ABSTRACT
Every generation is equal in rights to generations which preceded it, by the same rule that every individual is born equal in rights with his contemporary.
—Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791-1792)
It would take very little to put an end to global poverty. Were all rich countries to commit around 1.7 to 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to development, within a few years Third World destitution would be virtually eliminated, and all countries in the world could participate as equal partners in the global economy. (That is less than half of what the United States spends on annual direct costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.) Can we imagine the UN General Assembly passing such a binding resolution?
