YouSaid · the spoken record

Holyoake

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS HOLYOAKE

lines on the record: 62
first: 1968-09-24
most recent: 1969-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
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

“Let us show that man, looking at the problems of his planet as a whole, can indeed be rational and can construct for himself circumstances “ideally suited to his occupancy”.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“This can well settle the pattern and pace for sound economic progress throughout the world. One of the key lessons of the First Development Decade has been that sound economic development is a continuous complex and long-term process. In this the willing co-operation of ail developed and developing countries is essential. It is correspondingly important that the goals or targets set should be realistic. 155. The New Zealand Government has pledged itself to work towards the target of 1 per cent of gross national product for external aid. The success of the Second Development Decade may depend largely on the degree to which this Assembly measures to its responsibilities. I hope we can succeed in proving our Secretary-General unduly pessimistic on this point.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“My Government regards it as a development of surpassing importance and merit that the United Nations is devoting more and more of its attention to such practical questions as population control, the establishment of a just and effective régime for the exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed, the co-ordination and objectives of activities in outer space, the conservation of mankind’s environment and the control of pollution, They are concerns which transcend political boundaries, and the problems they present must occupy the attention of all men everywhere. 154. Finally, I believe that in beginning this twenty-fourth session we all recognize the critical importance of ensuring that the right decisions are taken by this Assembly about the objectives and strategy of the Second United Nations Development Decade.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“That action formally reaffirms a long-standing national policy of New Zealand, renouncing any intention on our part to acquire nuclear weapons. We hope too that some real progress can be made towards the conclusion of a comprehensive ban on all testing of nuclear weapons and we call upon those countries not parties to the partial test ban treaty to refrain from any resumption of weapon testing in the atmosphere. 152. The past year has also seen a growing recognition by the United Nations Members that our surroundings are threatened by other dangers, less obvious perhaps but no less great and sometimes even more immediate. Man. has rather recklessly impaired his own surroundings and the need to preserve our material heritage in an overwhelmingly industrial and increasingly populated age is now becoming acute. 153.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“In the light of our experience in those two cases, we feel that new and more flexible arrangements are needed for the very small emerging territories. At present they are offered only the alternatives of full United Nations membership or virtually no relationship at all. My Government awaits with great interest the results of the Security Council’s examination and its recommendations on this important question. 151. The United Nations is rather ill-equipped to solve the political crises of our day. Yet one of the notable achievements of recent years, which gives promise of a reduction in political tensions and of relief from the fear of war, was the negotiation and signature of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)]. New Zealand ratified that Treaty last week.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We have noted with close interest the decision of the Security Council to establish a committee of experts which will examine the relationship between the micro-States and the United Nations [1506th meeting]. This subject is of particular relevance to New Zealand, situated as it is in the Pacific area which includes many small island territories. New Zealand has brought two of those territories to self-determination and self-government. Western Samoa, a fully independent State since 1962, brought to statehood by New Zealand, has chosen not to join the United Nations, although it has become a member of the World Health. Organization. In 1965 the Cook Islands chose to be fully self-governing, in free association with New Zealand.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“149. At the same time, we must deplore the continuing existence of situations in which the standards set by the Carter have been ignored or cast aside. Once again this year we witnessed the repetition of a massive denial of human rights, and brutal police action, in an effort to suppress the unquenchable spirit of the Czechoslovak people. It seemed to us at our distance that socialism carrying a truncheon was exalted. We were told in 1968 that this was a fraternal embrace. If that is so, my country at least and, I believe, the rest of the world must seek new definitions of friendship and brotherhood. In another area of human rights, it is to the credit of the United Nations that the process of decolonization is largely complete. 150.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“With the restoration of peace, the needs of reconstruction and rehabilitation in that war-ravaged country will require even greater help from the rest of the world if the people of Viet-Nam are to enjoy the economic prosperity and material welfare to which they are entitled. 