“The world, today, needs change; it needs leaders who have the belief, the principle and the courage to demand a shared vision of respect, beyond the confines of our own conceit; a recognition that we are a global community; one world, one family. But rhetoric is easy. Action demands something more; it demands perseverance, humility and empathy. In order to build a more peaceful world; one in which stability and security are not just ideals, but a reality that underpins our common humanity, we have to shift our outlook; dare to gaze beyond our personal or even national gain, in contemplation of a greater endeavour. Our actions have weight beyond our own lives. Our children, and their children after them, will look back across the years to the legacy that we determine now.”
Nirj Deva is the first person in history to be born in one continent, elected to Parliament in another, and then elected to represent that country as a member of a multi-national Parliament (the European Parliament). In 1992 he was elected to the United Kingdom Parliament, as the Conservative Member for Brentford and Isleworth. Appointed Vice President of the Development Committee in 2009, he remains a Member of the South Asia Delegation and of the Subcommittee on Human Rights. His phenomenal international development work led to his nomination as Secretary General of the UN to succeed Kofi Annan in 2006.