UN General Assembly
1992

has carried the seeds of small-scale wars that have spread here and there for national, ethnic, religious, tribal, economic and social reasons. At this historic juncture, the real concern is not only the number of victims claimed by such small wars or the scale of the destruction that may ensue, but rather, the possibility of the spread of the seeds of those small wars, in the North as well as in the South, in the absence of a world order that is capable of containing and addressing their causes. This is the major challenge which faces the United Nations today. It would be paradoxical indeed if the twentieth century, whose grand bang of scientific and cultural achievements have been hailed by all, were to end with the whimper of small was that are waged by people with small primitive minds the international community cannot curb. Many have rightly spoken of the non-implementation of United Nations resolutions and of the paralysis of its Security Council during the years of