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The Future Of Peace And Prosperity That We Seek For All The World's Peoples Needs A Foundation Of Tolerance, Security, Equality And Justice. That Foundation Is The Family. It Is Only By Protecting Families, From Famine As Well As From Fragmentation, That They Can Prosper And Contribute To The Family Of Nations That Is The United Nations.

-Kofi Annan

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The Future Of Peace

Kofi Annan

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The Future Of Peace And Prosperity That We Seek For All The World's Peoples Needs A Foundation Of Tolerance, Security, Equality And Justice. That Foundation Is The Family. It Is Only By Protecting Families, From Famine As Well As From Fragmentation, That They Can Prosper And Contribute To The Family Of Nations That Is The United Nations.

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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?

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.

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

If Tolerance, Respect And Equity Permeate Family Life, They Will Translate Into Values That Shape Societies, Nations And The World.

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 . . . .

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

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.

We Have To Choose Between A Global Market Driven Only By Calculations Of Short-term Profit, And One Which Has A Human Face.

Economic Globalization

The Status Quo Cannot Work.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Safe Environment

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

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

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.

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 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

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

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

Literacy Is A Bridge From Misery To Hope.

Neutrality Is A Tough Call For The Weaker Ones.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

There Are Lots Of Questions Which Have To Be Answered.

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

Future Generation

In An Era Of Global Abundance, Our World Has The Resources To Reduce Dramatically The Massive Divides That Persist Between Rich And Poor, If Only Those Resources Can Be Unleashed In The Service Of All Peoples.

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

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

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.

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

Nelson Mandela Stands As An Inspiration To Us All

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.

Microfinance Is An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Making A Difference

...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

Neutrality Is A Tough Call For The Weaker Ones.

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

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.

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. And I Observe A Lot. I See A Lot Around Me. And Over Time You Also 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.

[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.

When We Talk About The Un, What Are We Really Talking About? We Are Talking About My Country, Your Country, Other Countries And Their Collective Will To Stand Together And Apply Pressure Or Offer Incentives To Steer Things In The Right Direction. When The Nations Of The World Come Together, With Collective Will, On An Issue And They Speak With A United Voice, They Have A Much Greater Impact. When There Is Division, Then The Impact Is Much, Much Less.

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 All Make Mistakes.

Making Mistakes

We All Make Mistakes

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

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.

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

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

To Live Is To Choose.

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.

Without A Dream You'll Not Get Anywhere.

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.

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.

You Are Never Too Young To Lead And You Should Never Doubt Your Capacity To Triumph Where Others Have Not.

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating. Education Is The Premise Of Progress, In Every Society, In Every Family.

Information Is Power

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.

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

A World Government Can Intervene Militarily In The Internal Affairs Of Any Nation When It Disapproves Of Their Activities.

World Government

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It Has Been Said That Arguing Against Globalization Is Like Arguing Against The Laws Of Gravity.

Economic Globalization

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I Think The World Has Moved On.

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.

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 Has To Learn From History. Quite Frankly, It Is Almost Impossible To Have A Sense Of Vision Without A Sense Of History. If History Is Learned, Then It Doesn't Have To Repeat Itself Over Generations.

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

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.

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].

You Are Never Too Young To Lead.

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

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.

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 . . . .

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

As One Of My Predecessors Said, Our Objective Is Not To Take People To Heaven, But To Prevent Humanity From Going To Hell.

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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

Safe Environment

Gather The Five Virtues (dignity, Confidence, Courage, Compassion, And Faith). Then You Are A Man.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Insecurity Is Love Dressed In A Child's Clothing.

You Are Never Too Young To Lead And You Should Never Doubt Your Capacity To Triumph Where Others Have Not.

If You Are Neutral In A Situation Where One Side Is Patently Being Mistreated, The Conclusion Is That You're Siding With This Wrong.

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.

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.

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.

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating.

Knowledge Is Power

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating.

Knowledge Is Power

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

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

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.

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.

The Death Toll From Small Arms Dwarfs That Of All Other Weapons Systems — And In Most Years Greatly Exceeds The Toll Of The Atomic Bombs That Devastated Hiroshima And Nagasaki. In Terms Of The Carnage They Cause, Small Arms, Indeed, Could Well Be Described As 'weapons Of Mass Destruction'.

Hiroshima And Nagasaki

Mass Destruction

Terrorism Constitutes A Direct Attack On The Values The Un Stands For: The Rule Of Law; The Protection Of Civilians; Peaceful Resolution Of Conflicts; And Mutual Respect Between People Of Different Faiths And Cultures.

More Than Ever Before In Human History, We Share A Common Destiny. We Can Master It Only If We Face It Together. And That, My Friends, Is Why We Have The United Nations.

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

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.

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

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

Young People - With Their Dynamism, Their Energy And Their Inherent Understanding Of Our Interconnected World - Have Much To Teach Us. Increased Educational Attainment, Advances In Technology And The Spread Of Information Have Made This Generation The Best Educated, Most Connected And Most Informed In History

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.

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.

I've Been Around Enough To Realise That There Are Two Things That Once People Have Them, They Don't Want To Give Up, And It's Extremely Difficult To Convince Them To Give Up: One Is Privileges, And The Other Is Subsidies.

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.

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.

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.

Nelson Mandela Stands As An Inspiration To Us All

I Have Often Said That We Have Two Uns; The Un That Is A Secretariat, That Implements The Mandates Handed Over To It By The General Assembly And The Security Council, And The Un That Is The Member States Who Sit In The Council, Take The Decisions, Hand Over The Mandates, Or Take Decisions In The General Assembly.

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

Terrorism Constitutes A Direct Attack On The Values The Un Stands For: The Rule Of Law; The Protection Of Civilians; Peaceful Resolution Of Conflicts; And Mutual Respect Between People Of Different Faiths And Cultures.

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.

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.

... The Long-lasting Humanitarian Impact Of These Inhuman Weapons Continues To Deny Communities The Opportunity To Rebuild Long After The End Of The Conflicts.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There Are Lots Of Questions Which Have To Be Answered.

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.

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.

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.

It's Not That Easy To Quit. When You Look Back In The American System It Is Very Rare That People Quit On Issues Of Principle.

You Are Never Too Young To Lead.

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

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.

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.

I Was Devastated By The Atrocious Bombings That Struck London Today. These Vicious Acts Have Cut Us All To The Core, For They Are An Attack On Humanity Itself. [7th July 2005 - On London Bombings

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

I've Been Around Enough To Realise That There Are Two Things That Once People Have Them, They Don't Want To Give Up, And It's Extremely Difficult To Convince Them To Give Up: One Is Privileges, And The Other Is Subsidies.

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

The Status Quo Cannot Work.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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