Today's human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow's conflicts.

If you are small and don't particularly want credit for what you are doing, you can achieve a lot.

You can convene a wider cross-section if you have no turf to defend, because then you don't cut across anyone else's agenda and you can achieve a great deal.

The MDGs have been useful in moving human rights and development discourse together and in highlighting the need for greater accountability at all levels.

Particularly here in the United States there is a lack of comprehension about anything to do with the United Nations.

Thanks to the European Union, Ireland has a much more open climate of discussion and debate, as you can see in the media. It means that we are a more questioning society, perhaps more honestly prepared to address serious issues and problems, more open to the idea that different viewpoints should be heard and respected.

The fight for human rights is about speaking truth to power.