Commonwealth of Nations

“ In our domestic affairs all acts are brought to the Constitution, as to a touchstone; so in our foreign affairs all acts are brought to the touchstone of the Law of Nations,—that supreme law, the world's collected will, which overarches the Grand Commonwealth of Christian States. ”

“ All these nations have helped to create our Commonwealth, and all are equally concerned to maintain, develop and defend it against any challenge that may come.
As I travel across the world today I am ever more deeply impressed with the achievement and the opportunity which the modern Commonwealth presents.
Like New Zealand, from whose North Island I am speaking, every one of its nations can be justly proud of what it has built for itself on its own soil. ”

“ The barriers to human progress were by this interpretation removed and ranges of new States have given effect to the democratic principles of our great Republic, and have made of our country a Union—not of weak, impotent States—but a commonwealth of nations, bound to each other through a centralized government by ties of allegiance, common interest and patriotism, where freemen rule and where suffrage is more esteemed than wealth. ”

“ The countries of the Commonwealth regard their continuing association with one another and joint service to their high ideals as still an essential contribution to world peace and justice. They add and will continue to add to a tried element of strength, and of accumulated experience.
The United Nations is an organisation, dedicated to peace, where representatives from all over the world meet to examine the problems of the time. In it men and women from all these countries - large or small, powerful or weak - can exercise an influence that might otherwise be denied them. ”

“ The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. ”

“ Common ideals and hopes, not formal bonds, unite the members of the Commonwealth and promote that association between them which, in my belief, has contributed significantly to the cause of human freedom. ”

“ Convinced that strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Independent States will advance the purposes and principles of the United Nations,
1. Notes the activities of the Commonwealth of Independent States to strengthen regional cooperation in such areas as trade and economic development; exchange of statistical data and economic information; culture; education; health care; sports; tourism; science and innovation; environmental protection and response to natural and man-made disasters ”

“ Finally, the Governments of all countries were urged to observe strictly and steadfastly the provisions of the Charter and the present Declaration concerning equality and respect for the sovereign rights and territorial integrity of all states without exception, allowing no manifestations of colonialism or any special rights or advantages for some states to the detriment of other states. ”

“ We reaffirm that every State has, and shall freely exercise, full permanent sovereignty over all its wealth, natural resources and economic activity. We will implement the Agenda for the full benefit of all, for today’s generation and for future generations. In doing so, we reaffirm our commitment to international law and emphasize that the Agenda is to be implemented in a manner that is consistent with the rights and obligations of States under international law. ”

“ Nothing in the foregoing paragraphs shall be construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent States conducting themselves in compliance with the principle of equal rights and selfdetermination of peoples as described above and thus possessed of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour. ”

“ We solemnly reaffirm, on this historic occasion, that the United Nations is the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development. ”

“ First, all colonial countries and Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories must be granted forthwith complete independence and freedom to build their own national states in accordance with the freely expressed will and desire of their peoples. The colonial system—and colonial administration in all its forms—must be completely abolished in order to afford the peoples of the territories concerned an opportunity to determine their own destiny and form of government. ”

“ To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant. ”

“ It has been the object of International Lawyers to assist in determining the nature and the obligations of this 'human society'. Since its foundation, International Law has assumed the existence of a great community of peoples—'the Family of Nations', 'the Society of Nations', to which rights in common pertain, and on which obligations in common rest. ”

“ Foundation of the League of Nations for the sole purpose of re-establishing order among nations, and laying the basis of reciprocal guarantees of territorial integrity and political independence for all states, both great and small. ”

“ Until the last two decades of the nineteenth century all jurists agreed that the membership of the Family of Nations includes so-called fundamental rights for States. Such rights are chiefly enumerated as the right of existence, of self-preservation, of equality, of independence, of territorial supremacy, of holding and acquiring territory, of intercourse, and of good name and reputation. ”

“ Thus, along with other free peoples and peoples still to become free, we can join together within the framework of the United Nations, into a regional association given to the advancement of world peace and prosperity. ”

“ The recognition of any State by other States, and its admission into the general society of nations, may depend, or may be made to depend, at the will of those other States, upon its internal constitution or form of government, or the choice it may make of its rulers. ”

“ Every State shall refrain from any action aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and territorial integrity of any other State or country.The principle of sovereign equality of States
All States enjoy sovereign equality. They have equal rights and duties and are equal members of the international community, notwithstanding differences of an economic, social, political or other nature. ”

“ Will you not cease to regard each other as enemies, and look upon one another as the children of a common mother, and come and reason together?
"Let us banish all outside influences from our deliberations, and assemble around our council board with the constitution of our country and the organic law of this territory, as the great charts for our guidance and direction. The bona fide inhabitants of the territory alone are charged with the solemn duty of enacting her laws, upholding her government, maintaining peace, and laying the foundation for a future commonwealth. ”

“ A coalition of nations was formed under a single general government, known as the United States of Europe, which in coöperation with the United States of North and South America, of Asia, and of Africa, arranged for an annual world congress at The Hague, and which enforced its decrees by means of an International Police. In effect all the inhabitants of the globe came under a single control, as far as language and geographical boundaries would permit. ”

“ I say, start a new United Nations for the free countries of the world — a UFN, a United Free Nations, which shall be an association of all nations governed by law, of all free democracies that want to remain free. ”

“ We will take new steps this year to help strengthen the Alliance for Progress, the unity of Europe, the community of the Atlantic, the regional organizations of developing continents, and that supreme association--the United Nations. ”

“ No human society has ever long subsisted, or ever can long subsist, without being bound together by good laws, much less the Society of Nations. It has been the signal merit of the Statesmen of Europe, who have had charge of the international interests of their respective States during the last half century, that they have agreed to modify the customary Law of Nations from time to time so as to adapt it to the enlightened demands of an advancing civilisation. ”

“ The Nation and the States will promote foreign immigration and colonization in accordance with their respective laws. Article 115. A law will regulate the manner in which national officers, upon taking charge of their posts, shall take the oath to comply with their duties. Article 116. The National Executive will negotiate with the Governments of America over treaties of alliance or confederation. Article 117. The law of Nations forms a part of the National Legislation ”

“ The so-called Law of Nations is nothing else than a body of customary and conventional rules regulating the conduct of the individual States with each other. Just as out of tribal communities which were in no way connected with each other arose the State, so the Family of Nations arose out of the different States which were in no way connected with each other. ”

“ CONSIDERING that the Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations provides that the full validity of democratic institutions and unwavering respect for human rights are conditions that are essential for building a common future of peace and economic and social prosperity and for developing integration processes among Member States. ”

“ In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence. The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. ”

“ The fact is that the statesmen of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and of Russia also, have missed the chief lesson of recent history and politics: that in the growing complexity of world-relations power is falling more and more, of necessity, into the hands of States which are not Nations but Commonwealths of Nations, States composed, like the British Empire and the United States, of a variety of nationalities and "cultures," living peacefully, each with its own institutions, under a single law and a single central government. ”

“ The struggle of the peoples for liberation was a great historic process which could not be checked. The United Nations, they declared, was duty bound to put an end to the colonial system and the best contribution it could make would be to adopt the draft declaration submitted by the USSR.
Representatives of some Latin American Members said that the juridical traditions of their countries made them natural allies of the cause of independence for colonial peoples. ”

“ The East and the West, the South and the North, the interests of maritime States and land-locked States, the ideals and interests of industrial and agricultural States, and many other contrasts, are too great for it to be possible to govern a Federal World State by the same institutions as a State of ordinary size and composition. ”