John Prendergast Quotes

If women are being oppressed in Egypt or children are being forced to join armies in the Congo, for example, it is not only acceptable but wonderful for Americans to be concerned, outraged, and active.

Men and women who know the brutal reality of war, who know that war strips people of their very humanity, must unite in a new global partnership for peace.

We could have peace in one year if women were organized.

For me, it's not an option to despair. The question is: what can we do to make someone's life better? Take the unimaginable strides made in places like Bosnia, where I cut my teeth, and Rwanda. Their stories aren't perfect, but I wouldn't have dreamt they could happen in a million years.

Working with women survivors of war has taught me that we need to listen to women's perspectives on war in order to understand how to effectively rebuild a country, a community and a family.

I can promise you that women working together - linked, informed and educated - can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.

I tried to go to Kosovo to establish a statue to commemorate those who died during the wars, and to discuss moving on, so we could move into a new era. But I was banned from there.

Like life, peace begins with women. We are the first to forge lines of alliance and collaboration across conflict divides.

Through my years of working on war and peace in Africa, I have learned that there are solutions to some of the greatest human rights challenges, and we all can be a part of those solutions.

Peace does not mean just to stop wars, but also to stop oppression and injustice.

You will not really have durable peace without a proper security structure in the Middle East.

Jesus said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers.' And I think a lot of people don't understand that there's a difference between a peace lover and a peacemaker. Everybody loves peace, but wearing jewelry around your neck and saying 'I love peace' doesn't bring it.

The East Timorese government does not believe that we should consider compensation for the victims because there are tens of thousands of people who were, in one way or another, affected by the violence either directly or indirectly.

The business of peace requires more than showing up with paint brushes, foodstuffs and an oil pipeline or two.

To many, peace is what enables development and is critical in providing opportunities to young people. To some - especially those from regions involved in conflict - peacekeeping and efforts to preserve peace are absolutely vital in bringing prosperity and hope for the future.

The preservation of peace and the guaranteeing of man's basic freedoms and rights require courage and eternal vigilance: courage to speak and act - and if necessary, to suffer and die - for truth and justice; eternal vigilance, that the least transgression of international morality shall not go undetected and unremedied.

Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice.

In many parts of the world, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan, terrorism, war and conflict stop children to go to their schools. We are really tired of these wars. Women and children are suffering.

We in the West think of peace as society's default position. War is a temporary state of affairs that happens when peace fails. For us, war is something that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. When it is over, win or lose, the warring factions lay down their arms and resume their normal lives.

The British Red Cross asked me to help them spearhead a fundraising campaign for the victims of the war in Nicaragua. It was a turning point in my life. It began my commitment to justice and human rights issues.

The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women.

The concept of military readiness is well understood, but readiness for what happens after the fighting stops is just as important.

The fragility and powerlessness of the state in large swathes of Africa, and the uncivil nature of the forces that emerge to fill the gaps, give cause for concern. In places such as Sierra Leone or Liberia, where there is mass illiteracy and up to three-quarters of the women have been raped, what are the prospects for civil peace and reducing widespread violence?

Women are not just victims of oppression or vectors of change. They are the artisans of social capital, that lattice of values that is the glue that holds societies together. It is they who repair the torn social fabric of communities in the difficult post-conflict situations. They are the custodians of values, who nurture these values in the next generation.

… the many armed conflicts which continue to afflict the world today present us daily with dramatic images of misery, hunger, illness and death. Without peace, there can be no form of economic development.  Violence never begets peace, the necessary condition for development.