Human Rights Quotes - Page 15

• Respect for human rights is not social work; it is not merely an act of compassion. It is the first obligation of government and the source of its legitimacy.

  Ronald Reagan

  Compassion, Rights, Government

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

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• When we speak of peace, we should not mean just the absence of war. True peace rests on the pillars of individual freedom, human rights, national self-determination, and respect for the rule of law.

  Ronald Reagan

  Determination, Freedom, War

  Ronald Reagan (2004). “Speaking My Mind: Selected Speeches”, p.249, Simon and Schuster

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• Peace is more than just an absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom, and true peace dictates the recognition of human rights.

  Ronald Reagan

  Freedom, War, Rights

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

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• ... the United States, for generations, has sustained two parallel but opposed states of mind about military atrocities and human rights: one of U.S. benevolence, generally held by the public, and the other of ends-justify-the-means brutality sponsored by counterinsurgency specialists. Normally the specialists carry out their actions in remote locations with little notice in the national press. That allows the public to sustain its faith in a just America, while hard-nosed security and economic interests are still protected in secret.

  Robert Parry

  Military, War, Mean

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• Economic dynamism can be combined with environmental and social responsibility. High financial returns can go hand in hand with respect for human rights, and the preservation of the planet's natural resources

  David Miliband

  Business, Responsibility, Rights

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• I think this president has so badly abused his power, breached his trust in remarkable ways with our Congress, with the American people, has violated so many of our international treaty obligations, our Constitution, our domestic statutory laws, and has been responsible for ordering and condoning heinous human rights violations. We need to draw the line.

  Rocky Anderson

  Thinking, Rights, Law

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• I am against revolution and am proud of it. Democracy cannot be created through revolutions. The most important dichotomy that I make for a society is between those who support democracy and human rights, and those who oppose it. In a totalitarian state, the state views any act of an individual to be political in nature. For example, the clothing that a person wears in a modern state is a private affair whereas in the Islamic Republic all women are forced to wear the hijab (Islamic attire). When women push their headscarf back an inch or two, this is interpreted to be a political act.

  Akbar Ganji

  Islamic, Rights, Views

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• Is the Reformed faith opposed to human rights? Yes, very much so. It is not human rights but Divine law which is the foundation of liberty and the safeguard against tyranny. It is not something proceeding from man (rights), but something proceeding from God (revealed law) which is to order Christian society.

  James B. Jordan

  Christian, Men, Rights

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• The end of the occupation. The right of return of the Palestinian people. These are critical dividing lines in human rights. We have to be here. No American would put up with an Israeli-style occupation of their hometown for 53 days let alone 54 years. US tax dollars are funding violence against people of color inside the US borders and outside the US borders.

  Van Jones

  Color, Years, Rights

  "Wartimes: Reports From The Opposition". Studio album by Van Jones and Mumia Abu-Jamal, www.powerlineblog.com. 2003.

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• Unpopular speech is absolutely vital to the health of our nation.

  Edward Norton

  Inspirational, Motivational, Speech

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• I'm a recreational pot-smoker. There has never been enough of a distinction between marijuana and other drugs. It's a human rights issue, a censorship issue, and a choice issue.

  Frances McDormand

  Marijuana, Rights, Issues

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• My family’s said to me from the beginning, ‘People are always going to tell you to pick what you want to be when you grow up. You take that and throw it out the window, that’s garbage. People are complicated and we love many things and we’re passionate about many things. You can be a human rights activist and also be doing these comedy plays in your community and that’s OK. All those things are a part of who you are and you can love them equally.

  Hannah Simone

  Growing Up, Rights, Play

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• Democracies don't go to war against each other, and by and large they don't sponsor terrorism. They're more likely to respect the environment and human rights and social justice. It's no accident that most of the terrorists come from non-democratic countries.

  William J. Clinton

  Country, War, Rights

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• Violence against women is the single greatest human rights violation of our generation.

  Patrick Stewart

  Rights, Our Generation, Generations

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• If the U.N. were to be successful in its efforts to control the Internet, countries where human rights records range from questionable to criminal could be put in charge of determining what is and is not allowed to appear online.

  John Doolittle

  Country, Successful, Rights

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• Peace, non-violence, human rights and the environment - if only everybody saw these as the seamless whole that they are

  Jonathon Porritt

  Future, Rights, Vision

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• I want to stress again that human rights are not peripheral to the foreign policy of the United States. Our pursuit of human rights is part of a broad effort to use our great power and our tremendous influence in the service of creating a better world, a world in which human beings can live in peace, in freedom, and with their basic needs adequately met.

  Jimmy Carter

  Stress, Rights, Creating

  Carter, Jimmy (1979). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1978”, p.2163, Best Books on

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• In a justly organized community, however, government exists to secure the right to life and the other human rights that follow from that primary right.

  Paul Ryan

  Rights, Government, Community

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• The world should always be concerned whenever a vast human rights violation occurs anywhere on the planet.

  Junot Diaz

  Rights, World, Should

  "The Dominican Republic and Haiti: A Shared View from the Diaspora". Interview with Richard Andre, americasquarterly.org. 2014.

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• I believe in human rights for everyone, and none of us is qualified to judge each other and that none of us should therefore have that authority.

  Malcolm X

  Believe, Rights, Judging

  Malcolm X (1992). “By any means necessary”, Pathfinder Pr

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• In the areas which have been disturbed people are living cordially with the Security Forces. In areas like Gulu people are living peacefully. There is scrupulous respect of human rights.

  Yoweri Museveni

  Rights, People, Force

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• Mr Bush, Mr. Blair and now Mr Brown's sense of human rights precludes our people's right to their God-given resources, which in their view must be controlled by their kith and kin. I am termed dictator because I have rejected this supremacist view and frustrated the neo-colonialists.

  Robert Mugabe

  Rights, Views, People

  Speech to the United Nations General Assembly, September 26, 2007.

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• To be 'for animals' is not to be 'against humanity.' To require others to treat animals justly, as their rights require, is not to ask for anything more nor less in their case than in the case of any human to whom just treatment is due. The animal rights movement is a part of, not opposed to, the human rights movement. Attempts to dismiss it as anti human are mere rhetoric.

  Tom Regan

  Animal, Rights, Humanity

  Tom Regan (2004). “The Case for Animal Rights”, p.53, Univ of California Press

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• Th direct elimination of elimination of poverty should be the objective of all development aid. Development should be viewed as a human rights issue, not as a question of simply increasing the gross national product (GNP).

  Muhammad Yunus

  Issues, Rights, Development

  Muhammad Yunus (2007). “Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty”, p.109, PublicAffairs

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• Free women and men everywhere must wage an incessant campaign so that these human values become a generally recognized and practised reality. We must regretfully admit that in various parts of the world this is not yet the case. Without those values and human rights the real peace of which we dream is jeopardized.

  Menachem Begin

  Dream, Real, Men

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