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Contrary To Popular Belief, We Do Not Face A Choice Between Economy And Ecology, It Is Often Said That Protecting The Environment Would Constrain Or Even Undermine Economic Growth. In Fact, The Opposite Is True: Unless We Protect Resources And The Earth's Natural Capital, We Shall Not Be Able To Sustain Economic Growth.

-Kofi Annan

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Contrary To Popular Belief,

Kofi Annan

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Contrary To Popular Belief, We Do Not Face A Choice Between Economy And Ecology, It Is Often Said That Protecting The Environment Would Constrain Or Even Undermine Economic Growth. In Fact, The Opposite Is True: Unless We Protect Resources And The Earth's Natural Capital, We Shall Not Be Able To Sustain Economic Growth.

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The Refugee Convention Of 1951 Was A Major Breakthrough, Outlining The Rights Of Those Displaced Across Borders As Well As The Legal Obligations Of States To Protect Them.

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Slavery Was, In A Very Real Sense, The First International Human Rights Issue To Come To The Fore. It Led To The Adoption Of The First Human Rights Laws And To The Creation Of The First Human Rights Non-governmenta L Organization. And Yet Despite The Efforts Of The International Community To Combat This Abhorrent Practice, It Is Still Widely Prevalent In All Its Insidious Forms, Old And New.

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The Status Quo Cannot Work.

The United Nations, Whose Membership Comprises Almost All The States In The World, Is Founded On The Principle Of The Equal Worth Of Every Human Being.

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The Number One Goal In Resolving A Conflict Is To Make Sure Both Sides Maintain Their Self-esteem. You Don't Hit A Man On The Head When You've Got Your Fingers Between His Teeth.

I Think That Peacekeeping Can Do Quite A Lot, If They Are Given The Right Mandate With The Commensurate Resources To Get The Job Done.

The Lord Had The Wonderful Advantage Of Being Able To Work Alone.

Hiv/aids Has Become Much More Than A Health Issue. Hiv/aids Is A Development Issue, It's A Security Issue.

Human Rights Education Is Much More Than A Lesson In Schools Or A Theme For A Day; It Is A Process To Equip People With The Tools They Need To Live Lives Of Security And Dignity. On This International Human Rights Day, Let Us Continue To Work Together To Develop And Nurture In Future Generations A Culture Of Human Rights, To Promote Freedom, Security And Peace In All Nations.

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Education Is A Human Right With Immense Power To Transform. On Its Foundation Rest The Cornerstones Of Freedom, Democracy And Sustainable Human Development.

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Literacy Is A Bridge From Misery To Hope.

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We Tend To Look At Countries In Terms Of Failed States And Functioning States, Which Is Rather Simplistic.

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Today, No Walls Can Separate Humanitarian Or Human Rights Crises In One Part Of The World From National Security Crises In Another. What Begins With The Failure To Uphold The Dignity Of One Life All Too Often Ends With A Calamity For Entire Nations.

The Reality Is That No Group Of Countries Has Any Grounds For Complacency About Its Own Human Rights Performance And No Group Of Countries Does Itself Justice By Automatically Slipping Into The "victim" Mode . . . .

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Under International Law, The Responsibility For Protecting Civilians In Conflict Falls On The Belligerents. Under Military Occupation, Responsibility For The Welfare Of The Population Falls On The Occupiers.

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You May Have Noticed Over The Years That The Un Became A Bit More Media-friendly, A Bit More Open To The Media Than In The Past.

[refugees] Cannot Be Stopped, But They Can And Must Be Managed Better, More Humanely, Protecting Migrants' Human Rights Whilst Accepting States' Rights To Control Their Borders.

Contrary To Popular Belief, We Do Not Face A Choice Between Economy And Ecology, It Is Often Said That Protecting The Environment Would Constrain Or Even Undermine Economic Growth. In Fact, The Opposite Is True: Unless We Protect Resources And The Earth's Natural Capital, We Shall Not Be Able To Sustain Economic Growth.

I Think What Gives Me Hope Is I Have The Sense That The People Of Kenya Have Turned The Page. They Are Keen To Get A New Political Dispensation. They Are Keen To Fight Corruption And Impunity, And In That Sense They Are Leaving The Political Elite Behind.

