Peter Maurer Quotes

It is conflict overall that mires people in poverty. That is the first law of development.

If development is the new name for peace, war and preparations for war are the major enemy of the healthy development of peoples

… 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.

Fragility, violence, and conflict are complex. Fragility is influenced by a wide set of factors, many of which are deeply entrenched, such as high social and income inequality. The lines between criminal, inter-communal, and politically motivated violence are often blurred.

Fundamentalist governments and organizations endanger stability in the world.

If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or both. Anarchy is one of the main reasons for violence, and it may be the most important.

Wars such as those which have occurred in Iraq only allow hatred, violence and terror to proliferate.

Many developing countries continue to be burdened by high percentages of their population living in poverty. Yet, instead of addressing this root cause of conflict, many states, ironically, increase their military might in order to control increasingly desperate populations.

I'm sure corruption in Chechnya is minimal.

In any insurgency, the insurgents are in a win-win situation. Even though there is anger towards the insurgents as the result of violence, there is also anger towards the authorities for not protecting people.

The cry of the poor for bread has been answered by warheads!

Reconstruction requires security and security requires reconstruction.

We must be cognizant of the fact that the absence of economic rationality and perpetual political instability in our societies prevent us from fully benefiting from our resources as well as capabilities. In the extreme case, we find ourselves in devastating wars. Our conflict-ridden geography has substantially undercut our ability to develop economically. Natural wealth, including oil revenues has been wasted and the focus of attention has been other than human development

Failed states have become breeding grounds for conflict.

… terrorism is a plague in our countries. It compounds our development problems.

In fragile and conflict-affected states, education can insulate children from chaos and insecurity and better prepare them to bring about future stability.

Citizens victimized by genocide or abandoned by the international community do not make good neighbors, as their thirst for vengeance, their irredentism and their acceptance of violence as a means of generating change can turn them into future threats.

I do worry about civil unrest, or complete collapse of society, or having to flee, or Europe falling into a war.

Conflicts are not temporary interruptions: they are structural, socio-economic catastrophes, and funding must be allocated accordingly.

If there is one path above all others to war, it is the path of weakness and disunity.

Peace, development, and justice are all connected to each other. We cannot talk about economic development without talking about peace. How can we expect economic development in a battlefield?

The country [Afghanistan] faces enormous problems. There is a violent insurgency hampering the rule of law and developmental efforts.

Democracy cannot sustain itself amid a high degree of violence.

Let us pray for peace in Africa, especially in the Central African Republic and in South Sudan.

They say they seek security and quiet, the condition they call peace. Even as they speak they create the seeds of turmoil and violence.