I believe that our world needs an instrument of global action as never before in history. I believe that the United Nations is the instrument for securing peace and for giving people everywhere, in poorer countries as in richer, a real stake in that peace by promoting development and encouraging cooperation. But the United Nations is only an instrument, an actor in need of props and cues from its directors, And so I will paraphrase Winston Churchill: Give us the tools-the trust, the authority and the means-and we will do the job.

If we are to make poverty history, we must have the active participation of States, civil society and the private sector, as well as individual volunteers.

HIV/AIDS has become much more than a health issue. HIV/AIDS is a development issue, it's a security issue.

Can the state, which represents the whole of society and has the duty of protecting society, fulfill that duty by lowering itself to the level of the murderer, and treating him as he treated others? The forfeiture of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict it on another, even when backed by legal process.

There is no development strategy more beneficial to society as a whole - women and men alike - than the one which involves women as central players.

My intimate knowledge of the [UN] system allowed me to get things done despite the many obstacles.

You need younger men in Africa, men and women in African politics.