Canada, 1969

42. Madam President, twenty-four

years ago your delegation to the first session of the General

Assembly was one of four from the continent of Africa.

Today that number has increased ninefold. In electing you

to preside over the Assembly this year we acknowledge not

only your personal contribution to the United Nations, but

also the distinguished services of your delegation.

43. I should also like to join with those who have

preceded me in this debate in paying tribute to our

distinguished President of last year, Mr. Arenales. We

remember him as a statesman who served his country and

the United Nations faithfully and well.

44. As the United Nations approaches its twenty-fifth

anniversary it is faced with three imperatives: first, to avoid

the scourge of global war and to contain and settle more

limited conflicts; second, to speed the way to economic and

social justice for the hundreds of millions of people who are

now deprived of both; and third, to come to grips with the

serious institutional problems facing the Organization at

this time. This morning I shall have something to say on

each of these matters as they appear to the Canadian

Government.

45. Of these imperatives the first two — the prevention of

war and the struggle to raise the standard of living — are

perhaps as old as mankind itself. The third — to strengthen

and renew this Organization — is new, and is peculiar to this

time and this place. I choose, however, to deal with this

question first, since Canada believes that the United

Nations must fail to reach its goals if it cannot come to

grips with its own problems, It is hard indeed to build

something of value, something that will stand, if your tools

are blunted and ill-designed for your purpose.

46. In addressing myself to this question, I should like it

to be absolutely clear that the criticisms I have to make and

the remedies I will suggest come from an active and loyal

member of the family of nations represented here. Canada

has shown its confidence in this Organization by its

wholehearted participation in all aspects of the work of the

United Nations. We could not conceive of a world in which

the United Nations did not have a central and vital role to

play.

47. The institutional problems facing this Organization are

difficult in themselves. They are compounded by the fact

that, because of their intractability, there is something like

a tacit conspiracy, in which we have all joined, to pretend

they do not exist. The situation might be compared to the

cumulative effect of pollution in a lake or the action of the

sea on the foundations of Venice; failing vigorous corrective

measures a slow but certain process of destruction is going

on all the time. If we do not act there is a very real danger

that, instead of fulfilling its high purpose as a centre for

harmonizing the actions of nations in the achievement of

the objectives set cut in the Charter, the United Nations

will become a side-show on the international scene, its

activities brushed aside as irrelevant.

48. There are three areas in which remedial action is

imperative: first, the United Nations, including all its organs

and associated agencies, is drowning in a sea of words — to

which I am contributing this morning. Talk is of the essence

at the United-Nations, but to be useful it must be kept

within reasonable bounds. As we all know, this is not being

done. The number of conferences and meetings, and the

paper they produce, have increased to the point that even

those Members with the largest resources have difficulty in

providing competent representation and coping with the

flood of paper. As the conference-load increases there has

been a corresponding decrease in effectiveness. This has led

Governments to attach less importance to United Nations

activities and efforts. The credibility of the United Nations

as a negotiating forum and as an instrument for resolving

the world’s problems is wasting away. Public confidence in

the Organization is being weakened and public support is

being undermined.

49. We can, and should, act to arrest this process by

identifying priorities and dealing with them in an effective

and businesslike way. We must also find the new techniques

needed to deal with the problem of the unwieldy size of

United Nations committees and boards, particularly those

responsible for United Nations action programmes in the

all-important field of development, Some of these boards

are almost as large as the United Nations itself was not so

many years ago, and have proved ill-suited to fulfil the

purposes for which they were created.

50. I urge these measures because I believe they are

essential to the future progress of the Organization. At the

same time we should acknowledge that such remedial

action can deal only with the symptoms rather than with

the disease itself. Member nations, locked in out-dated

concepts of sovereignty and national interest, find debate

to be a convenient substitute for action. As long as this

attitude persists the United Nations cannot hope to fulfil

the aspirations of its founders.

51. Secondly, even with the benefit of nearly a quarter-century

we do not seem to have learned the lesson that

confrontation between nations is no substitute for negotiation.

During the past few years there has been mounting

evidence that the great Powers have recognized the sterility

of cold-war policies, but we have yet to see this realization

translated into effective action. There is also the practice,

which has become so common that it is taken for granted,

of forcing the Assembly to vote on resolutions that attempt

to translate moral judgements into calls for actions which

the Organization manifestly has not the capacity, nor, in

some cases, the legal authority to carry out. Resolutions of

this kind only hurt the cause they purport to serve.