148. The Charter imposes on us all an obligation to respect the rights of the individual, and, despite the uneven progress in this field, it is possible to record a growing awareness in the world of man’s responsibility to his fellow men. In matters of social justice most Governments would not today tolerate conditions or practices that were hardly questioned half a century ago or even 25 years ago. The United Nations and the International Labour Organisation, whose fiftieth anniversary we celebrate this year, have made significant contributions to that development.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“A settlement is likely to bear the tests of time only if it has a wide measure of international support, and it is here that the United Nations may yet have a contribution to make in sustaining whatever settlement emerges. For far too long Viet-Nam has been the scene of conflict, and its people have been forced to bear the privations and horrors of subversion, terrorism, murder and war. The natural and human resources of Viet-Nam are such that, if only war and the threat of war can be banished, this young and vigorous nation will before long resume its rightful place in the community of nations. A great number of countries and many international organizations are participating in extensive programmes of economic and humanitarian relief in Viet-Nam.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“In particular the international community needs to be reminded, I think, of the steps that the Republic of South Viet-Nam has taken in the cause of peace. The Government of the Republic of South Viet-Nam is continually being urged in many quarters of the world to make yet one more concession to get the peace talks moving. It is an extraordinary commentary that seldom if at all has the other side been urged to respond in like manner. The fact remains that only when the other side begins to address itself to the real issues and shows an interest in serious negotiation shall we be able to move towards an end to this tragic war. 147. My Government earnestly desires a peace settlement which will allow the people of South Viet-Nam to decide their own future, free from any outside interference.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“They too have a central purpose and it is equally clear: they demand the withdrawal of all allied forces, while North Viet-Namese troops remain in South Viet-Nam and overthrow the legitimately elected Government of South Viet-Nam. It seems to us that these are demands of men who seek to impose their will by force; they reflect no genuine wish to move from confrontation to negotiation. 146. It is a matter of great regret that the United Nations has been able to play so small a part in relation to the Viet-Nam war. There have been times, I believe, when international opinion, carefully and responsibly expressed, might have helped progress towards peace in Viet-Nam, and I believe that that opportunity still remains.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“At the Paris talks the Government of the Republic of Viet-Nam and its allies have put forward a series of proposals for bringing about a negotiated peace. These proposals have two central purposes: the withdrawal of all—I repeat all—non-South Viet-Namese forces, and the holding of free elections of all the people of South Viet-Nam. It seems to us that nothing could be more fair and statesmanlike than President Thieu's offer for the national liberation front to participate in free and internationally supervised elections; and he has made it clear that his Government would abide by the results of such elections. 145. So far the response from the other side has been consistently negative.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We are very conscious of the difficulties, but it seems to me that an effort should be made to separate the humanitarian crisis from the political aspects of this quite bloody conflict. The Government and people of New Zealand have been dismayed and alarmed over the interruption of international relief operations. We believe that urgency should be given to the immediate resumption of large-scale relief supplies. Through me my Government has made recent direct representations to the principal parties on this specific issue. We believe that the international community has a duty to speak out on behalf of the innocent civilian victims of the fighting. 144. Of even more immediate concern to New Zealand is the tragic and wasteful war in Viet-Nam.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We believe that this kind of activity is bound to recoil on the heads of the organizations responsible for it. The other aspect which New Zealand sees as being particularly harmful would be any attempt—by either side—deliberately to arouse or inflame religious feelings as a means of heightening the tensions and hatreds that may exist. 143. There are two other destructive conflicts proceeding unchecked of which the United Nations is not properly seized. I refer to the conflict in Nigeria and the war in Viet-Nam. As to Nigeria, my Government has regarded the issues in this civil war as essentially matters to be settled by the Nigerians themselves. We all hope that some real step forward will follow from the numerous appeals that have been made and the appeal made last week by the summit meeting in Addis Ababa.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We believe it is imperative that increasing efforts be made to reduce the violence and to find a way towards a peaceful settlement of this conflict. My Government supports wholeheartedly every effort to establish peace and security in that region. 