YouSaid · the spoken record

Borgonovo Pohl

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS BORGONOVO POHL

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113
first
1972-09-24
most recent
1975-09-24
sittings or episodes
3
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un-general-debate

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  1. “The seriousness of declared purposes is measured by the adequacy of the means supplied. 110. It has been said that if the United Nations did not exist it would be necessary to invent it, which implies that without it the contemporary international community would be inconceivable. But we would add that were it to be re-created at this time perhaps it would be built with so much caution, so much mistrust, such a sense of rivalry, that its powers might be diminished. We agree completely with the proposals to amend the Charter. Such amendments must pursue a fundamental objective-namely, that of raising international justice to the level of a primary objective of the Charter with a status equal to that of peace and security. 111. We believe that this effort, although it is not destined to immediate triumph, will in time bring about results.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  2. “For 27 years the United Nations has avoided an overall review of its activities and has refrained from drawing up a strategy which combines a sense of timeliness with the major objectives of the Charter: peace and security, international justice, development, human rights, regional co-operation. 109. The United Nations cannot attain its full relevance without a new disposition of power politics, not only in the strictly political field but also in the economic field. Otherwise it will continue to be the stage for the balance of the great Powers, with of course all the splendor required by the technological era. If there is a real desire to attain the ends, the proper means must be supplied, otherwise to desire the ends becomes a romantic or political recourse.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  3. “Thus we observe the fate meted out here to the very praiseworthy proposal to amend the Charter; it is shrouded in purely procedural resolutions, with nobody so far, being openly opposed. 108. Parallel with the reform of the Charter, and without constituting either an obstacle or a proposed substitute, one can consider the bringing up to date of the United Nations system by an overall review of intermediate objectives and purposes, programs and services, and ultimate goals. The activities of the General Assembly are scattered and unconnected in annual programs which meet episodic and passing circumstances. The agenda could contain the basic items of the strategy for the implementation of the Charter.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  4. “There would be an opportunity within a global, largely political, review of the existing system, and we urge that the will to do this be aroused among all so that they may agree on a global and dynamic plan of action. 107. Every agreement that is written into norms is a novelty at the time of its creation, but its later effectiveness depends on the way in which it is managed; then it becomes a force of containment, instead of being used as an instrument of progress. At the international level, in order to keep pace with the accelerating forces of change, proposals are frequently made to revise legal instruments, and then renegotiation is barred by fear sometimes, indeed, by terror at innovations, and in the present case with mistrust among the centers of power, which within the established system, represent the vested interests.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  5. “That reassessment on the criterion of justice, although veiled, is in the Charter; through the strategy and the program we can make explicit what is implicit in the Charter and transform into reality what is now but a seed. 106. The two world systems of organization so far known that of the League of Nations and that of the United Nations came into being immediately after catastrophic wars and reflected the conditions prevailing at the time. Since every written regime becomes crystallized, the Charter has constituted a recourse for those who want to give a summary, scanty, restricted interpretation of the obligations contracted; but from the same instrument one can adopt an executive, broad, dynamic and even ambitious meaning, for which what is required is neither more nor less than a genuine political will.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  6. “If in national States we think for several years ahead, it is strange that international organizations should live from day to day and draft their agenda year by year with frequent repetitions and without defining the major goals which would make it possible to assess and evaluate administrative activities, technical assistance and political achievements. 105. The United Nations Charter registers the objectives and principles of conduct which are compatible with the survival of national States; but it is not a program, nor does it present a strategy, and it is precisely there, in the program and the strategy, that the executive powers have much to do. Through the global strategy and the programs, the purposes of the Charter can be reconditioned and, by their interaction, we can reassess international relations on the criterion of justice.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  7. “But that the Governments which sustain this Organization have the firm and urgent duty to analyze the course traversed and assess the degree of fulfillment of the Charter and in particular to examine the distance between the objectives collectively agreed to and the political events of recent years seems a measure of prudent governing. From being very pragmatic we are becoming immersed in detail; from being very positive, we lose sight of reality; from being so aware of the immediate problem we are forgetting that what is immediate is part of a lengthy process.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  8. “That overall review would make it possible not only to reconsider program priorities in connexion with the four or five basic objectives of the United Nations but also to analyze the viability of the policies adopted, the solutions applied and, in general, the whole structure, activity and internal and external co-ordination of the system. 104. That something has to be done to give strength and vigor to the United Nations seems clear; that the United Nations is undergoing a crisis of credibility in public opinion is recognized in official and private circles in many countries.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  9. “On the basis of the Charter itself more emphasis could be placed on the aspects in which the United Nations could be more meaningful, since it is a matter of common knowledge that the basis of its incomparable strength in regard to peace and security has been weakened by antagonisms in the Security Council. Therefore we could reassess international relations from the point of view of justice and from that approach consider the problems of under-development and their solutions, the terms of trade, the transfer of technology and regional integration. 103. Although some problems can be solved if treated in bits and pieces very pragmatically, it would seem appropriate to undertake an overall study, at least' at certain moments in the life of an international organization.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  10. “The United Nations came into being at a time when the need to rationalize international relations was obvious, and to some extent it responded to that idea so far as international peace and security were concerned. It was conceived, thought out, structured and endowed so that, on the basis of certain assumptions, which have frequently been lacking, it would guard world peace and security. 101. As intermediate activities which condition peace and security, the Charter listed the promotion of development, the observance of fundamental human rights, the reassessment of international relations by means of standards of justice. Withal, in the terms of the Charter, these objectives jointly condition and consolidate peace and security, which constitute the reason for the existence of the Organization. 102.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  11. “It can be affirmed that the United Nations was born big, developed vigorous, as measured both by the Charter and by its numerous world-spanning technical services. And yet, the sum of experience is important to guide, reorient and sometimes readjust the programs and policies which carry out these objectives, particularly in international organizations. In fact, while international organizations maintain the objectives which have been set, it is necessary to promote an adjustment to circumstances and to re-evaluate the complex set of initiatives and means of implementation and, in general, of executive policies. While the Charter is set and crystallized, the means to apply it and, more importantly, to make its purpose a reality are open to inventiveness, determination and the sense of responsibility of governments. 100.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  12. “Hardly any of the matters which arouse interest, debate and even passions have been omitted from our analysis. Since my Government maintains an unaltered position on the items which appear on our agenda in one session after another, we need not this year reiterate those points of view and approaches which we have sufficiently explained and reasoned out. That silence, however, in no way lessens the due consideration which my Government gives to the many items on the approved agenda in plenary meetings and in meetings of the main Committees. We shall have the time and opportunity to define the points of view of El Salvador regarding the new circumstances and the process of evolution of the old problems. 99. Unlike individuals, international organizations have no definite coming of age.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)

  13. “My first words are to congratulate you, Mr. President, most warmly on behalf of my Government and my delegation on having been unanimously elected President of the General Assembly, one of the most honored and responsible posts in the United Nations. Your past activities and your guidance of this debate, as well as the very thought-provoking speech you delivered immediately after your election to the post, indicate most emphatically and objectively that this year we have a firm and widely experienced guide with an open, understanding mind capable of sorting out the difficulties and problems which loom over the present session of the General Assembly. 98. In years past my Government has defined its position with regard to many concrete problems of international politics.”

    1972-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 27 (1972)