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The international community... allows nearly 3 billion people - almost half of all humanity - to subsist on $2 or less a day in a world of unprecedented wealth.

Kofi Annan

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Kofi Annan
Age: 80 †
Born: 1938
Born: April 8
Died: 2018
Died: August 18
Diplomat
Economist
Politician
Coomassie
Kofi Atta Annan
Annan
Kofi A. Annan
Half
Allows
Less
Nearly
World
Billions
People
International
Wealth
Humanity
Subsist
Almost
Unprecedented
Community
Billion

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International law now grants rights to all human beings, not only to citizens.
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When the US withdrew their troops from Somalia, I recall making a comment that [in] the way the peacekeepers had been withdrawn from Somalia, the impression had been given that the easiest way to unravel a peacekeeping operation is to kill a few soldiers.
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If there is one area where equity is crucial and essential, I think it should be the issue of water.
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literacy is at the heart of sustainable development
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It's not that easy to quit. When you look back in the American system it is very rare that people quit on issues of principle.
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In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda.
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You will recall that for months after 9/11, there was incredible support and sympathy for the US. I really hoped and wished they had played on that, and kept all these friends they had made, and found a way of dealing with the terrorists through co-operation of international intelligence services, police exchange of information.
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Some have suggested that ideally there must be some international body that would treat areas like the Arctic as a global commerce, a bit like the way we treat the sea. It doesn't belong to any particular country, but to all of us, but I'm not sure some of the powerful are ready for that sort of solution.
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We need to think of the future and the planet we are going to leave to our children and their children.
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Most people forget that even in Iraq, by the time the air and no-fly zone was established, the air defence system had been removed through the first Gulf war. All of them had been neutralised.
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If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.
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Microfinance recognizes that poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge
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Education is a human right with immense power to transform
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One of my biggest regrets was the fact that as an institution and an international community we could not stop the war in Iraq. That really was very difficult and very painful. Every fibre in my body felt it was wrong. I spoke to leaders, we spoke to people, we tried... we couldn't stop it... and we see the results.
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The future belongs to you, but it can only belong to you if you participate and take charge
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I don't see a situation where one side will win militarily, take over Syria, and there will be peace and quiet, a clean victory.
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Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, they are left on society's margins, all of us will be impoverished. Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies.
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I think the generational change is going to be so important for Africa that we really should encourage and push it as much as we can, because some of these younger men and women, who are men and women of their times, and are also connected to the rest of the world, wouldn't even know how to behave in the way some of the old leaders do.
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You can do a lot with diplomacy, but with diplomacy backed up by force you can get a lot more done.
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We knew the Syrian situation was complex and there were lots of divisions, particularly on the side of the opposition... This is a tough job... It can perhaps be done if you stand united and work with me in putting sustained pressure on the protagonists or the parties to come together and seek a political settlement.
Kofi Annan