142. There are two aspects of the present situation in the Middle East which give my Government special concern. We think it would be horrifying and intolerable if the dispute between Israel and its Arab neighbours were to spawn calculated terror throughout the world. There is some evidence of this. No reasonable person can accept the hijacking of civilian airliners and the destruction of property, with the constant threat of loss of innocent lives of people from countries far distant from the Middle East.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“If, as I hope, we could make a new stocktaking we must, I believe, seek new ways to strengthen the peace-keeping capacity of the United Nations and make it also a more effective policing body. Together with some few other States New Zealand has already indicated its willingness in principle to allocate a military unit for future participation in properly instituted peace-keeping operations of the United Nations. 141. The most obvious and tragic example of the powerlessness of the United Nations to keep the peace is the drifting and dangerous Middle East conflict. There is no situation in which United Nations involvement is closer, no situation in which the challenge to the Organization is greater or more immediate.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“As it approaches its twenty-fifth anniversary, the United Nations is increasingly faced with the need to come to terms with a situation where a quarter of the world’s population remains unrepresented in it. The effectiveness of our Organization is impaired by a gap of this magnitude. We are all aware of the difficulties— I am certainly not unaware of them. It is a difficult problem to resolve, but there must soon come a point of time when the balance of advantage requires that this be done in spite of the immediate and long-term difficulties. 140. The inability of the Organization to control international conflicts is a primary source of weakness of our Organization.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We are now a much bigger Organization with much greater capacities through vastly increased and diverse membership. The future of the Organization and the possibility of restructuring it are questions that have equal significance in any part of the world, whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Pacific—anywhere. 139. One of these larger issues is the problem of universal membership of our Organization. This question, important though it is, remains unsolved. But it underlines the failure of the Organization thus far to reach effective solutions of many critical issues, notably those that I have mentioned concerning peace and security.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“But this was not the primary purpose for which the United Nations was established. We are still left with a major problem—to which the President of the Assembly referred on Tuesday [1753rd meeting]. Advances in the fields that I have spoken of have much less meaning if they do not take place against a background of international peace and stability. As to these, the United Nations does not achieve sufficient results; yet this does remain the central aim of the Charter. Today I should like to ask these questions because they are the kind of questions that are being asked increasingly by people in countries such as mine and, I am sure, in others. 138. And in asking these questions I have no thought of wishing to return to the comfortable assemblage of States of the immediate post-war years or the power alignments of that time.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“We should also look closely at the structure of the Organization which we set up so long ago; we should look to see if it is even adequately suited to our new circumstances. We believe that we should consider whether the highly formalized procedures of the General Assembly are still appropriate. We are not satisfied with a Security Council which is used for discussion without result and which impairs the status of the Council itself. I believe that we must ask ourselves what is needed to ensure that what we describe as debates are something more than a dialogue of the deaf. 137. We can, of course, take great pride in the work done by the United Nations in the economic and social fields by the specialized agencies. There are real advances in economic aid, education and health, to name only a few of the areas of great progress.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Each year up until now we have rededicated ourselves to the Charter’s magnanimous spirit and resolved to translate its principles into action. In this coming anniversary year something more is required, I suggest. I believe that there is a serious new duty incumbent upon individual Member States—and upon the Organization as a whole—to take account of the increasing questioning among the peoples of the countries we represent, not only about the effectiveness of the United Nations machinery, but also about whether the whole concept of San Francisco is still valid and adequate after a quarter of a century’s operation. 136. In a world that has already seen man walking on the moon, the time surely has arrived for a close and searching inquiry, about whether the Charter is adequate to deal with the problems of today.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“In some of the under-developed countries of Africa, Asia, South America and others, poverty, hunger and despondency are still rampant. The stockpiles of nuclear weapons mount and the production of weapons of mass destruction grows and spreads apace while nations still await agreement on arms limitation or nuclear disarmament between the two super-Powers. 