During past years, like frightened children, we were afraid to eat the strong meat of human rights and instead sucked the milk of civil rights from the breasts of white liberals, black Uncle Toms, and Aunt Jemimas.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
I think it's scary that that our elected officials aren't operating under the principles of human rights, under the principles that this government and this country was founded on.
Adam Yauch
What better way to celebrate 50 years of defending human rights than over a candlelit dinner with friends and family.
Adriano Zumbo
The Chinese art world does not exist. In a society that restricts individual freedoms and violates human rights, anything that calls itself creative or independent is a pretence. It is impossible for a totalitarian society to create anything with passion and imagination.
Ai Weiwei
For all the tough talk about China during the presidential debates, Romney and Obama evaded any mention of China's suspect human rights record, corruption, and rule of law. By not tackling these controversial topics, the candidates are protecting a strategic partnership with China at the expense of essential human values and beliefs.
Since the global economic crisis began, the change in global attitudes is clear to see - and I think it is pitiful. Barack Obama came to China and he is probably the only president of the United States never to mention the words 'human rights' in public.
The American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
In today's distorted world of 'human rights,' truth takes a back seat to ideology, and false claims - especially those that 'support' radical ideologies - persist even after they have been exposed.
Alan Dershowitz
If men were meant to be a dominant power, men would be on this earth by themselves. So, I don't understand when women's rights are challenged - because you're talking about human rights. You talk about subjugating an entire culture that we heavily depend on for everything we need for survival.
Aldis Hodge
And I think to be in NATO for the countries of our region, it means more guarantees for us, it means more responsibility for our common security, but it means fulfillment of all standards of civilized world, like protection of human rights and democratic mechanisms.
Aleksander Kwasniewski
It is time in the West to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
But if USA has 1.3 billion people, USA would have the same human rights problem just like China.
Alex Chiu
We don't know yet how to build a society which is environmentally sustainable, which is shareable with everybody on the planet, which promotes stability and democracy and human rights, and which is achievable in the time-frame necessary to make it through the challenges we face.
Alex Steffen
The Internet and digital technologies can and will boost economic, social, and political development, including by vastly expanding the capacity of individuals to enjoy their right to freedom of speech and expression, which is key to empowering human rights.
Alexander De Croo
Who is against human rights in Belarus today? Of course, no one should view human rights as the right to smash shop windows or stir up unrest in the streets.
Alexander Lukashenko
Those who have been outspoken in advocating human rights during these last forty years, have themselves grabbed the most fundamental of human rights from the people of the Third-World countries.
Ali Khamenei
The issue of human rights is one of the most fundamental human issues and also one of the most sensitive and controversial.
The idea of human rights as a fundamental principle can be seen to underlie throughout Islamic teachings.
I think one of the reasons that Arch Enemy gels so well as people and musically is because we all share very similar values when it comes to human rights, animal rights... even politics, religion.
Alissa White-Gluz
Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, support for international terrorist organizations, and abhorrent human rights practices pose one of the greatest threats to global security.
Allyson Schwartz
It is not necessary to dwell on the political and social principles of Islam, to underline how close they also are in spirit to the concepts of human rights which govern the political and social systems of the West.
The first piece of advice I would have from my experience is that governments need to be vocal about human rights.
I work with 15 organisations that deal with issues ranging from environment protection and wildlife conservation to human rights, and women's and children's rights, etc.
Governments can no longer control 100 percent of the story. Time and geographical boundaries disappear. In places like China and all over the Middle East, social-media outlets are being used to expose and hold accountable public officials that don't want to be held accountable for corruption and human rights abuses.
Let's be honest: The trade embargo with Cuba hasn't secured our interests or helped the Cuban people. Because the way to promote positive change and better human rights in Cuba is through engagement, not isolation.
Afghan human rights campaigners worry that U.S. forces may be using secret detention sites like the one allegedly at Rish-Khor to carry out interrogations away from prying eyes. The U.S. military, however, denies even having knowledge of the facility.
Our country, like every modern state, needs profound democratic reforms. It needs political and ideological pluralism, a mixed economy and protection of human rights and the opening up of society.
We can never afford to be complacent; there is no such thing as security when it comes to human rights.
Tolerance, diversity, and inclusion are not political opinions. They are non-negotiable human rights - hard fought and secured in America.
As a society, we must not allow human rights abuses to go unnoticed and undocumented; it is a vital mission to fight ignorance of these tragic events.
Terrorism can never be accepted. We must fight it together, with methods that do not compromise our respect for the rule of law and human rights, or are used as an excuse for others to do so.
Global markets must be balanced by global values such as respect for human rights and international law, democracy, security and sustainable economic and environmental development.
Human rights are praised more than ever - and violated as much as ever.
I was brought up in a family of journalists, and a mother who was deeply committed to human rights, so I think that the mix of those two huge influences have been very, very important to me.
The crisis of Western values has many aspects, many faces. There is a decline in faith in liberal democracy, a loss of confidence in universal human rights, a collapse in support for all kinds of transnational projects.
To those who cynically say today that liberal democracy would be 'obsolete,' I reply: liberal democracy, human rights, freedom of the press and the rule of law were the right way, are the right way, and will be the right way.
We Americans have a sense of ourselves as a moral people. We have led the way in the fight for human rights in the world. Mistreating prisoners makes the world see our moral claims as hypocrisy.
To me, America need to clean up their own home before they tell another country about human rights. I'm a primary example. America don't care nothing about human rights.
It's widely recognized that there is no peace without development and no development without peace; it is also true that there is no peace and sustainable development without respect for human rights.
When we achieve human rights and human dignity for all people - they will build a peaceful, sustainable, and just world.
We want the world our children inherit to be defined by the values enshrined in the U.N. Charter: peace, justice, respect, human rights, tolerance, and solidarity.
Human rights are being violated in so many places. But we don't give up because we know respect for human rights and human dignity is a basic condition for peace.
Terrorist groups share an agenda of authoritarianism, misogyny, and intolerance. They are an affront to the common values encapsulated in the U.N. Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
There is increasing recognition that violence against women is a major barrier to the fulfilment of human rights and a direct challenge to women's inclusion and participation in sustainable development and sustaining peace.
When counterterrorist policies are used to suppress peaceful protests and legitimate opposition movements, shut down debate, target human rights defenders, or stigmatize minorities, they fail, and we all lose. Indeed, such responses may cause further resentment and instability and contribute to radicalization.
When you look at human rights, look at gender, and the rights of girls for education in the world - that are crucial issues - some are saying 'Oh, these are western values.' But these are really universal values.
Clearly, the response to terrorism and violent extremism must respect human rights and comply with international law. That is not just a question of justice but of effectiveness.
Women's rights are human rights.
If resources become scarce, people tend to fight for them. This is increasing the number of people on the move and the number of people forced to move. They're not refugees, according to the legal definition, but they represent a major humanitarian and human rights challenge, as well as a major challenge for world politics.
I don't have any doubts either about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Perhaps some more should be added to the list, but I don't have the slightest doubt about human rights.
