This Speech is very often dated on the 6th of October 1963 (also within The Important Utterances and The Selected Speeches) but official sources of The UN show clearly that it was held on the 4th of October 1963 !!!
ADDRESS TO THE UNITED NATIONS
Mr. President, Distinguished
Delegates:
Twenty-seven
years ago, as Emperor of Ethiopia, I mounted the rostrum in Geneva,
Switzerland, to address the League
of Nations and to appeal for relief from the destruction which had been
unleashed against my defenseless nation, by the Fascist invader. I spoke then
both to and for the conscience of the world. My words went unheeded, but
history testifies to the accuracy of the warning that I gave in 1936.
Today, I
stand before the world organization which has succeeded to the mantle discarded
by its discredited predecessor. In this body is enshrined the principle of
collective security which I unsuccessfully invoked at Geneva. Here, in this
Assembly, reposes the best - perhaps the last - hope for the peaceful survival
of mankind.
In 1936, I declared that it was not the Covenant of the League that was at
stake, but international morality. Undertakings, I said then, are of little
worth if the will to keep them is lacking.
The Charter of the United Nations
expresses the noblest aspirations of man: abjuration of force in the settlement
of disputes between states; the assurance of human rights and fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion; the
safeguarding of international peace and security.
But these, too, as were the
phrases of the Covenant, are only words; their value depends wholly on our will
to observe and honor them and give them content and meaning.
The preservation of peace and
the guaranteeing of man's basic freedoms and rights require courage and eternal
vigilance: courage to speak and act - and if necessary, to suffer and die - for
truth and justice; eternal vigilance, that the least transgression of international
morality shall not go undetected and unremedied. These lessons must be learned
anew by each succeeding generation, and that generation is fortunate indeed
which learns from other than its own bitter experience. This Organization and
each of its members bear a crushing and awesome responsibility: to absorb the
wisdom of history and to apply it to the problems of the present, in order that
future generations may be born, and live, and die, in peace.
U.N. Basis For Hope
The record
of the United Nations during the few short years of its life affords mankind a
solid basis for encouragement and hope for the future. The United Nations has
dared to act, when the League dared not in Palestine, in Korea, in Suez, in the
Congo. There is not one among us today who does not conjecture upon the
reaction of this body when motives and actions are called into question. The
opinion of this Organization today acts as a powerful influence upon the
decisions of its members. The spotlight of world opinion, focused by the United
Nations upon the transgressions of the renegades of human society, has thus far
proved an effective safeguard against unchecked aggression and unrestricted
violation of human rights.
The United
Nations continues to sense as the forum where nations whose interests clash may
lay their cases before world opinion. It still provides the essential escape
valve without which the slow build-up of pressures would have long since
resulted in catastrophic explosion. Its actions and decisions have speeded the
achievement of freedom by many peoples on the continents of Africa and Asia.
Its efforts have contributed to the advancement of the standard of living of
peoples in all corners of the world.
For this,
all men must give thanks. As I stand here today, how faint, how remote are the
memories of 1936.How different in 1963 are the attitudes of men. We then
existed in an atmosphere of suffocating pessimism. Today, cautious yet buoyant
optimism is the prevailing spirit.
But each one
of us here knows that what has been accomplished is not enough. The United
Nations judgments have been and continue to be subject to frustration, as
individual member-states have ignored its pronouncements and disregarded its
recommendations. The Organization's sinews have been weakened, as member-states
have shirked their obligations to it. The authority of the Organization has
been mocked, as individual member-states have proceeded, in violation of its
commands, to pursue their own aims and ends. The troubles which continue to
plague us virtually all arise among member states of the Organization, but the
Organization remains impotent to enforce acceptable solutions. As the maker and
enforcer of the international law, what the United Nations has achieved still
falls regrettably short of our goal of an international community of nations.
This does
not mean that the United Nations has failed. I have lived too long to cherish
many illusions about the essential highmindedness of men when brought into
stark confrontation with the issue of control over their security, and their
property interests. Not even now, when so much is at hazard would many nations
willingly entrust their destinies to other hands.
Yet, this is
the ultimatum presented to us: secure the conditions whereby men will entrust
their security to a larger entity, or risk annihilation; persuade men that
their salvation rests in the subordination of national and local interests to
the interests of humanity, or endanger man's future. These are the objectives,
yesterday unobtainable, today essential, which we must labor to achieve.