134. It seems that the great Powers are reluctant to intervene in situations of actual hostilities in order to avoid escalating the conflict; yet they and others supply arms to the belligerents. In this dark picture the principles of the Charter still provide us, we believe, with a lodestar. 135. For the vast and growing human family, the United Nations and its ideals are still of primary significance.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“But unfortunately such dramatic proof of man’s mastery of his surroundings does not automatically call into existence a nobler and wiser world. A report by the Secretary-General to this session of the Assembly contains a rather telling indictment. He commented that man "being presumably rational" would have constructed for himself circumstances "ideally suited to his occupancy". The report observes: "In fact, the very opposite often appears true." 133. And it is true that in any stocktaking of our world we see warfare, violence and bloodshed on a massive scale, in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In other areas we see racial hatred, religious intolerance and political oppression afflicting vast numbers of mankind.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“In New Zealand this year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the great voyages of discovery of that great terrestrial explorer, Captain Cook. I should like to repeat to the United States Government, and to all those countries engaged in the peaceful exploration of the universe, a message of goodwill written two centuries ago to Captain Cook on his departure for one of his voyages: "I hope that for the advantage of the curious part of mankind, your zeal for distant voyages will not yet cease. I heartily wish you success in all your undertakings.” I think that as it was appropriate 200 years ago, the message is appropriate today. 132. The moon landing is not only an inspiration to the human spirit. It is a stupendous miracle of scientific progress.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“130. Madam President, it gives me very special pleasure today, on behalf of the New Zealand delegation, to offer you our warmest congratulations on your election to the presidency of this Assembly. We think that it is a very highly merited honour and our best wishes go with you in a very difficult task. May you be blessed with patience and tolerance. As founding Members of the Organization, Liberia and New Zealand have been privileged to co-operate for some 24 years in all United Nations activities, but particularly in Trusteeship Council affairs. We remember this with pleasure. 131. We meet this year in the light of another great landmark of human history: the sight of men walking on the surface of the moon.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“What has to be done is to make it work — and first to stop the drift. Because the people of New Zealand believe in the Charter and in the United Nations, I can pledge that my Government will renew its efforts to give life and substance to its principles and to its objectives.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“It is so far from attaining it that the very possibility of its ever doing so is coming into question in many countries around the world. So I say it is the duty of us all not to lose sight of that goal, and to devote our utmost efforts so that we may fulfil the vision of those men who founded this great and, we believe, indispensable Organization in San Francisco in 1945. If it is to remain a vital force in the life of the international community, the United Nations must return to its first principles. Only by doing this can it become that powerful and effective instrument of collective security that its founders intended it to be. 73. I conclude by saying that their vision was not at fault; there was nothing wrong with what they created; there is no possible substitute for it.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“The reason I quote it is this: two years after that, the streets and the squares of Prague rang to the heavy tread of a foreign army. And I remind this Assembly that only two months ago, that ominous sound was heard again in Prague — in the same city. In 1938, the world turned its back on Czechoslovakia and, in so doing, marked the end of the League of Nations — an organization in which men at that time, men of vision, has placed their hopes for peace, not only in their time but also for future generations. Today we — in New Zealand, at least — place those same hopes in this Organization, and we must ensure that it does not go the way of its ill-fated predecessor. 72. Whatever the United Nations has so far accomplished — and this is considerable in many spheres — we have to face the fact that it is far from attaining its ultimate goal.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“I want now to make a brief quotation from what a New Zealand representative said on an earlier occasion: “The League ... is drifting. We have witnessed with consternation its ominous failure in recent years to carry out with any degree of effectiveness its main function — namely, the preservation of the peace of the world — and we cannot stand idly by and watch, unmoved or unprotesting, a course which deprives mankind of any real sense of security. Our hopes lie in a return to those principles ... which alone, in our opinion, offer a sure and certain prospect that the present drift may be arrested.” 71. That was said by the New Zealand representative in the Assembly of the League of Nations on 29 September 1936.