YouSaid · the spoken record

ROMULO

lines on the record: 501
first: 1957-09-24
most recent: 1994-09-24
sittings or episodes: 17
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

“Efforts in pursuit of this goal have been seriously handicapped by the absence from the disarmament negotiations of two of the nuclear Powers-France and the People's Republic of China. Here again, new opportunities have opened up to us in recent months. An entrance to the disarmament negotiations for the two missing nuclear parties might well be provided by the proposal for a world disarmament conference [A/L.631]. It should be understood, however, that although such a conference might well serve several purposes, including that of a timely review of the progress made thus far towards disarmament, it could in no way take the place of the kind of detailed working out of specific problems that is now being done in the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament. Even if the result?”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“79. With regard to resolution 2697 (XXV) asking the Secretary-General to invite Member States to communicate their views and suggestions on the review of our Charter, the Government of the Philippines is preparing a detailed exposition of its views, as expressed at the twenty-fifth session, for circulation well before the twenty-seventh session. We trust that this subject will be given priority consideration by Member countries so that our discussion next year will prove as fruitful as possible. 80. Since the founding of the United Nations a major goal in the realization of international peace and security has been the achievement of safeguarded disarmament.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“The recent reorientation of the United Nations Development program, the report of the Special Committee on the Rationalization of the Procedures and Organization of the General Assembly [A/8426], which we will shortly consider, the attention being given to the revitalization and enlargement of the Economic and Social Council, our review at this session of the role of the International Court of Justice [item 90] and the report of the Committee for the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the United Nations [A]8425], our agreement to consider during the twenty-seventh session the overdue review of the United Nations Charter [resolution 2697 (XXV)], and the deepening concern for effective action to cope with the population explosion are all evidence of the recognition by Member States of the necessity for endowing the United Nations with the means to discharge more adequately the responsibilities entrusted to it in an era of accelerating interdependence and community of interest.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“While favorable winds are blowing, the international community should resolve to consolidate these gains with concrete undertakings and initiate new efforts in the areas of possible accommodation and consensus which are now open to us. 78. In this connexion it is vital to recall the new opportunities for enhancing the effectiveness of our United Nations.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“At the same time ways should be found to provide for the simultaneous entry into the United Nations of the other divided States, without prejudice to whatever arrangements they might later wish to make between themselves. And in this connexion, the retention by the Republic of China of its membership in the United Nations is most relevant. The expulsion of that country may close the door to the admission of divided States into the United Nations. 77. The completion of initial agreements at the Strategic Arms limitation Talks in Helsinki, although these agreements are not yet of great consequence in themselves, and the commendation to this Assembly of a draft convention on biological weapons, even though it does not yet extend to chemical weapons, are other hopeful straws in the wind.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“We have witnessed a major breakthrough in the re-establishment of good relations in Central Europe, particularly between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. This development is due in considerable measure to the commendable courage and statesmanship of Chancellor Willy Brandt. It is our earnest hope, shared, we believe, by Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko of the Soviet Union among others, that the remaining difficulties will soon be overcome, thus paving the way for the entry into the United Nations of these two States at the earliest possible time and bringing yet nearer to realization our goal of universality.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“Consequently, my delegation will support the position that any proposal which would result in depriving the Republic of China of a seat in the United Nations is a question important enough to require a decision by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly. 75. We feel that this Assembly simply cannot ignore the fact that the Republic of China, respecting the obligations of a Member nation, has not only represented China in the United Nations all these years but has also developed a separate social and economic system, with its own distinctive character, different from that on the Chinese mainland. And the clock cannot be turned back. What is history is fact. 76. Major steps towards accommodation and detente have likewise occurred in other regions of the world since the twenty-fifth anniversary session of the General Assembly.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“Expulsion, in our view, would be an act of injustice to a Government and people that have consistently shown sincere adherence to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, It would be unfair to a Government that has faithfully fulfilled its obligations under the Charter since the founding of the United Nations to be deprived of its legitimate seat in the Organization. 74. The Republic of China's population of some 14 million people is bigger than the populations of two thirds of the Members of the United Nations. Moreover, the Republic of China has attained a noteworthy degree of economic progress and stability. These are facts too relevant and important to be overlooked.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“But with respect to the permanent seat of China in the Security Council, my Government would be prepared to agree to its allocation to the People's Republic of China with its 750 million people, in recognition of the direct and logical relationship between permanent membership in the Council and the maintenance of international peace and security. 