There is never a humanitarian solution for a humanitarian crisis. The solutions for the humanitarian crisis are always political ones.
Antonio GuterresRead
Nagasaki and Hiroshima remind us to put peace first every day; to work on conflict prevention and resolution, reconciliation, and dialogue; and to tackle the roots of conflict and violence.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of prioritizing peace and addressing the underlying causes of conflict.
Antonio Guterres highlights the tragic reminders of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as pivotal lessons for humanity. He advocates for a proactive approach to peace by emphasizing the need for conflict prevention, resolution, and reconciliation, asserting that addressing the roots of violence is essential for a harmonious future where dialogue prevails over discord.
In practice
In a speech about international relations, I would quote Guterres to emphasize the importance of peace efforts.
There is never a humanitarian solution for a humanitarian crisis. The solutions for the humanitarian crisis are always political ones.
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.
The world's problems transcend borders.
Humanitarian response, sustainable development, and sustaining peace are three sides of the same triangle.
The fact that societies are becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-religious is good. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness.
Syria has become the great tragedy of this century - a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history.
Peace is no mere matter of men fighting or not fighting. Peace, to have meaning for many who have known only suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health, and education, as well as freedom and human dignity - a steadily better life. If peace is to be secure, long-suffering and long-starved, forgotten peoples of the world, the underprivileged and the undernourished, must begin to realize without delay the promise of a new day and a new life.
World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just mere absence of violence. Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.
The Department of Peace would take a more human approach to healing our society, looking not merely for ways we can destroy an enemy, but for more powerful ways to create new friends. While the State Department engages in international diplomacy, there is no domestic parallel. There is no department seeking to harness the power of a nonviolent heart.
Peace has a great deal to do with warm-heartednes s and respect for the lives of others, avoiding doing them harm and regarding their lives as being as precious as our own. If, on that basis, we can also be of help to others, so much the better.
War is not the answer, because only love can conquer hate.
Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not in conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.