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“Our concern with the French testing is a special one because it is undertaken in the South Pacific, relatively close to New Zealand, but very much closer to other territories with which we are closely associated and for which we are responsible in the international sphere. All care must be taken — and, I know, is taken — and as a result the hazards to health may be slight; but they still exist. The other hazards are considerably greater. We object to both French and Chinese testing in the atmosphere because it runs directly counter to every effort the international community has made in recent years to halt the arms race. 70. Much of what I have said today has related to the capacity of the United Nations to meet its prime purpose under the Charter: that is, collective security.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“The conclusion of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [see resolution 2373(XXII)] was a crucial step in the control of nuclear weapons. What we now all look for is rapid agreement on further and even more significant measures that will check and turn back the dangerous competition among the Powers that now possess nuclear weapons. We hope devoutly that this path has not been blocked by recent events. 69. For some time now, my Government has believed that a comprehensive ban on all nuclear weapon testing is a matter of the greatest urgency. The continued testing in the atmosphere of French nuclear bombs — including this year thermonuclear weapons — remains a cause of serious concern to New Zealand.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“Events in Czechoslovakia will certainly have their damaging repercussions here and elsewhere in the discussion on this vital issue. At the same time, the international community cannot give up; it must pursue this objective. One tragedy would have been compounded by another if those events were allowed to block further progress towards disarmament. But I do want to say to the representative of the Soviet Union that his Government has made it difficult for other countries. Did Mr. Gromyko realize our feelings as, with the Czechoslovak tragedy still unfolding, he advocated new measures of disarmament? Does he realize that we have no choice but to appraise his words with the recent test of Soviet words and Soviet faith still vivid in our minds and our memories? 68.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“Those of us who have to take part in the making of decisions that may vitally affect the future of our countries must have a certain confidence in those with whom we deal. More often than not, we must put our trust in the pledged word of a great Power. This is very important: our lives could depend upon it. The search for a better and a safer world has, we believe, been sadly set back by this brutal violation of that trust. 67. As we see it, if there is one area of international relations in which progress depends entirely on trust, that surely is disarmament — world disarmament. The time is long overdue for a substantial reduction in the hazards created by the existence, the spread, and the continuing refinement of nuclear and other dreadful weapons of war and their means of delivery.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“That is why my country feels involved in the tragedy of Czechoslovakia. 65. There is another and perhaps broader aspect of the Czechoslovakian affair that I have found especially disturbing. On 21 August of this year Soviet representatives around the world called on the Foreign Ministers to whom they were accredited to explain what the Soviet troops were doing in Czechoslovakia. I was told, as I presume other Foreign Ministers were told, that the Soviet troops and other Warsaw forces were in Czechoslovakia on the invitation of the Government of that country. What I was told, what others were told, what the Security Council was told and what the world was told, was clearly not true. 66. In international affairs, as in our domestic affairs, truth and trust, we believe, are not one day important and the next day of no concern.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“But those Warsaw Pact members which took part in this affair should not be left under the illusion that the international community is ready to forget or to ignore their actions. No small State with any faith in the idea of collective security can fail to use this forum to give expression to the dismay and anger caused by a big Power crushing a smaller one. 64. So I am bound to report that the people of New Zealand as a whole, so far as I know, felt a sense of horror and outrage as the story of Soviet perfidy in Czechoslovakia unfolded. We knew that what happened in Czechoslovakia placed a heavy strain on the delicate fabric of world peace and world security. We may be remote from those events, but we cannot be indifferent to them. A threat to or a breach of the peace anywhere is of concern to every Member of this Organization.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“The Soviet Union has asserted, I think, a dangerous doctrine of an unlimited right to intervene in what it chooses to regard as its sphere of influence. It seems to us that that doctrine is one of naked power, leading to international lawlessness and ultimately to anarchy. We in New Zealand utterly reject it. 63. What surprises me is that the Soviet Union has gone further. It has claimed that the situation in Czechoslovakia is no concern of this Organization. It has directly challenged the Security Council and then this Assembly not to respond to that situation. I believe that we must give an equally blunt reply. The limits to what this Organization could do to deal with the aggression against Czechoslovakia have been made painfully obvious.