If Our Hopes Of Building A Better And Safer World Are To Become More Than Wishful Thinking, We Will Need The Engagement Of Volunteers More Than Ever.

In The 21st Century I Believe The Mission Of The United Nations Will Be Defined By A New, More Profound, Awareness Of The Sanctity And Dignity Of Every Human Life, Regardless Of Race Or Religion.

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The Security Council Should Be Seen As The Executive Committee Of The Global Security System Set Up After World War Ii. Its Members, And Especially The Permanent 5 (p5), Have A Special Responsibility For International Peace And Security.

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To Live Is To Choose.

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We Often Hear A Lot About Subsidies, Because It's Often The Powerful Talking About The Poor; The Poor Don't Have Enough Voice To Question The Privileges.

You Need Younger Men In Africa, Men And Women In African Politics.

Literacy Is At The Heart Of Sustainable Development

Microfinance Recognizes That Poor People Are Remarkable Reservoirs Of Energy And Knowledge, Posing An Untapped Opportunity To Create Markets, Bring People In From The Margins And Give Them The Tools With Which To Help Themselves.

Sometimes I Walk Into A Situation And I Know Somebody Is Going To Provoke Me - Not Maybe, I Know He Will Provoke Me - I Know He Will Provoke Me! And There Are Times When I Simply Refuse To Be Provoked. And The Other Times You Have To Use That Superior Knowledge To Carry On At Work Without Distraction, And Don't Allow Yourself To Be Distracted. I Laugh A Lot Inside And Outside, And At Myself Sometimes.

The Problem Is Not With The Faith, But With The Faithful

We At The U.n. Have To Take Some Of The Blame, Because We Have Not Lowered Expectations Creating The Impression We Are Here To Save People, Even When We Have Very Limited Resources.

In Fact Un Is More Of A Galaxy Of Organisations And Agencies Than One Machine.

To Go To War Without The Security Council Will Not Be In Conformity With The Council.

Let Us Remember The Large Numbers Of Citizens Who, Day In And Day Out, Through Acts Of Volunteerism Large And Small, Bring Hope To So Many Of The World's Disadvantaged. Let Us Ensure That This Wonderful Resource, Available In Abundance To Every Nation, Is Recognized And Supported As It Works Towards A More Prosperous And Peaceful World.

It Is Impossible To Realize Our Goals While Discriminating Against Half The Human Race. As Study After Study Has Taught Us, There Is No Tool For Development More Effective Than The Empowerment Of Women.

We Need To Keep Hope Alive And Strive To Do Better.

One Of My Biggest Regrets Was The Fact That As An Institution And An International Community We Could Not Stop The War In Iraq. That Really Was Very Difficult And Very Painful. Every Fibre In My Body Felt It Was Wrong. I Spoke To Leaders, We Spoke To People, We Tried... We Couldn't Stop It... And We See The Results.

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The Young And Dynamic And Idealistic People In The Square Do Not Have The Chance To Organise Themselves Politically, To Be Able To Follow Through Their Dreams In Six Months Time, To Play An Effective Role In The Future.

The World Is Not Ours To Keep. We Hold It In Trust For Future Generations.

Future Generation

Business, Labor And Civil Society Organizations Have Skills And Resources That Are Vital In Helping To Build A More Robust Global Community.

We Have The Means And The Capacity To Deal With Our Problems, If Only We Can Find The Political Will.

In An Era Of Globalisation, Aiesec's Programmes Have Helped Young People Around The World To Develop A Broader Understanding Of Cultural Socio-economic And Business Management Issues.

I Used To Tell The Story About As A Young Man In High School One Of The Professors Came In And Put A Broad White Sheet On The Board With A Dot In The Right Hand Corner And Said, "boys, What Do You See?" And We All Shouted, A Black Dot. He Stood Back And Said, "not A Single One Of You Saw The Broad White Sheet, You All Saw The Black Dot." He Went On To Tell Us To Focus On The Broader Picture, Don't Focus On The Negative.

All Our Efforts To Defeat Poverty And Pursue Sustainable Development Will Be In Vain If Environmental Degradation And Natural Resource Depletion Continue Unabated.

Having Worked My Way From The Bottom Of The Ladder To The Top [of The Un] Certainly Helped Me Navigate That Complexity, Both Political And Bureaucratic.

