UN General Assembly
1994

The prevention of conflicts remains, in any case, the primary objective to be sought. The action to be taken to this effect finds its reference points in the recommendations in "An Agenda for Peace" (A/47/277). However, the ultimate success of prevention will continue to depend on the longer-term task of eliminating the deeper causes of the conflicts, which, of course, are many. In addition, it will be crucial to tackle them simultaneously, not only to produce synergy but also so that the relevant lessons can be learned concerning these causes and the relations between them. One of the major causes of the instability that generates conflict is poverty, to which we referred earlier. That in itself would be sufficient to lend urgency to the eradication of poverty. However, the scope and nature of the phenomenon require of us a reaction based on the moral aspects of the heritage of mankind.