Quote

Climate change is the greatest threat to human rights in the 21st century.

Mary Robinson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Mary Robinson
Age: 80
Born: 1944
Born: May 21
Barrister
Feminist
Former President Of Ireland
Jurist
Politician
University Teacher
Ballina
County Mayo
Máire Bean Mhic Róibín
Mary Bourke
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Bourke
Maire Bean Mhic Roibin
Máire Mhic Róibín
Máire Treasa Úna Mhic Róibín
Her Excellency Mary Robinson
Greatest
Rights
Change
Human
Humans
Threat
Climate
Century

More quotes by Mary Robinson

Image
Ethical globalization is possible if only we can hold governments and business accountable for respecting human rights, not just in the traditional political and legal realms, but in everything - health, education and the other social determinants of health - rights to food, safe water, sanitation and so on.
Mary Robinson
Image
If we took away barriers to women's leadership, we would solve the climate change problem a lot faster
Mary Robinson
Image
Sharing experience and building public support for the full range of rights is more powerful than legal cases.
Mary Robinson
Image
In human rights theory it is very important that governments still have the primary responsibility for the standards and provision of such services even if they no longer deliver them. They must insist that the private sector delivers without discrimination. So governments still have responsibility, including the need to influence business.
Mary Robinson
Image
You can convene a wider cross-section if you have no turf to defend, because then you don't cut across anyone else's agenda and you can achieve a great deal.
Mary Robinson
Image
An endless war against terrorism can tend to inflate the terrorists, because being at war is attractive to some angry, unemployed, disaffected youth.
Mary Robinson
Image
It's only after their death that people are truly appreciated. It's because they are true to values.
Mary Robinson
Image
In general, I don't think that economic, social and cultural rights are primarily a matter of going to court. They are most useful today as commitments which can help ensure effective and equitable policy-making at every level.
Mary Robinson
Image
Symbols give us our identity, our self image, our way of explaining ourselves to ourselves and to others. Symbols in turn determine the kinds of stories we tell, and the stories we tell determine the kind of history we make and remake.
Mary Robinson
Image
A lot of young people are very cynical about the political framework because they see the countries that preach democracy and human rights being countries largely responsible for the problems in their region.
Mary Robinson
Image
Membership in the European Community, now the European Union, has helped Ireland to take its place as a European country with all the member states, including Britain. It has therefore helped the maturing of a good bilateral relationship with Britain, lifting part of the burden of history.
Mary Robinson
Image
Freedom from discrimination for women, ensuring that female children can learn to read, these are human needs for half the human race, not western values.
Mary Robinson
Image
The question now is how best to help the Iraqi people build a democratic and free Iraqi society that ensures respect for the rights of all Iraqis.
Mary Robinson
Image
The UN may not be very effective but I am a fan of the idea of the United Nations. I have been there, I know the problems. To parody Winston Churchill: It is the worst system, except we don't have any other.
Mary Robinson
Image
The fight for human rights is about speaking truth to power.
Mary Robinson
Image
I don't like a bipolar or a unipolar world. I like a multipolar world but on many occasions people have been surprised that South Africa has not seemed, internationally as well as internally, to take a decision that affirms the true values of your Constitution and the vision of those who were there at the beginning - Madiba himself and others.
Mary Robinson
Image
People I admire have two qualities: a kind of simplicity, and generosity of spirit. It seems to me that the more impressive people are in what they have done, the simpler they tend to be in how they talk to you, or in what they say or write.
Mary Robinson
Image
The governments are seen to be less effective than they used to be. The private sector is perceived as being so much more efficient, and so globalization implies a transfer of power to the private sector.
Mary Robinson
Image
When we see companies who are in complicit relationships with China, for example, making huge profits by providing China with the very software that enables the state to censor its own people, that is not acceptable. We need to engage with such companies to make their responsibilities clear.
Mary Robinson
Image
Finance ministers must realize that the health budget can save them money if it's applied well.
Mary Robinson