Quote by Wangari Maathai: “A wrong is a wrong, and no matter who does it, it is still wrong.”

Justice doesn't shift based on who breaks the rules. Whether a powerful government or an ordinary person commits harm, the harm is equally real. This challenges the common habit of excusing wrongdoing when it comes from people we admire or agree with.

Maathai wrote this in her 2006 memoir Unbowed, reflecting on decades of standing against environmental destruction and government repression in Kenya. The mid-2000s were a period of intense scrutiny of international justice, with the International Criminal Court newly operational and African leaders debating accountability.

Kenyan environmental and political activist and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in 2004. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, mobilising Kenyan women to plant tens of millions of trees and link environmental conservation to women's rights and democracy.