73. At the same time, the Philippine delegation will oppose any proposal that will, explicitly or by implication, result in the expulsion of the Republic of China from the United Nations.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“The People's Republic of China is a big Power, but it is not bigger than the United Nations, and it should not attempt to dictate the terms of its own entry into the United Nations even before the question has been decided by the General Assembly and the Security Council. 71. The Philippine delegation, in a spirit of frankness and objectivity with respect to the existing situation, believes that the fair, just and realistic solution would be for both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China to be seated in the General Assembly and be eligible to become members of other bodies of the United Nations system. 72.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“In this connexion I should like to recall that last year I stated for the record [1855th meeting (addendum)] that the Government and people of the Philippines have no desire to be in a posture of permanent opposition to the People's Republic of China. I expressed our sincere hope that our biggest neighbor in Asia would do everything in its power to merit membership of the United Nations on terms consonant with the provisions of its Charter. 70. I must emphasize this last point, namely, that the People's Republic of China should enter the United Nations on United Nations terms, not on terms which it apparently seeks to impose by proxy through its spokesmen in this Assembly.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“But it is also a fact that since 1949 the Government of the People's Republic of China has had effective control and authority over mainland China, while the Government of the Republic of China has had effective control and authority over other parts of the Chinese State, particularly Taiwan. Each has been accorded diplomatic recognition by an overwhelming number of nations. Recent statistics show that the Republic of China has diplomatic relations with 59 countries, 56 of which are States Members of the United Nations, while the People's Republic of China has diplomatic relations with 55 States Members of the United Nations' 68. These facts indicate why it has not been easy to reach a precise and clear-cut solution to this question, and why it has confounded this Assembly for the last two decades. 69.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“The Philippine position is based on the recognition of the fact that two Governments -the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of China-claim the right to represent the Chinese people or the Chinese State in the United Nations. 66. The reality of the situation has two aspects. It is an undeniable fact that, since the founding of the United Nations, the Republic of China has continuously represented China in this Organization. Year after year, the General Assembly has upheld this continuous representation of China by the Republic of China in all bodies of the United Nations, including the Security Council. 67.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“The objectives are to augment and diversify relations with other countries, where we feel that such will promote the national interest; and to seek new friends while strengthening ties with old ones."" 64. This policy statement of the head of State of the Philippines, made in January of 1971, some time before the dramatic announcement of President Nixon's intention to visit Peking, is the basis not only of Philippine efforts to normalize relations with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries of Eastern Europe, but also of our support for the entry of the People's Republic of China into the United Nations, without depriving the Republic of China of its own United Nations membership. 65.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“The new realities have led the Philippines to reconsider its position. 63. Our position on this extremely important question is based four-square on the state-of-the-nation message delivered by President Marcos of the Philippines before the joint session of the Philippine Congress on 25 January this year. These were his perceptive and forthright words: “Vast forces are at work in Asia today. Although the full implications of the new developments are not yet clear, they bolster my belief that a process of change is under way which will radically alter our traditional view of our part of the world. “Accordingly, the principal aim of Philippine foreign policy in 1971 is to seek an accommodation with reality. Realism will be the hallmark of our foreign policy.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“It is now evident that in Asia both types of nationalism are beginning to move toward more constructive expressions than have been the case in the past: the international nationalism of the large Powers is seeking accommodation, while the protective nationalism of the smaller Powers is seeking co-operative modes of expression for mutual benefit. In this connexion, I am refraining from discussing in this policy statement the question of Sabah because it is now a matter involving the highest level of both Governments concerned. 62. A new era of reality is opening before Asia. In this respect, the question of die representation of China in the United Nations is of the greatest importance to us Asians. In the past, the Philippines had taken a position against the seating of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“In this context, the keen and continuing concern of the Philippines to maximize the effectiveness of our world Organization will be more fully understood. 60. For the forest in the future, it is plain that the paramount force in Asia is likely to remain nationalism. Nationalism is of two kinds. For the small developing third world countries in Asia, nationalism is largely defensive in nature-an attempt to maintain the conditions in which a viable nation can be created and sustained in the face of internal dissensions and the effects of external circumstances. Great Power nationalism is different in quality; it assumes international dimensions and greatly complicates relations between States big and small. 61.