Kofi Annan Nation Quotations

We agreed that in this interdependent world we need the United Nations more than ever.

The tragedy of Srebrenica will forever haunt the history of the United Nations

the United Nations will do whatever we can to help.

The United Nations needs U.S. leadership, but the U.S. also needs the United Nations, ... We look forward to working with you and the administration in ensuring that the U.S. is ... back in the fold with the question of arrears, behind us as we move ahead in strengthening and reshaping this organization.

Let me be absolutely clear: the United Nations does not want to take over, police or otherwise control the Internet,

There were governments that were not willing to make the concessions necessary, there were spoilers also in the group, let's be quite honest about that, ... I've tried to get them to understand that in our interconnected world, we need to look at issues in much broader terms rather than narrow national interests.

New threats make no distinction between races, nations or regions. A new insecurity has entered every mind, regardless of wealth or status.

I urge you to pursue with even greater determination this people's crusade that Princess Diana did so much to promote, ... has robbed our global cause of one of its most compelling voices.

The permanent mission of Cuba to the United Nations wishes to protest strongly at the arbitrary decision and to state that it disagrees completely with the pretexts given.

You will agree to establish a Peace building Commission, backed by a support office and a fund, ... This will mark a new level of strategic commitment to one of the most important contributions the United Nations makes to international peace and security. You will also agree to create a standing police capacity for the United Nations peacekeeping operations.

I wish to stress that the United Nations is eager to be at your side in the efforts to resolve the problems of your country and the region on the basis of universal principles of peace, justice and human rights,

I would expect the summit to come up with a program of action not just for the United Nations but also for the members states,

We need to decide our priorities. And we must adapt our United Nations so that in the future, those priorities are reflected in clear and prompt decisions leading to real change in people's lives. That my friend is what the people expect of us -- let us not disappoint them.

What is needed today is nothing less than a new consensus between alliances that are frayed, between wealthy nations and poor. The essence of that consensus is simple: We all share responsibility for each other's security.

Simply put, what the United Nations wants is what the U.S. also wants: a reformed United Nations that is effective, efficient, leaner and relevant to the tasks that member states want to set for us, ... The world has changed and we have to change, we have to adapt and I have given my commitment to the president that I will pursue reforms.

exercised through patient diplomatic persuasion and coalition-building. We all need to understand that the United Nations is not a separate or alien entity, seeking to impose its agenda on others. The United Nations is us; it is you and me.

It seems at times like a nightmare from which we are still hoping to awake, except that for millions of people in 12 affected countries, spanning two continents, and for tens of thousands of visitors from nations around the world, this nightmare is devastatingly real,

Under the circumstances, it is difficult to envisage the United Nations operating with a large number of international staff inside Iraq in the near future unless there is an unexpected and significant improvement in the overall security situation,

The prevailing mood is one of optimism, ... The parties have proclaimed ... their determination to work together. At long last we can all sense a new wave of movement.

Few United Nations officials have demonstrated the calm, grace and professionalism that you have in the face of virtually unprecedented pressure and attention over the past several months.

There has been no progress in ameliorating the contention between leaders of the transitional federal institutions on four broad issues: the relocation of the transitional federal institutions, a national security and stabilization plan, national reconciliation and the peace support mission envisaged by the African Union/Intergovernmental Authority on Development,

Because the exploration of space knows no national boundaries, the loss of the Columbia is a loss to all humankind,

Two years ago, I declared that in my view no reform of the United Nations would be complete without reform of the Security Council. That is still my belief,

When I think of the delicate balance of tremendous promise and urgent peril in today's world, I think particularly of the nations of Latin America, ... Because yours is a region that truly hangs in that delicate balance. It is in many ways a microcosm of the world in which we live, and it is therefore a place in which all that the United Nations stands for is put to test.

keep working with determination on the tough issues on which progress is urgent but has not yet been achieved.

This is a victory for all those who expressed their firm determination that U.N. Security Council resolutions must be respected. It is a victory for diplomacy and resolve,

I know that I speak for the whole world in offering them my heartfelt sympathy and any assistance that the United Nations can give, ... We will be happy to work with other parts of the international community to support the efforts of President Bush and his administration, the American Red Cross, and other U.S. relief organizations who have been our partners in the past.

The scale of this tragedy almost defies our darkest imagination, ... We meet today to prevent a second shockwave of deaths and to prevent further suffering.

I do not believe that the situation which exists between and within nations where we have extreme wealth and extreme poverty side by side can be sustained in the long term without our attempting to do something about it,

I have been gratified by the clear determination expressed by NATO and its member governments to prevent a further escalation of the fighting, and I encourage all steps that may deter the further use of ethnically driven repression and the resort to violence by either side in Kosovo,

That is why a healthy, effective United Nations is so vital.

The only way to escape from the present downward spiral lies through ending the violence and resuming negotiations aimed at comprehensive peaceful settlement based on relevant United Nations resolutions,

made it quite clear that the United Nations cannot condone the Turkish incursion into northern Iraq.

What governments and people don't realise is that sometimes the collective interest - the international interest - is also the national interest.

Unfortunately, very few governments think about youth unemployment when they are drawing up their national plans.

We must resolve, even more firmly, to build nations within which people of different communities can coexist, and enjoy equal rights,

Does anyone seriously contend that any nation can fend for itself?

A United Nations that will not stand up for human rights is a United Nations that cannot stand up for itself.

This is a house of peace and we work in the interest of all nations and this kind of activity is not something that anyone can condone, ... I appeal to them to desist and use other means to raise their complaints.

While many parts of the United Nations have been involved in the peace-building process, the system has lacked a dedicated entity to oversee the process, ensure its coherence or sustain it through the long haul.

devoted tireless efforts to building the state and nation and, in so doing, earned the respect of the population.

does not look like a proposal at all. It is an insult to the Iranian nation. They have talked in a way as if the Iranian nation was suffering from backwardness, and the time was 100 years ago, and our country was their colony.

Notwithstanding the embargo, Cuba's achievements in social development are impressive given the size of its gross domestic product per capita, ... As the human development index of the United Nations makes clear year after year, Cuba should be the envy of many other nations ostensibly far richer.

I hope you will give your full backing to all points of the strategy I have outlined. Let us ensure the United Nations play its role in this fight to the full,

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.

As we move forward into the future, the role of the United Nations in legitimizing a military presence on the ground, and giving it a mandate, and allowing it to operate, becomes absolutely essential,