Background Image

...

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.

-Kofi Annan

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

For Too Long The

Kofi Annan

...

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.

Views: 59665

Topic

More From Kofi Annan

The Preservation Of Biodiversity Is Not Just A Job For Governments. International And Non-governmental Organisations, The Private Sector And Each And Every Individual Have A Role To Play In Changing Entrenched Outlooks And Ending Destructive Patterns Of Behaviour

One Has To Have The Strength Of Character To Say The Time Has Come To Move On... Unless You Are A King.

If Information And Knowledge Are Central To Democracy, They Are The Conditions For Development.

When So Many Lives Are At Risk, When So Much Killing Is Going On, When There's So Much Chaos And Suffering, Isn't The Risk Warranted? ... And If We Don't Take The Risk Of Coming To The Conference, What Do We Do? We Let It Continue?

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.

The War On Drugs Has Failed In West Africa And Around The World

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

Democracies Have

The Us-led Invasion Of Iraq Was An Illegal Act That Contravened The Un Charter.

Violence Against Women Is Perhaps The Most Shameful Human Rights Violation, And It Is Perhaps The Most Pervasive. It Knows No Boundaries Of Geography, Culture Or Wealth. As Long As It Continues, We Cannot Claim To Be Making Real Progress Towards Equality, Development And Peace

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?

How Can You Have A World Of Today Where India Is Not Represented In The Security Council; Japan, The Second Contributor, Is Not There; The Whole Continent Of Africa, Soon To Be 54 Countries, Don't Have A Single Permanent Seat; And Latin America Is Absent? It's Not Realistic.

The Interesting Thing Is, Everybody Focuses On The Global Warming As An Environmental Issue, As Something Outside Our Daily Lives. But Actually The Impact Of Global Warming Is With Us Today. Communities Are Suffering. Communities In Poor Countries Are The Ones Paying The Price, They Are Not The Ones Who Are Polluting, And We Need To Help Them Adapt.

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.

Un Is Made Even More Complex By The Constant Interplay Of Politics And Bureaucracy And Can Certainly Be Bewildering For A Novice.

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. And Where All Three Are Present, You Stand A Very Good Chance Of Making A Go Of It.

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.

It Is Well Known That You Can Only Manage What You Measure, And As This Is The Job Of Professional Accountants, It Means They Have Huge Influence On Companies' Governance.

We Cannot Wait For Governments To Do It All. Globalization Operates On Internet Time. Governments Tend To Be Slow Moving By Nature, Because They Have To Build Political Support For Every Step.

We're All Human. After 10, 15 Years You Get Tired, You Run Out Of Steam And Ideas, You Have To Give A Chance To Somebody Else. And Whether You Yourself Are Inclined To Stay On, All Those Around You Are Pushing You To Stay On For What They Will Gain.

Elections With Integrity Are A Challenge Everywhere, Including In The West.

Microfinance Is An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

We Knew The Syrian Situation Was Complex And There Were Lots Of Divisions, Particularly On The Side Of The Opposition... This Is A Tough Job... It Can Perhaps Be Done If You Stand United And Work With Me In Putting Sustained Pressure On The Protagonists Or The Parties To Come Together And Seek A Political Settlement.

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.

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating.

Knowledge Is Power

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

Inside And Outside

The Millennium Development Goals Can Be Met By 2015, But Only If All Involved Break With Business As Usual And Dramatically Accelerate And Scale Up Action Now.

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.

In A World Of Plenty, Continued Suffering Is A Terrible Stain On Our Conscience. It Is Inexcusable That We Not Strive, With Every Resource At Our Disposal, To Eliminate Suffering.

I Believe That Our World Needs An Instrument Of Global Action As Never Before In History. I Believe That The United Nations Is The Instrument For Securing Peace And For Giving People Everywhere, In Poorer Countries As In Richer, A Real Stake In That Peace By Promoting Development And Encouraging Cooperation. But The United Nations Is Only An Instrument, An Actor In Need Of Props And Cues From Its Directors, And So I Will Paraphrase Winston Churchill: Give Us The Tools-the Trust, The Authority And The Means-and We Will Do The Job.

