Any society that does not succeed in tapping into the energy and creativity of its youth will be left behind.

If the United Nations does not attempt to chart a course for the world's people in the first decades of the new millennium, who will?

It is my aspiration that health finally will be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for.

On this International Literacy Day, let us recall that literacy for all is an integral part of education for all, and that both are critical for achieving truly sustainable development for all.

Some have suggested that ideally there must be some international body that would treat areas like the Arctic as a global commerce, a bit like the way we treat the sea. It doesn't belong to any particular country, but to all of us, but I'm not sure some of the powerful are ready for that sort of solution.

From this vision of the role of the United Nations in the next century flow three key priorities for the future: eradicating poverty, preventing conflict and promoting democracy.

I think that these flows of refugee are the inevitable counterparts to the flow of capital and goods. In other words, they too are by-products of globalisation.