The Gap Between The Rich And The Poor Cannot Keep Growing Without Nothing Being Done About It.

It Is Not In The United Nations That The Millennium Development Goals Will Be Achieved. They Have To Be Achieved In Each Of Its Member States, By The Joint Efforts Of Their Governments And People.

Obama Saying Gaddafi Must Go. Putting It Upfront Like That... It's Not Very Helpful.

The Report Produced By My Commission, The Global Commission On Elections, Democracy And Security, In 2012 Showed The Corrosive Impact Of Money In Us Politics, For Example, Which Undermines The Legitimacy Of The Democratic System In Citizens' Eyes. Such Perceptions Partly Explain The Rise Of A Phenomenon Like The Success Of Donald Trump.

The Un Doesn't Work In A Vacuum.

Often, We Take Stability - Peace In Terms Of Security And Economic Activity - To Mean A Country Is Doing Well. We Forget The Third And Important Pillar Of Rule Of Law And Respect For Human Rights, Because No Country Can Long Remain Prosperous Without That Third Pillar.

We Have To Be Very Clear With The Population And The Countries We Enter What We Can Do And What We Cannot Do.

We Will Not Enjoy Security Without Development, We Will Not Enjoy Development Without Security, And We Will Not Enjoy Either Without Respect For Human Rights.

In Their Greatest Hour Of Need, The World Failed The People Of Rwanda.

Whether Our Task Is Fighting Poverty, Stemming The Spread Of Disease Or Saving Innocent Lives From Mass Murder, We Have Seen That We Cannot Succeed Without The Leadership Of The Strong And The Engagement Of All.

Most People Forget That Even In Iraq, By The Time The Air And No-fly Zone Was Established, The Air Defence System Had Been Removed Through The First Gulf War. All Of Them Had Been Neutralised.

I Have Always Believed That On Important Issues, The Leaders Must Lead. Where The Leaders Fail To Lead, And People Are Really Concerned About It, The People Will Take The Lead And Make The Leaders Follow.

I Think We Can Make A Difference In The Lives Of The Poor, And The Millions.

Making A Difference

By Signing The Oslo Accords In 1993 He Took A Giant Step Towards The Realization Of This Vision. It Is Tragic That He Did Not Live To See It Fulfilled.

If Globalization Is To Succeed, It Must Succeed For Poor And Rich Alike. It Must Deliver Rights No Less Than Riches. It Must Provide Social Justice And Equity No Less Than Economic Prosperity And Enhanced Communication.

We Tend To Look At Countries In Terms Of Failed States And Functioning States, Which Is Rather Simplistic.

For Too Long The Development Debate Has Ignored The Fact That Poverty Tends To Be Characterized Not Only By Material Insufficiency But Also By Denial Of Rights. What Is Needed Is A Rights-based Approach To Development. Ensuring Essential Political, Economic And Social Entitlements And Human Dignity For All People Provides The Rationale For Policy. These Are Not A Luxury Affordable Only To The Rich And Powerful But An Indispensable Component Of National Development Efforts.

Landmines Are Among The Most Barbaric Weapons Of War, Because They Continue To Kill And Maim Innocent People Long After The War Itself Has Ended. Also, Fear Of Them Keeps People Off The Land, And Thus Prevents Them From Growing Food.

Tony Blair Is A Very Able Politician; He's Perhaps One Of The Best Of His Generation. He Made A Major Contribution In Many Areas, But In Iraq I Believe He Got It Wrong. He Got It Wrong.

The Lord Had The Wonderful Advantage Of Being Able To Work Alone.

Change Is A Process Which Has To Be Managed. If It's Managed And Managed Well In The Interest Of The Nation And The People, The Likelihood Is That It Will End Well.

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I Laugh A Lot Inside And Outside, And At Myself Sometimes.

Inside And Outside

Literacy Is At The Heart Of Sustainable Development

Peace Is Never A Perfect Achievement.

Neutrality Is A Tough Call For The Weaker Ones.

If The United Nations Is Not As United As It Should Be, That Is Because It Is A Reflection Of The World We Live In.

There Has To Be A Force On The Horizon That Can Come Very Quickly. But The Way We Run And Fund Peacekeeping, This Capacity Is Unavailable.

