Belgium, 1969

92. Madam President, may I mention first the generosity of a

life which, for the good of all, culminated and was

consummated here during the last session of the General

Assembly, that of our deceased President, Mr. Arenales.

93. To console his family, the people of Guatemala and all

those who knew him, his successor in the presidential chair

had to offer new hope. That is what you bring to us,

Madam President, by illustrating at one and the same time

the eminent role which so many women can play in public

life and the substantial contribution of Africa to our

Organization.

94. This session of the Assembly is to be the last before

the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the

signing of the Charter at San Francisco. That celebration

next year either will be marked by ceremonies, recollections

and the exaltation of our ideals — and this will already be

valuable — or will be a truly fruitful event because we shall

have used it as an occasion for reflection, resolution and

progress. In that case, we must start preparations immediately

and must take advantage of our present session

not only to speak frankly but also to act.

95. We are all struck by an indisputable fact which has

been mentioned by several previous speakers: the twenty-five

years which will soon have elapsed will have witnessed

an advancement of mankind accompanied by more changes

than occurred throughout several earlier centuries. Like my

colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Argentina, we

feel that the twenty-five years or so that still separate us

from the third millenium of our era will witness the same

acceleration of history.

96. Thus the universe changes its dimensions. Thanks to

men of science and courage, from this year onwards the

earth will no longer be isolated from the other planets, and

on our planet all peoples will live a little closer to each

other with each succeeding day. They have the feeling of

their interdependence before even gaining an abstract

awareness of it. Henceforth we shall live in conditions of

ever more intense intermingling of interests, races, religions

and political and social systems, thus progressing towards

new oecumenical developments. That is why the approach

of the twenty-fifth anniversary must find us convinced that

the United Nations is more necessary than ever. The

question we must ask, however, is whether our Organization,

which was conceived twenty-five years ago and built

for a world which has undergone considerable changes, is

itself changing. Are we really assuming leadership in the

movement of the earth towards unity?

97. The continuing evolution of the world should lead us,

therefore, to mark this twenty-fifth anniversary by an

effort designed to give the United Nations an image in

keeping with events. This is equally necessary in the

political field, where we must ensure peace by preventing

conflict, and in the economic and social fields, where the

differences in the human condition between the northern

and southern hemispheres are intolerable.

98. In the political field, Belgium sees five kinds of

progress which we hope will be achieved in 1970 and to

which my country is ready to contribute.

99. The first type of progress that our institution should

achieve, of which we are mindful because today it seems

more within our reach than before, concerns the regional

arrangements and agencies that are mentioned in Chapter

VIII of the Charter.

100. At the time the Charter was drafted, every State in

Europe was dressing its wounds and was not yet able to

think of taking part in regional arrangements. In Africa,

Asia and Oceania, most territories either had not achieved

independence or else were in a special situation vis-a-vis a

European country. Only America already had its present

political configuration. At that time, therefore, it was

difficult to conceive of the establishment of regional

organizations within the United Nations.

101. The founding Members of the United Nations,

however, already thought that regional agreements would

serve as useful relay points for our world institution and

that they could play an essential part in the maintenance of

security by guaranteeing peace to each State, by assuming

special responsibility for the prevention of conflicts and the

reduction of tension, and by offering assistance in situations

where internal conflicts arose and where our world

Organization would therefore find it difficult to take

action. It was thought at the time that such agreements

could be applied not only to whole continents but also to

smaller regions determined in accordance with the needs. It

was thought, too, that, even when the philosophies of the

States were different on many points, regional political

organizations could effectively solve common problems,

beginning with those to which natural configurations and

physical interdependence gave rise. Finally, in the last

resort, it was thought that such agreements, because of

their flexibility, could go so far as to associate in specific

actions countries which were not yet Members of the

United Nations with those which were.

102. Twenty-four years later, all of that has become more

obvious and, consequently, more desirable today when, at

least in theory, the States of all continents are equal but are

also more aware of their physical and economic interdependence.

103. In this connexion I should like to point to, and

commend, the experience of the Organization of American

States, the first such organization, which recently was able

to settle the armed conflict between Honduras and El Salvador.

