Quotes from Antonio Guterres

A refugee in the traditional vision is someone who flees from country to another because of persecution or conflict. But what we're witnessing now more and more is a certain number of mega-trends interacting with one another: population growth, urbanization, food insecurity, water scarcity, climate change, and conflict.

Facing dramatic global challenges, we need a global capacity to address them that reaffirms the importance of multilateralism and the importance of a rules-based set of international relations, based on the rule of law and in accordance with the U.N. Charter.

Denying the rights of women and girls is not only wrong in itself; it has a serious social and economic impact that holds us all back.

Women's rights are human rights.

World Migratory Bird Day is an opportunity to celebrate the great natural wonder of bird migration - but also a reminder that those patterns, and ecosystems worldwide, are threatened by climate change.

Authorities that erect major obstacles to migration - or place severe restrictions on migrants' work opportunities - inflict needless economic self-harm, as they impose barriers to having their labor needs met in an orderly, legal fashion. Worse still, they unintentionally encourage illegal migration.

Our world needs to move from managing crises to preventing them in the first place. Too often, the world responds too late and too little.

One of the most frustrating things is to see a country in which you had elections, the elections were a success, but then you have to say to people nothing can be improved in the next few months, even in the next few years, in infrastructure, in water, in sanitation, in health, in education, in jobs.

I do believe that the international community cannot act based on a rivalries or things of that sort.

The IMF acts on the mandate of the international community.

Migration powers economic growth, reduces inequalities, and connects diverse societies. Yet it is also a source of political tensions and human tragedies.

The world's problems transcend borders.

We have to transcend our differences to transform our future.

Gender equality has a transformative effect that is essential to fully functioning communities, societies, and economies.

Humanitarian response, sustainable development, and sustaining peace are three sides of the same triangle.

It's true that globalization, with all its fantastic improvements in the world and the technological progress linked to it, has increased inequality at country level, especially inside countries. And there are people that were left behind - people, sectors, regions - that has created a sense of frustration in the rust belts of the world.

There is never a humanitarian solution for a humanitarian crisis. The solutions for the humanitarian crisis are always political ones.

Stateless people are hidden. During the 2011 refugee crises, it was obvious that people were fleeing Somalia and Libya - there was a lot of international attention. Statelessness goes undetected because stateless people are in legal limbo and are afraid to show up.

All Bangladeshi citizens, including minorities and women, must feel safe and confident in exercising their right to vote.

As we face the headwinds of our troubled and turbulent times, let us always be inspired by the legacy of Kofi Annan - and guided by the knowledge that he will continue speaking to us, urging us on toward the goals to which he dedicated his life and truly moved our world.

As a global community, we face a choice. Do we want migration to be a source of prosperity and international solidarity, or a byword for inhumanity and social friction?

When two people are together, they are not two but six: what each one is, what each one thinks he or she is, and what each one thinks the other is. And what is true for people is also true for countries and organisations.

Torture remains unacceptable and unjustified at all times, including during states of emergency, political instability, or even in a war.

I'm not a multilateralist against anybody. I'm a multilateralist because I believe in a multilateral order.