UN General Assembly
2008

In a few weeks’ time, it will be 60 years since the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And here we find ourselves at the midpoint in the application of our strategies for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights bears witness to the determination to leave us a better world than the one known by our fathers’ generation — a generation that suffered, struggled, defeated totalitarianism and condensed its aspirations for freedom and prosperity in that text. The Millennium Development Goals reflect the will, no less determined, of our generation to confront extreme poverty once and for all, so that we may leave to our 08-51851 24 children a world without millions of human beings suffering from hunger and poverty on a daily basis. Together, the observance of human rights and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals are perhaps the most noble aspirations ever envisioned by humanity, and the most devoted to the dignity of individuals. Just by that fact alone, we can say that, despite all