UN General Assembly
1996

A commitment to the goals of peace and security is meaningless without a commitment to fostering sustained economic growth and sustainable development, and to waging war on poverty and human misery. The emerging global economic environment gives us cause for both optimism and grave anxiety. Phenomenal economic growth in a few countries is contrasted with decline and stagnation in the majority. An increasingly affluent world coexists with a huge and marginalized underclass. This polarization is reflected both internally and externally. A failure to address inequities can and will inevitably lead to what the 1996 Human Development Report so graphically describes on page 8 as “a world gargantuan in its excesses and grotesque in its human and economic inequalities.” For many low-income countries that lack adequate access to development capital and other resources, official development assistance remains a critical but diminishing source of support. Moreover, the problem of external debt is also a burden for many of these countries. Agreed arrangements have proved inadequate in alleviating debt burdens, and alternate strategies still have to be found.