UN General Assembly
1988

It is with a profound sense of admiration that, at this point, I pay a tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, for his untiring efforts exerted in the pursuit of peaceful resolutions of the persistent and sometimes escalating conflicts that continue to beset the world community. We have listened year after year as increasing numbers of disputes between nations and aggravating world problems have been brought to the attention of this body. Indeed, over the past 43 years of its existence the United Nations has had its lofty principles challenged by intense local, regional and international disputes that have increased sorrow to mankind and threatened to annihilate whole peoples·, by deep-seated ideological differences that have compartmentalized the world and vitiated against international co-operation in solving international problems, by persistent underdevelopment, abject poverty and acts of inhumanity that have made a mockery of human dignity, the right to freedom and a better standard of life.