Until this
is accomplished, mankind's future remains hazardous and permanent peace a
matter for speculation. There is no single magic formula, no one simple step,
no words, whether written into the Organization's Charter or into a treaty
between states, which can automatically guarantee to us what we seek. Peace is
a day-to-day problem, the product of a multitude of events and judgments. Peace
is not an "is", it is a "becoming." We cannot escape the
dreadful possibility of catastrophe by miscalculation. But we can reach the
right decisions on the myriad subordinate problems which each new day poses,
and we can thereby make our contribution and perhaps the most that can be
reasonably expected of us in 1963 to the preservation of peace.
It is here
that the United Nations has served us - not perfectly, but well. And in
enhancing the possibilities that the Organization may serve us better, we serve
and bring closer our most cherished goals.
Issues of Deep Concern
I would
mention briefly today two particular issues which are of deep concern to all
men: disarmament and the establishment of true equality among men.
Disarmament
has become the urgent imperative of our time. I do not say this because I
equate the absence of arms to peace, or because I believe that bringing an end
to the nuclear arms race automatically guarantees the peace, or because the
elimination of nuclear warheads from the arsenals of the world will bring in
its wake that change in attitude requisite to the peaceful settlement of
disputes between nations. Disarmament is vital today, quite simply, because of
the immense destructive capacity of which men dispose.
Ethiopia
supports the atmospheric nuclear test ban treaty as a step towards this goal,
even though only a partial step. Nations can still perfect weapons of mass
destruction by underground testing. There is no guarantee against the sudden,
unannounced resumption of testing in the atmosphere.
The real
significance of the treaty is that it admits of a tacit stalemate between the
nations which negotiated it, a stalemate which recognizes the blunt,
unavoidable fact that none would emerge from the total destruction which would
be the lot of all in a nuclear war, a stalemate which affords us and the United
Nations a breathing space in which to act.
Opportunity And Challenge
Here is our
opportunity and our challenge. If the nuclear powers are prepared to declare a
truce, let us seize the moment to strengthen the institutions and procedures
which will serve as the means for the pacific settlement of disputes among men.
Conflicts
between nations will continue to arise. The real issue is whether they are to
be resolved by force, or by resort to peaceful methods and procedures,
administered by impartial institutions. This very Organization itself is the
greatest such institution, and it is in a more powerful United Nations that we
seek, and it is here that we shall find, the assurance of a peaceful future.
Were a real
and effective disarmament achieved and the funds now spent in the arms race
devoted to the amelioration of man's state; were we to concentrate only on the
peaceful uses of nuclear knowledge, how vastly and in how short a time might we
change the conditions of mankind. This should be our goal.
When we talk
of the equality of man, we find, also, a challenge and an opportunity; a
challenge to breathe new life into the ideals enshrined in the Charter, an
opportunity to bring men closer to freedom and true equality. and thus, closer
to a love of peace.
The goal of
the equality of man which we seek is the antithesis of the exploitation of one
people by another with which the pages of history and in particular those
written of the African and Asian continents, speak at such length.
Exploitation,
thus viewed, has many faces. But whatever guise it assumes, this evil is to be
shunned where it does not exist and crushed where it does. It is the sacred
duty of this Organization to ensure that the dream of equality is finally
realized for all men to whom it is still denied, to guarantee that exploitation
is not reincarnated in other forms in places whence it has already been
banished.
As a free
Africa has emerged during the past decade, a fresh attack has been launched
against exploitation, wherever it still exists. And in that interaction so
common to history, this in turn, has stimulated and encouraged the remaining
dependent peoples to renewed efforts to throw off the yoke which has oppressed
them and its claim as their birthright the twin ideals of liberty and equality.
This very
struggle is a struggle to establish peace, and until victory is assured, that
brotherhood and understanding which nourish and give life to peace can be but
partial and incomplete.
In the
United States of America, the administration of President Kennedy is leading a
vigorous attack to eradicate the remaining vestige of racial discrimination
from this country. We know that this conflict will be won and that right will
triumph. In this time of trial, these efforts should be encouraged and
assisted, and we should lend our sympathy and support to the American
Government today.
Will and Determination
Last May, in
Addis Ababa, I convened a meeting of Heads of African States and Governments.
In three days, the thirty-two nations represented at that Conference
demonstrated to the world that when the will and the determination exist,
nations and peoples of diverse backgrounds can and will work together. in
unity, to the achievement of common goals and the assurance of that equality
and brotherhood which we desire.
On the
question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa Conference taught, to those
who will learn, this further lesson:
That until the philosophy which holds one race
superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and
abandoned:
That until there are no longer first-class and
second class citizens of any nation;
That until the color of a man's skin is of no
more significance than the color of his eyes;
That until the basic human rights are equally
guaranteed to all without regard to race;
That until that day, the dream of lasting peace
and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a
fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained;
And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that
hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman
bondage have been toppled and destroyed;
Until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and
inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and
good-will; Until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes
of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven;
Until that day, the African continent will not
know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall
win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.
