|
Human
Rights
|
|
*
The
connection between women's human rights, gender equality,
socioeconomic development and peace is increasingly
apparent.
--
Mahnaz Afkhami
Women's
empowerment is intertwined with respect for human rights.
--
Mahnaz Afkhami
In
the future, human rights will be increasingly a universal
criterion for designing ethical systems.
--
Mahnaz Afkhami
|
|
"
The evolution of the human rights movement clearly illustrates
humanity's ongoing struggle toward creating a better
world."
-- Robert
Alan Silverstein
|
 |
Somehow
people are starting to think of "entitlements' as 'extra unearned
luxuries' that should be taken away during hard times. But
the definition of an entitlement is a right that is granted
by law or by nature, to which all are guaranteed access. True
entitlements are basic needs not luxury items. When politicians
insist on cutting 'entitlements' they need to ensure that
only luxuries are on the cutting block not basic needs.
We have
forgotten the basic SOCIAL CONTRACT of rights and responsibilities
that binds us together as a society. Society expects citizens
to follow laws it has instated in order to protect individuals
and institutions. Without these laws there would be chaos
-- the strong would simply take anything they wanted and the
rest would have no recourse. In return the social contract
guarantees that if people follow these rules or responsibilities
they will be guaranteed basic rights - life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. A guarantee of life ensures they will
have access to basic human needs of water, food and shelter
needed to live and to support their family. Liberty involves
the ability to engage in activities the individual wishes,
as long as it does not violate the law. The pursuit of happiness
is a guarantee that the laws are meant to be fair and provide
an equal playing field for all members of society, so that
through hard work and creative enterprise, all law-abiding
citizens are free to strive to attain the wants and desires
they believe will bring them happiness.
--
Robert
Alan Silverstein
|
|
*
"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."
-- Kofi
Annan
|
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.
-- Kofi
Annan
It was
never the people who complained of the universality of human
rights, nor did the people consider human rights as a Western
or Northern imposition. It was often their leaders who did
so. -- Kofi
Annan
*
The
sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never
make up their minds to be either good or evil.
-- Hannah
Arendt
|
|
 |
*
Silence
never won rights. They are not handed down from
above; they are forced by pressures from below.
-- Roger
Nash Baldwin
So
long as we have enough people in this country willing
to fight for their rights, we'll be called a democracy.
-- Roger
Nash Baldwin |
|
|
*
"Through
electing officials that will protect the Constitution
and commit themselves to the rights of the people and
the health of the nation, we will be able to ensure
that no group of ideologues and no private sector institution
can coopt our rights, take us into senseless wars and
steal the nation from its people."
-- Harry
Belafonte
|
|
*
"A
century that began with children having virtually no
rights is ending with children having the most powerful
legal instrument that not only recognizes but protects
their human rights."
-- Carol
Bellamy
"The
Convention is not only a visionary document. We are
reminded daily that it is an agreement that works –
and its utility can be seen in the everyday use to which
I have seen it increasingly being put by country after
country, in policy, in practice and in law." -- Carol
Bellamy, UNICEF Executive Director, Statement to
the UNICEF Executive Board, September 1998
|
|
 |
*
"Those
who today still feel a sense of impotence can do something:
they can support Amnesty International. They can help
it to stand up for freedom and justice."
-- Peter
Benenson
|
"Torture
is banned but in two-thirds of the world's countries it is
still being committed in secret. Too many governments still
allow wrongful imprisonment, murder or "disappearance" to
be carried out by their officials with impunity."
-- Peter
Benenson
"It's
the publicity function of Amnesty that I think has made its
name so widely known, not only to readers in the world, but
to governments - and that's what matters."
-- Peter
Benenson
"Open
your newspaper - any day of the week - and you will find a
report from somewhere in the world of someone being imprisoned,
tortured or executed because his opinions or religion are
unacceptable to his government."
-- Peter
Benenson
"The candle
burns not for us, but for all those whom we failed to rescue
from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were
tortured, who were kidnapped, who "disappeared". That's what
the candle is for."
-- Peter
Benenson
"Once
the concentration camps and the hell-holes of the world were
in darkness. Now they are lit by the light of the Amnesty
candle; the candle in barbed wire. When I first lit the Amnesty
candle, I had in mind the old Chinese proverb: 'Better light
a candle than curse the darkness.'"
