Text of Address by Secretary-General, U Thant, to International Bar Association, Dublin, 12 July 1968

Abstract

I am particularly happy to have an opportunity of addressing the International Bar Association in Dublin, the capital of a country which since its admission in 1955 has in all its United Nations activities consistently striven to make the rule of law prevail in international relations. As those who have followed the work of the General Assembly during those years are well aware, Ireland has taken a lead in endeavouring to strengthen the Organization and make it a more effective instrument for the achievement of the purposes of the Charter. The distinguished Foreign Minister, Mr. Frank Aiken, has had the satisfaction of seeing the General Assembly adopt only the other day a treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, which sets the seal on a far-sighted initiative which he took ten years ago in the General Assembly and has continued to urge eloquently during the intervening years. He has also been responsible for focusing the attention of the Organization on the very vital problem of the financing of peace-keeping. In the United Nations Special Committee on Peace-Keeping Operations and in other forums I have had occasion to commend the steadfast efforts of the Irish Government in this matter, and I should like to do so again today.