Many of the world’s humanitarians have stood up for human rights. They recognized that peace and progress can never be achieved without them.

L. Ron Hubbard, writer and philosopher, wrote in 1951, six years after World War II: “Ideas and not battles mark the forward progress of mankind.”

Mahatma Gandhi, the great advocate of peaceful resistance to oppression, described nonviolence as “the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”

Martin Luther King, Jr., when championing the rights of black people in the United States in the 1960s, declared that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Nelson Mandela, in accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, declared “This must be a world of democracy and respect for human rights, a world freed from the horrors of poverty, hunger, deprivation and ignorance, relieved of the threat and the scourge of civil wars and external aggression and unburdened of the great tragedy of millions forced to become refugees.”

Voltaire, fighting fiercely against religious persecution in his 18th century France, wrote “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has emphasized that “Human rights are your rights. Seize them. Defend them. Promote them. Understand them and insist on them. Nourish and enrich them.”

Photo credits:
Mahatma Gandhi – India Consulate General
Martin Luther King, Jr. – Corbis
Voltaire – New York Public Library
Kofi Annan – United Nations
Nelson Mandela – United Nations