There Are Lots Of Questions Which Have To Be Answered.

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

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

Education Is, Quite Simply, Peace-building By Another Name. It Is The Most Effective Form Of Defense Spending There Is.

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

When Women Thrive, All Of Society Benefits, And Succeeding Generations Are Given A Better Start In Life.

I Am Often Asked What Can People Do To Become A Good Global Citizen? I Reply That It Begins In Your Own Community.

Literacy Is A Bridge From Misery To Hope. It Is A Tool For Daily Life In Modern Society. It Is A Bulwark Against Poverty, And A Building Block Of Development, An Essential Complement To Investments In Roads, Dams, Clinics And Factories.

Intelligence Can Be Used To Manipulate.

The Drafters Of The [refugee Convention ] Had The Cold War In Mind And Mainly Sought To Protect A Few Thousand Dissidents From The Communist Bloc. They Did Not Envision The Mass Displacements Of People We Are Seeing Today.

We Need To Ensure The Poorest In The Planet - Who Will Be Hardest Hit By The Financial Crisis - Are Not Forgotten.

Each Crisis Is Different, Has Its Own Specificities, And We Need To Look At It Critically; Look At Each One In Its Own Terms.

The Us-led Invasion Of Iraq Was An Illegal Act That Contravened The Un Charter.

Nelson Mandela Stands As An Inspiration To Us All

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

We Need To Promote Greater Tolerance And Understanding Among The Peoples Of The World. Nothing Can Be More Dangerous To Our Efforts To Build Peace And Development Than A World Divided Along Religious, Ethnic Or Cultural Lines. In Each Nation, And Among All Nations, We Must Work To Promote Unity Based On Our Shared Humanity.

Reform Is A Process, And Not An Event.

The Status Quo Cannot Work.

If We Are To Make Poverty History, We Must Have The Active Participation Of States, Civil Society And The Private Sector, As Well As Individual Volunteers.

The Lord Had The Wonderful Advantage Of Being Able To Work Alone. Answering Why He Had Not Implemented Organizational Reforms After Five Months When 'god Created The Universe In Seven Day

Usually, When You Look Around The World, People Are Killing Each Other, Fighting Over Scarce Resources.

We Shall Not Defeat Any Of The Infectious Diseases That Plague The Developing World Until We Have Also Won The Battle For Safe Drinking Water, Sanitation, And Basic Health Care.

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.

Sometimes In Peacekeeping Operations You Show Force In Order Not To Use Force - People Realise That There's A Pushback And There's A Solid Force There That's Not Going To Be Pushed Around, That Sometimes Helps.

When Things Are Really Desperate And Hopeless And You Can't Do Anything About This, And There's A Sense That Something Must Be Done, That Is Something Usually Leads To The U.n.

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.

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.

It Is Within The Family That Children Learn The Values That Will Guide Them For The Rest Of Their Lives. It Is Within The Family That They Form Their Earliest Relationships, Learn To Communicate With Others And Interact With The World Around Them. It Is Within The Family That The Notion Of Human Rights Becomes A Reality Lived On A Daily Basis. If Tolerance, Respect And Equity Permeate Family Life, They Will Translate Into Values That Shape Societies, Nations And The World.

However Much One Tries To Suppress The Will Of The People They Eventually Will Have The Last Word.

I Think The World Has Moved On.

People Of Different Religions And Cultures Live Side By Side In Almost Every Part Of The World, And Most Of Us Have Overlapping Identities Which Unite Us With Very Different Groups. We Can Love What We Are, Without Hating What – And Who – We Are Not. We Can Thrive In Our Own Tradition, Even As We Learn From Others, And Come To Respect Their Teachings.

