UN General Assembly
1980

22. May I recall the second preambular paragraph of that Charter, which reads: "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small". All of the articles of the Charter agree on this point: the preservation of the dignity and worth of the human individual. 23. Speaking of human rights, if we heed the cries of the millions who are impoverished, sick, weak, undernourished, illiterate, underemployed and unemployed—the "have- nots" of the developing countries—however human society defines "human rights", we cannot ignore a simple truth: that the prime human right is satisfaction of man's fundamental needs, rights of more than 75 per cent of the human population now crushed under the burden of the most abject poverty and flagrant economic inequality.