-- Peter
Benenson
|
*
"You
can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a
man, but not an idea. You can kill a man, but not an
idea."
-- Benazir
Bhutto
|
 |
 |
*
"The
most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is
the mind of the oppressed."
-- Stephen
Biko
|
"I feel
morally and intellectually obliged to simply conceded that
the death penalty experiment has failed.... From this
day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of
death."
-- Harry A. Blackmun, Former US Supreme Court Justice
|
*
It
has long been recognized that an essential element in
protecting human rights was a widespread knowledge among
the population of what their rights are and how they
can be defended.
-- Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, Sixth UN Secretary-General, 1992-1996
The
human rights we are to discuss here at Vienna are...the
quintessential values through which we affirm together
that we are a single human community.
-- Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, at the World Conferenceon Human Rights,
14 June 1993
|
 |
The Framers
of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create"
rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to
prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties
presumed to be preexisting.
-- Justice William J. Brennan
 |
*
“We
are asking people to understand that slavery still exists
today; in fact, according to a recent New York Times
article, if you count the number of women and children
in bonded labor, domestic slavery or sexual slavery
today, there are more slaves in the world than at any
other time in history.”
-- Charlotte
Bunch
|
Democracy
is not the law
of the majority but the protection of the minority.
-- Albert Camus
 |
*
"Everyone
has a right to peaceful coexistence, the basic personal
freedoms, the alleviation of suffering, and the opportunity
to lead a productive life..."
-- Jimmy
Carter
America
did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it
is the other way around. Human rights invented America.
-- Jimmy
Carter
|
 |
A
right is not what someone gives you; it's what no one
can take from you.
-- Ramsey
Clark |
If
nations are allowed to commit genocide with impunity, to hide
their guilt in a camouflage of lies and denials, there is
a real danger that other brutal regimes will be encouraged
to attempt genocides.
--Caroline, Baroness Cox, House of Lords
We discovered
that peace at any price is no peace at all. We discovered
that life at any price has no value whatever; that life is
nothing without the privileges, the prides, the rights,
the joys which make it worth living, and also worth giving.
And we also discovered that there is something more hideous,
more atrocious than war or than death; and that is to live
in fear.
-- Eve Curie, French author
|
*
"Peace
can only last where human rights are respected, where
the people are fed, and where individuals and nations
are free."
-- 14th
Dalai Lama
*
Human
Beings, indeed all sentient beings, have the right to
pursue happiness and live in peace and freedom.--
14th
Dalai Lama
|
 |
"All human
beings, whatever their cultural or historical background,
suffer when they are intimidated, imprisoned or tortured .
. . We must, therefore, insist on a global consensus, not
only on the need to respect human rights worldwide, but also
on the definition of these rights . . . for it is the inherent
nature of all human beings to yearn for freedom, equality
and dignity, and they have an equal right to achieve that."
-- 14th
Dalai Lama
|
I'm
not an activist; I don't look for controversy. I'm not
a political person, but I'm a person with compassion.
I care passionately about equal rights. I care about human
rights. I care about animal rights. ~ Ellen DeGeneres
|
|
*
Together
we can prevent genocide from happening again. Together
we can make a better future for our children. -- Dith
Pran
|
 |
|
*
"Human
Rights for everyone is the necessary foundation upon
which all of us may build a world where everybody may
live in peace and serenity and plenty."
-- Michael
Douglas
|
 |
|
*
The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but
an excuse to violate human rights.
-- Shirin
Ebadi |
|
*
‘Without
peace, there is little hope for human rights’
-- Martin
Ennals
"..I
think there is less cynicism about human rights than
there was. The work we are doing is part of the overall
pattern of human development, whatever the political
system, whatever the country, whatever the cultural
background, whatever the religion."
-- Martin
Ennals
|
 |
|
|
"...In
a world riven by inequity, medicine could be viewed
as social justice work." -- Paul
Farmer
“If
access to health care is considered a human right, who
is considered human enough to have that right?” -- Paul
Farmer
*
"Clean
water and health care and school and food and tin roofs
and cement floor, all of these things should constitute
a set of basics that people must have as birthrights."
-- Paul
Farmer
|
|
|
Let
us pray for peace, and let us bring it about, starting
in our own homes!