The Lord Had The Wonderful Advantage Of Being Able To Work Alone. Answering Why He Had Not Implemented Organizational Reforms After Five Months When 'god Created The Universe In Seven Day

On This International Day Of Un Peacekeepers, Let Us Pay Tribute To The Men And Women From Countries Across The World Who Serve Selflessly, Tirelessly And Fearlessly In Un Peacekeeping Operations. Let Us Remember The Heroes Who Have Laid Down Their Lives In Lands Far From Their Own In The Service Of Peace. And Let Us Reaffirm Our Commitment To Building A World Free From The Scourge Of War.

If There Is One Area Where Equity Is Crucial And Essential, I Think It Should Be The Issue Of Water.

You Saw The Traumas That People Lived Through, And Wondered What It Will Take To Move Us As A Human Community, As Humanity, To Help In These Dangerous Situations.

Dangerous Situations

Neutrality Is A Tough Call For The Weaker Ones.

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating.

Knowledge Is Power

Over Time You Get To Understand The Nature Of Man And The Environments You Are Dealing With, And You Can't Always Allow Emotions And Temper To Flare Up Because You're Displeased With Something, Or You Want To Change It.

I Hope We Do Not See Another Iraq-type Operation For A Long Time - Without Un Approval And Much Broader Support From The International Community.

A United Nations That Will Not Stand Up For Human Rights Is A United Nations That Cannot Stand Up For Itself.

Achieving The Mdgs Is Not Optional; It Is An Essential Investment In A Safer, More Human And Prosperous World

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.

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.

Have Confidence In The Young People, Give Them A Chance, And They Will Surprise You.

Let Us, Above All, Be Clear That, Without A Convincing Program Of Debt Relief To Start The New Millennium, Our Objective Of Halving World Poverty By 2015 Will Be Only A Pipe Dream.

Extreme Poverty Anywhere Is A Threat To Human Security Everywhere.

I Don't See A Situation Where One Side Will Win Militarily, Take Over Syria, And There Will Be Peace And Quiet, A Clean Victory.

To Educate Girls Is To Reduce Poverty.

The Past Year's Natural Disasters Have Highlighted The Invaluable Contributions Of Volunteers In Our Communities. They Have Volunteered Their Time, Energy And Skills To Save Lives And To Rebuild Communities. In This They Joined Countless People Around The World Who Volunteer Every Day In Response To 'silent Crises'. These Often Unsung Heroes Understand All Too Well That Poverty, Disease And Famine Are Just As Deadly And Destructive As Earthquakes, Hurricanes And Tsunamis.

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.

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.

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

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.

I Often Quote An African Proverb That Says: "the World Is Not Ours, The Earth Is Not Ours, It's A Treasure We Hold In Trust For Future Generations." And I Often Hope We Will Be Worthy Of That Trust.

No One Is Born A Good Citizen; No Nation Is Born A Democracy. Rather, Both Are Processes That Continue To Evolve Over A Lifetime. Young People Must Be Included From Birth. A Society That Cuts Off From Its Youth Severs Its Lifeline.

We Were All Children Once. And We All Share The Desire For The Well-being Of Our Children, Which Has Always Been And Will Continue To Be The Most Universally Cherished Aspiration Of Humankind.

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?

On This International Day Of Peace, Let Us Dare To Imagine A World Free Of Conflict And Violence

Literacy Is At The Heart Of Sustainable Development

Microfinance Recognizes That Poor People Are Remarkable Reservoirs Of Energy And Knowledge

We Need To Create A World That Is Equitable, That Is Stable And A World Where We Bear In Mind The Needs Of Others, And Not Only What We Need Immediately. We Are All In The Same Boat.

After The End Of The Cold War, Everybody Thought, Fantastic, Finally The Un May Be Able To Do What It Was Originally Set Up To Do Without Big Power Divisions. It Would Be Easy To Get Them To Come Together To Resolve Things. You Will Recall, On The First Gulf War, You Almost Got A Unanimous Resolution And A Very Solid Coalition.