104. The same is or will be true with respect to the

Organization of African Unity in Africa. A few days ago,

the Secretary-General underlined the importance of that

organization by taking part in its work. We, for our part,

have already, on various occasions, noted how useful the

interventions of the Organization of African Unity have

been and there is no reason why it should not become an

institution that can prevent conflicts in Africa. I should like

to point out that it was at OAU’s request that the United

Nations refrained from taking a position on the tragic

conflict in Nigeria. But it would not be possible for the

United Nations not to help to remove the obstacles in the

way of providing effective help to the civilian population.

Solutions must be found to that humanitarian problem

during this session. I shall return to this point.

105. On the basis of these two regional experiments, from

which, of course, one cannot expect everything, and whose

development depends on the political will of the Member

States, we are thinking more actively of the possibility of

similar experiments for Asia and Europe. In Asia, as

Mr. Aichi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, pointed

out in his statement [1756th meeting], the Economic

Commission for Asia and the Far East and the Asian

Development Bank are already functioning, but many

people are suggesting that there should be arrangements of

a more political nature.

106. In this connexion it seems to us significant that both

Mr. Brezhnev, in June, and Mr. Rogers, in August, emphasized

the value of a collective security system for that part

of the world.

107. But be that as it may, stability in.South-East Asia, as

we have been saying here for four years, requires that the

treaty that will put an end to the conflict in Viet-Nam

should be accompanied, as in 1954 and 1962, by a regional

agreement to which the great Powers and the Asian Powers

would accede. Would this not present an opportunity for

those same States to undertake to respect the independence

and integrity of other States and to renounce the use of

force for settling possible disputes?

108. This, of course, raises the problem of continental

China; would it take part in such a regional agreement? We

must hope so. This might result in progress in another

question, namely, whether mainland China will one day

become a Member of the United Nations. I should now like

to say a few words on that matter. My Government regrets

that it is not possible to place the question squarely before

the General Assembly, in clear terms. For several years we

have spared no effort to attain that goal, but we have not

been able to persuade the Assembly of the value of our

suggestions and we shall not put them forward again.

109. With regard to the substance of the problem, we

continue to think and to act in the conviction that the

interests of peace require the adherence of mainland China

to our Charter and its presence here as a permanent

member of the Security Council. But if the price for the

participation of mainland China in our work is the

exclusion from the, United Nations of another State, a

legitimate Member of our Organization, we shall never cease

to oppose so unacceptable a requirement, which would do

an injustice to a State that we recognize and respect.

110. As far as procedure is concerned, we profoundly

regret that during this session we shall once again have to

vote on a draft resolution which, in our view, presents the

problem wrongly and therefore makes it impossible for our

vote to reflect the position of our Government correctly.

111. To revert to the question of regional arrangements,

which have already proved their usefulness for three

continents, why should we not consider the same question

with regard to Europe, which in this century has known so

many internal conflicts, has given rise to two world

conflagrations and is still the dangerous focus of the

opposition between parliamentary democracy and the

communist system?

112. We know what has already been accomplished in

Europe, however incomplete it may be; we know about our

Economic Commission for Europe, the Council of Europe,

and the economic organizations such as the Common

Market, the European Free Trade Association and the

Council for Mutual Economic Aid. On this subject the

Foreign Minister of France spoke yesterday [1763rd

meeting] about the dynamism of these regional organizations

in Western Europe.

113. Can we now go further? Should all Europe seek

among all its peoples, whatever their régimes or alliances,

regional agreements to reduce tension, limit armaments,

increase economic and technical co-operation, and, after a

quarter of a century, clear up the problems of Germany and

of Berlin?

114. We for our part think that the effort should be made,

despite all that has happened in Czechoslovakia to darken

the horizon during the past year. There is no shortage of

proposals for the reduction of tension in Europe; they

come from all sides. For this reason, the Western countries

are endeavouring to draw up lists of matters of common

interest on which such agreement could be rapidly sought.

It is of little consequence that these lists are limited to start

with, so long as the political content of the resulting

agreements gives concrete evidence of a common will for

multilateral co-operation and if we can thus translate into

deeds the spirit of Chapter VIII of our Charter.

115. It is along these lines that our efforts will have to be

unremittingly directed in 1970, and it is on this condition

that the convening of the necessary conferences for the

conclusion of such regional agreements can be expedited.

We are convinced that such agreements will strengthen the

United Nations.

