Peter Maurer Quotes

As a consequence of these hesitations and of the vague character of such innovations, the Commission on Human Rights itself had doubts from the beginning about its role and its functions in general.

Ensuring the respect of international humanitarian law and principles is one of the key areas necessary to establish accountability chains.

The world must know that America holds to the highest standards of military conduct and human rights protections. Anything less is unacceptable.

I do think that every super power on the globe has a very poor record on human rights.

Abuse of human rights and international law demand resolution - whoever is responsible.

I believe the only time when we can call for intervention is when there is an ongoing genocide.

In fact, the converse is true: At a time when the United States has been called on for a level of moral leadership, vision and inspiration not seen since World War II, we cannot afford to dissemble about crimes against humanity.

To have a body of humanitarian law, built up over decades and accepted by the great majority of U. N. member states, without an enforcement mechanism is a fruitless exercise.

Human rights enforcement at the international level needs to be handled in a manner similar to the treatment of military aggression under a collective security regime. The violation of human rights in one state must be considered the concern of all, and enforcement mechanisms must provide for a unified response on the part of the entire international community.

It is both wrong and short-sighted to believe that we can better protect our national security interests by ignoring or sidelining human rights.

Those who still believe the United Nations is a human rights organization with the best of intentions are kidding themselves.

Big global players like China need to do a better job of respecting human rights.

Not enough countries, not enough armies, not enough armed groups are abiding by the fundamental human values enshrined in the Geneva Conventions.

I've been studying Israeli army martial arts. I now know 16 ways to kick a Palestinian woman in the back.

As an investigative filmmaker, I helped expose atrocities committed by ISIS against women and girls. They are evil, and we have to stop them.

We need to understand that the Geneva Conventions are not just some historical documents born of another time, created for another purpose.

America should always stand for human rights and freedom, but not through endless military intervention.

Human rights in China should absolutely play a role in broader U.S. policy toward China. When we look the other way on fundamental issues of human rights, we are also responsible.

Well, this is an unfortunate part of the UN institution. It's the - the theater of the absurd. It doesn't only cast Israel as the villain; it often casts real villains in leading roles: Gadhafi's Libya chaired the UN Commission on Human Rights; Saddam's Iraq headed the UN Committee on Disarmament.

I abhor anything that constitutes torture. Water-boarding, it's perfectly clear to me it is torture. I never supported extraordinary rendition to torture, always said that Guantanamo should be closed. There is no clash of ideals and pragmatism there.

When human rights are systematically abused, it raises the question whether it may be legitimate in some circumstances for the international community to intervene within individual states as well as in conflicts between states.

At Al Jazeera, the first story I did was to sit down with a former Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, and grill him about crimes against humanity. Al Jazeera is giving me the opportunity to tell important stories and stories that I want to tell.

Liberals have been committed to the principles of human rights, international stability, and international justice. They have also sought international solutions to those problems which have demanded collective attention.

I hope the example of Saddam Hussein will give a lesson to leaders of other countries where human rights are not respected.

I care about people's human rights and, as a country, we have a very proud record indeed. But I'm also realistic about what we can do... we can raise those issues with leaders and we can talk about those issues, and we do that.