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“The strengthening of economic and social co-operation is certain to occur and be increasingly looked upon with favor since it will offer real possibilities for solving economic problems which the individual Asian countries find it difficult or impossible to solve alone. 59. Interest in collective regional defense arrangements can be expected to decline. They have had their day. In their place may well develop collective political forums among the Asians-such as the Asian Forum long proposed by H.E. President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the Philippines for the solution of political differences which may arise in the future. It is predictable also that the future will see on the part of the Asian nations an increased interest in and reliance on the United Nations.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“Speaking individually the voices of the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and others may not weigh heavily in the consideration of major decisions in Asia, but speaking with the collective voice of 300 million people, their roles and contributions must be more seriously regarded. It is against this background that the significance of joint efforts within regional organizations such as the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] and the Asian and Pacific Council [ASPAC] should be assessed. Other effective and special-purpose regional groupings can be expected to emerge and play their part.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“The implementation of the "Nixon Doctrine", the clear enunciation of the policies of the People's Republic of China as, for instance, in the unprecedented interview given by Premier Chou En-lai to Mr. Reston of The New York Times; the intense and continuing policy discussions in Japan; the adjustments in the policies of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics-all these point to realistic realignments among the four great Powers whose interests meet in Asia. 58. At the same time, "pluralization" means the opportunity for more creative participation in the affairs of the region by the smaller nations in joint, co-operative enterprises where their common interests meet, and for more independent initiative regarding their national interests.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“This new era of pluralization will certainly be marked by a multiplicity of interests and relationships and will carry with it great opportunities for harmonization and co-operative action. Relations will become interrelations, partly political, perhaps, but even more economic, cultural and educational in character. Not only Asia but tHe world community generally can expect to benefit from these important changes. 57. The remarkable initiative of President Nixon appears as the single event from which new possibilities must directly proceed. The first results have been both the complication and the clarification of the policies and intentions of nations in the region.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“Member Governments have, in practice, been more preoccupied with using the United Nations as an instrument to promote their own national policies than as a new kind of organization in which the nations of the world in co-operation could forge and execute solutions to world problems and work together for a better futurE" [1883rd meeting, paras. 63 and 64]. 55. Unexpectedly, however, the second quarter-century of the United Nations has opened with a year of remarkable events -Events that seem destined to affect favorably the course of world history for years to come. Most spectacular of these, of course, is the developing detente in Asia, Here, as in other regions of the world, we are rapidly moving from an era of dangerous polarization to one of pluralization. 56.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“The founding of the United Nations was an historic attempt to channel those changes along constructive lines. The history of the first quarter-century of the United Nations may thus be said to have consisted in essence of the fateful struggle to form a viable world community in the face of persisting, powerful and divisive national ambitions in time to save mankind from the ultimate catastrophe of extinction. As our Secretary-General, U Thant, aptly pointed out during the commemorative meetings of the twenty-fifth session of the General Assembly last year: “It is intolerable that the peoples of the world should have to live on the brink of disaster and that so many of them continue in a state of utter misery “Thus it has been for the most part in the first twenty-five years of the United Nations. With some notable exceptions.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“Your predecessor, Edvard Hambro of Norway, who presided with admirable skill, perceptiveness and dedication over the historic twenty-fifth anniversary session of the General Assembly deserves our unstinting admiration and gratitude. 53. Mr. President, it is particularly appropriate that an eminent Asian should preside over this twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly. We have welcomed three new Members of the United Nations, Bhutan, Bahrain and Qatar, all from Asia. The Philippines has co-sponsored the admission of yet another Asian nation, Oman, whose equally welcome entry into the United Nations now brings the Organization's total membership to 131. 54. For the past quarter century the world has been in the throes of dynamic, revolutionary changes.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“In your modest and unassuming person, the members of the General Assembly discerned and recognized the indomitable nationalist who fought heroically for Indonesian independence; the far-sighted Asian leader who is one of the architects of regional solidarity in our part of the world; the initiator of the Djakarta Conference in May 1970 on the peaceful solution of the Viet-Nam war; and the international statesman whose exceptional diplomatic skill helped to achieve a peaceful settlement of the West Irian dispute, enabled Indonesia to return to the United Nations with undiminished prestige, and contributed decisively to Indonesia's present economic rehabilitation with the understanding and co-operation of its major economic partners regardless of their differing ideologies. 52.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“51. Mr. President, your unanimous election to the presidency of this august body, on which I congratulate you most sincerely on behalf of the Government and people of the Philippines, was a proud moment for Asia.”
