That is why I value the opportunity to be here tonight, to continue the dialogue. Above all, we must keep the lines of communication open. Above all, we must continue the dialogue. That is the way to keep our focus where it belongs � on human beings, with voices, and hopes, and needs.

I am not a politician � I have always been far more concerned with people than with power. But when policies are made, let me urge again and again that people be placed at their center. That principle must be paramount, especially in the most serious decision any country can make � the determination to go to war.

In any calculation of war we must factor in the consequences for those who do not fight. In my country and my work over the years I have seen the cost of conflict on the non-combatants.

Supporting refugees and those plunged into poverty and despair by war, and working with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, I have witnessed those consequences in the Middle East, in the former Yugoslavia, in Asia and Latin America. I have seen the faces of the women of Srebrenica, struggling to carry on without their husbands, fathers and sons, first without certain knowledge of what happened to them, and then with knowledge even more horrifying than uncertainty.

I have seen war�s effect in the supposedly ”temporary“ Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, and elsewhere in our region, where people endeavor to make a life and hang on, even half a century later, to the hope of returning to their homeland one day…

”…Some may dismiss these tragedies as sad, but too distant to matter. But if there is one thing recent history has taught, it is that when one country suffers the devastation of famine, desperation, lawlessness, and loss of hope � that level of suffering is rarely contained within geographic or economic boundaries…

“…I can only hope that a long hard look at war itself would convince people that, although nations must sometimes fight to end a war, starting a war is no way to resolve a conflict. The environmental devastation and human displacement, the hardships and setbacks, the massive destruction and suffering that foment extremism � all make war a lose-lose situation for everyone involved.

Such prospects are dire enough in themselves. But the devastation comes not only during conflict. Much of my work has been devoted to ameliorating the grim aftermath of war.

Landmines, laid during conflicts as long ago as World War II and as recently as the wars in the Balkans, are still killing and maiming civilians at a rate of one almost every 20 minutes . Small arms, borne by militias or released into general circulation by demobilization, fuel crime, gang warfare and genocide. Semi-permanent refugee camps breed disease, hunger, and human trafficking. Destruction of infrastructure, homes, and livelihoods � all these make carrying on almost impossible. And unresolved hatreds, fired by a sense of injustice, simply simmer below the surface until next time.