UN General Assembly
2006

commitments we solemnly made at this supreme Organization of the nations of the world. Yet, this common commitment for a global partnership for development cannot be transformed into reality when the rich and powerful insist on an unequal relationship with the poor. A global partnership for development is impossible in the absence of a pact of mutual responsibility between the giver and the recipient. It is impossible when the rich unilaterally demand the right to set the agenda and conditions for the implementation of commonly agreed programmes. We who represent the poor know as a matter of fact that these billions of poor people are increasingly becoming impatient, because every year they hear us adopt declaration after declaration and yet nothing practical is done to assuage the hunger pains that keep them awake at night. Only few and selected agreements are implemented, with outcomes that are clearly insufficient to alleviate the excruciating pain of their children who cannot cry anymore because to do so is to invite more pain. Those of us who were at the 14th Summit of the