There is never a humanitarian solution for a humanitarian crisis. The solutions for the humanitarian crisis are always political ones.
Antonio GuterresRead
The international community spends much more time and resources managing crises than preventing them. But TV cameras are seldom there when a conflict is avoided, so it is difficult for governments and international organizations to make prevention a priority.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the discrepancy between crisis management and conflict prevention, emphasizing the lack of attention given to successful prevention efforts.
Antonio Guterres points out the irony in the global approach to conflicts, where significant time and resources are allocated to dealing with crises after they have escalated, rather than investing in strategies to prevent conflicts from arising in the first place. He notes that the media's focus on crises often overshadows the unsung successes of prevention, making it challenging for governments and international organizations to prioritize preventative measures. This disconnect leads to a reactive rather than proactive stance toward global conflicts.
Themes
ConflictPreventionCrisisResourcesInternational Community
In practice
Example use cases
During a conference on global security, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of investing in prevention instead of reactive measures.
More from Antonio Guterres
All quotes →As a global society, we have the technology, resources and the know-how to make a massive difference to living standards everywhere, including for refugees.
Antonio GuterresRead
The world's problems transcend borders.
Antonio GuterresRead
Humanitarian response, sustainable development, and sustaining peace are three sides of the same triangle.
Antonio GuterresRead
The fact that societies are becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-religious is good. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness.
Antonio GuterresRead
Syria has become the great tragedy of this century - a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history.
Antonio GuterresRead
Similar quotes
What we want is that one day every workplace will be diverse - we already encourage that with gender and ethnicity, but the next frontier is neurodiversity and it will become ordinary. People won't think twice about it.
Simon Baron-CohenRead
The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific and religious freedom have always been nonconformists.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end.
Bhagat SinghRead
If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era?
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Expanding background checks will help create a uniform standard for all gun purchases and prevent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill from obtaining powerful weapons.
Gabrielle GiffordsRead
Seek out your brothers and sisters of other cultures and join together in building alliances to put an end to all forms of racial discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice. There are people of good will of all races, religions, and nations who will join you in common quest for the betterment of society.
Bernice KingRead