1971-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 26 (1971)
“It is what our threatened world needs and what the world's troubled peoples, particularly the youth, are anxiously seeking and awaiting. 69. They want a peaceful world in which they can have a future unclouded by the threat of nuclear extinction. They want a new international order firmly founded on justice and law. And they want progress, not only for a select few but for all the members of the human family. That is what is expected of us, of this United Nations, if it is to survive.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“It would mean giving the United Nations adequate peacekeeping powers, sufficient authority to direct a concerted international effort to preserve our life sustaining environment, and the means needed to implement a truly global development strategy. It would entail surrendering to the United Nations a larger measure of sovereignty than Member States have been willing to relinquish so far, and the acceptance by them of an allegiance to humanity superior to narrow racial or national loyalties. 67. For, indeed, if the human race is to survive, the human interest must be placed above the national interest, and the natural and essential agency for advancing the human interest in this, our United Nations. 68. It is admittedly a revolutionary concept but I ask: will anything less suffice?”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“It all adds up to a challenge of unprecedented magnitude to the United Nations and the world community. It is a challenge that could make or break our Organization. The United Nations will have to acquire the capacity to cope with the overriding problems of peace, international order and human survival or lapse into permanent ineptitude and insignificance, 64. Last May a conference on human survival, held here in the United Nations, noted our dangerous drift towards chaos and disaster. The conferees refused to despair but only if the United Nations were to be permitted to develop its full potential in meeting common dangers and common needs. 65. Full development of the United Nations that would indeed appear to be the only answer. 66.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“Much of world civilization for the future will be significantly influenced by how we manage this problem." 61. He added population explosion to widespread poverty as another major factor in the grim equation of spiraling social unrest. He called attention to the social and political crisis which grows with each decade and threatens to round off this century with years of unrest and turbulence: a time of trouble during which the forces of historical change threaten to disintegrate our frail twentieth century society. 62. This prophecy recalls our able Secretary General's warning that we have only ten years in which to subordinate our ancient quarrels and launch a global partnership to curb the arms race, improve the human environment, defuse the population explosion, and supply the required momentum to world development. 63.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“It threatens to impose unbreakable strains on the capacity of our planet to sustain human life in reasonable order, decency and dignity. 59. In the matter of bridging the poverty gap: this problem constitutes the most important longterm challenge to the United Nations. 60. As President McNamara of the World Bank has pointed out very recently: "Two thirds of mankind more than 2,000 million individuals remain entrapped in the grip of hunger and malnutrition; high illiteracy, inadequate education; shrinking opportunity; and corrosive poverty. The gap between the rich and poor nations is no longer a gap, it is a chasm. . . "This appalling fact transcends in importance and gravity all other social and economic problems of this century.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“I have described the 1970s as a dangerous decade because there is danger of international respect for human rights becoming unenforceable, of the poverty gap becoming unbridgeable, and of the nuclear arms race becoming uncontrollable. 56. Consider the gravity of our predicament. 57. In the matter of survival: with more devastating weapons of mass destruction being produced and no system of effective controls in sight, mankind is much closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation by accident, by miscalculation, by a lapse of intelligence or will, or by suicidal folly. Never in history has the survival of humanity hung on such a very thin thread. 58. In the matter of living space: population pressure is reducing drastically our room for maneuver in solving economic and social problems within nations and in the world at large.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“However, it is weakened by reservations on matters indispensable to the success of the Decade, such as the amount of resources to be transferred by the rich to the poor countries, target dates for easing onerous terms of aid, and effective measures to eliminate trade barriers and give developing countries wider access to markets in industrialized countries. 54. I would appeal to the delegations concerned to withdraw these reservations as a token of that decisive commitment without which the Second Development Decade, like the first, would be doomed to failure. In my judgment, this is one failure the United Nations cannot afford. We have reached a fateful juncture in our affairs. The phrase "time is running out" is no longer a figure of speech, but the literal truth. 55.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“We subscribe to the integrated, unified approach taking equal account of the economic and social factors in national development, and would like to see this concept fully reflected in the strategy and programs of the Second United Nations Development Decade. Insufficient attention to the social factor was one of the causes of the failure of the first Development Decade. We do not wish to see that mistake repeated. 53. On the whole, my delegation finds the international development strategy drafted by the Preparatory Committee for the Second United Nations Development Decade [A 17982, para. 16] worthy of commendation and support.