UN General Assembly
1994

operations. These are but preliminary guidelines. It will be necessary to build upon, refine and modify them to best meet the evolving peace and security challenges of this new era. In many cases of intra-State conflicts, it is probably more effective to address the underlying causes of conflict and provide a foundation for socio-economic development. The root causes of many conflicts are socio-economic: the distribution of scarce resources and the lack of development. Hence, we may do better to concentrate on development aid, education, good governance and basic infrastructure-building to lay the building-blocks to create a civil society. Where appropriate, these measures should be accompanied and supplemented by preventive diplomacy. Peace-keeping operations are a palliative, not a substitute for solving the root causes of conflicts. At a time when the United Nations is called upon to undertake and adapt to new and complex leadership roles in international peace and security, the persistent financial problems faced by our Organization have clearly to be addressed and overcome. The crucial point is that, having decided to launch a peace-keeping operation, Member