the veto power, a privilege held by five of the fifty-five Members of the United Nations, which however necessary they may consider it for their own purposes, whatever their position in the world, is nevertheless, completely inconsistent with the establishment of that permanently effective system of collective security without which mankind can never be free from the nightmare of war.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“But at the same time — at the same time — we must patiently and consistently pay due and earnest regard to the weaknesses that exist today. We must endeavour, as best we can, to alter or remove those provisions of the Charter which have had such a stultifying effect. We must seize each opportunity as it arises, to improve both the constitution under which we operate and the practice and procedure that we have established. The views of my small country on this matter have never altered. They were expressed by my Prime Minister at San Francisco. They have been expressed from time to time at the meetings of this great body, and they will continue to be expressed in the future.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“And surely, surely no sensible person the world over can defend the contention that any one Member of the United Nations, however great, however powerful, should be able to veto the admission of a proposed new Member on grounds other than those specifically prescribed in the Charter. Let no one imagine — let no one imagine — that the present situation can continue indefinitely. The United Nations must get better or it will get worse. What then can be done now? Obviously, having accepted the Charter as we all did, we must honestly operate it until we can improve it. We must make the best of what we have until we can make it better. We must nourish and sustain, pay for and pray for this Organization that we have established, whatever its defects.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“If, in a given case, for reasons good or bad, the Security Council is unable to settle a dispute or resolve a situation, is it suggested, and can it be suggested, that those Members of this Organization who do not hold seats on the Security Council — and they are the great majority of the Members of this body — are to stand by idly twiddling their thumbs? Nonsense. A second proposal made by the representative of the United States might well prove of material assistance in this connexion. If the use of the veto is bad — and I assert that it is — the abuse is worse. That there has been such abuse seems unquestionably to be a fact. My country will gladly support any proposal which is calculated to eliminate or reduce the possibility of abuse of the veto power.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“Whatever difficulties are in the way of taking this great step forward, the fact that the United States has found it possible to make such a suggestion is of the greatest import to the world. The New Zealand delegation will support the proposal in every way it can. Of course, if, in a given case, the Security Council has found itself unable to fulfil its high functions, then it is clearly not only the right but the bounden duty of the Assembly to take that case under consideration. What is the alternative?”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“All will recognize, of course, that if it is proposed to obtain this objective by means of an amendment to the Charter, then the crippling provision which was inserted at San Francisco requiring the ratification of all amendments by each of the five great Powers in effect, in unhappy effect, can exercise a veto on the elimination of the veto. An amendment to the effect suggested can obviously be obtained only if the five great Powers agree. And if, alternatively, it is proposed to obtain this end in accordance with the present terms of the Charter by means of a gentlemen’s agreement, then clearly such an agreement can be arrived at only if the gentlemen will agree and continue to agree.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“It is necessary, in this connexion, to consider with the utmost care the very welcome suggestion to this effect made in the course of the debate by the representative of the United States. The New Zealand delegation most warmly welcomes this proposal, but it would unfortunately leave the veto in full operation in respect of matters of enforcement. This would fail to remove the principal check the veto exercises on action for the formation of an effective — and a fully effective — system of collective security. Nevertheless, if that proposal could be realized, it would mark a magnificent step forward.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“There must be some means established of giving to those great Powers their proportionate voice in the great and age-long struggle of mankind. But the veto, which is, and has proved itself to be, completely stultifying, is not the way. Many means of achieving this desirable objective have been suggested. A system of weighted voting, though difficult to devise, is not impossible, and it might be worthy of consideration. In the meantime a workable compromise might well consist of granting the veto power to any two, not any one, of the great Powers. My country would agree at once to eliminate the veto altogether for respect of matters of peaceful settlement of disputes. This would obviously be a most useful step forward.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“They cannot retain their to follow their own course in all circumstances against the public conscience of mankind and at the same time expect the United Nations as established at the present time to be competent to enforce peace. The two propositions are mutually exclusive, The great Powers or the small Powers cannot obtain insurance against war. Right-minded people the world over are thirsting for insurance against war. No Power, great or small, can obtain insurance against war without paying the inescapable premium. That premium is submission in the last resort to the combined judgment and conscience of the world, I will agree at once that the great Powers who played such a predominant part in winning the war must be allowed, indeed assisted and encouraged, to play a predominant part in winning the peace.