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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.

-Kofi Annan

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In An Age Of

Kofi Annan

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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.

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The Future Belongs To You, But It Can Only Belong To You If You Participate And Take Charge

Let Us Choose To Unite The Power Of Markets With The Authority Of Universal Ideals. Let Us Choose To Reconcile The Creative Forces Of Private Entrepreneurship With The Needs Of The Disadvantaged And The Requirements Of Future Generations.

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.

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.

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.

The United Nations Believes That Acceptance Of These Principles Will Help The Palestinian People Achieve Their Legitimate Goal Of An End To Occupation And The Creation Of An Independent And Viable State, Living In Peace And Security With Its Neighbors.

You Have Made People Listen. You Have Made People Care, And You Have Taught Us That Whether We Are Poor Or Prosperous, We Have Only One World To Share. You Have Taught Young People That They Do Have The Power To Change The World.

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.

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

Insecurity Is Love Dressed In A Child's Clothing.

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.

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating.

Knowledge Is Power

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Security Systems

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.

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.

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.

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.

International Law Now Grants Rights To All Human Beings, Not Only To Citizens.

Acquiring Literacy Is An Empowering Process, Enabling Millions To Enjoy Access To Knowledge And Information Which Broadens Horizons, Increases Opportunities And Creates Alternatives For Building A Better Life.

Un Peacekeeping Operations Are Now Increasingly Complex And Multi-dimensional, Going Beyond Monitoring A Ceasefire To Actually Bringing Failed States Back To Life, Often After Decades Of Conflict. The Blue Helmets And Their Civilian Colleagues Work Together To Organize Elections, Enact Police And Judicial Reform, Promote And Protect Human Rights, Conduct Mine-clearance, Advance Gender Equality, Achieve The Voluntary Disarmament Of Former Combatants, And Support The Return Of Refugees And Displaced People To Their Homes.

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.

To Build A More Healthy, Peaceful And Equitable World The Classrooms Of The World Have To Be Full Of Girls As Well As Boys.

It Is Tragic That So Few Young People In Western Democracies Vote. They Have Forgotten That Their Ancestors Fought For The Right To Choose And Change Their Leaders. They Don't Realise That Their Votes Are More Important Than Their Tweets Or Facebook Posts.

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.

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.

I Can't Think Of A 30- Or 40-year-old Who Can Behave Like Mugabe. They Wouldn't Even Know Where To Begin, And Given Their Own Educational Exposure, I Think It Will Be Very Positive For Africa.

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

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

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

Above All Else, We Need A Reaffirmation Of Political Commitment At The Highest Levels To Reducing The Dangers That Arise Both From Existing Nuclear Weapons And From Further Proliferation.

Nuclear Disarmament

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.

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

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.

We Can Love What We Are, Without Hating What, And Who, We Are Not.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating.

Knowledge Is Power

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.

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 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 Happiness Of Any Society Begins With The Well Being Of The Families That Live In It.

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

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

I Urge You To Celebrate The Extraordinary Courage And Contributions Of Refugees Past And Present.

In The Rush For Justice It Is Important Not To Lose Sight Of Principles The Country Holds Dear.

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

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.

Like Any Large Organisation, Public Or Private, The Un Is A Complex Machine.

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

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... For Everyone, Everywhere, Literacy Is, Along With Education In General, A Basic Human Right.... Literacy Is, Finally, The Road To Human Progress And The Means Through Which Every Man, Woman And Child Can Realize His Or Her Full Potential.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Invite Politicians To Dinner And Let Them Tell The World How Delicious It Is. . . . They Will Proudly Go Around And Say, 'i Ate Crickets, I Ate Locusts, And They Were Delicious.'

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.

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

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 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.

The Status Quo Cannot Work.

Let Us Choose To Unite The Power Of Markets With The Authority Of Universal Ideals. Let Us Choose To Reconcile The Creative Forces Of Private Entrepreneurship With The Needs Of The Disadvantaged And The Requirements Of Future Generations.

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

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.

Depending On Where You Live, Your Threat Is Much Different From The Other Person. If You Ask A New Yorker Today, Because Of The Way The Press Plays It, He Will Say Terrorism Is His Biggest Fear. But For Somebody Living On A Small Island State, Then It Is Climate Change, The Rise Of The Sea Level, For His Whole Island May Be Washed Away. If I Go To Southern Africa, They Tell Me It Is Hiv/aids And Somewhere In Asia It Is Poverty. This Is Also Why You Will Find It Difficult To Find Agreements, Because If You Want Someone To Be Concerned About Your Threat, Then You Should Be Concerned About His.

