Choices for 1984; at the opening of his year-end press conference at United Nations Headquarters on 21 December, 1983, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar reviewed major problems facing the world in 1984.

• Position: Transcript

We are coming to the close of a turbulent year, marked by much violence and tragedy. The deterioration in international relations has caused widespread forebodings about the prospects of peace, stability and development. However, this does not justify an attitude of resignation. At previous critical junctures in history, an uncontrolled drift in human affairs led to wars which, however destructive, did not threaten existence itself. At the present fateful stage, it can bring disaster to progress and civilization on earth.

One of the most dangerous developments of the past year has been the impairment of communications between the major Powers. This has negatively affected the potential of our Organization in all its aspects and my personal endeavours to serve the cause of peace. The trend needs to be arrested before its effects become irreparable.

This is a time to try and recover a sense of priorities in the tasks of peace. The exercise of statesmanship in one crucial area of international relations can have a transforming effect on other areas as well.

The over-arching problem of all, of course, is the one created by the remorseless build-up of nuclear weapons. The USSR and the United States owe it to themselves and to the entire human race to find ways of resuming in all earnestness their efforts to achieve an agreement on the limitation and reduction of both intermediate-range and strategic nuclear weapons. It is most essential to check unbridled competition in nuclear arms and create the climate for further negotiations.

The vicious circle of violence and reprisal in the Middle East, and in Lebanon in particular, needs to be ended urgently. There is a palpable necessity to get to the roots of the problem and, with the participation of all concerned, to institute a negotiating process in order to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement. Only such a settlement can bring coexistence and peace to this vital part of the world and avert a conflict which might be far more fundamental and destructive than what the region has suffered so far.

The self-determination of Namibia is a foremost concern of the United Nations, engaging my deep personal commitment. The independence of the Territory, already delayed too long, should not be postponed for reasons unrelated to the implementation of the United Nations plan.

In Cyprus, the search for a political settlement sustained a setback when, on 15 November, the Turkish Cypriot community...