116. The second type of political progress which our

Organization can and should achieve concerns the Security

Council and the role of the great countries in it. The

example which I shall choose to illustrate this point is the

dangerous continuing crisis in the Middle East.

117. I prefer to say nothing about all the acute and

disappointing aspects of that conflict; too many incidents,

already serious in themselves, are all the more dangerous

because of the spirit they reveal and the obstacles that they

place along the road to any political settlement.

118. For us, the only hope for peace in the Middle East

lies in global negotiation, with the Security Council in the

pivotal role. Only the Council is capable of leading the

belligerents towards peace.

119. The resolution of 22 November 1967 [242 (1967)]

was indeed a remarkable and exceptional event, for by it

the Security Council succeeded, unanimously, in laying

down the general conditions for an equitable political

settlement. Nearly two years have passed since that time,

but the Security Council has not been able to work out a

programme under which any belligerent that took a first

step towards the restoration of peace would have the

assurance that the other party would, in turn, take a similar

step, and so on, step by step, until all the goals set by the

resolution of November 1967 were attained.

120. To this end, the four-Power negotiations suggested

by France and, more recently, the conversations between

the United States and the Soviet Union constitute, in our

view, the only approach by which the Security Council will

at last be able to propose to the belligerents the outlines of

a fair settlement.

121. Not only is the Security Council in duty bound to

prevent the spread of conflicts; it also bears the

responsibility for eliminating their causes. Action by the

permanent members in this regard is, in our opinion, the

counterpart of the specific powers entrusted to them by

our peoples.

122. At San Francisco we recognized their power, but we

asked them to place that power at the service of peace. If

we in the United Nations agreed to States not being given

equal treatment, it was not for the purpose of dividing the

world into spheres of influence, much less to enable certain

States to practise a policy of hegemony with respect to

territories beyond their borders.

123. What we all wanted, and what we are banking on in

the Middle East crisis and other crises, is that the very large

States will propose to the non-permanent members of the

Security Council and to the States at the centre of the crisis

concrete terms for fundamental agreements that will restore

peace to the areas devastated by war and political strife.

This, we know, is something they can do; furthermore, in

our view, there is no other possibility, no alternative.

124. This is not to deny the specific responsibility of the

belligerent States or of the other Members of the United

Nations. I wish merely to stress the fact that the

responsibilities conferred on the Security Council by all the

Members of the United Nations have their natural counterpart

in the obligation to support the Council’s action.

125. What we expect from the very great countries is that

they should show the initiative, imagination, perseverance

and authority without which we should become here a sort

of tower of Babel. Today, at the time when the very great

States have undertaken essential action, I wish to state that

if that action fails, a fatal blow will be dealt to the United

Nations, but that if it succeeds the Middle East will not be

alone in benefiting from it. By following the only possible

direction, the direction indicated by the Charter, we shall

be strengthening our Organization to a considerable degree.

126. I should not be frank if I did not say how

disappointed I was to note how little convergence there was

in the statements made here by President Nixon [1755th

meeting] and Mr. Gromyko [1756th meeting]. How can

we explain the fact that, forty-eight hours after Mr. Nixon

had formally announced the intention of the United States

to withdraw all its forces from South Viet-Nam on the

sole condition - a legitimate one — that the South Viet-Namese

people retained the fundamental right to determine

their future without any foreign interference, Mr. Gromyko

could affirm that the aim of the United States is to

establish itself politically and strategically in Viet-Nam?

127. We find such statements which cast doubt on

intentions disquieting. For how can we believe in the

possibility of peace if the protagonists themselves continue

to show their lack of understanding of each other?

128. For a long time the United Nations has been

convening the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament

at Geneva. We shall certainly not make ironic

comments on the slowness of its progress when we

remember the important agreements it has drawn up or is

preparing. But how are we to explain all these efforts to

bring about a reduction of armaments in time of peace if

we find it quite natural that no action should be taken to

slow down or control deliveries of weapons or ammunition

to the opposing parties once conflicts have broken out?

129. We know that this is a difficult problem because

clandestine arms traffic is harder to control than deliveries

made from State to State; we realize, moreover, that

countries that have no arms factories must be able to

acquire what they need for their defence.

