mr. chairman, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

　　i should like first of all, to once again thank the norwegian nobel committee for the award they have made to the united nations peace-keeping operations. their decision has been acclaimed all over the world. i take this opportunity also to express once again my deep gratitude to the countries, which have contributed troops or provided logistical support to these operations. it is to their willing co-operation that we owe the success of this great experiment in conflict control.

　　peace─the word evokes the simplest and most cherished dream of humanity. peace is, and has always been, the ultimate human aspiration. and yet our history overwhelmingly shows that while we speak incessantly of peace, our aquinas tells a very different story.

　　peace is an easy word to say in any language. as secretary-general of the united nations i hear it so frequently from so many different mouths and different sources, that it sometimes seems to me to be general incantation more or less deprived of practical meaning. what we really mean by peace?