UN General Assembly
1988

Comprehensive security requires a comprehensive approach. There is a growing awareness that if the peoples of some regions and even entire continents are left, deliberately or unwittingly, to be exploited and to lead a miserable existence, mankind runs the risk of setting off an explosion no less destructive than a military confrontation. Let us view the question of war and peace from another angle; In the wars of recent years, people have died and the resources of developing countries, so badly needed for their economic development and social progress, have been increasingly diverted. Therefore, to make the world a safer place, steps in the military and political spheres alone are not enough: what is also needed is a different - that is, a more just and mutually beneficial - economic order under which co-operation and assistance would serve mutual progress rather than the enslavement of some countries. It is necessary to help combat underdevelopment, manage the external-debt problem and promote the genuine stability of the world economy and co-operation.