UN General Assembly
1991

In many ways the international community seems poised on the brink of what could be a brave new era. The dramatic and far-reaching changes of the past few years have radically transformed the political and economic contours of the international landscape. In many parts of the world stern and rigid authoritarian systems, the legacy of ideologies which placed the interests of the State and of ruling elites before the social well-being of the majority, has been weakened and brushed aside. They have been vanquished by one of the most powerful and enduring urges of mankind - the desire to enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms. It is this urge that has conferred upon the present period one of its most appealing characteristics, namely, widespread democratisation and liberalisation.