UN General Assembly
1993

challenge. In this context, France proposes the convening of a conference next year to bring together the main contributor countries in the war against this scourge in order to improve coordination of their efforts and give them a new impetus. In most cases, these phenomena are not new. However, the challenge they pose to our societies, in the North and in the South, is of unprecedented seriousness. They affect underdevelopment as much as they do the excesses of the consumer society, and our traditional responses are proving to be inadequate or ineffective. We need new ideas in this area. The Secretary-General should have broad power to take initiatives and make proposals in this matter. France therefore suggests the formation of a group of prominent figures chosen for their intellectual and scientific abilities and moral influence to assist him in this vital task at the end of our century. Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 27 Setting forth such ambitions for the United Nations might have made the sceptics smile a few years ago. With