-- Pope
Francis
|
|
*
"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
|
|
|
|
Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are
not worth having.
-- Mohandas
K. Gandhi
If
we all discharge our duties, rights will not be far
to seek. If leaving duties unperformed we run after
rights, they will escape us like a will-o'-the-wisp."
-- Mohandas
Gandhi
*
Truth
resides in every human heart, and one has to search
for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees
it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act
according to his own view of truth.
-- Mohandas
Gandhi
|
Begin
with duties of a man and rights will follow as spring follows
winter"
-- Mohandas
Gandhi
I learned
from my illiterate but wise mother that all rights to be deserved
and preserved came from duty well done. Thus the very right
to live accrues to us only when we do the duty of citizenship
of the world. From this one fundamental statement, perhaps
it is easy enough to define the duties of Man and Woman and
correlate every right to some corresponding duty to be first
performed. Every other right can be shown to be a usurpation
hardly worth fighting for.
-- Mohandas
Gandhi
|
|
*
The
modern infrastructures that exists in the world all
contribute to the advancement of human rights and democracy.
~ Akbar
Ganji
|
|
*
"Women's
rights are an essential part of the overall human rights
agenda, trained on the equal dignity and ability to
live in freedom all people should enjoy."
-- Ruth
Bader Ginsburg
|
 |
It is
never easy to define what is moral, particularly in foreign
policy. But at the risk of being simplistic, it appears to
me that a foreign policy that is morally right protects human
rights everywhere.
-- Arthur Joseph Goldberg
I am the
inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot.
-- Horace Greeley
|
*
'Freedom
from fear' could be said to sum up the whole philosophy
of human rights.
-- Dag
Hammarskjöld
The
Universal Declaration... as a common standard of achievement
for all peoples and all nations...it
not only crystallizes the political thought of our times
on these matters, but it has also influenced the thinking
of legislators all over the world.
-- Dag
Hammarskjöld, Second UN Secretary-General, 1953-1961
|
|
|
Being
a humanitarian, supporting animal rights activists,
human rights activists, it's all the same.
-- Daryl
Hannah
|
|
The
giant industries that are polluting our planet as well
as violating human rights worldwide are the ones nearest
and dearest to the hearts of American politicians.
-- Woody Harrelson |
 |
*
"There
is no contradiction between effective law enforcement
and respect for civil and human rights."
-- Dorothy
Height |
 |
|
|
*
"After
a war, the silencing of arms is not enough. Peace
means respecting all rights. You can’t respect one
of them and violate the others. When a society doesn’t
respect the rights of its citizens, it undermines
peace and leads it back to war.”
-- Maria
Julia Hernandez
Victims
should come first.”
-- Maria
Julia Hernandez
|
“The situation
of the Salvadorian people is terrible; all their rights are
violated. There is a direct violation against the human person,
a violation of rights that is endemic in society.”
-- Maria
Julia Hernandez
|
|
The
time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party
to get out of the shadows of states' rights and walk
forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights
-- Hubert
Humphrey, 1948
And
it is to these rights -- the right of law and order,
the right of life, the right of liberty, the right
of a job, the right of a home in a decent neighborhood,
and the right to an education -- it is to these rights
that I pledge my life and whatever capacity and ability
I have.
-- Hubert
Humphrey
*
there
can be no compromise on the right of personal security;
there can be no compromise on securing of human rights.
-- Hubert
Humphrey
|
Explore
YOUR family tree
and Find YOUR Roots & Connections
|
|
*
There
is so much each one of us can do to make a difference.
We are at a dangerous juncture in the history of mankind.
… We need to defend our principles and values, human
rights, civil liberties and the rule of international
law. If we don’t our world will further descend into
a state of chaos.
-- Bianca
Jagger
|
|
|
|
The
care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction,
is the first and only object of good government.
-- Thomas
Jefferson
*
We
hold these truths to be self-evident,--that all men
are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights; that among these are
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. -- Thomas
Jefferson
|
In the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 1948) in most
solemn form, the dignity of a person is acknowledged to all
human beings; and as a consequence there is proclaimed, as
a fundamental right, the right of free movement in search
for truth and in the attainment of moral good and of justice,
and also the right to a dignified life.