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“But I assert that those who believe in the adequacy of words and words alone to prevent war are hiding their heads in the sand. They are flying in the face of history — and of recent history at that — history that has been and, God forbid, may again be. Indeed, let us not lose sight of the fact that those people were not among the authors of the Charter. The Charter is based on the completely impregnable principle that we cannot permanently insure the peace of the world unless and until we are unitedly prepared to enforce it That is the principle upon which the Charter is built. The veto power is destructive of that principle. Again I say the great Powers cannot have their cake and eat it, too.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“The utmost the world can expect from an organization so afflicted is on the one hand a mechanism for suppressing small uprisings against the peace — for which purpose an organization such as this would of course be unnecessary if the only contingency upon which the United Nations can operate the Charter is that the five great Powers are in unanimous agreement — on the other hand, a means of discussing situations as they arise and of endeavouring by the use of reason and discussion to prevent the outbreak of conflict. Such a means we certainly have — if not in the Security Council, then, at any rate, in this body. And those who believe that such limited measures are adequate to prevent war will no doubt consider them sufficient.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“That must depend in the final result upon the determination of all to do the right and unitedly to defeat the wrong. It is a matter of spirit. But the fact is true that the Charter as it operates at present does in effect prohibit any such possibility. There can be no effective system of collective security while each of five great Powers retains the right of vetoing any action.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“But while the great Powers, or any of them, continue to insist upon their power of veto — and the General Assembly has already heard with deep appreciation the offer of one great Power to forego at least a portion of that right — there is little that can be done to better the unhappy position in which the Security Council finds itself today. To the great Powers I say that in insisting upon the right of veto, and so long as they continue to insist upon it, they are rendering it completely impossible for the world to achieve its highest objective, namely, an effective system of collective security against war. I must not be misunderstood. Clearly, no charter even in the most perfect form can, of itself, create an effective system of preventing war.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“It may well be that this, unhappily, may also prove to be the best that can be achieved now. I have no suggestions to make at present as to how to overcome the stultification which has arisen as the result of the provisions of the Charter prescribing the voting powers in the Security Council. In fact, it was at San Francisco, and it appears to be a fact now, that certain of the five great Powers and not only one of them — not only one of them — insisted and insist on their right of veto. They are dearly within their rights, if they choose to exercise them, in insisting upon maintaining the arrangements that were agreed to — agreed to because nothing better could be achieved at San Francisco.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“It is in this, the most vital, fundamental of all the objectives of the United Nations that the record, up to this point, has indeed been one of substantial failure. Why? Obviously, because of the veto. I have no intention, though I am sorely tempted, of repeating at this time what I said in this connexion from this rostrum at the last regular session of the General Assembly, though I wish to make it dear that I have not one word to retract, not one word to alter. It is the duty of all right-thinking people to consider, and to consider with anxious and earnest care the situation in which we find ourselves today and its causes. I agreed once that what was achieved at San Francisco, inadequate as many of us believed and believe it to be, was in fact the best that could have been achieved at that time in the circumstances.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“But I must remind the representatives here that the Security Council is the very centre and arch of the structure of the United Nations; its primary purpose is — and it is stated in the Charter — the preservation and, if necessary, the enforcement of peace. If the Organization that we have established for that purpose should fail in that purpose, then all its other activities must go for nought. Indeed, if the world cannot preserve peace, then nothing that has been attempted will be of any avail. If we cannot preserve the peace we shall witness the destruction of all that man has attempted to do for man’s good throughout the ages. We may indeed sec the end of civilization as we know it today. We may see the disintegration of mankind and, perhaps, of the world. If we do not solve that problem, we can in the long run solve no problem.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“As a member of that body I can bear personal witness that the tone, the atmosphere, the earnestness, and the responsibility of the deliberations of this Council are of the very highest order. I have no doubt whatever that this Council will do great and lasting weak on behalf of the peoples of the Trust Territories and we supervise their steady and orderly progress towards self-government. All these things are good and we must never forget them. All these things are extremely good, and they offer and will continue to offer high hopes to all right-thinking people. But they are not good enough. Only when the world considers the activities of the Security Council does the record become one of substantial failure.