In an age where community involvement and partnerships with civil society are increasingly being recognized as indispensable, there is clearly a growing potential for cooperative development and renewal worldwide.

It is my aspiration that health finally will be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for.

To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.

Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for a day; it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity. On this International Human Rights Day, let us continue to work together to develop and nurture in future generations a culture of human rights, to promote freedom, security and peace in all nations.

If you are neutral in a situation where one side is patently being mistreated, the conclusion is that you're siding with this wrong.

UN is made even more complex by the constant interplay of politics and bureaucracy and can certainly be bewildering for a novice.

It may seem sometimes as if a culture of peace does not stand a chance against the culture of war, the culture of violence and the cultures of impunity and intolerance. Peace may indeed be a complex challenge, dependent on action in many fields and even a bit of luck from time to time. It may be a painfully slow process, and fragile and imperfect when it is achieved. But peace is in our hands. We can do it.