UN General Assembly
1968

14. Such is the discouraging picture that portrays the situation in the world today. It is a painful reminder of that historic day in San Francisco in June almost a quarter of a century ago, when the original signatories to the Charter pledged the determination of their peoples “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” 15. They also pledged to promote “higher standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and social progress and development“. Thus it is clear that, while the current preoccupation of this Assembly is the prevention of war, the architects of the United Nations intended to emphasize the cultivation of the fruits of peace—peace not merely as the absence of war but rather as the presence of political stability, economic prosperity and social justice. 16. To achieve this, we solemnly launched the United Nations Development Decade almost ten years ago. We were inspired in this lofty enterprise, and I quote resolution 1710 (XVI), by the consideration: