UN General Assembly
1988

Far from showing improvement, the issues of development and progress that represent another challenge to the international community have instead become a cause for ever greater concern, both for their serious implications for international peace and security and for the immense human tragedy they entail. The deteriorating economic and social conditions in developing countries, especially in the least developed among them, obviously require concerted action from the international community to be contained and reversed. Instead, what we have been witnessing is lack of sufficient political will on the part of many developed countries to create the necessary economic environment for developing countries to rehabilitate their economies. It has now become clearer than ever before that the serious difficulties facing the developing world emanate mainly from the external economic situation, over which they have very little control. The policies pursued by some developed countries, particularly in the areas of trade, money and finance, have further aggravated the problems, which are deep-rooted in the prevailing international economic system already characterized by unjust and unequal relations.