UNITED NATIONS QUOTES
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“We have actively sought and are actively seeking to make the United Nations an effective instrument of international cooperation”
-- Dean Acheson
“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.”
-- Kofi Annan* “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.”
-- Kofi AnnanThe 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.
-– Kofi Annan
“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.”
-- Kofi Annan“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."
-- Kofi Annan
“There are millions of people all over the world, right now, who are looking to the United Nations for protection and redress against the violation of their rights and deprivation of their freedoms.”
-– Louise Arbour
"Today, we have more than 110,000 men and women deployed in conflict zones around the world. They come from nearly 120 countries -- an all-time high, reflecting confidence in United Nations peacekeeping. They come from nations large and small, rich and poor -- some of them countries recently afflicted by war themselves. They bring different cultures and experiences to the job, but they are united in their determination to foster peace. Some are in uniform, but many are civilians and their activities go far beyond monitoring. They train police, disarm ex-combatants, support elections and help build State institutions. They build bridges, repair schools, assist flood victims and protect women from sexual violence. They uphold human rights and promote gender equality. Thanks to their efforts, life-saving humanitarian assistance can be delivered and economic development can begin. "
-- Ban Ki-moon
One means of paying attention to smaller countries that have sometimes been overlooked is by revitalizing US leadership in the United Nations. The UN is committed to the goal of ensuring that all nations share in economic, social, & scientific progress. It delivers humanitarian assistance to the victims of wars and natural disasters. It provides a mechanism through which the US can help in dozens of conflicts around the world in which our vital interests aren’t directly involved but where we feel a more imperative to respond. Working with the UN’s diplomacy and development arms, we can prevent minor differences from escalating into wars. When conflicts do break out, UN peacekeepers should play a role in defusing and settling them. Without giving up our sovereignty, we can help the UN with better training and better command and control in order to develop more effective peacekeeping forces.
-– Bill Bradley
Of course the UN brings in a lot of moral authority.
-- Lakhdar BrahimiThere is a story which is not being told strongly enough of the Afghan employees of the UN inside the country who are saving hundreds of thousands of lives everyday by their bravery and nobody talks of them.
-- Lakhdar Brahimi
“The United Nations is our one great hope for a peaceful and free world”
-- Ralph J. BuncheThe United Nations stands for the freedom and equality of all peoples, irrespective of race, religion, or ideology. -- Ralph J. Bunche
The United Nations exists not merely to preserve the peace but also to make change - even radical change - possible without violent upheaval. The United Nations has no vested interest in the status quo. It seeks a more secure world, a better world, a world of progress for all peoples. In the dynamic world society which is the objective of the United Nations, all peoples must have equality and equal rights. -- Ralph J. Bunche
What matters is the people. We must ensure that the United Nations is supported by the people and that it reflects the will of the people.
-- Anwarul Chowdhury
" At (UNHCR's) headquarters, I met extraordinary people, men and women, especially from the emergency team, who shared with me their passion, their dedication and their commitment to this organisation and refugees. They told me about the daily difficulties they have to face and also the joy they felt when they managed to save a person whose life was threatened."
- Julien Clerc
* "Peace is not just a colored ribbon. It's more than a wristband or a t-shirt. It's not just a donation or a 5 K race. It's not just a folk song, or a white dove. And peace is certainly more than a celebrity endorsement. Peace is a fulltime job. It's protecting civilians, overseeing elections, and disarming ex-combatants. The UN has over 100,000 Peacekeepers on the ground, in places others can't or won't go, doing things others can't or won't do. Peace, like war, must be waged."
-- George Clooney
* “If the United Nations is to survive, those who represent it must bolster it; those who advocate it must submit to it; and those who believe in it must fight for it.”
-- Norman Cousins
* In a nutshell, this United Nations non-profit organization [World Food Programme] feeds millions of starving children at schools in third world countries as an incentive for them to attend school, which in turn might better their futures. They do so much more but I was so struck by this story.
-- Sheryl Crow
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
* "For all the civilians saved thanks to the presence of peacekeepers, there have been those who were lost – the United Nations personnel who sacrificed their lives for a noble cause. Even as we mourn our fallen colleagues, we are all uplifted by their unflinching commitment and are inspired to strive even harder for the collective cause so eloquently envisaged in the United Nations Charter: a world free from the scourge of war."
-- Jan Eliasson (Former President of the UN General Assembly)
* "The UN Declaration of Human Rights laid down what any person might reasonably expect, yet there are remarkably few people who enjoy these rights. With cameras in the hands of activists and meaningful distribution of those images, we will witness what really goes on in this world and hopefully want to change it." -- Peter Gabriel
We need to support the governments of the world to create the world we want and I also think we need to empower the UN so that the secretariat, the people who work day in and day out, know that the people are behind them.
-- Jeremy Gilley
UNITED NATIONS QUOTES
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UNITED NATIONS
HERO PIX
United Nations Day - October 24
