Seventy years ago, at the birth of the United Nations, the drafters of the UN Charter pledged “to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”.

The objective was to save future generations from the scourge of war, through eradicating poverty, and promoting an improved quality of life for all the peoples of the world, especially the poor.

The world was very different then to what it is today. Many members of the Group of 77 plus China were in fact not free, and were living under foreign and colonial occupation.

In the last seventy years, the world has seen many developments, including decolonisation and the ushering in of freedom and self-determination and the establishment of new free and independent nations.

Available: http://www.dirco.gov.za/docs/speeches/2015/jzum0927.htm