Our world is one of terrible contradictions. Plenty of food, but one billion people go hungry. Lavish lifestyles for a few, but poverty for too many others. Huge advances in medicine while mothers die every day in childbirth, and children die every day from drinking dirty water. Billions spent on weapons to kill people instead of keeping them safe.
Ban Ki-moonThe power of the leader is given to him by the people, so he has a duty to engage and listen more attentively and carefully to the aspirations of the people.
Ban Ki-moonWe have all heard of the web of life. The way we live threatens to trap us in a web of death.
Ban Ki-moonMen must teach each other that real men do not violate or oppress women - and that a woman's place is not just in the home or the field, but in schools and offices and boardrooms.
Ban Ki-moonUniversal ratification of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict will establish an international moral consensus that no child should take part in hostilities or be involuntarily recruited and that former child soldiers should be assisted by their governments after a life of violence and distress.
Ban Ki-moon