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“We deplore the lag in the promotion of human rights and in the process of decolonization. 49. We share the deepening concern over the pollution of our environment and protest the use of the Pacific Ocean for nuclear tests that could disturb its complex and delicate ecological balances. 50. My delegation will support intensified United Nations action to extend assistance for family planning and population control to Governments which request such aid. We favor the establishment of a subregional population center in SouthEast Asia with international support. 51. The fulfillment of youth's legitimate aspirations is of special interest to my delegation. We would welcome United Nations action for greater participation of youth in international affairs. 52.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“We give our full support to the suggestion that all Member States should voluntarily accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. Again we appeal to the Government of Malaysia, our good friends of Malaysia, to agree to have the Philippine aim to Sabah adjudicated by the Court. We have a high regard for the new Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak, and we hope he will cooperate in having this question settled once and for all in a manner worthy of our two countries' friendly relations and our membership in the United Nations. 47. While hoping that our big neighbor, Communist China, will eventually merit membership in accordance with the Charter, we shall maintain our opposition, which is not permanent, to its admission so long as it shows no desire to join the United Nations and abide by its rules. 48.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“A paramount aim should be so to strengthen the peacemaking capacity of the United Nations that it could defuse the threat of renewed war in the Middle East, mediate actively to put an honorable end to the war in VietNam, and play a central role in the crucial issue of disarmament and nuclear arms control which affects not only the security but the survival of mankind. 45. Deeply concerned at the breakdown in law and order implicit in the hijacking of civilian aircraft, my delegation is cosponsoring a new agenda item to enable the Assembly to consider effective means of countering this new form of international piracy. Our proposal is motivated by humanitarian reasons and has no political or ideological motivations. 46.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“I hope that this innovation will not only save time and expense but help make future general debates more relevant and more meaningful. 42. Now for the position of the Philippine delegation on the various questions facing the General Assembly. My delegation urgently reiterates the Philippine proposal, first broached in 1955, that a fundamental review of the United Nations Charter be undertaken in accordance with Article 109. 43. At the very least, we should decide during this twenty-fifth anniversary session to form a preparatory committee for the review of the Charter, with terms of reference covering the three main areas of constitutional changes which my delegation outlined to the Assembly last year [1760th meeting], 44.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“The Secretariat has agreed to the following arrangements: that the full text of the statement to be inserted in the addendum of the record of these proceedings is not to exceed ten typewritten pages, single spaced, and that the reading time of the full text, if delivered, is not to exceed thirty minutes; and that in order that there shall be no abridgment of the right of reply, the full text of the statement must be circulated to all delegations twelve hours before delivery which we have done and on the day of delivery the full text will be again circulated to each delegation in the General Assembly. Again I repeat, the full text will be subsequently circulated as an addendum to the verbatim record of this meeting. 41.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“As we launch the Second United Nations Development Decade and confront the challenge of the 1970s, you have a tower of strength at your side in the person of SecretaryGeneral U Thant, a man of outstanding ability and incorruptible integrity. 39. Now, permit me to break with tradition. The full text of my policy statement, which would have taken at least thirty minutes to deliver, has been distributed and will be circulated subsequently as an addendum to the verbatim record of this meeting. What I shall now deliver is a ten-minute summary of that policy statement. 40.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“36. May I say to the delegation of Malaysia that the Philippine delegation shares in its grief at the passing of one of its members, Ambassador Ramani, an able and distinguished diplomat. On behalf of my delegation I extend to Malaysia our heartfelt condolences. 37. Permit me first of all to conform with tradition. I congratulate the Assembly for having wisely elected as President of this historic session a distinguished representative of the country which gave the United Nations its first SecretaryGeneral. To you, Mr. President, I offer my cordial felicitations and the assurance of the same unstinting cooperation which my delegation gave to your able predecessor, Mrs. Angie Brooks Randolph of Liberia. 38.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“It will remain steadfast through whatever trials and ordeals may lie ahead. Twenty years ago, when I had the inestimable privilege of presiding over the General Assembly, the cold war was at its height. In the aftermath of the Berlin blockade, the danger of a third world war appeared to be a very real one. Then the Korean War exploded. I confess, I spent many a sleepless night thinking of ways to help reduce tensions and develop modes of accommodation between the contending sides. 86. But on the supreme question of man’s ability and will to survive—and not only to survive, but to presevere in his everlasting quest for the fullness of freedom and dignity— my faith has never wavered; and that faith is as strong today as it was twenty years ago.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