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.

Literacy Is A Bridge From Misery To Hope. It Is A Tool For Daily Life In Modern Society. It Is A Bulwark Against Poverty, And A Building Block Of Development, An Essential Complement To Investments In Roads, Dams, Clinics And Factories.

To Educate Girls Is To Reduce Poverty.

One Must Also Acknowledge That There Are Moments In An Organisation's Development When Fresh Blood And New Vision Are Required, Which May Imply That An Outsider May Be Better Suited To The Leadership Role.

This Is An Historic Step Forward In The World's Efforts To Combat A Truly Global Threat.

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.

Many African Leaders Refuse To Send Their Troops On Peace Keeping Missions Abroad Because They Probably Need Their Armies To Intimidate Their Own Populations.

The Future Of Peace And Prosperity That We Seek For All The World's Peoples Needs A Foundation Of Tolerance, Security, Equality And Justice.

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.

When The Us Withdrew Their Troops From Somalia, I Recall Making A Comment That [in] The Way The Peacekeepers Had Been Withdrawn From Somalia, The Impression Had Been Given That The Easiest Way To Unravel A Peacekeeping Operation Is To Kill A Few Soldiers.

If There Is One Area Where Equity Is Crucial And Essential, I Think It Should Be The Issue Of Water.

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?

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

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.

There Can Be No Doubt That These Attacks Are Deliberate Acts Of Terrorism, Carefully Planned And Coordinated And As Such I Condemn Them Utterly. Terrorism Must Be Fought Resolutely Wherever It Appears.

Peace Is Never A Perfect Achievement.

I Spent My Youth And My Most Formative Years In Africa. I Left Africa When I Was About 20, 21, And When Mo Says A Great African, I Was Really Moulded By My African Experience, Although I Had The Good Fortune That By The Time I Was 24 I Had Studied And Worked On Three Continents - Africa, The Us, And Europe.

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.

Unless The Security Council Is Restored To Its Pre-eminent Position As The Sole Source Of Legitimacy On The Use Of Force, We Are On A Dangerous Path To Anarchy.

My Own Advice To People Who Would Be In Office For Two Or Three Terms Is That They Must Accept Democratic Rotation. Ideally Not Put Themselves Up For Re-election And Allow The System To Work.

We Don’t Need Any More Promises. We Need To Start Keeping The Promises We Already Made.

The Invasion And Occupation Of Iraq Is Illegal.

The Global Work Of The United Nations Is Not Without Reason Compared To That Of A Family - Striving For A Common Goal In Concert With All Members For A Better Future.

The Main Point In Our Report Was To Recommend Decriminalization...because Of The Way Laws Are Applied, Which Have Not Worked. We Have Applied Them For Decades And It's Got The Prisons Filled With Lots Of Young People Who Sometimes Come Out Destroyed For Having Half An Ounce... We Should Approach It Through Education And Health Issues Rather Than A Brutal Reaction... There Is Need For Change In Policy, But It Has To Start With Debate And Discussion... I Think The Whole Approach Has To Be Reviewed.

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

Access To Safe Water Is A Fundamental Human Need And Therefore A Basic Human Right.

Microfinance Is An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

Both Parties Accept This Vision. But We Can Reach It Only If We Move Rapidly And In Parallel On All Fronts. The So-called 'sequential' Approach Has Failed.

...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

There Was A Time, With The Berlin Wall Down, That [it Looked As If] The Un Finally Could Do What It Was Set Up To Do, The Rivalry Between The Two Camps Would Dissipate, And We Could All Co-operate. And Then, Of Course, Iraq Came And Blew It All Apart. These Upheavals Will Always Take Place In The World, And The Design And Construct Of The Un Ideally Should Be Such That It Can Deal With These Upheavals, And Possibly Influence Them, And Survive And Thrive, But It Doesn't Work Out That Way, Because As An Organisation We Are So Dependent On The Same Member States.

