U.N. Record “Both Good And Bad”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31124, 29 July 1966, Page 14

U.N. Record “Both Good And Bad”

Any one of the crises in which United Nations troops had been involved could have developed into a third world war, and if the United Nations had saved the world from such a war then it had been a successful organisation, Mr A. E. Tyrrell, director of information services at the United Nations regional office in Sydney, said last night.

Mr Tyrrell, who was addressing the Canterbury branch of the United Nations Association of New Zealand on “The Role of the Individual in World Affairs,” said that after 21 years of existence the United Nations had a record which was both good and bad. Even though the absence of war was not necessarily peace, there had not been a world war since 1945, and this was a result largely of the work of the United Nations. To secure a just peace in Vietnam, it would be necessary to seat Hanoi and Peking around the table of the Security Council, but neither of these countries was a member, and this was one reason the United Nations could not enter the conflict in Vietnam. The conflict was becoming worse, but if the United Nations was to be successful it must secure the complete agreement of all the Big Powers. Mr Tyrrell said he had some doubts whether this agreement could be attained soon. There should be a remodelling of the charter to fit the present age. Whether this

was done depended on the will of the Great Powers. “We cannot discount the effect of Governments on the United Nations, and in this individuals have a part to play,” Mr Tyrrell said. Adlai Stevenson had said, “The first step to be taken in world affairs cannot be taken by political leaders but can only be taken by the individual in the privacy of his home, his heart, and his soul,” and this was an admirable truth, Mr Tyrrell said. Mr Tyrrell is at present on an official tour arranged by the United Nations Association and the Department of External Affairs. During this tour he is holding talks with Government departments, and is trying to stimulate public interest in the work of the United Nations. He was also trying to stimulate such community activities on an international scale as C.0.R.5.0.