"If the United Nations is subject to so many legal, political and practical constraints when it wishes to intervene in current conflicts, can it really fulfil its primary mission of maintaining peace? I will answer that, in the context in which it has to operate, it can contribute, and it does contribute to a considerable extent to a reduction of violence and the promotion of peace. It works to prevent conflicts by attacking their underlying causes. It tries to bring them before the international community as soon as they begin to emerge. It helps, in short, to contain them and settle them by peaceful means."