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“As a conspicuous example, and only as an example, there have been from time to time a number of subjects discussed in this Assembly which have raked difficult questions of legal construction inducting some fundamental questions — some very fundamental questions — as to the effect of the Charter, My delegation feds, and feds strongly, that it would be proper and prudent for the Assembly to see to it that all doubts as to such legal aspects should be clarified without delay by reference to the International Court of Justice before any decision of substance is taken by the Assembly. Another organ of the United Nations is the Trusteeship Council. It has made an inspiring beginning in its work.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“It may well be found impossible to man adequately more than a certain number of concurrent international conferences, the proliferation of which has become such a marked feature of International life today. In other words, I submit it would be wise to establish an effective system of priority, while never losing sight of the desirability and the inevitability of dealing with secondary matters only when it is abundantly dear that their consideration is within the immediate resources of the United Nations. Another organ of the United Nations which offers great promise of good and lasting achievement is the International Court of Justice. However, it is the view of the New Zealand Government that insufficient use has so far been made of this Court.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“However, if it were necessary, and I believe it is, to sound one note of caution and of warning in this connexion, I would point out that care must be taken, in the throng and the press of desirable enterprises, to take first things first and not to undertake simultaneously more than can be dealt with successfully. There is, I believe, a serious risk that, by spreading activities too widely, we should be jeopardizing the ultimate success of all our work. There am both physical and financial limitations to what can be done at once. If too many international meetings, however important their object, are undertaken at one and the same time, it may well be found that the immediate costs, especially in dollars, may be prohibitive.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“Men of good will throughout the world can justly be confident that in this Assembly they have an organ of international, discussion and co-operation which is effective, and they may confidently be expected to continue so to think. The Economic and Social Council is initiating widespread activities with a view to the betterment of conditions of human life throughout the world, and much may be expected from this great experiment in human relations, The Economic and Social Council may indeed prove, in the course of time, to be one of the most effective instruments that history has devised for laying the foundation for a free and generous life for all, irrespective of race, colour or creed, and for providing an equitable distribution of the good things of life which this world can so abundantly provide.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“There is much that is encouraging and much that is inspiring — and never let us forget those facts — in the success of other organs in the important work they are attempting and, indeed, in the results they have achieved. This body, the General Assembly, has unquestionably strengthened its position. It has proved itself entirely worthy of the broad and fundamental tasks entrusted to it. It has shown itself competent to discuss the affairs of the world in an atmosphere of international co-operation. It has, indeed, become the town meeting pf the world. It does offer a forum for the expression of the views, the apprehensions, and the aspirations of all sections of mankind. It has asserted itself to be what, in fact, it is — the supreme organ of the United Nations.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“They must, soberly and earnestly, approach the difficulties which have beset the path of the United Nations — many of them created by the terms of the Charter upon which the great Powers insisted against the considered judgment of the great majority of the nations represented at San Francisco. They must approach these difficulties in the fervent trust that this great Organization, which carries with it the highest hopes of mankind, may, given time and honesty and patience, achieve the object for which it was established. Having said this, it is obviously necessary to call to the attention of the Assembly that the record of the United Nations achievements is not entirely, or indeed primarily, a record of failure. Only one organ of the United Nations, the Security Council, has so far failed.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“There can be no doubt whatever — and it is clearly necessary that the Members of this Organization should recognize and appreciate this fact — that the activities of the United Nations up to this point have fallen short, far short, of the high hopes of mankind which were so abundantly evident when the Organization was established. This meeting may well prove to be a turning point in the development of this effort, the latest in a long series of efforts, to preserve the world from the horrors of armed conflict. Indeed, the future usefulness of this great and noble enterprise may depend upon the deliberations of this Assembly. Indeed, the fate of mankind may depend on them. A high and onerous responsibility lies upon each and every representative.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“As one who had the inestimable privilege of working alongside him for a considerable period of time, I desire to associate myself, my delegation and my country with the very moving tribute that was paid this morning to Fiorello La Guardia. He was a great man, a good man, a great American, and a distinguished citizen of the world in the truest sense of that term. The world is the poorer for his passing, and his memory will not die among the suffering peoples of Europe and other portions of this world. This General Assembly meets in the shadow of grave and widespread disillusionment.”