52. Thirdly, the programmes and activities carried out by

the United Nations family of organizations have multiplied

during the last ten years. During that period the total of the

assessed budgets has more than doubled, and, if the present

growth rate were to continue, would reach half a billion

dollars by 1974. The absence of effective control of budget

expansion has meant that priorities have become blurred.

Programmes have been carried on long after they have

ceased to be relevant to needs. Staff with inadequate

qualifications or capacities have been recruited and kept on

rather than weeded out, and as a result the quality of the

work of the Organization has deteriorated.

53. The cure for this illness is a period of consolidation of

existing activities before striking out in too many new

directions. Action of this kind will enable us to take best

advantage of the useful advise that will be forthcoming in

the report of the Enlarged Committee for Programme and

Co-ordination and in Sir Robert Jackson’s study on the

capacity of United Nations agencies to administer development

assistance programmes.

54. I feel that I must express in the strongest terms my

conviction that continued failure to deal effectively with

these institutional problems has already begun to erode the

foundations of the United Nations as a cathedral of hope

for the aspirations of mankind. Powerful and wealthy

nations may be able to contemplate this process with only a

modicum of concern. For most Member nations represented

here, however, such a prospect is intolerable.

55. Madam President, you are known to all of us for your

personal devotion to the United Nations as well as for being

the distinguished representative of a Charter Member which

has contributed much to the Organization. What I have just

said shows that we share the views, expressed so cogently in

your speech [1753rd meeting], about the future of this

institution and what Member States must do about it. For

these reasons, may I express the hope that in fulfilling your

high office as President of this Assembly, you, and the

officers elected to assist you, will accept as a challenge to

your leadership the urgent need to launch a vigorous

programme of renewal? The new shoe of restraint and

self-discipline will be bound to pinch for a time, but the

resources saved can be used for constructive purposes. I am

sure I speak for many delegations as well as my own when I

pledge to do everything possible to assist you in this task.

56. I make this appeal today, because it offers the only

avenue for a renewed United Nations with a more stream-lined

and effective structure, where Member nations will

seek solutions rather than empty propaganda victories, a

United Nations that will be more truly representative of the

aspirations of mankind. Such a revitalized organization

would be better able to come to grips with its great dual

task: to keep the peace and to improve the conditions of

life on earth.

57. To keep the peace. This is the primary purpose of the

United Nations. The supreme challenge is to find something

better than the balance of mutual fear and deterrence on

which the present uneasy structure of global security rests.

The new weapons now in the final stages of development in

the Soviet Union and the United States give a new urgency

to this task. Unless the world seizes this moment to stop

the upward spiral in arms race technology we run a very

real risk of a breakdown in the equilibrium of deterrence

that now provides what security we have.

58. I should like to say here that Canada regards the

strategic arms limitations talks that the Soviet Union and

the United States have agreed to hold as the most

significant development in recent years. We urge both

parties to begin at once. If the talks are entered upon in

good faith, with goodwill and without delay, they could

prove to be a turning point in world history.

59. At the last session of the General Assembly, Canada

joined most Members of the United Nations in welcoming

the achievement of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)]. We were the

first nation with nuclear capacity to ratify this Treaty.

What the Treaty contains is important enough, but its

promises are at least equally significant. None of the

provisions of the non-proliferation Treaty is more vital than

Article VI in which all parties to the Treaty — and this

applies particularly to the nuclear Powers — agree “to pursue

negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to

cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to

nuclear disarmament”.

60. Should we be discouraged by the slow rate of progress

or by the fact that although some ninety countries signed

the non-proliferation Treaty only seventeen have deposited

the necessary instruments of ratification? I do not think

we should be discouraged. One cannot afford to be

discouraged when the survival of mankind itself is at stake.

We look forward to this Treaty coming into force this year

and we urge its early ratification by all Governments that

have not yet done so.

61. One of the most encouraging events in the field of

arms control in recent days has been the coming into force

of the Treaty creating the Latin-American nuclear-free

zone, and Canada wishes to express its congratulations to

the Latin American countries responsible for this very

positive step.

62. Of all the arms control issues that have tried the

patience of the world in recent years, the most onerous has

been the effort to conclude a comprehensive test ban treaty

to supplement the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon

Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water.

