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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.

-Kofi Annan

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We At The U.n.

Kofi Annan

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

Our Biggest Challenge In This New Century Is To Take An Idea That Seems Abstract - Sustainable Development - And Turn It Into A Reality For All The World's People

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.

Tolerance, Inter-cultural Dialogue And Respect For Diversity Are More Essential Than Ever In A World Where Peoples Are Becoming More And More Closely Interconnected.

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 Un Doesn't Work In A Vacuum.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Economic Globalization

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 We Move Forward, You Cannot Resolve The Potential Food Crisis Or Shortages Without Science Being Part Of The Solution. Science Has To Be Part Of The Solution But African Governments - And These Are Decisions For Governments, Whether They Embrace Or Do Not Embrace Genetically Modified Food - And For The Moment, Most African Companies Do Not Accept Genetically Modified Seeds.

We Need To Think Of The Future And The Planet We Are Going To Leave To Our Children And Their Children.

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

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

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.

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

Working Together

We 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].

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?

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.

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

[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.

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

The Status Quo Cannot Work.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 Arab Spring Reminds Me A Bit Of The Decolonisation Process Where One Country Gets Independence And Everybody Else Wants It. How About Us, When Do We Get It, When Do We Make Our Move? And You Have A Situation Where Someone Has Been In Power For Decades, Where The Integrity Of Elections, Democracy And Security Have Really Not Been Debated Or Discussed And Most People Suspect That Elections Are Rigged And That The Democratic Rotation That Elections Are Supposed To Ensure Doesn't Really Happen. And When This Goes On For A While You Are Sitting On A Powder Keg.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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

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.

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

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

Drugs Have Destroyed Many Lives, But Wrongheaded Governmental Policies Have Destroyed Many More. I Think It's Obvious That After 40 Years Of War On Drugs, It Has Not Worked. There Should Be Decriminalization Of Drugs.

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.

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 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

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.

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.

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.

In The Past We Could Afford A Long Gestation Period Before Undertaking Major Environmental Policy Initiatives. Today The Time For A Well-planned Transition To A Sustainable System Is Running Out. We May Be Moving In The Right Direction, But We Are Moving Too Slowly. We Are Failing In Our Responsibility To Future Generations And Even The Present One.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Economic Globalization

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.

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.

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.

Reform Is A Process, And Not An Event.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

We All Make Mistakes.

Making Mistakes

We All Make Mistakes

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.

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 . . . .

In The Past We Could Afford A Long Gestation Period Before Undertaking Major Environmental Policy Initiatives. Today The Time For A Well-planned Transition To A Sustainable System Is Running Out. We May Be Moving In The Right Direction, But We Are Moving Too Slowly. We Are Failing In Our Responsibility To Future Generations And Even The Present One.

Literacy Is At The Heart Of Sustainable Development

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating.

Knowledge Is Power

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.

It's Always A Difficult Time To Be Secretary General.

Difficult Times

Nelson Mandela Stands As An Inspiration To Us All

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Insecurity Is Love Dressed In A Child's Clothing.

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

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

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.

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

Beneath The Surface Of States And Nations, Ideas And Language, Lies The Fate Of Individual Human Beings In Need. Answering Their Needs Will Be The Mission Of The United Nations In The Century To Come.

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.

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

Knowledge Is Power. Information Is Liberating.

Knowledge Is Power

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.

...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.

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

You Are Never Too Young To Lead.

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.

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.

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

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

Education Is A Human Right With Immense Power To Transform

Democracies Have

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

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

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 Observe A Lot. I See A Lot Around Me.

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.

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

Without A Dream You'll Not Get Anywhere.

Remembering Is A Necessary Rebuke To Those Who Say The Holocaust Never Happened Or Has Been Exaggerated.

There Are Lots Of Questions Which Have To Be Answered.

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.

You Are Never Too Young To Lead.

It Is True That The Principle Of National Citizenship, Associated With Rights, And The Control Of A Country's Borders Are Two Key Aspects Of Modern 'sovereign' Nation States As They Emerged In The Westphalian Order. But There Has Been Much Progress Since 1648.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Neutrality Is A Tough Call For The Weaker Ones.

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.

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

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.

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

Education Is The Great Equalizer Of Our Time. It Gives Hope To The Hopeless And Creates Chances For Those Without.

Microfinance Is An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

Beneath The Surface Of States And Nations, Ideas And Language, Lies The Fate Of Individual Human Beings In Need. Answering Their Needs Will Be The Mission Of The United Nations In The Century To Come.

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

World Government

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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