UN General Assembly
1983

70. The persistence of old hotbeds of tension and the appearance of new ones, and the signs that the existing structures for peace-keeping and the maintenance of peace and stability are becoming worn out, inevitably lead us to the sad conclusion—but without destroying our hopes for the future—that the prerequisites for peace are still absent both in Africa and in the Middle East. How can it be otherwise, when some countries still cling to old, outdated systems of domination and dependence and are making stubborn efforts to prevent by all means possible the countries of these regions from exercising their right to self-determination and independence and from taking the measures that they consider necessary to overcome underdevelopment and abject poverty? 71. The general picture in the rest of the world is similar. In Asia, America and the Caribbean the peoples are asking themselves anxiously what they can do when faced with predatory and destabilizing manoeuvres which, in the final analysis, mark international imperialism's traditional desire for hegemonistic domination.