The endless argument is continuing over whether on-site

inspection is necessary in order to verify violations of an

agreement to prohibit underground tests or whether

national means of seismological detection are adequate for

this purpose. At the last General Assembly a resolution

[2454 (XXIII)] was adopted calling for the highest priority

to be assigned to effective measures to limit the nuclear

arms race and to achieve nuclear disarmament. In the hope

that a step forward could be made toward overcoming the

verification problem, Canada proposed in the Conference of

the Committee on Disarmament at Geneva.that an international

system of seismic data collection should be

explored through inquiries to all Member States seeking

information about the facilities at their disposal and their

willingness to make information freely available to all

nations. This proposal will be pursued in this Assembly.

63. The sea-bed and the deep ocean floor are the last

earthly frontiers, The last General Assembly decided that

this new environment beyond the present limits of national

jurisdiction must be preserved for peaceful purposes.

Canada, as a country with one of the longest coastlines in

the world, has a vital interest in the fulfilment of that

decision. Consequently, when the arms control aspects of

this question were considered by the Conference of the

Committee on Disarmament in Geneva, we put forward

specific suggestions designed to ensure the protection of the

interests of coastal States and smaller countries. We were

particularly concerned to safeguard these interests through

adequate verification provisions to assure compliance with

any arms control treaty on the sea-bed.

64. The results of the deliberations of the standing

Committee on the Sea-Bed and the discussions on this

question by the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament

in Geneva are not all we had hoped would be

achieved. We shall nevertheless continue to co-operate

actively as a member of the standing Committee on the

Sea-Bed and as a member of the Geneva Disarmament

Committee in efforts to achieve the two main purposes of

the United Nations on these questions — first, to develop an

effective legal régime for the sea-bed and ocean floor

beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and second, to

ensure the preservation, for peaceful purposes, of the

largest possible area of the sea-bed.

65. I turn now to that other menace to the survival of the

human race — chemical and biological warfare. The

Secretary-General’s report has told us once again — if we needed

to be told — the tragic consequences of using these dreadful

weapons. At this Assembly we shall be considering proposals

to eliminate them.

66. We recognize the valuable contribution represented by

the draft convention for the prohibition of biological

methods of warfare prepared by Britain and submitted at

the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament. The

Secretary-General’s report together with proposals

advanced in Geneva and the draft convention put forward

in this Assembly by the Soviet Union [A/7655] will all

help to guide and facilitate our deliberations. The procedural

resolution Canada sponsored, which we hope will

be included in the report of the Conference of the

Committee on Disarmament, is directed to the same ends.

67. Let us remember, too, that the founders of the United

Nations provided in the Charter procedures for the pacific

settlement of disputes designed to stop the insane pattern

of fighting and bloodshed which, from time to time,

disfigures our globe and today particularly Viet-Nam, the

Middle East, and Nigeria. It is a sad commentary on the

state of the world community that it has no capacity to

order the cessation of hostilities, except to the extent that

the combatants are influenced by world public opinion.

The current tense situation in the Middle East perhaps

illustrates most graphically the nature of our dilemma. The

Security Council unanimously adopted on 22 November

1967 a resolution [242 (1967)] which imposed an equitable

balance of obligation on all the parties to the dispute.

Its full implementation could have restored peace to the

Middle East. Yet today the conflict continues to rage.

68. I am convinced we can do more to improve the

machinery to head off disputes before they erupt into open

warfare. This is why Canada is urging forward the peace-keeping

studies being carried on in the Committee of

Thirty-Three. In a working group of that Committee a

concerted effort has been made during the past year to

develop a “model” for the conduct of military observation

missions authorized by the Security Council. As a participant

in this study we have been encouraged by what has

been accomplished but at the same time we are disappointed

that the possibilities for much greater progress have

not been realized. Once the model for an observation

mission has been completed, the working group should go

on to develop models for other kinds of peace-keeping

operations.

69. There are difficult problems of a political, legal and

financial character. Perhaps, as a representative of a country

with a certain experience in peace-keeping operations I

might offer a comment. It is essential that these problems

should be given urgent consideration. There are many real

risks in dispatching peace-keeping forces in moments of

crisis without having worked out the necessary arrangements

in advance. Our experience in peace-keening forces

certainly reinforces that conclusion. The Committee of

Thirty-Three has been helpful in drawing attention to the

questions that must be answered. They have been less

successful in providing the answers. Meanwhile, Canada is

continuing, in the face of discouragingly slow political

progress in Cyprus, to participate in the peace-keeping

operation there, as well as in the United Nations

peace-observation missions in Palestine and Kashmir.

