Peter Maurer Quotes
-
I have known Sepp Blatter, FIFA and football for a long time, and there are some fundamental values which FIFA and the ICRC share.
-
It has always been clear that any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
-
We believe that settlement expansion policies pursued in recent decades by successive Israeli governments have facilitated the process of de-facto annexation. It has complicated the dialogue between the different communities.
-
The discourse of sovereignty is a relative one when a crisis has become a global crisis.
-
Torture can destroy the social fabric of communities, degrade a society's institutions, and undermine the integrity of its political systems.
-
The ICRC did not see Nazi Germany for what it was. Instead, the organization maintained the illusion that the Third Reich was a 'regular partner,' a state that occasionally violates laws, not unlike any army during World War II, occasionally using illegal means and methods of warfare.
-
We must understand the factors that cause fragility, violence, and conflict in order to develop solutions that will meaningfully reduce instability at its roots rather than merely addressing the symptoms.
-
Conflicts are not temporary interruptions: they are structural, socio-economic catastrophes, and funding must be allocated accordingly.
-
The whole essence of humanitarian work and the Geneva Convention is that neutral, impartial organisations can operate during war.
-
Where you are born, your parent's beliefs, or your ethnic background should not make you a target.
-
If private-sector capital can be harnessed for social good, the potential to scale humanitarian solutions is vast.
-
We see a transformation of warfare from the big armies and battlefields in open spaces to a fragmentation of armed groups and smaller armies, which move into city centres, which increasingly become the theatre of warfare.
-
We demonize our enemies at our own peril.
-
Trust into leadership evaporates with communities when they see that their problems are not adequately addressed, neither at the national level nor at the international arena.
-
Conflicts are increasingly causing devastation in densely populated urban centres rather than open battlefields, creating a host of new problems through the cumulative impact from the destruction of vital services like water and electricity.
-
Local businesses and communities must be included from the very start in developing solutions to fragility, violence, and conflict.
-
The sad fact is that horrendous human conflict is nothing new.
-
Can you really send back people to where they are fleeing from?
-
Until the last nuclear weapon is eliminated, more must also be done to reduce the risk of a detonation. Nuclear-armed states should reduce the number of warheads on high alert and be clearer about the actions they are taking to prevent accidents.
-
There is great potential for investments that are built around improving social, environmental, and economic conditions.
-
Each day that passes without kids being able to go to school is an enormous burden on the future.
-
We cannot guarantee that a humanitarian catastrophe of the extent of the Holocaust will not happen again. On the contrary, we witness a catalogue of atrocities every day in wars across the globe.
-
The relatively unpredictable flow of funds to humanitarian organizations, and the bureaucratic strings often attached to them, can have a highly negative impact on an organization's ability to plan and execute programmes effectively. We need to be able to rely on predictable income flows to plan sustainable programmes.
-
Economic activity can help repair war-torn societies, but if it's not conducted responsibly, it can also create or prolong violence. Companies and international organisations must help strengthen communities and overcome the trauma of violence.