130. This is nevertheless a real problem which, in the end,

can change the dimensions of a conflict. How can we

preserve the fiction of the internal nature of conflicts such

as that between Nigeria and Biafra when such a war cannot

continue or be supplied except through foreign intervention

and when, in fact, we are witnesses of a transfer of

responsibility at the international level? We have often

spoken about this general problem with various European

and African colleagues in the light of present examples, and

we have become convinced that the United Nations must

examine it in all its aspects. Rules and procedures should be

laid down enabling the Security Council to decide to

control all deliveries of weapons, and especially clandestine

traffic, in areas of conflict.

131. Belgium asks the Secretary-General to think about

this matter during the present session and to tell us which

United Nations bodies would be in the best position to

examine it. Belgium, for its part, is ready to subscribe to

any international undertaking which might result from such

a study.

132. A fourth type of progress, in our opinion, would

concern the reprobation and prohibition of everything

leading to total war where civilian, non-combatant inhabitants,

who often have nothing whatever to do with the

conflict, become the victims of war through being starved,

prevented from receiving the necessary care or from being

evacuated, through being the victims of attacks or of the

hijacking or destruction of aircraft, or because bacteriological

or chemical weapons are used against them.

133. On several occasions, my Government, like many

others, has expressed its concern for the fate of victims of

internal conflicts such as the one in Nigeria that I have

already mentioned. It notes that, despite the efforts of the

International Committee of the Red Cross, there is still no

agreement making it possible to ensure, in acceptable

conditions, the dispatch of help to the civilian inhabitants.

134. Undoubtedly, the difficulties would be more easily

overcome if the international conventions were more

explicit. The Belgian Government hopes that the studies

that the International Committee of the Red Cross will

undertake as the result of the resolutions adopted at the

Conference at Istanbul will make it possible to afford to

the victims of non-international conflicts the humanitarian

protection to which they are entitled.

135. Confronted with two serious and urgent legal

problems - assistance to civilian populations in case of internal

conflict and the hijacking of aircraft — the Belgian Government

will undertake consultations with other Governments,

members of all the groups in the United Nations, in order

to determine whether the Assembly should not take up

these matters forthwith with a view to formulating recommendations.

We are also ready to take part in a convention

on the cessation of underground nuclear tests, as also a

treaty supplementing the Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibiting

the use of bacteriological and chemical weapons.

136. Lastly, my country thinks that the United Nations

could give a fifth proof of its determination not to neglect

any possibility for progress. This is in regard to a problem

we have already raised here, namely, the relations — at

present non-existent except in the case of UNESCO — between

our Organization and the hundred or so scientific

institutions all over the world that devote themselves to

research on the problems of peace.

137. No endeavour in the world, in any field, can make

any progress without resorting to research institutions. Why

should the United Nations be an exception to that rule?

On the one hand, we, the politicians, have been trying for

twenty-five years, often by empirical means, to settle

conflicts as they occur. Sometimes the United Nations

brings about peace, sometimes it does not. There would be

much food for thought on the subject of our successes and

our failures, but nobody draws lessons from this already

considerable experience.

138. On the other hand, many scientists are engaged

mainly in two kinds of research: how, by what methods, to

prevent conflicts, and how to stop them. They approach

these problems, as is right, in a hundred different ways. I

cannot believe that scientific research of such vital interest

to us should not claim our Organization’s attention.

139. My Government thinks that we would be acting

wisely if we asked the Secretary-General to submit to the

Assembly, every two years, a report summarizing the

scientific research programmes that are of interest to the

United Nations. The discussion of this report would enable

our States to indicate the subjects which are not being dealt

with and which they consider essential.

140. If that practice were to be inaugurated on the

occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United

Nations, we should furnish one more proof — perhaps not a

decisive but a characteristic one — of the fact that we do not

wish to miss any opportunity to establish a system of

relations among States that may prevent conflicts and

protect us from them.

141. I should like, Mr, Secretary-General, to avail myself

of this opportunity to say once again how impressed we

were by the far-sightedness with which you expressed

yourself in the introduction to your annual report

[A/7651/Add.1]. I do not wish to go into details about

your suggestions, but I hope that in our statement today

you will find support for the appeal that you addressed to

the two largest Members of our Organization for the speedy

opening of negotiations on the reduction of strategic

nuclear weapons, as also for your efforts to promote

disarmament and respect for human rights, two subjects to

which my country attaches particular importance.