-- Pope John XXIII, 1881-1963 Pacem in Terris, 1963
If the
equality of individuals and the dignity of man be myths, they
are myths to which the republic is committed.
-- Howard Mumford Jones
"The earth
is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal
rights upon it."
-- Chief Joseph
|
*
In
giving rights to others which belong to them, we give
rights to ourselves.
-- John
F. Kennedy
|
 |
 |
*
Each
time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve
the lot of others or strikes out against injustice,
he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each
other from a million different centers of energy and
daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep
down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
-- Robert
F. Kennedy
|
"America
now stands as the world's foremost power. We should be proud:
Not since the age of the Romans have one people achieved such
preeminence. But we are not Romans; we do not seek an empire.
We are Americans, trustees of a vision and a heritage
that commit us to the values of democracy and the universal
cause of human rights."
-- Senator John Kerry (American Senator, b.1943)
|
*
No
cause can justify the abuse of human rights.
-- Irene
Khan
Human
security comes only with human rights and the rule of
law. Human rights are the basis for creating strong
and accountable states without which there can be no
political stability or social progress.
-- Irene
Khan
*
The
world does not need a war against ‘terrorism’, it needs
a culture of peace based on human rights for all.
-- Irene
Khan
|
 |
There
can be no peace without justice and respect for human rights.
I passionately believe in the power of human rights as a set
of global values to bring our fractured and divided world
together. Around the world human rights activists are giving
hope to millions of people - women, indigenous people, the
poor and the marginalised - in their struggle for equality
and dignity.
-- Irene
Khan
There
is no excuse for human rights abuse, whether in the name of
security or in the name of liberation.”
-- Irene
Khan
*
"I
won't give up until the exploitation of all children
has ended and all children have their rights."
-- Craig
Kielburger
|
|
|
*
"Democracy is the absolute value that makes for
human dignity, as well as the only road to sustained
economic development and social justice."
-- Kim
Dae-jung
|
|
|
|
*
Commit yourself to the noble struggle for human rights.
You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater
nation of your country and a finer world to live in."
-- Martin
Luther King, Jr.
|
"Whatever
career you may choose for yourself - doctor, lawyer, teacher
- let me propose an avocation to be pursued along with it.
Become a dedicated fighter for civil rights. Make it a central
part of your life. It will make you a better doctor, a better
lawyer, a better teacher. It will enrich your spirit as nothing
else possibly can. It will give you that rare sense of nobility
that can only spring from love and selflessly helping your
fellow man. Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to
the noble struggle for human rights. You will make a greater
person of yourself, a greater nation of your country and a
finer world to live in."
-- Martin
Luther King, Jr.
|
|
"In
a world of increasing inequality, the legitimacy of institutions
that give precedence to the property rights of 'the Haves'
over the human rights of 'the Have Nots' is inevitably
called into serious question.
-- David
Korten |
|
*
"we are opposing the exploitation of man by man,
similarly we must oppose the exploitation of peoples
by other peoples ... but today this is no longer enough
... we have to assist the peoples fighting for their
independence to develop their economies, to increase
their standard of living"
-- Bruno
Kreisky
|
 |
|
Fear
is not the natural state of civilized man.
-- Aung
San Suu Kyi
*
"Please
use your freedom to promote ours."
-- Aung
San Suu Kyi
*
The
people of my country want the two freedoms that spell
security: freedom from want and freedom from fear.
-- Aung
San Suu Kyi
|
 |
*
“Sexual abuse and rape in our prisons are the epitome
of the dehumanizing nature of our entire correctional
system. Prison rape is a human rights issue; it's a public
health issue; and it's a public safety issue.”
-- Barbara
Lee |
 |
|
*
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a
strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
-- Abraham
Lincoln
To
sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards
of men.”
-- Abraham
Lincoln
|
 |
|
|
*
All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one
ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or
possessions.
-- John
Locke
|
|
*
Even strong as they are today, rich countries should
have no illusion: nobody is safe in a world of injustices.War
will never bring security.War can only generate monsters:
bitterness, intolerance, fundamentalism, and the damaging
denial of current hegemonies.The poor must be given
reasons to live, not to kill or die.
-- Lula
|
|
|
*
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is
an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental
human right, the right to dignity and a decent life
. . .
--
Nelson
Mandela
|
|
By a divine
paradox, wherever there is one slave there are two.