My Own Advice To People Who Would Be In Office For Two Or Three Terms Is That They Must Accept Democratic Rotation. Ideally Not Put Themselves Up For Re-election And Allow The System To Work.

There Can Be No Doubt That These Attacks Are Deliberate Acts Of Terrorism, Carefully Planned And Coordinated And As Such I Condemn Them Utterly. Terrorism Must Be Fought Resolutely Wherever It Appears.

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.

Founded On The Principles Of Private Initiative, Entrepreneurship And Self-employment, Underpinned By The Values Of Democracy, Equality And Solidarity, The Co-operative Movement Can Help Pave The Way To A More Just And Inclusive Economic Order.

There Are Lots Of Questions Which Have To Be Answered.

The Report [by A Un Commission On Darfur] Demonstrates Beyond All Doubt That The Last Two Years Have Been Little Short Of Hell On Earth For Our Fellow Human Beings In Darfur.

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

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.

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.

For Everyone, Everywhere, Literacy Is, Along With Education In General, A Basic Human Right.

Literacy Unlocks The Door To Learning Throughout Life, Is Essential To Development And Health, And Opens The Way For Democratic Participation And Active Citizenship.

Asked Whether Donor Nations May Be Becoming Fatigued ... The Fatigue May Be There, But I Don't Think We Can Justify It In The Face Of Such Misery. We May Need To Wake Up Our Conscience And Our Conscience Must Force Us To Act.

[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.

If We Get Agriculture Right In Africa, Where Most Of The People Now Are Working In That Sector, Not Only Would It Help Boost Development But We Will Be Secure In Terms Of Food And Nutrition And Then Be Able To Move On To Other Areas.

I Think The Us And Uk Thought If They Gave A Bit More Time To Israel, They Would Crush Hezbollah. But It Became Very Obvious That Was An Unwinnable War.

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

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

Not Only Do These Abominable Weapons Lie Buried In Silence And In Their Millions Waiting To Kill Or Maim Innocent Women And Children; But The Presence Or Even The Fear Of The Presence Of A Single Landmine Can Prevent The Cultivation Of An Entire Field, Rob A Whole Village Of Its Livelihood, Place Yet Another Obstacle On A Country's Road To Reconstruction And 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.

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

My Intimate Knowledge Of The [un] System Allowed Me To Get Things Done Despite The Many Obstacles.

The International Community... Allows Nearly 3 Billion People - Almost Half Of All Humanity - To Subsist On $2 Or Less A Day In A World Of Unprecedented Wealth.

When You Have Difficult Issues On The Table For Discussion, Then Sometimes For Africa You May Have Burundi Or Gambia Representing Them On The Security Council; And Then For Latin America You May Have A Country Like Costa Rica, Which Is A Wonderful Country But They Don't Have The Same Weight As Others From The Other Regions. And Sometimes They Get Bullied. Sometimes Their Capitals Come Under Lots Of Pressure To Take A Position.

Children Are Our Future And If We Use Them In Battle, We Are Destroying The Future. We Must Reclaim Them, Every One Of Them, One At A Time.

On This International Day Of Un Peacekeepers, Let Us Pay Tribute To The Men And Women From Countries Across The World Who Serve Selflessly, Tirelessly And Fearlessly In Un Peacekeeping Operations. Let Us Remember The Heroes Who Have Laid Down Their Lives In Lands Far From Their Own In The Service Of Peace. And Let Us Reaffirm Our Commitment To Building A World Free From The Scourge Of War.

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.

I Think Over Time You Learn To Know A Bit More About Yourself - You Develop A Certain Amount Of Self-insight And Self-awareness, And You Know What You Can Absorb, And What You Cannot; What Gets To You And What Doesn't.

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.

You Have To Wake Up Every Day Ready To Start Again.

