UN General Assembly
1994

despair, creativity with dullness, admiration with envy, and compassion with indifference. Poverty weakens the body, making it susceptible to sickness and disease. Poverty clouds the mind, making it difficult for people to understand the circumstances of their deprivation, and generating bitterness against those they perceive as the cause of their misery. What is unfortunate is that in this day and age, given the advances that mankind has made in science and technology, commerce and industry and civil and social thought, poverty need not exist. Considerable efforts have been made to put into proper perspective the major development issues of our time. The World Summit for Children, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Eighth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD VIII), the World Conference on Human Rights and the recently concluded International Conference on Population and Development not only generated a remarkable convergence of views but also resulted in commitments to redress global concerns in the participants' respective areas. We have no doubt that the international community will approach the World Summit for Social Development and