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

A Nation Has The Right To Defend Itself, But When It Comes To The Broader Issue Of Peace And Security, The Legitimacy Rests Only With The Security Council.

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

The Other Thing That Really I Regretted Not Being Able To Do Was To Push Effectively For The Reform Of The Security Council. Because The World Was Changing, And Is Changing Very Fast, And I Felt The Un Was Holding On To Old Arrangements. Most Governments Felt That It Has Such A Narrow Power Base, Based On The Results Of The Second World War.

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

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

Human Beings Are Not Property. On The International Day For The Abolition Of Slavery, Let Us Reaffirm The Inherent Dignity Of All Men, Women And Children. And Let Us Redouble Our Efforts So That The Words Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights - 'no One Shall Be Held In Slavery Or Servitude' - Ring True.

As I Travel Around The World, People Think The Only Place Where There Is Potential Conflict [over] Water Is The Middle East, But They Are Completely Wrong. We Have The Problem All Over The World.

Without A Dream You'll Not Get Anywhere.

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

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 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.

A Developed Country Is One That Allows All Its Citizens To Enjoy A Free And Healthy Life In A Safe Environment

Safe Environment

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.

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?

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.

The Question Is The Morning After. What Sort Of Iraq Do We Wake Up To After The Bombing? What Happens In The Region? What Impact Could It Have? These Are Questions Leaders I Have Spoken To Have Posed.

Does Anyone Seriously Contend That Any Nation Can Fend For Itself?

Iraq Has A New Opportunity To Comply With All These Relevant Resolutions Of The Security Council.

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

Nelson Mandela Stands As An Inspiration To Us All

Ignorance And Prejudice Are The Handmaidens Of Propaganda. Our Mission, Therefore, Is To Confront Ignorance With Knowledge, Bigotry With Tolerance, And Isolation With The Outstretched Hand Of Generosity. Racism Can, Will, And Must Be Defeated.

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

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

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.

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.

...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.

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

We May Have Different Religions, Different Languages, Different Colored Skin, But We All Belong To One Human Race.

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.

Nuclear Terrorism Is Still Often Treated As Science Fiction. I Wish It Were. But Unfortunately We Live In A World Of Excess Hazardous Materials And Abundant Technological Know-how, In Which Some Terrorists Clearly State Their Intention To Inflict Catastrophic Casualties. Were Such An Attack To Occur, It Would Not Only Cause Widespread Death And Destruction, But Would Stagger The World Economy... [creating] A Second Death Toll Throughout The Developing World.

Nuclear Terrorism

Literacy Is A Bridge From Misery To Hope.

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

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

Microfinance Is An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

Iraq Has A New Opportunity To Comply With All These Relevant Resolutions Of The Security Council.

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

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.

There Are A Great Number Of Peoples Who Need More Than Just Words Of Sympathy From The International Community. They Need A Real And Sustained Commitment To Help End Their Cycles Of Violence, And Launch Them On A Safe Passage To Prosperity.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 The World Has Moved On.

Gender Equality Is More Than A Goal In Itself. It Is A Precondition For Meeting The Challenge Of Reducing Poverty, Promoting Sustainable Development And Building Good Governance.

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.

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.

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?

Intelligence Can Be Used To Manipulate.

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.

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.

There Is No Development Strategy More Beneficial To Society As A Whole - Women And Men Alike - Than The One Which Involves Women As Central Players.

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.

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

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

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.

The Un Doesn't Work In A Vacuum.

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

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.

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.

[professional Accountants ] Should Be Encouraging Companies To Enhance Their Green Credentials By Switching To Renewables, And To Respect Core Labor Standards And Human Rights.

Professional Accountants Should Use That Influence To Encourage The Companies They Serve To Think Long Term And Integrate Sustainable Development Goals Into Their Accounting, Such As By Including A Natural Capital Account, Which I Have Heard Is Gaining Ground.

International Law Now Grants Rights To All Human Beings, Not Only To Citizens.

No One Is Born A Good Citizen Or A Good Democrat Or A Good Leader; It Takes Time And Education.

Perhaps The Single Most Successful International Agreement To Date Has Been The Montreal Protocol.

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 . . . .

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

...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

If You Have A Problem And You Can't Find A Solution, You Meet Again Tomorrow And You Keep Talking Until You Find A Solution. You Can Disagree With Behavior Or A Particular Position, But You Do Not Resort To Calling An Opponent Worthless.

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.

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

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

The Invasion And Occupation Of Iraq Is Illegal.

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.