So in the wonderful reciprocities of being, we can never reach
the higher levels until all our fellows ascend with us.
-- Edwin Markham
 |
*
“Every
man gotta right to decide his own destiny.”
-- Bob
Marley
*
“Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up,
stand up, Don't give up the fight.”
-- Bob
Marley
|
 |
*
All
men are by nature born equally free and independent.
-- George
Mason
|
|
|
*
The
cost in human lives and suffering is so high that we all
have to work to end violence and oppression once and for
all. We have to proclaim that every human being is equal,
in dignity, in freedom —and, as the first article of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights states,
we have to live “in a spirit of brotherhood.”
-- Federico
Mayor |
|
*
We
are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos.
We are people and we want to be respected, not to be
victims of intolerance and racism.
-- Rigoberta
Menchu, Guatemala Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1992
|
 |
An injustice
committed against anyone is a threat to everyone.
-- Montesquieu
|
|
*
"I
feel more motivated and happy because there are people
interested in our problem, people that care for us and
support us in our fight for human liberty. I have a
great emotion because I know now that we are not struggling
alone against human rights violation.”
-- Aktham
Naisse
|
You are
a human being. You have rights inherent in that reality.
You have dignity and worth that exists prior to law.
-- Lyn Beth Neylon
"First
they came for the Jews and I did not speak out - because I
was not a Jew. Then they came for the communist and I did
not speak out - because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak
out - because I was not a trade unionists. Then they came
for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Pastor
Niemoeler
|
|
*
The
only way to make sure people you agree with can speak
is to support the rights of people you don't agree with.
-- Eleanor
Holmes Norton
|
And we
who have toiled for freedom's law, have we sought for freedom's
soul?
Have we learned at last that human right is not a part but
the whole?
-- John Boyle O'Reilly
|
|
*
We
believe that human rights transcend boundaries and must
prevail over state sovereignty.
-- José
Ramos-Horta
|
|
|
*
"A
community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest
person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social
rights that the biggest and most powerful possess."
-- A.
Philip Randolph
|
|
|
*
Today's
human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow's
conflicts.
-- Mary
Robinson
|
I believe
we should try to move away from the vocabulary and attitudes
which shape the stereotyping of developed and developing country
approaches to human rights issues. We are collective custodians
of universal human rights standards, and any sense that we
fall into camps of “accuser” and “accused”
is absolutely corrosive of our joint purposes. 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..
-- Mary
Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
"Human
rights are inscribed in the hearts of people; they were there
long before lawmakers drafted their first proclamation." --
Mary
Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
"Nations
will rise and fall, but equality remains the ideal.
The universal aim is to achieve respect for the entire human
race, not just for the dominant few."
-- Carlos P. Romulo
|
*
Basically
we could not have peace, or an atmosphere in which peace
could grow, unless
we recognized the rights of individual human beings...
their importance, their dignity... and agreed that was
the basic thing that had to be accepted throughout the
world.
-- Eleanor
Roosevelt
Where,
after all, do universal human rights begin? In small
places, close to home - so close and so small that they
cannot be seen on any maps of the world ... Such are
the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal
justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.
Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little
meaning anywhere.
-- Eleanor
Roosevelt
|
 |
|
|
*
Freedom
means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our
support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights
or keep them.
-- Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, Four Freedoms Speech, 6 January
1941
|
It is
often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world
away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from
home.
-- Carl T. Rowan
|
|
*
The
indigenous peoples understand that they have to recover
their cultural identity, or to live it if they have
already recovered it. They also understand that this
is not a favor or a concession, but simply their natural
right to be recognized as belonging to a culture that
is distinct from the Western culture, a culture in which
they have to live their own faith.
-- Bishop
Samuel Ruiz Garcia
|
 |
*
In
every country, we should be teaching our children the
scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights.
With it comes a certain decency, humility and community
spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by
virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between
us and the enveloping darkness.
-- Carl
Sagan
|
|
*
Silence
in the face of injustice is complicity with the opressor.
-- Ginetta
Sagan
|
 |
 |
Healthcare for ALL is a human right.
~Bernie Sanders |
|
*
"I
want my child to walk in a world guided by love. This
means that everybody will have a job, or the resources
to take care of basic needs. A world where families
are not oppressed and are connected to their neighbors
and their communities, where the best in humanity is
honored. That's when we will truly be at peace."