Democracy Is, In Essence, A Form Of Non-violent Conflict Management. If War Is The Worst Enemy Of Development, Healthy And Balanced Development Is The Best Form Of Conflict Prevention.

I Did Not Always Achieve What I Set Out To Do. Nevertheless, My Personal Example Certainly Suggests That Hands-on Experience Can Be Helpful To Future Leaders.

I Urge The Iraqi Leadership For Sake Of Its Own People... To Seize This Opportunity And Thereby Begin To End The Isolation And Suffering Of The Iraqi People.

If We Can Come Up With Innovations And Train Young People To Take On New Jobs, And If We Can Switch To Clean Energy, I Think We Have The Capacity To Build This World Not Dependent On Fossil-fuel. I Think It Will Happen, And It Won't Destroy Economy.

Let Us All Reaffirm Our Commitment To Improving The Well- Being Of Families Throughout The World.

We Must Ensure That The Global Market Is Embedded In Broadly Shared Values And Practices That Reflect Global Social Needs, And That All The World's People Share The Benefits Of Globalization.

Economic Globalization

In All These Cases, Part Of The Reasons For Failure Perhaps Was Not Analyzing And Assessing The True Nature Of The Crisis, The Resources That Would Be Required, And Exaggerated Expectation Of What The U.n. Troops Can Do.

Sometimes When You Take A Tough Action Against One Side In The Conflict, They See You As Part Of The Conflict And They Attack You.

Once You Are Really Challenged, You Find Something In Yourself. Man Doesn't Know What He Is Capable Of Until He Is Asked.

You Need To Be Careful Not To Over-reach And Also Assess The Capacity You Have To Work With.

Literacy Is A Bridge From Misery To Hope... Especially For Girls And Women, It Is An Agent Of Family Health And Nutrition.

It May Seem Sometimes As If A Culture Of Peace Does Not Stand A Chance Against The Culture Of War, The Culture Of Violence And The Cultures Of Impunity And Intolerance. Peace May Indeed Be A Complex Challenge, Dependent On Action In Many Fields And Even A Bit Of Luck From Time To Time. It May Be A Painfully Slow Process, And Fragile And Imperfect When It Is Achieved. But Peace Is In Our Hands. We Can Do It.

It Is Extreme Arrogance For One To Think He...and It's Usually He, Is The Only One Who Can Govern His Country And Nobody Else Can Do It.

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You Have To Develop A Certain Healthy Distance To Allow You To Keep A Clear Head, To Be Able To Analyse The Situation, Lead Your Team, And Move Forward With Them, Because There Are Times If I'm Not Careful... If You Get Too Involved, It Will Consume You; It Will Consume You, And You Will Not Be Good To Your Team; The Issues You Are Dealing With.

World Health Day Is An Opportunity To Highlight The Problem, But Above All, To Stimulate Action. It Is An Occasion To Call On All Partners - Governments, International Donors, Civil Society, The Private Sector, The Media, Families And Individuals Alike - To Develop Sustainable Activities For The Survival, Health And Well-being Of Mothers And Children. On This World Health Day, Let Us Rededicate Ourselves To That Mission.

...let Us Continue To Work Together To Develop And Nurture In Future Generations A Culture Of Human Rights, To Promote Freedom, Security And Peace In All Nations.

Working Together

We Had A Rule In The School That When You're Punished, You Carry Out The Punishment And Then Complain, Which I Felt Was Absolutely Unfair: If I'd Done It, What Was The Point Of Complaining?

We Have Seen Recently, Almost Every Major Head Of State Goes To India And Says, We Believe India Should Be In The Council. They Go Back Home And Do Nothing About It. But This Cannot Be Sustained For Long. If They Want To Keep The Un As A Global Forum Where They Discuss Incidents And Take Some Meaningful Decisions, They Should [reform].

To Educate Girls Is To Reduce Poverty.

Justice Has Taken Its Course And The Authority And Legitimacy Of The Legal Process Must Be Respected.

The U.n. Power Comes From Concerted Action Of The Governments.