Sadly, A Prize For Peace Is A Rarity In This World. Most Nations Have Monuments Or Memorials To War, Bronze Salutations To Heroic Battles, Archways Of Triumph. But Peace Has No Parade, No Pantheon Of Victory.

No Nation Can Make Itself Secure By Seeking Supremacy Over All Others. We All Share Responsibility For Each Other's Security, And Only By Working To Make Each Other Secure Can We Hope To Achieve Lasting Security For Ourselves.

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

Young People Should Be At The Forefront Of Global Change And Innovation. Empowered, They Can Be Key Agents For Development And Peace. If, However, They Are Left On Society's Margins, All Of Us Will Be Impoverished. Let Us Ensure That All Young People Have Every Opportunity To Participate Fully In The Lives Of Their Societies.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

In The Rush For Justice It Is Important Not To Lose Sight Of Principles The Country Holds Dear.

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.

...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.

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

In An Age Where Community Involvement And Partnerships With Civil Society Are Increasingly Being Recognized As Indispensable, There Is Clearly A Growing Potential For Cooperative Development And Renewal Worldwide.

National Markets Are Held Together By Shared Values And Confidence In Certain Minimum Standards. But In The New Global Market, People Do Not Yet Have That Confidence.

Peace Is Never A Perfect Achievement.

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

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.

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.

Poverty Devastates Families, Communities And Nations. It Causes Instability And Political Unrest And Fuels Conflict.

The Un Doesn't Work In A Vacuum.

Nuclear Terrorism Is Still Often Treated As Science Fiction. I Wish It Were. But Unfortunately We Live In A World Of Excess Hazardous Materials And Abundant Technological Know-how, In Which Some Terrorists Clearly State Their Intention To Inflict Catastrophic Casualties. Were Such An Attack To Occur, It Would Not Only Cause Widespread Death And Destruction, But Would Stagger The World Economy... [creating] A Second Death Toll Throughout The Developing World.

Nuclear Terrorism

On This International Day Of Peace, Let Us All Honor Those Who Have Suffered From Violence. Let Us Hold In Our Hearts The Ideal Of Peace.

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

There Are A Great Number Of Peoples Who Need More Than Just Words Of Sympathy From The International Community. They Need A Real And Sustained Commitment To Help End Their Cycles Of Violence, And Launch Them On A Safe Passage To Prosperity.

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

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.

To Build A More Healthy, Peaceful And Equitable World The Classrooms Of The World Have To Be Full Of Girls As Well As Boys.

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

Can The State, Which Represents The Whole Of Society And Has The Duty Of Protecting Society, Fulfill That Duty By Lowering Itself To The Level Of The Murderer, And Treating Him As He Treated Others? The Forfeiture Of Life Is Too Absolute, Too Irreversible, For One Human Being To Inflict It On Another, Even When Backed By Legal Process.

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.

We Must Bring A Message Of Solidarity, Of Mutual Respect And, Above All, Of Hope. Business Cannot Afford To Be Seen As The Problem.

To Live Is To Choose. But To Choose Well, You Must Know Who You Are And What You Stand For, Where You Want To Go And Why You Want To Get There.

Education Is A Human Right With Immense Power To Transform

Democracies Have

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.

Reform Is A Process, And Not An Event.

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.

Jewish People Have Been Victims Of Anti-semitism In Many Parts Of The World, And In Europe They Were The Target Of The Holocaust, The Ultimate Abomination. Yet, We Cannot Expect Palestinians To Accept This As A Reason Why The Wrongs Done To Them.

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.

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.

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.

Depending On Where You Live, Your Threat Is Much Different From The Other Person. If You Ask A New Yorker Today, Because Of The Way The Press Plays It, He Will Say Terrorism Is His Biggest Fear. But For Somebody Living On A Small Island State, Then It Is Climate Change, The Rise Of The Sea Level, For His Whole Island May Be Washed Away. If I Go To Southern Africa, They Tell Me It Is Hiv/aids And Somewhere In Asia It Is Poverty. This Is Also Why You Will Find It Difficult To Find Agreements, Because If You Want Someone To Be Concerned About Your Threat, Then You Should Be Concerned About His.

There Is No Trust More Sacred Than The One The World Holds With Children.

We All Make Mistakes.

Making Mistakes

We All Make Mistakes

Intelligence Can Be Used To Manipulate.

Jewish People Have Been Victims Of Anti-semitism In Many Parts Of The World, And In Europe They Were The Target Of The Holocaust, The Ultimate Abomination. Yet, We Cannot Expect Palestinians To Accept This As A Reason Why The Wrongs Done To Them.

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.

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