Yehudi Menuhin Was A Citizen Of The World In The Fullest Sense - One Whose Vision And Culture Gave Him A Deep Empathy With Fellow Human Beings Of Every Creed And Color.

These Divisions In The International Community - The Syrians Bear Quite A Lot Of The Blame, But We Have Enabled It By The Divisions Between Us.

How Can You Have A World Of Today Where India Is Not Represented In The Security Council; Japan, The Second Contributor, Is Not There; The Whole Continent Of Africa, Soon To Be 54 Countries, Don't Have A Single Permanent Seat; And Latin America Is Absent? It's Not Realistic.

The Main Point In Our Report Was To Recommend Decriminalization...because Of The Way Laws Are Applied, Which Have Not Worked. We Have Applied Them For Decades And It's Got The Prisons Filled With Lots Of Young People Who Sometimes Come Out Destroyed For Having Half An Ounce... We Should Approach It Through Education And Health Issues Rather Than A Brutal Reaction... There Is Need For Change In Policy, But It Has To Start With Debate And Discussion... I Think The Whole Approach Has To Be Reviewed.

I Am Not Afraid To Dream. You First Have To Start With A Dream. Build Your Castles In The Air And Give It Foundation. Without A Dream, You Are Not Going To Get Anywhere.

In An Age Of Interdependence, Global Citizenship - Based On Trust And Sense Of Shared Responsibility - Is A Crucial Pillar Of Progress. At A Time When More Than One Billion People Are Denied The Very Minimum Requirements Of Human Dignity, Business Cannot Afford To Be Seen As The Problem. Rather, It Must Work With Governments And All Other Actors In Society To Mobilize Global Science, Technology And Knowledge To Tackle The Interlocking Crises Of Hunger, Disease, Environmental Degradation And Conflict That Are Holding Back The Developing World.

It Is Well Known That You Can Only Manage What You Measure, And As This Is The Job Of Professional Accountants, It Means They Have Huge Influence On Companies' Governance.

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

In Countries Where Democracy Is Either Non-existent Or In Development, On The Other Hand, Citizens Crave Those Freedoms. Maybe That Is One Lesson Western Citizens Can Learn From Those Countries: Treasure What You Have. Use Your Rights And Freedoms To Effect The Change You Want.

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.

Open Markets Offer The Only Realistic Hope Of Pulling Billions Of People In Developing Countries Out Of Abject Poverty, While Sustaining Prosperity In The Industrialized World.

Violence Against Women Is Perhaps The Most Shameful Human Rights Violation, And It Is Perhaps The Most Pervasive. It Knows No Boundaries Of Geography, Culture Or Wealth. As Long As It Continues, We Cannot Claim To Be Making Real Progress Towards Equality, Development And Peace

To Look Into Some Aspects Of The Future, We Do Not Need Projections By Supercomputers. Much Of The Next Millennium Can Be Seen In How We Care For Our Children Today. Tomorrow's World May Be Influenced By Science And Technology, But More Than Anything, It Is Already Taking Shape In The Bodies And Minds Of Our Children.

People Of Different Religions And Cultures Live Side By Side In Almost Every Part Of The World, And Most Of Us Have Overlapping Identities Which Unite Us With Very Different Groups. We Can Love What We Are, Without Hating What – And Who – We Are Not. We Can Thrive In Our Own Tradition, Even As We Learn From Others, And Come To Respect Their Teachings.

You Are Never Too Young To Lead.

The United Nations Has Long Recognised That The Imagination, Ideals And Energies Of Young Men And Women Are Vital For The Continuing Development Of The Societies In Which They Live. And Since Its Inception In 1948, Aiesec Has Contributed To This Development By Serving As An Agent Of Positive Change Trough Education And Cultural Exchange.

You Can Do A Lot With Diplomacy, But With Diplomacy Backed Up By Force You Can Get A Lot More Done.