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“They remain in occupation, and we are told that some of them will apparently remain indefinitely. It seems to us at our distance — perhaps one might judge just as well at a distance — that the leaders of the brave people of Czechoslovakia have been bullied and coerced until they have had to accept demands that they govern their country as the Soviet Union would wish. The whole episode has been a savage set-back to the hopes for maintaining the ordinary principles of decency in relations between nations. 62. The explanations that were given to the countries around the world for the invasion of Czechoslovakia were, as we all know, utterly fictitious. And then they were rather cynically redrafted to meet the unexpected situation which confronted the aggressors after they entered Czechoslovakia.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“In any intervention, however, the United Nations must be prepared to grapple with all the involved and difficult aspects of this very complex issue. It must also be prepared to uphold the basic principle of self-determination on which this Organization has so long made its stand. 60. In recent years aggression has often taken new and indirect forms, as in Viet-Nam. In other cases we still see it in the classical mould: a vast army crosses a national frontier to impose the will of a great Power on a small nation. It is aggression of this sort, in flagrant and open defiance of international law and morality, that we have recently seen in Czechoslovakia. 61. The invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union and its allies was undertaken suddenly and without warning. Hundreds of thousands of troops were poured in.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“They cannot at the same time call for a cessation of the bombing of North Viet-Nam and refuse to scale down their own military effort in any way whatever. As we see it, they cannot demand in the name of self-determination that allied forces be withdrawn from South Viet-Nam and at the same time refuse to acknowledge the right of the South Viet-Namese people freely to decide their own future. 59. The allies in South Viet-Nam have repeatedly expressed their willingness to see the United Nations play a substantial role in the restoration of peace. My own Government would welcome any assistance whatever that the United Nations could give towards achieving a negotiated settlement and subsequently in making sure that the settlement is properly carried out.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“The way to peace is for both sides to scale down the fighting, to come together at the conference table to work out ways of letting the people of South Viet-Nam decide their own future for themselves. 58. My Government deeply regrets that the North Viet-Namese have as yet shown no willingness in the course of preliminary talks in Paris to respond positively to the action of the United States in limiting the bombing of North Viet-Nam or to the suggestion it has made for scaling down the hostilities. There can be little progress until there is an acceptance of the need for a matching restraint and a willingness to seek a reasonable compromise. As we see it, the North Viet-Namese authorities cannot have it both ways.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“Everyone wants to see this tragic conflict in Viet-Nam ended. No one wants to see it more than those who have men fighting and dying in that theatre. My Government has whole-heartedly supported every effort, springing from both within the United Nations Organization and outside it; we have taken part in every possible forum to move the conflict from the battlefield to the conference table. We do not, however, believe that the way to peace is to give in to the aggressor or to call upon one side to make unilateral concessions while leaving the other side free to go on using force to the limit of its capability—a capability which obviously would be greatly increased by the concessions made by the one side.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“Along with our allies we have committed ourselves to leave as soon as the other side withdraws its forces to the north, as soon as infiltration ceases and the level of violence thus subsides. 56. What we do seek is that the people of South Viet-Nam should be free to choose their own Government and to decide their own. political and social system, including their relations with North Viet-Nam, free from the threat of force. If the people of South Viet-Nam were to choose communism we should be surprised: for nowhere — not even in North Viet-Nam — has a people freely shown, by an election offering a genuine choice, that it wants communism. But if the people of South Viet-Nam were so to choose that is their right. If they choose to reject communism and to call, as they have done, for help that is equally their right. 57.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“We have learned by experience that aggression anywhere is a threat to the peace everywhere and, as such, is a matter for general concern. I believe that that is why this Organization exists. That is why New Zealand has responded to the request for military as well as economic assistance from the victim of aggression, the Republic of Viet-Nam. 55. The effort in which we have joined is not an ideological crusade. We have never thought of that. Neither New Zealand, nor any of the other countries which are assisting the Republic of Viet-Nam, seeks to impose a government of any type or brand or ideological kind or any régime on the people of that country. Much less still do we seek to destroy the régime which exists in North Viet-Nam. We do not seek to establish a permanent presence in Viet-Nam.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“It is incontrovertible that the Viet-Cong — dominated, directed, sustained and supplied by North Viet-Nam — has been reinforced by organized military units from the north, to the point where its main organized military forces are in fact predominantly North Viet-Namese. 