Human Rights Quotes - Page 31

• Christ managed to boil down an awful lot of commandments to a few very simple rules for living. It's when you go backwards through the 'begats' and the Garden of Eden, and you start thinking, 'Hang on, that's a big punishment for eating one lousy apple... There's a human-rights issue.'

  Terry Pratchett

  Simple, Garden, Thinking

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• The androcentric, patriarchal cultures, whatever you want to call it, are quite new. So, every economic statement should start with reproduction, not production. Every statement for human rights ought to include reproduction as a basic human right, like freedom of speech.

  Gloria Steinem

  Rights, Freedom Of Speech, Culture

  Source: www.elle.com

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• I have witnessed firsthand the anguish of this humanitarian tragedy - in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and other conflict and post-conflict zones. The destruction of lives and hopes, the emotional trauma, and the economic, social, and political marginalization of the displaced, the human insecurity, with real and potentially devastating consequences over generations, in ever-widening arenas of conflict. We can and must ensure the human rights of the displaced. That begins by making their voices heard.

  Queen Noor of Jordan

  Real, Emotional, Rights

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• We still have sanctions on Iran for its violations of human rights, for its support of terrorism and for its ballistic missile program. And we will continue to enforce these sanctions vigorously. Iran's recent missile test, for example, was a violation of its international obligations.

  Barack Obama

  Rights, Iran, Support

  "President Obama Gives Statement About U.S.-Iran Deals This Weekend". "Weekend Edition Sunday", www.npr.org. January 17, 2016.

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• And Eleanor's husband was the man who did the interning. And I think they - Governor Warren, who was later to become such an impassioned Chief Justice on all sorts of human rights issues, was very big in the internment process. And I think that we simply sometimes tend not to understand or remember how people felt.

  William A. Rusher

  Husband, Thinking, Men

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Well, human rights defenders, freedom of speech advocates, lawyers that we spoke to said this is really an expansion. After the military ouster of Egypt's unpopular, but elected Islamist president in 2013, we saw political opponents being arrested by the thousands, really. Then we saw a popular comedian go off the air out of fear of retribution.

  Leila Fadel

  Military, Rights, Air

  "Egypt Expands Crackdown On Freedom Of Expression, Advocates Say". "Morning Edition" with Renee Montagne, www.npr.org. December 30, 2015.

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• When ISIS last year called for the destruction of the Yazidi people, President Obama said that would constitute genocide and he ordered U.S. forces to keep it from happening. Human rights advocates say Christians now face a similar threat Nina Shea directs the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute.

  Tom Gjelten

  Christian, Religious, Rights

  "As Christians Flee, Governments Pressured To Declare ISIS Guilty Of Genocide". "Morning Edition" with David Greene, www.npr.org. December 24, 2015.

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• Over the last eight years of being on YouTube, I've seen so much progress. I think the reason for that is that a lot of young people are having open dialogue and honest conversations about social justice and human rights.

  Tyler Oakley

  Thinking, Eight, Rights

  "From YouTube to reality: 'The Amazing Race' stacks new 'social media' season with YouTube's most likable guys". Interview with Scott Porch, www.salon.com. February 12, 2016.

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• It's something fundamental to me, human rights that people are equal under law simply because they are human beings. And I can no more imagine falling in love with someone who believed, for instance, as Orthodox Jews do, that women are unclean during their menstrual periods.

  Susan Jacoby

  Falling In Love, Rights, Law

  "'Strange Gods' Chronicles The History Of Secularism And Conversion". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. February 17, 2016.

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• Hong Kong is not just a global financial center. It's also a place with a lot of teens and youth who love freedom, democracy, and human rights.

  Joshua Wong

  Rights, Democracy, Teens

  Source: www.businessinsider.com

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• I think that compared to other politicians who have been put in jail in the past, compared to the human-rights activists in history who have had to face political prosecution, the activists in Hong Kong nowadays are already quite lucky compared to that.

  Joshua Wong

  Past, Thinking, Jail

  Source: www.businessinsider.com

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• The most important problem in Iran is that the courts have lost their independence, and they are under the influence of the Ministry of Intelligence and their people. This is why we witness a number of journalists and human rights activists, my colleagues, and a number of feminists, in prison.

  Shirin Ebadi

  Rights, Iran, Numbers

  "Iran’s Nobel Peace Laureate Speaks From Exile". Interview with Bryan Schatz, www.motherjones.com. February 29, 2016.

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• I would say that not many German people are still alive, who experienced what happened during the third reich. We don't have to go to the Stasi, we can go to the Gestapo, and see what happens, when your human rights, your ability to a freedom of expression and a freedom of thought is infringed upon. This is terribly, terribly dangerous territory.