1947-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 2 (1947)
“It is that which we must in time achieve, if we are to fulfill our high and onerous responsibility to men and women of good will throughout the world today; to carry out that great trust that rests upon us, for our children and our children’s children, as far ahead as the mind can reach: to preserve them from the horrors of war. That, and nothing less.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“Secretary of State Byrnes in his recent speech made the following comment: “We must co-operate to build a world order; not to sanctify the status quo, but to preserve peace and freedom based upon justice and we must be willing to co-operate with one another — veto or no veto — to defend with force, if necessary, the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations.” Mr. Byrnes has set out, in admirable phraseology, the very core and kernel of the problem. We, in New Zealand are in full agreement — in complete and unreserved agreement — with that policy. That is the objective we must pursue with patience, with firmness and with determination. That, and nothing less.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“I suggest, indeed, that all that men of good will throughout the world can do in present circumstances is to pursue the object in view with unremitting determination and to exercise the utmost patience, in the hope and the belief that in the course of time — and please God, before it is too late — it will be possible to establish a system of collective security which can indeed be relied upon to preserve mankind from the horrors of war, intensified a million times, as they have been by recent scientific invention.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“By a most remarkable provision in the Charter, it has been made quite impossible to amend the Charter without the consent of each of the five great Powers. Is it too much to say that by this extraordinary provision, combined with a veto, this infant organization has been brought into the world with its hands manacled and its feet fettered? But, there it is. At this stage, I think no person looking realistically upon the situation today can suggest that it is presently possible to alter the Charter in any material way in this respect, though we are not without hope that some gradual progress can be made, perhaps along the lines of the Australian proposal. What further can be done? I suggest, at the moment, very little.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“That it was the best that could be achieved at the time, I have already conceded and I freely and readily concede it again. I have no doubt that many will differ from me as to the conclusions which must be drawn from the facts that I have enunciated. But as to the facts, there can be no difference of opinion. Everybody in this room knows that the facts are as I have stated them. It is never wise, in international or national or individual life, to pretend that difficulties do not exist when they do exist. Let us face the facts. It is proper now to ask what can be done about this situation. I do not pretend to know. The great Powers are, obviously, not at present convinced of the inequity and the dangers of the veto provisions as they exist today. Indeed, they, or some of them, are convinced of the dangers of any other course.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“Among these, all have noted the recent comments on the veto power made by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Clement Attlee. And those who doubt the wisdom of the veto, at any rate in its present form, have had a recent and most emphatic reinforcement from a source much nearer to us. In a speech to which I shall refer again, made upon his return to the United States in the last few weeks, the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Byrnes, used this phrase: “We must be willing to co-operate with one another, veto or no veto —” may I repeat that phrase, “veto or no veto” “— to defend with force, if necessary, the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations.” Now, I challenge any person in this Assembly, or any person outside this Assembly, to maintain the proposition that the veto, as such, is good in itself.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“It is an assertion of the indefensible principle that the great Powers which, admittedly, include such a large proportion of the world’s population and which, admittedly, have at their disposal an overwhelmingly predominant proportion of the material resources and the physical force of the world, are, at the same time, necessarily the repositories of all the wisdom, all the determination, all the devotion that this great cause of peace demands. Merely to state the proposition in these terms is to emphasize its essential fallacy. Now, we of the small nations are happily, not alone in our doubts as to the effect of the veto in its present form. Apprehension, serious apprehension, has been explicitly expressed in recent weeks by more than one authority of unimpeachable competence and integrity.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“If this matter had been left to the free and untrammelled vote of the delegates at that Conference, it would unquestionably have been defeated. And, I venture to add, were this matter put to the vote of men and women in the street throughout the world today, the veto would be blown away in a gale of indignant repudiation. The veto power, as it at present exists, is not consonant with any law of logic or of morality. At its best, it is a stop-gap, and an attempt to meet a situation which, all agree, must be met in some appropriate way. It is, in essence, the application of the false and pagan principle that might is right. It is a negation, in the international field, of those principles of equitable democracy which are so dear to such a large section of mankind.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“I agree with what was so frequently said at San Francisco: that if any of the five great Powers, any one of the five great Powers, should, in the years to come, unhappily either initiate or support an act of aggression, the world is unquestionably in trouble, in serious and deadly trouble. That trouble is exactly what the Organization we have established is intended to meet; and if we are to shut our eyes to that fact, then we shut our eyes to the facts of international life as, unfortunately, they have existed in the cast and as they may present themselves again in the future. Let me remind my colleagues that the veto power was insisted upon by the five great Powers at San Francisco, that it was forced upon the remainder. The marriage of the veto to the Charter was a shot-gun wedding.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“The great Powers — the great Powers as well as the small Powers — must be prepared to venture some capital in this great movement to ensure against war. They must be prepared to expend a little of their freedom to run their own affairs to suit themselves. They, as well as the small Powers, must be prepared to accept, in such vital matters as these, when the welfare of mankind, and perhaps the continuation of civilization as we know it, are at stake, a measure of third party judgment, to be guided by the public conscience of the world and not by their own unrestricted decision. Where success depends upon the contribution of all, all must contribute in due proportion. What the great Powers are attempting to do is to have their cake and eat it too.”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)
“Whoever heard of a fire department, each one of five members of which reserved to himself the right to say whether he would go to a fire — still more, each one of the five members of which reserved the right to say whether the fire department could go to the fire or whether the fire would be allowed to rage unrestricted? Whoever heard of a police department, any one of five members of which reserved to himself the right to say whether he would attempt to arrest a criminal in the act of crime — more than that, any one of five members of which reserved to himself the right, not only to say that he would not attempt to prevent a crime, but to say that the whole police force cannot attempt to prevent a crime, the crime thus being allowed to be committed with impunity?”
1946-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 1 (1946)