UN General Assembly
2000

The individual human being must always be at the centre of our work. Burmese students fighting for democracy, victims of ethnic violence in Kosovo, women in Afghanistan denied their right to education and equality, children dying of curable diseases, people simply trying to survive in the utmost poverty have given us our task. Meeting the needs of the peoples and realizing their aspirations remain the starting point, the purpose and the vision of our Organization. But the United Nations will only be what we, its Members, allow it to be. This year's General Assembly session provides an occasion to revitalize our much needed, but often criticized, global Organization. The Secretary-General's excellent report on the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century provides a firm basis for the creation of a truly modern United Nations a United Nations with maintained legitimacy and increased credibility, greater efficiency and continued global relevance. Globalization opens the market for those who have the resources and instruments to benefit from it. Globalization makes knowledge and information