UN General Assembly
2012

war. In the past 67 years, there has hardly been one in which no war raged somewhere in the world. What is particularly significant is the fact that in most of these wars, the major Powers were the main architects and actors — those same Powers which, by virtue of their position in the Security Council, should have shouldered the greatest responsibility in the maintenance of peace and stability. On another front, and again despite the progress made, in the twenty-first century, hundreds of millions of people in the developing world, as well as in developed countries, continue to suffer from the scourge of poverty, easily preventable diseases and avoidable premature deaths. In addition to the twin scourges of war and poverty, our world now faces an environmental threat that puts human livelihoods and survival at risk. It is therefore disconcerting that the current global political, economic and security architecture is inadequate to address the challenges that we all face. The United Nations system, as has been repeatedly pointed out, is indeed outdated. The General Assembly has been