Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annanis a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world." He is the founder and the Chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as being the chairman of The Elders, a group founded by Nelson Mandela...
NationalityGhanaian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth8 April 1938
CityKumasi, Ghana
CountryGhana
What governments and people don't realise is that sometimes the collective interest - the international interest - is also the national interest.
On climate change, we often don't fully appreciate that it is a problem. We think it is a problem waiting to happen.
When economic conditions are difficult, people tend to be less generous and protect themselves; the question of solidarity doesn't mean much to them at that time.
Unfortunately, very few governments think about youth unemployment when they are drawing up their national plans.
I don't share the view that the ICC is anti-African. The ICC is not putting Africa on trial. The ICC is fighting impunity and individuals who are accused of crimes.
Time and again, when member states and the governments are faced with an insoluble problem, and they're under pressure to do something, that something usually ends up being referred to the U.N.
If information and knowledge are central to democracy, they are conditions for development.
There are no excuses, ... If we are to show ourselves worthy of calling ourselves members of humankind, we must rise to this challenge. Our response will be no less than a measure of our humanity.
The only way to halt an escalation of violence is for Israelis and Palestinians to work towards a viable negotiating process aimed at a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement,
The only way to escape from the present downward spiral lies through ending the violence and resuming negotiations aimed at comprehensive peaceful settlement based on relevant United Nations resolutions,
We are taking very active measures to ensure that we do not have any more bad apples in that department, ... We are going to act very energetically to take measures to ensure that what happened does not happen again.
to protect themselves against criticism or to criticize others.
While many parts of the United Nations have been involved in the peace-building process, the system has lacked a dedicated entity to oversee the process, ensure its coherence or sustain it through the long haul.
Whether our challenge is peacemaking, nation-building, democratization or responding to natural or man-made disaster, we have seen that even the strongest amongst us cannot succeed alone.