54. New Zealand is more than 5,000 miles from Viet-Nam. We were further still from Korea, but we recognized in 1950 — as did the great majority of the membership of this Organization — that an armed attack, even across the demarcation line of a politically divided country, Korea, was none the less aggression. We in New Zealand were much farther from Ethiopia, from Czechoslovakia, and from Poland, but we found in the 1930s that attacks on those countries had implications for the security of the world and for our own security far down there in the South Pacific.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“In common with some other countries, Viet-Nam has for some years been divided into two parts. The fact of division is regrettable, it is very sad, but it is a fact of life — and it exists in Viet-Nam, in Korea and in Germany. We hope the peoples of these divided States will be able to achieve reunification, by their own decision, by self-determination. But until those decisions can be taken, an attempt by one part to achieve reunification by military force can, in our view, be regarded only as an act of aggression. 53. It is sometimes argued that the conflict in Viet-Nam is merely a civil war. But it is much more than that, much more than an armed insurrection of a purely local movement.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“He has concluded that there has been a serious decline in international standards. He has referred to an increasing tendency for States to use force and violence to settle their international disputes. 51. I repeat, the essential purpose of the United Nations is to maintain international peace and security and to prevent aggression. Yet, we are very conscious that in one country — in several, but I am thinking of one, South Viet-Nam — a bitter war has been going on for some years because, as we see it, another Power is seeking to impose its will by military force. The international community has done little about it. Here is another case where the Members of the Organization might have shown that concern — a concern which is the lifeblood of the Charter — for the fate of countries suffering from the use of force and violence. 52.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“It is no wonder that States have had to find other means within the framework of the Charter — I emphasize, within the framework of the Charter — of working together to protect ourselves. 50. The failures of the United Nations in this crucial area of its work have, we feel, not resulted solely from the breakdown of co-operation among the great Powers which took place at a very early stage in the life of the Organization. There have been other causes, some of them of much more recent origin. This paralysis, or partial paralysis, has taken different forms. But essentially what is involved is a question of political will on the part of its Members. The Secretary-General — to whom I pay my compliments and tribute — has recently drawn a rather sombre picture of the problems confronting the international community.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“We looked to the organized international community to protect us and, in return, we pledged to he!p in its efforts to protect others. So it was New Zealand and countries like it that had most to gain, we felt, from the success of the Charter system and most to lose from its failure. For us this remains still true today. 49. We are all painfully aware that the United Nations has not been able to provide the guarantee of international peace and security that it was meant to provide. In many of the sharpest crises that have arisen since the founding of this Organization it has been unable to play the decisive role expected of it. The people of my country ask just how much security we can expect from an Organization which is sometimes paralysed by conflicting national interests.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“This is the central purpose of the Charter. Those who met in San Francisco hoped to create an organization that would prevent aggression and would establish and maintain international peace and security in every part of the world. That was seen as the first and essential function of the United Nations. Basic rules of conduct were laid down and machinery was set up to ensure the observance of those rules of conduct. 48. The system of collective security created in 1945 was one in which small countries like New Zealand had a large stake. It was not solely, or even largely, idealism that committed us to the system; it was the stark fact that we did not have the means to defend ourselves and to assure our continued existence on our own.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)
“We are aware that praiseworthy and painstaking attempts have been made by the Organization of African Unity and by the Commonwealth Secretary-General to bring about a political settlement. We have been disturbed by the fact that those efforts have so far, unhappily, proved unsuccessful. It is our earnest hope — the hope of all the people of New Zealand — that the United Nations will make every effort to assist in mitigating the desperate tribulations of the people in the areas devastated by the fighting. 47. The work of the United Nations in the areas of economic development, decolonization and human rights is of tremendous significance. Yet, we all looked, and we still look, for much more from this Organization. I think the heart of the matter is how the international community deals with the great issues of war and peace.”
1968-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 23 (1968)