“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” – Nelson Mandela

“A right delayed is a right denied.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt (US President 1933-1945)

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. … Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” – Eleanor Roosevelt (First Lady)

“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” – John F. Kennedy (US President, 1961-1963)

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” – Elie Wiesel, human rights activist who wrote books about his experience during the Holocaust. 

“We declare that human rights are for all of us, all the time: whoever we are and wherever we are from; no matter our class, our opinions, our sexual orientation.” – Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2007-2016, from S. Korea)

“Our hopes for a more just, safe, and peaceful world can only be achieved when there is universal respect for the inherent dignity and equal rights of all members of the human family.” – UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (2013-2021, from S. Africa)

“There can be no peace without development, no development without peace, and no lasting peace or sustainable development without respect for human rights and the rule of law.” – Former UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson (2012-2016, from Sweden)

"When you deprive people of their right to live in dignity, to hope for a better future, to have control over their lives, when you deprive them of that choice, then you expect them to fight for these rights."  Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan

Another interesting, less famous, quotation from Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan:  "Social media are a catalyst for the advancement of everyone's rights. It's where we're reminded that we're all human and equal It's where people can find and fight for a cause, global or local, popular or specialized, even when there are hundreds of miles between them."