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

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

Many people think that we have no shared value system in the world today but we actually do.

The aim of human rights, if I may borrow a term from engineering, is to move beyond the design and drawing-board phase, to move beyond thinking and talking about the foundations stones - to laying those foundation stones, inch by inch, together.

Sharing experience and building public support for the full range of rights is more powerful than legal cases.

The corporate sector per se is bottom-line oriented. It can be very corrupt and it is not very principled. That is why I don't think it is sufficient just to have voluntary codes of behavior. I am in favor of legislation which helps to ensure that there is an even playing field and rewards those who play by the rules.

I do not support individual countries taking military action against another country because of its human rights record, or subsequently justifying taking such action on human rights grounds.