The United
Nations has done much, both directly and indirectly to speed the disappearance
of discrimination and oppression from the earth. Without the opportunity to
focus world opinion on Africa and Asia which this Organization provides, the
goal, for many, might still lie ahead, and the struggle would have taken far
longer. For this, we are truly grateful.
More Can Be Done
But more can
be done. The basis of racial discrimination and colonialism has been economic,
and it is with economic weapons that these evils have been and can be overcome.
In pursuance of resolutions adopted at the Addis Ababa Summit Conference,
African States have undertaken certain measures in the economic field which, if
adopted by all member states of the United Nations, would soon reduce intransigence
to reason. I ask, today, for adherence to these measures by every nation
represented here which is truly devoted to the principles enunciated in the
Charter.
I do not
believe that Portugal and South Africa are prepared to commit economic or
physical suicide if honorable and reasonable alternatives exist. I believe that
such alternatives can be found.
But I also
know that unless peaceful solutions are devised, counsels of moderation and
temperance will avail for naught; and another blow will have been dealt to this
Organization which will hamper and weaken still further its usefulness in the
struggle to ensure the victory of peace and liberty over the forces of strife
and oppression.
Here, then,
is the opportunity presented to us. We must act while we can, while the
occasion exists to exert those legitimate pressures available to us, lest time
run out and resort be had to less happy means.
Does this
Organization today possess the authority and the will to act? And if it does
not, are we prepared to clothe it with the power to create and enforce the rule
of law? Or is the Charter a mere collection of words, without content and
substance, because the essential spirit is lacking? The time in which to ponder
these questions is all too short. The pages of history are full of instances in
which the unwanted and the shunned nonetheless occurred because men waited to
act until too late. We can brook no such delay. If we are to survive, this
Organization must survive. To survive, it must be strengthened. Its executive
must be vested with great authority. The means for the enforcement of its
decisions must be fortified, and, if they do not exist, they must be devised.
Procedures must be established to protect the small and the weak when
threatened by the strong and the mighty. All nations which fulfill the
conditions of membership must be admitted and allowed to sit in this
assemblage. Equality of representation must be assured in each of its organs.
The possibilities which exist in the United Nations to provide the medium
whereby the hungry may be fed, the naked clothed, the ignorant instructed, must
be seized on and exploited for the flower of peace is not sustained by poverty
and want.
To achieve
this requires courage and confidence. The courage, I believe, we possess. The
confidence must be created, and to create confidence we must act courageously.
The great
nations of the world would do well to remember that in the modern age even
their own fates are not wholly in their hands. Peace demands the united efforts
of us all. Who can foresee what spark might ignite the fuse? It is not only the
small and the weak who must scrupulously observe their obligations to the
United Nations and to each other. Unless the smaller nations are accorded their
proper voice in the settlement of the world's problems, unless the equality
which Africa and Asia have struggled to attain is reflected in expanded
membership in the institutions which make up the United Nations, confidence
will come just that much harder. Unless the rights of the least of men are as
assiduously protected as those of the greatest, the seeds of confidence will
fall on barren soil.
Ultimate Challenge
The stake of
each one of us is identical - life or death. We all wish to live. We all seek a
world in which men are freed of the burdens of ignorance, poverty, hunger and
disease. And we shall all be hard-pressed to escape the deadly rain of nuclear
fall-out should catastrophe overtake us.
When I spoke
at Geneva in 1936, there was no precedent for a head of state addressing the
League of Nations. I am neither the first, nor will I be the last head of state
to address the United Nations, but only I have addressed both the League and
this Organization in this capacity.
The problems
which confront us today are, equally, unprecedented. They have no counterparts
in human experience. Men search the pages of history for solutions, for
precedents, but there are none.
This, then, is the ultimate
challenge. Where are we to look for our survival, for the answers to the
questions which have never before been posed?
We must
look, first, to Almighty God, Who has raised man above the animals and endowed
him with intelligence and reason. We must put our faith in Him, that He will
not desert us or permit us to destroy humanity which He created in His image.
And we must
look into ourselves, into the depth of our souls. We must become something we
have never been and for which our education and experience and environment have
ill-prepared us. We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous,
greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race,
overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to
our fellow men within the human community.
Oct. 4, 1963
Important Utterances of H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie
I - page 460 - &
Selected Speeches of His Imperial Majesty Haile
Selassie I - page 368 -
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| His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, as He addressed the United Nations General Assembly - 04 October 1963 - Eighteenth Session of UN General Assembly |
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