142. So far I have spoken only of the political progress

made necessary by the changed dimensions of the world in

the past twenty-five years. What can I say about economic

and social solidarity among all the regions of the world, and

the progress that can be achieved in that respect only by a

true world authority that cannot be found anywhere except

here?

143. I must first declare with the most ardent conviction,

on behalf of my country, that the restoration of a better

balance between the wealth of a few countries and the

poverty of most of the others is not a problem of

generosity but of social justice — that is to say, an absolute

duty. The moral and spiritual forces in the world can do

much to develop an awareness of this new duty, but we also

believe that, in order to solve problems of such tremendous

complexity, the bodies responsible for the regulation and

distribution of resources will have to come more and more

within the orbit of the United Nations and its specialized

agencies. It must be recognized that world-wide co-operation

in the two inseparable fields of social and

economic development will doubtless remain the best fruit

of the twenty years of its existence.

144. I should like to say how happy and proud I am that

my colleague and friend Mr. Raymond Scheyven, the

Belgian Minister for Development Co-operation, has for the

second time been elected President of the Economic and

Social Council. In his closing statement to the Council

[1637th meeting], Mr.Scheyven stated that it seemed to

him an excellent thing that that body — and the same is true

of the other international organizations — should be alert to

new problems such as the human environment, the sea-bed,

pollution, urbanization, demography, technology and

science. It is of the very essence of the economic and social

role of our Organization that it should progress, not by

spectacular initiatives, but by the accumulation of a

multitude of modest and patient efforts. Only concerted

and creative action can bring about balanced progress.

145. This, unfortunately, is not the place in which to

enlarge upon the reflections which this essential chapter of

our activities inspires in us. The representative of my

country will revert to the subject in the Second Committee,

to which the Belgian Government intends to submit two

specific proposals: one concerning the action to be under-taken

to foster co-ordination at the regional level of the

various plans and projects for development and assistance

to the developing countries; the other on the need to give

greater emphasis in those plans to the processing and

marketing of raw materials in the places where they are

produced.

146. I have expressed today our opinion about the

measures that would give our twenty-fifth anniversary a

true significance for the future. I am encouraged in this by

the memory of something that happened twenty years ago.

It was at Lake Success, during the fourth session of the

General Assembly, of which Mr. Romulo, the then

President, reminded us from this rostrum this week

[1760th meeting]. The dark years of 1948 and 1949 had

destroyed most of the dreams of an easy peace and of a

harmonious functioning of the United Nations; on the

contrary, the tensions and tragedies in Europe and Asia

were already leading to intensified rearmament and were so

many indications of the crisis which was to culminate in

1950. We were deeply worried, but we went on preparing

the future of the United Nations and its further development.

It was the time when, twenty years ago almost to a

day, we were present at this very spot, but on the naked

earth where only bulldozers were in command, for the

laying of the foundation stone of the building in which we

are now meeting. The plans for this site were on too vast a

scale then for the fifty-six Members, but already there were

indications of the forthcoming emergence of new independent

States and of the progress of the United Nations

towards universality. Despite the uncertainties and

anxieties, we were building for and looking towards the

future.

147. Today, twenty years later, we are in a very different

situation: while major catastrophes have been averted,

never has the world been in such an explosive state, for

never has there been such an accumulation of means for its

destruction. Never as the world been in so unstable a

situation because of the increasing gap between the

resources of the northern and the southern hemispheres; a

never has the world been more a prey to a kind of universal

doubt, which is the superficial result of the fortunate event

of the intermingling of peoples who, once they have

listened to one another, are no longer to believe that they

one possess the truth.

148. We must dispel these nightmares of fear, poverty and

doubt. It is here, not elsewhere, that the earthly hope of a

more united mankind must be nourished by deeds: putting

an end to the stockpiling of weapons one upon the other

and simultaneously reducing part of the atomic arsenals;

developing new regulations on trade and the sharing of

resources; and improving, in all parts of the world and in

the Security Council, our procedures for the prevention and

settlement of conflicts.

149. Thus, modestly but with deep conviction, Belgium is

ready to play a practical part in the common effort for

what we hope will be a fruitful twenty-fifth anniversary.