General Assembly
Official Records
Fifty-fourth Session
Supplement No. 1 (A/54/1)

Chapter V

The way forward

275. Throughout this report, I have sought to emphasize that peace, development and human rights are interrelated. I have also noted that the combination of underdevelopment, globalization and rapid change poses particular challenges to the international human rights regime. This makes it doubly important that we insist on the responsibility of Governments to uphold human rights regardless of their political, economic, social or cultural systems and notwithstanding their economic and social situation. Stated simply: the pursuit of development, the engagement with globalization, and the management of change must all yield to human rights imperatives rather than the reverse.

276. Respect for human rights, as proclaimed in the international instruments, is central to our mandate. If we lose sight of this fundamental truth, all else will fail.