Martti Ahtisaari Quotes

Minority rights are just as important as majority decisions.

We have the history of slavery or inequality to women, and now the civil rights movement of the 21st century is the struggle for equality for the gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. And I think it's important for Americans to know about the times that we failed.

The principal factors which influenced my life are 1) nonviolent tactics; 2) constitutional means; 3) democratic procedures; 4) respect for human personality; 5) a belief that all people are one.

Minority rights have to be protected. That is America’s great contribution to the world.

One needs to place the spotlight more on vulnerable groups of the population such as minorities, indigenous populations, migrants, and historically disadvantaged communities. Placing the spotlight on them brings their plight to the fore and enables the forging of a national consensus to act for their relief and protection.

We are a nation of minorities. In a nation of minorities, you can’t cherry-pick rights.

Minorities should be free from any kind of insecurity.

Human Rights

I rejoice that I have lived to see this day, when the colored people of this favored land, by law, have equal privileges with the most favored. And I have faith to believe that ere long equal justice will be granted to the poor Indians and the Chinese.

It is not force or fear, but belief in the inherent equality of man induces me to support this legislation.

I'm a huge advocate for human rights and cultural rights. I stand up for minorities and will always continue to do so.

Humanity has gained its suit; Liberty will nevermore be without an asylum.

You could protect a religious minority against gays and lesbians. Or you could protect gays and lesbians against a religious minority. And then, it seems to me something political is happening. Because we're not really looking at the kind of speech that is injurious.

If you are a minority, it is important that you have legal ways to defend yourself in the society in which you live.

We learn that Comrade [President of South Africa Nelson] Mandela has announced in a speech that he hopes for a bright future in South Africa for ‘liberty’ and ‘equality.’ Anyone who has thought about it realizes that liberty and equality are antithetical concepts. You can have one, or you can have the other, but you certainly cannot have both. As to that, either concept is a rather futile goal. Equality is biologically impossible, and liberty is only obtainable in homogeneous populations very thinly spread.

I grew up as a discriminated minority in a dictatorship, so obviously the issue of human rights is a matter of concern for me.

Liberty and equality--lovely and sacred words!

Like being a woman, like being a racial religious tribal or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights.

Gay rights are human rights, there is no separation.

You spend so much time barking up the civil-rights tree, you don't even know there's a human-rights tree on the same floor.

Every man has a right to be equal with every other man.

Liberty is inseparable from social justice, and those who dissociate them, sacrificing the first with the purpose of attaining the second more quickly, are the true barbarians of our time.

Canada must be progressive, and Canada must be a just society.

I just believe in standing up for people and against discrimination. I consider myself an advocate for human rights.

The struggle for equality is really a struggle for democracy, and that's why it's a struggle for all the population.