70. There is so much to be done to ease the suffering and

misery of the innocent civilians who get caught up in the

vortex of war. It was for this reason that Canada joined

with Norway at the recent International Conference of the

Red Cross in Istanbul in urging the adoption of a

declaration of principles on international humanitarian

relief to civilian populations in disaster areas. Two other

related resolutions, also co-sponsored by Canada, were

adopted at the Conference. One of those resolutions

established a committee to devise workable rules to

supplement existing humanitarian law; the other resolution

focused the attention of this new committee on

non-international armed conflicts.

71. The Canadian Government has lent its full support to

efforts by the International Red Cross to go further than

has heretofore proven possible to build a system of legal as

well as moral standards of humanitarian behaviour. We are

extremely gratified at the success achieved at the

International Conference of the Red Cross and we pledge to do

our utmost to follow up the Conference decisions with

specific action.

72. The second great goal of the United Nations is to bring

economic and social justice to the world by providing an

opportunity for the developing countries to escape the

treadmill of poverty on which so many are trapped. If we

can liberate the creative and productive powers of the

untold numbers of men and women whose energies are now

bound up in the struggle to exist, the future horizons of

mankind will be immensely enlarged. There are many who

say that such a goal is Utopian. I say that the words of the

United Nations Charter are testimony that for a generation

the world’s leaders have believed that it is attainable.

73. Let us have no doubt about it: a great deal has been

done. Development assistance has reached record levels and

developing nations are becoming increasingly skillful at

shaping and implementing plans for economic and social

advancement. The economic indicators show that the poor

nations are making more headway in their struggle to break

the shackles of poverty.

74. What is being done does not yet, however, match the

need and some recent trends give cause for serious concern.

Although the volume of assistance has grown substantially

during the past decade, continued growth is threatened by

economic difficulties and, to some extent, by disenchantment

in some key developed countries. In recent years the

terms on which assistance is granted have shown a marked

tendency to harden. For many developing countries the

growing burden of debt service is eating away at foreign

exchange earnings already eroded by falling prices for many

of their traditional exports, and by barriers to their access

to markets.

75. It is for this reason that the study being undertaken by

the World Bank’s Commission on International Development,

headed by a former Prime Minister of Canada and

former President of this Assembly, the Right Honourable

Lester B. Pearson, and Sir Robert Jackson’s study of the

capacity of the development machinery of the United

Nations are so important and so timely. Their reports will

provide new insights into the strength and weaknesses of

past policies and procedures, and their recommendations

will provide the basis, I hope, for more effective

international action in the future.

76. Never before has there been such a concerted assault

by mankind on poverty and restricted opportunity. Yet

even greater efforts are required to broaden the base of

public support throughout the world for the cause of

international development in the Second United Nations

Development Decade. Setting guidelines and targets is only

a beginning. Success or failure will ultimately depend on

the determination of us all, the developed and developing

countries and the international institutions, as together we

come to grips with specific development projects.

77. Let me for a moment relate these considerations to

Canadian policy. It is our declared national objective to

improve the lot of the poor and underprivileged through

development and trade. The level of the Canadian development

assistance programme has increased very substantially

in recent years and, despite the application of budgetary

restraints to high-priority domestic programmes, it will

continue to grow.

78. Moreover, we are making a determined effort to

improve. the quality of our development assistance and our

capacity to administer the larger programme that we

envisage for the future. Our experience has convinced us

that development is hindered as much by a lack of

knowledge, or a failure to apply the knowledge already

available, as by inadequate resources. At this particular

moment in time the knowledge gap is even more critical

than the resource gap.

79. As a contribution to meeting this need, we expect to

introduce legislation in the forthcoming session of the

Canadian Parliament to provide for the establishment of a

Canadian international development research centre. The

goal of this centre will be to devise and develop new ways

to apply science and technology and the latest techniques

of analysis to overcoming the very subtle combinations of

political, economic and social factors that hinder the

process of development. Although the direction and operation

of the centre will be a Canadian responsibility, it is

intended to enlist the aid of experts and scholars from all

parts of the world.

80. To keep the peace and to improve the conditions of

life on earth: these are tasks that call for all that is best in

us. They will be fulfilled if we can lift our eyes from the

marrow concerns of transient political advantage and

national self-interest to a broader horizon that encompasses

the whole family of man. We are all bound up together. It is

together that we must learn to live in peace, it is together

that we must apply all our resources to the betterment of

the human condition. The United Nations can be the

supreme instrument for the achievement of those great

tasks. It can also become no more than a monument to

man’s lost hopes and lost opportunities. It is the Member

countries that will determine what course this Organization

will follow, and like you, Madam President, we have faith.