Children Are Our Future, And Their Mothers Are Its Guardians.

I Was An Ordinary Boy At School, A Young Man. In Fact, What Did The Headmaster Once Say? "you're Constantly Challenging Those In Authority; Questioning And Challenging Those In Authority." Which Was Not Really The Way I Saw It. I Felt There Were Questions That Had To Be Answered, And Things That Weren't Quite Right.

We All Make Mistakes.

Making Mistakes

We All Make Mistakes

Open Markets Offer The Only Realistic Hope Of Pulling Billions Of People In Developing Countries Out Of Abject Poverty, While Sustaining Prosperity In The Industrialized World.

I Think The Generational Change Is Going To Be So Important For Africa That We Really Should Encourage And Push It As Much As We Can, Because Some Of These Younger Men And Women, Who Are Men And Women Of Their Times, And Are Also Connected To The Rest Of The World, Wouldn't Even Know How To Behave In The Way Some Of The Old Leaders Do.

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

Making A Difference

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.

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.

Ameen Rihani, One Of The Earliest Arab Americans, Devoted His Life To Bringing The East And The West Together. We Are Not Of The East Or The West, He Wrote. No Boundaries Exist In Our Breast: We Are Free.

The Fight Against Hiv/aids Requires Leadership From All Parts Of Government - And It Needs To Go Right To The Top. Aids Is Far More Than A Health Crisis. It Is A Threat To Development Itself.

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.

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

Future Generation

Business Cannot Prosper In Societies That Fail.

Let Us Be Good Stewards Of The Earth We Inherited. All Of Us Have To Share The Earth's Fragile Ecosystems And Precious Resources, And Each Of Us Has A Role To Play In Preserving Them. If We Are To Go On Living Together On This Earth, We Must All Be Responsible For It.

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.

You Can Do A Lot With Diplomacy, But With Diplomacy Backed Up By Force You Can Get A Lot More Done.

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.

I Think That In The West, Many Citizens, Especially Younger Citizens, Take Their Freedoms And Institutions For Granted And Focus On Their Frustrations With Their Governments' Inability To Solve Pressing Problems.

There Is A Certain Tendency On The Part Of Some Americans To Treat The Un As A Multilateralism à La Carte Where You Pick And Choose Where It Suits You And When It Doesn't Suit You, You Pull Back.

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.

...let Us Recognize That Extreme Poverty Anywhere Is A Threat To Human Security Everywhere. Let Us Recall That Poverty Is A Denial Of Human Rights. For The First Time In History, In This Age Of Unprecedented Wealth And Technical Prowess, We Have The Power To Save Humanity From This Shameful Scourge. Let Us Summon The Will To Do It.

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.

The Problem Is This. The Spread Of Markets Outpaces The Ability Of Societies And Their Political Systems To Adjust To Them, Let Alone To Guide The Course They Take

The World Has Lost A Visionary Leader, A Courageous Voice For Justice, And A Clear Moral Compass. By Showing Us That The Path To Freedom And Human Dignity Lies In Love, Wisdom And Compassion For One Another, Nelson Mandela Stands As An Inspiration To Us All.

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.

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

Many African Leaders Refuse To Send Their Troops On Peace Keeping Missions Abroad Because They Probably Need Their Armies To Intimidate Their Own Populations.

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.

Revolution By Its Nature Can Not Be Overly Programmed Or Directed. There Are So Many Forces At Work That You Don't Know Where And How It All Ends.

I Was An Ordinary Boy At School, A Young Man. In Fact, What Did The Headmaster Once Say? "you're Constantly Challenging Those In Authority; Questioning And Challenging Those In Authority." Which Was Not Really The Way I Saw It. I Felt There Were Questions That Had To Be Answered, And Things That Weren't Quite Right.

Have Confidence In The Young People, Give Them A Chance, And They Will Surprise You.

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

Trending Author

Agnetha Faltskog

Marian Anderson

Category