  Ray McGovern

  Rights, Expression, People

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• We all have a responsibility, and as Rabbi Heschel, one of my prophets, has put it: "Those who condone, or are silent, in the face of injustice, are more guilty than the perpetrators." And so, to the degree we pretend to be a democracy, we have a corresponding duty to be activist enough to prevent our human rights form being infringed upon.

  Ray McGovern

  Responsibility, Rights, Democracy

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• The communications revolution has given millions of people both a wider and more detailed understanding of the world. Because of technology, ordinary citizens enjoy access to information that formerly was available only to elites and nation-states. One consequence of this change is that citizens have become acutely conscious of environmental destruction, entrenched poverty, health catastrophes, human rights abuses, failing education systems, and escalating violence. Another consequence is that people possess powerful communication tools to coordinate efforts to attack those problems.

  David Bornstein

  Education, Powerful, Communication

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• I was against impunity when it comes to human rights violations. But many of us African leaders now want to leave the Rome Statute as soon as possible because of this Western arrogance.

  Yoweri Museveni

  Rights, Rome, Leader

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Terror became a big issue when the Reagan Administration came in. They immediately announced [their plans] and kind of disparaged Carter's alleged human rights programs. The main issue is state-directed international terrorism. Right at that time that big industry developed. That's when you start getting the academic departments on terrorism.

  Noam Chomsky

  Issues, Rights, Administration

  "Anti-Intellectualism, Terrorism, and Elections in Contemporary Education: a Discussion with Noam Chomsky". Interview with Dan Falcone, www.counterpunch.org. June 3, 2016.

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• I'll tell you what gives me hope. After the struggle for marriage equality, the LGBTQ community has built some very powerful organizations; in particular, I'm thinking of HRC (the Human Rights Campaign), GLAAD... but there are many, many others, too. Along with those organizations come some savvy and tested leaders who have come to understand not only how to change hearts and minds but also legislators and judges votes.

  Steven Petrow

  Powerful, Struggle, Heart

  "Civilities: We'll be talking about your reactions to the Orlando massacre for the full hour". Live chat, live.washingtonpost.com. June 21, 2016.

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• That term, 'human rights', makes me ill.Human rights are only for 'humans', therefore for the West. And for the rest of the Planet: there, the 'human rights' are used to discredit uncomfortable, even 'hostile' governments through countless implants like NGOs.

  Andre Vltchek

  Rights, Government, West

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• Who talks about the real human rights violations, those committed by the West? Europeans and North Americans have already butchered hundreds of millions of people, or close to one billion, to be precise. They have been looting, torturing and raping. Even now, they are killing millions directly and tens of millions indirectly.

  Andre Vltchek

  Real, Rights, People

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• If every human rights atrocity is described as a Holocaust,[Adolf] Hitler's attempted obliteration of the Jewish people is diminished or de-recognised in our history.

  Jeremy Corbyn

  Rights, People, Holocaust

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• Other human rights atrocities from African slavery to the killing fields of Cambodia, the Armenian and Rwandan Genocides are all of course to be remembered, but diluting their particularity or comparing degrees of evil does no good.

  Jeremy Corbyn

  Rights, Evil, Atrocities

  "Jeremy Corbyn antisemitism speech in full: Labour leader vows to stamp out 'hateful language or debate' The Labour leader welcomed a response recommending immediate action for the Labour" by Lizzie Dearden, www.independent.co.uk. June 30, 2016.

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• The cases involving the question of whether U.S. courts should be open to claims of international human rights violations brought by foreign persons against foreign government officials. And the State Department on the one side has got a very consistent and powerful view that U.S. courts should be open to those claims because there needs to be a place in the world where they can be brought. And those human rights norms ought to be real and enforceable, and we ought to be a beacon to the world.

  Donald Verrilli Jr.

  Powerful, Real, Rights

  "Farewell to the General". "Amicus" with Dahlia Lithwick, www.slate.com. June 28, 2016.

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• Human rights are not the preserve of Western activists: The definition must extend to encompass the right to the dignified life; the right to send your kids to school, for that child to get health care, for access for greater prosperity for generations to come and to have a say in the destiny of your community and country. Under that definition, Rwanda has nothing to learn from advocacy groups who think they own the copyright on what constitutes human rights under all conditions in every corner of the world.

  Paul Kagame

  Country, Children, School

  "Exclusive interview: Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda". Interview with Tony Metcalf, www.metro.us. August 29, 2012.

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• The common people don't believe this kind of religion [of islamic fundamentalists] because first and foremost they want to solve their basic problems, including human rights and economic.

  Abdul Sattar Edhi

  Believe, Islamic, Rights

  Source: www.irinnews.org

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