Peter Maurer Quotes

We have already provided a strong humanitarian response to the problems in the Middle East and that response will be stronger within coming days.

Governments of rich countries spend some $6bn of tax money a year on disaster relief and development aid overseas, while each new earthquake, famine or tidal wave can attract 1,000 aid organisations, from the United Nations Children's Fund and Oxfam to the 'Jesus Brigades' of the American south and other charitable adventurers.

I am grateful to President George W. Bush for PEPFAR, which is saving the lives of millions of people in poor countries and to both Presidents Bush for the work we've done together after the South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake.

Humanitarian response, sustainable development, and sustaining peace are three sides of the same triangle.

I think we are challenged in how we define humanitarian action today and how we relate to long-term needs. We are also confronted with legitimate expectations from the people who want us to respond far more thoroughly to their basic pleas than we would have done in a much more contained form of conflict.

The E.U. intends to be one of the biggest humanitarian donors on the Syrian crisis.

To respond to people's needs, humanitarian action has evolved from a temporary fix to a long-term safety net.

Humanitarian assistance, once conceived as a short-term relief effort, is increasingly the only substitute for long-term development work in protracted armed conflicts.

The United Nations has a proud record of helping millions of people in mine-affected countries.

Acumen Fund is my prayer in response to genocide and what happened in Rwanda.

One of the things we have to acknowledge is that if you look at Haiti, many billions of dollars have gone into development aid there that have not been effective.

The U.N.'s humanitarian agencies rely on charitable donations from the public as well as the generosity of governments to continue their lifesaving work in response to natural disasters, armed conflicts and other emergencies.

I covered Katrina, I've covered the tsunamis, all of them, the Haiti earthquake... you get to a certain point in your career where you say, 'I want to now cover what I want to cover.'

The United States should help strengthen nongovernmental humanitarian agencies working in Sudan so that they can handle an increased flow of aid.

Just a little help, a small security force, a bit of food, can save lives.

C-17s should be ready to go at various military bases around the world packed with water, food, medical supplies, sleeping bags and tents, all prepared to be air dropped in alongside soldiers and doctors to begin relief efforts.

The first law of disaster relief could well read: every political decision has humanitarian consequences, and every humanitarian program has political implications.

Through the example of our own policies as well as leadership in international fora, the United States should work towards adoption of more effective policies to avert, respond to, and resolve refugee and related humanitarian crises.

We encourage the international community to redouble its efforts to support social and economic development in South Sudan for the benefit of the citizens of the new country.

The humanitarian aid system is built on a concept that when disaster strikes, outside agencies provide a temporary helping hand until people can take back control of their own lives. But across the world, we see millions of people caught in semi-permanent crises. As each year goes by, they are less and less likely to break free.

Well-spent aid money is saving lives for a few thousand dollars per life saved.

The principal cause of suffering during humanitarian crises is insufficient respect of applicable rules of international humanitarian law.

We need to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians and accept our fair share of refugees.

We are looking at what more we can do. As well as a strong security response we need a strong humanitarian one.

We need to be able to demonstrate that what we do in today's world, in humanitarian aid, the enormous effort to minimize the tragic situations that we see all over the world, I think, without the U.N., people would suffer much more, and the situation would be much more terrible.