UN General Assembly
1968

3. It was over two decades ago that the United Nations came into being as an abiding expression of man’s determination to rid the world of war and want. The optimism and hope of the founders of the United Nations have unfortunately not been borne out in the quarter of a century that has elapsed since the Charter was adopted in San Francisco. The obligations then assumed by Member States had led us to hope that the high standards of international behaviour implicit in the Charter would be maintained and there would follow an era of co-operation and dedication to peace. But the expectation that disputes and conflicts would be resolved exclusively by peaceful means has proved to be wrong. Nations and peoples have failed to subordinate the attainment of narrow national ends to the larger interests of orderly relations between States and peace and security for all. In the process, the new world order we have struggled to establish has been undermined and the prospects of peace remain uncertain.