The Un Was Very Media-shy, And Its Relationship With The Press Was Very Controlled; Although Periodically I Spoke To The Press, The Rule Was, Only The Secretary-general Speaks To The Press; Only The Secretary-general Makes... So You Would See Many Situations Where Under-secretaries-general Would Come In And Speak. I Opened That, And I Encouraged All Of Them To Speak In Their Areas, Whether It Was Peacekeeping Or Humanitarian Efforts.

Let Us All Reaffirm Our Commitment To Improving The Well- Being Of Families Throughout The World.

The [un Security Council] P5 Ought To Be Dissuaded From Using Their Veto Power, Which Can Paralyze The United Nations. The Country Blocking Action Ought To Have To Explain Its Decision And Propose An Alternative Solution. It Has Been Suggested That A Veto Only Becomes Effective If The Vetoing State Has The Support Of Two Or Three Other Permanent Members.

Good, Healthy Democratic Societies Are Built On Three Pillars: There's Peace And Stability, Economic Development, And Respect For Rule Of Law And Human Rights. But Often, We Take Stability - Peace In Terms Of Security And Economic Activity - To Mean A Country Is Doing Well. We Forget The Third And Important Pillar Of Rule Of Law And Respect For Human Rights, Because No Country Can Long Remain Prosperous Without That Third Pillar.

Normally When People Resign They Will Organise Their Champagne Farewell Parties... And Then They Resurface Somewhere.

We Must Restore The Sacredness Of The Family As A Bedrock Of Humane Values Everywhere, In Peace As Well As In War.

Extreme Poverty Anywhere Is A Threat To Human Security Everywhere.

Generals Often Find A Way Of Dealing With Generals On The Officer-to-officer Level. In The Hierarchy Of The Military And With The Almost Similar Structure And Similar Language, They Find A Way Of Dealing With Each Other.

World Health Day Is An Opportunity To Highlight The Problem, But Above All, To Stimulate Action. It Is An Occasion To Call On All Partners - Governments, International Donors, Civil Society, The Private Sector, The Media, Families And Individuals Alike - To Develop Sustainable Activities For The Survival, Health And Well-being Of Mothers And Children. On This World Health Day, Let Us Rededicate Ourselves To That Mission.

These Often Unsung Heroes Understand...that Poverty, Disease And Famine Are Just As Deadly And Destructive As Earthquakes, Hurricanes And Tsunamis. Individuals ...are Taking On These Challenges In Their Communities, Volunteering To Make A Difference. They Remain The True Champions Of Our Work Towards The Millennium Development Goals.

The Status Quo Cannot Work.

The Global Hiv/aids Epidemic Is An Unprecedented Crisis That Requires An Unprecedented Response. In Particular It Requires Solidarity - Between The Healthy And The Sick, Between Rich And Poor, And Above All, Between Richer And Poorer Nations. We Have 30 Million Orphans Already. How Many More Do We Have To Get, To Wake Up?

More Countries Have Understood That Women's Equality Is A Prerequisite For Development.

Globalization Is A Fact Of Life. But I Believe We Have Underestimated Its Fragility.

Applaud Us When We Prevail, Correct Us When We Fail; But, Above All, Do Not Let This Indispensable, Irreplaceable Institution Wither, Languish Or Perish As A Result Of Member States' Indifference, Inattention Or Financial Starvation.

There Is No Tool For Development More Effective Than The Education Of Girls And The Empowerment Of Women... When Women Are Fully Involved, The Benefits Can Be Seen Immediately: Families Are Healthier; They Are Better Fed; Their Income, Savings, And Reinvestment Go Up. And What Is True Of Families Is True Of Communities And, Eventually, Whole Countries.

In Some Ways, The Challenges Are Even More Daunting Than They Were At The Peak Of The Cold War. Not Only Do We Continue To Face Grave Nuclear Threats, But Those Threats Are Being Compounded By New Weapons Developments, New Violence Within States And New Challenges To The Rule Of Law.

Young People Should Be At The Forefront Of Global Change And Innovation. Empowered, They Can Be Key Agents For Development And Peace.

The Right To Development Is The Measure Of The Respect Of All Other Human Rights.that Should Be Our Aim: A Situation In Which All Individuals Are Enabled To Maximize Their Potential, And To Contribute To The Evolution Of Society As A Whole.

The United Nations Is Proud To Have The Adopt-a-minefield Campaign As A Partner.

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Matthew Macfadyen

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