-- Malika
Sanders
|
|
 |
...defending
human rights requires vigilance, doggedness and a strong,
global force for good...
-- Sting
|
|
|
*
Human
rights are not a privilege conferred by government.
They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of
his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and
must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else,
not even a parent or sovereign. ... You must weep that
your own government, at present, seems blind to this
truth.
-- Mother
Teresa
|
|
|
*
The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights - This great and
inspiring instrument was born of an increased sense
of responsibility by the international community for
the promotion and protection of man’s basic rights and
freedoms. The world has come to a clear realization
of the fact that freedom, justice and world peace can
only be assured through the international promotion
and protection of these rights and freedoms.
-- U
Thant, Third United Nations Secretary-General, 1961-1971
Every
human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station,
deserves respect. We must each respect others even as
we respect ourselves.
~ U
Thant
|
|
If
you don't want women to do whatever they need to do
then you must provide them with food, you must provide
them with shelter and their basic human rights.
-- Emma
Thompson
|
 |
|
I
am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion
thrown from the table of someone who considers himself
my master. I want the full menu of rights.
-- Bishop
Desmond Tutu
*
"It
means a great deal to those who are oppressed to know
that they are not alone. And never let anyone tell you
that what you are doing is insignificant."
-- Bishop
Desmond Tutu
|
 |
|
|
*
Today,
I wish that the millions of displaced people would
be able to return with the necessary conditions of
safety and dignity, that people in exile could return
to their home-country as the intelligence is needed,
that cruelty, political killings, poverty and hunger
cease. I wish that our people recover their dignity,
truth is revealed and justice exists.
-- Alirio
Uribe Muñoz
|
|
"Peace,
development and human rights are essentially inter-related,
inter-dependent and indivisible."
-- Theo
van Boven
|
 |
|
*
"You cannot have peace without human rights, democracy,
gender equality, and clean water. Look to the root causes
of war and you will find, in their reverse, the root
foundations of peace."
-- Cora
Weiss
|
 |
|
|
Of
equality - As if it harm'd me, giving others the same
chances and rights as myself - As if it were not indispensable
to my own rights that others possess the same.
~ Walt
Whitman
|
*
"I
swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure
suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence
encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
-- Elie
Wiesel |
 |
|
|
“Human
rights is the only ideology that deserves to survive”
--
Simon
Wiesenthal
"When
history looks back, I want people to know the Nazis
weren't able to kill millions of people and get away
with it.”
-- Simon
Wiesenthal
"Tolerance
and human rights require each other."
-- Simon
Wiesenthal
|
To every
man his chance, to every man regardless of his birth, his
shining golden opportunity. To every man the right to live
and to work and to be himself. And to become whatever thing
his manhood and his vision can combine to make him. This is
the promise of America.”
-- Thomas Wolfe
|
*
"Chinese
and Tibetan dissidents are either locked up in prison,
forced into hiding, or silenced by fear of police retaliation
against their families. All the happiness about China's
economic growth has made many Americans forget that
police clubs and guns and the Laogai system keep the
Communist Party in power. Moreover, it is still little
recognized how American resources help to sustain that
power through trade, investments, and the transfer of
technology... It is only when the Laogai is abolished
in China that real change will come about."
-- Harry
Wu
|
 |
|
|
"...we
should not give up and say that the situation is hopeless.
There is still our conscience, there is still the memory
of the victims of this war, there is still our duty
to try and prevent further bloodshed. We have to prosecute
all the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against
humanity."
-- Lida
Yusupova
*
"...civil
society has not lost the possibility to influence the
government and force them to change their policy. That
is why we believe in your voice and your help."
-- Lida
Yusupova
|
|
I
love life and want to hold onto it. But my passion for
justice for my tormented people, for their dignity and
freedom, must be greater still. For of what value is
a life of slavery, of humiliation and
contempt for that which you hold most dear: Your identity!
I will therefore not give in to the Turkish Inquisition.
-- Leyla
Zana
*
I
have defended democracy, human rights, and brotherhood
between peoples. And I’ll keep doing so for as long
as I live.
-- Leyla
Zana
|
 |
See
also CIVIL RIGHTS Quotes
|