““If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” 83. If I have voiced some thoughts that are critical of this Organization and some aspects of its work, it does not mean that my delegation has lost faith in the United Nations. On the contrary, we would like to enhance its effectiveness because we believe in it. 84. The Philippine people are among the founding Members of the United Nations. Our belief in the freedom and dignity of man, our hopes for the future, and our commitment to the kind of world in which those hopes could find fulfilment are embodied in the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, in the drafting of which we had the privilege of having a hand. 85. Our support of the United Nations, through the vicissitudes of its first two decades, has been firm and unstinting.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“the United Nations have perhaps ten years left in which to subordinate their ancient quarrels and launch a global partnership to curb the arms race, to improve the human environment, to defuse the population explosion, and to supply the required momentum to world development efforts. If such a global partnership is not forged within the next decade, then I very much fear that the problems I have mentioned will have reached such staggering proportions that they will be beyond our capacity to control.” 82. With characteristic wit, the late John F. Kennedy illuminated one aspect of the problem most pertinent to the Second Development Decade. He said: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich“. Let us repeat that.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Three years ago the President of the Philippines reminded the General Assembly [1411th meeting] that the unresolved threat of nuclear annihilation imposed a desperately short deadline on United Nations efforts to ensure mankind’s survival. Again this is underscored by Secretary-General U Thant in the introduction to his annual report [A/7601/Add.1] now before us. 81. On 9 May 1969, in his statement at the opening session of the conference on the Second United Nations Development Decade, the Secretary-General issued this warning: “I do not wish to seem overdramatic, but I can only conclude from the information that...”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“He says: “I continue to be struck by the magnitude of the stake and the relatively limited sacrifice, in financial terms, which would be needed to improve on the past trends in the economic growth of the developing countries: only a slight reduction in expenditure on armaments would suffice to make available the external resources required for solving at least some of the gravest economic and social problems of today’s world.” 79. Implicit in all these is the imperative need for a more decisive commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter on the part of all Members of the United Nations. The problems of peace and development transcend national and regional boundaries. They underline the inescapable reality of our interdependent world. 80.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The Secretary-General finds it ironic that many people in the rich countries who realize the cost and the dangers of neglecting poverty at home “seem unable to apply the lessons of their domestic experience to the shrinking world in which they live“. 78. In his statement at the opening of the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General notes that adequate resources are available, given the political will to use them.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“On the part of the developed countries, what is required above all is the basic decision, duly reflected in their policies on international aid and trade, to help the developing countries achieve the target of 6 to 7 per cent annual average growth rate in the next decade. The Secretary-General, in his statement at the opening session of the conference on the Second United Nations Development Decade on 9 May 1969, considers it “... tragic that, at the very moment in history when assistance efforts are beginning to yield results, public and official support in the aid-giving countries appears to be weakening“. The Secretary-General says that that is tragic, and I believe it is more than tragic, it can be fatal. 77.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The Government of Chile has taken a commendable initiative in gaining the support of the developed countries for a declaration of Latin American views of how to accelerate economic and social development in the 1970s as expressed in the historic consensus of Viña del Mar of 17 May 1969. In the Organization of African Unity the African countries have an effective instrument for consultation and joint planning. A parallel effort could be made by the Asian countries. Collaboration within UNCTAD makes available to the three regional groups workable modes of high-level co-operation which could be expanded to suit the requirements of a common strategy for the Second Development Decade. 76.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“On the part of the United Nations, two major reviews of far-reaching implications to international co-operation for economic development are in the process of being completed. The first is Sir Robert Jackson’s “capacity study” for the United Nations Development Programme. The second is the “grand assize”’ of international assistance for the past two decades which the World Bank has commissioned another past President of the General Assembly, Mr. Lester Pearson, to conduct. It is our earnest hope that these two searching reviews will help provide a firmer basis for the vastly expanded international effort needed to ensure the success of the Second Development Decade. 75. For their part, the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America should consult more closely together on a common strategy for the coming decade.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)