Gelila Bekele Quotes

Clean water and health care and school and food and tin roofs and cement floor, all of these things should constitute a set of basics that people must have as birthrights.

There are billions of people in the world who deserve the better quality of life that products such as soap, shampoo, and clean drinking water can provide.

Civil and political rights are critical, but not often the real problem for the destitute sick. My patients in Haiti can now vote but they can't get medical care or clean water.

I believe that every American should have stable, dignified housing; health care; education - that the most very basic needs to sustain modern life should be guaranteed in a moral society.

I want to take human rights out of their box. I want to show the relevance of the universal principles of human rights to the basic needs of health, security, education and equality.

Health care is not a privilege. It's a right. It's a right as fundamental as civil rights. It's a right as fundamental as giving every child a chance to get a public education.

The right to protect the health and well-being of every person, of those we love, is a basic human right.

A considerable share of the world's population still cannot afford comfortable housing, education and quality health care.

If you look at the human condition today, not everyone is well fed, has access to good medical care, or the physical basics that provide for a healthy and a happy life.

Charities are now working to give people in poor countries access to the Internet. But shouldn't we spend that money on providing health clinics and safe water? Aren't these things more relevant? I have no intention of downplaying the importance of the Internet, but its impact has been exaggerated.

No one should ever be forced to choose between food and education, or medicine and shelter when they don't have the resources. It's very unfair.

Shouldn't everybody join hands to give the basic minimum - food, education and health - to the entire population?

We have a list of human rights - right to food, right to shelter, right to health, right to education, many such items which are considered and accepted as bill of rights. These are to be insured to people. So all nations, all societies try to do that.

… poor people deserve access to food, education, housing, and medical services

I'm opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, public education, or public health, period.

The poorest still deserve help with life's basic necessities regardless of the quality of their government.

Why is it that we ask the question about whether or not Indigenous people should have clean drinking water? We've got to take a minute and think why is that even a question. Yes, they deserve clean drinking water.

The most fitting monuments this nation can build are schoolhouses and homes for those who do the work of the world. It is no answer to say that they are accustomed to rags and hunger. In this world of plenty every human being has a right to food, clothes, decent shelter, and the rudiments of education.

You can't criticize people for wanting to have a decent life or wanting to live decently.

The battle was first waged over the right of the Negro to be classed as a human being with a soul; later, as to whether he had sufficient intellect to master even the rudiments of learning; and today it is being fought out over his social recognition.

Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

My personal feeling, if I can interject a political note, is that I don't think it is right that basic health care is a privilege. It shouldn't be. It should be a right of all human beings. And certainly in the richest country in the world.

Those in the developing world have so few rights - we take a lot for granted in the developed world.

Clean water and power is our right as humans on this earth, and for too long, our governments in Africa have failed to provide these things.

When women earn more, families are stronger, and children have better access to quality health care and education.