UN General Assembly
1990

The spectacular progress achieved in this essential field of political and social life in recent years, particularly with regard to individual liberties and civil and social rights in Eastern Europe, or, as in the case of Namibia, the right the people, stands in sharp contrast to Janus' other, pessimistic, face, reflecting as it does the deterioration of the economic and social rights of the peoples of the third world and the inadequate level of international co-operation in the fight against dire poverty. When we see increasing levels of hunger in a world producing food surpluses we know that humanism cannot remain a mere abstraction. We must also bear in mind that human rights should not be proclaimed exclusively for future generations of the developing world but also for all men, woman and children who at this very time are enduring the affront of poverty that is their daily lot.