UN General Assembly
1972

105. An examination of the world economic situation shows definitely that the policy of the developed countries is departing every day more and more from the objectives of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade [resolution 2626 (XXV)}. International co-operation has reached its lowest point since the United Nations was established, and the growing social and economic abyss that divides the developed from the developing States poses today one of the most serious threats to world peace. The alarming picture that we are confronted with makes it of pressing urgency to ensure that the principle of the juridical equality of States ceases to be a Utopian arrangement devoid of any real content and that international economic co-operation should not be viewed in terms of goodwill but should rather enter fully into the field of law so that the prevalent inequality in the world may be diminished and we can bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth.