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--
First Lady Hillary Clinton
Remarks at USAID Girls' Education Conference
Washington, D.C.
May 7, 1998
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�Thank you. I am so very honored to join you today. Before !begin, I want
to share with you the best description I've ever read of why this conference is so
important. It didn't come from a think tank or a government report or a prestigious
research study. It came from a college student in New Delhi [Anasuya Sengupta],
who gave me a poem she had written. In it, she wrote.
"Too many women in too many countries speak the same language-- of
silence ... There must be freedom -- if we are to speak. And yes, there must be
power -- if we are to be heard."
We are here to make sure that all children have the freedom and power to
make their voices ring as loudly as the 75 members of the World Children's Choir.
And we are here because of the powerful voices in this room. I want to thank
everyone who made this extraordinary event possible, especially Brian Atwood,
Margaret Lycette, Susie Clay and the entire U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID). All over the world, I have seen the fruits of the Girls and
Women's Education Initiative and your other efforts to put a quality education
within the grasp of every child.
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�------·-·------------~---------,----~---
Let me also recognize our co-sponsors: UNICEF; the Inter-American
Development Bank, the World Bank, the Delegation of the European Commission, .
and the Lewis T. Preston Education Fund for Girls. Thank you all.
I want to extend a warm welcome to the First Lady of Ghana, Nana
Rawlings; Miss Fujimori[Foo-hee-MOH-ree] from Peru; the Ministers and Vice
Ministers; Cabinet Officials; Parliamentarians; Ambassadors; non-governmental
organizations; leaders from the media, businesses, religious organizations; and
other distinguished guests from 42 countries all over the globe:
When I look out at this impressive gathering, I know that we can give all
children primary education, secondary education ... the education they need to reach
their God-given promise.
As I have been privileged to travel around the world, I've met citizens
struggling to find a voice in a time of increasing democracy, information, and
globalization. I've met families working to put a roof over their children's heads
and food on their tables. I've visited communities, where people have banded
together to create a healthier, more prosperous tomorrow for all who live there.
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�And when I ask Presidents and citizens alike, "How is it that you were able to
do it? How is it that you've inade so much progress?':' They all say-the same thing:
Education. There is no more powerful tool for a child, a family, a democracy, for
our world, than a good education. Education is not a luxury for some. It is a
necessity for all. The World Bank says education has the highest rate of return of
any investment in developing nations. And that's especially true for girls'
.
"
education.
When we·educate a girl, we improve the health of women and their families.
Research shows that the children of a mother who has even a single year of
. education-- a single year.-- have a 9 percent better chance to live to the age of 5 .
..
And those gains increase substantially with each additional year of schooling.
When we educate a girl, we decrease poverty by helping women support
. themselves and their families. A single year of education usually correlates with an
increased income of 10 to 20 percent for women later in life. In Senegal, we visited
a small village, Dal Diam [Jahm], where education for girls, and women's adult.
literacy programs, have been the first steps in turning five acres of barren desert
into an oasis of green.
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�When we educate a girl today, we create a leader tomorrow-- a teacher, an
engineer, a lawyer, a mother of a healthy and educated child, a woman in control of
her life, a President, and the most powerful person in the world -- a citizen.
That's why at international conferences and summits in Paris, Cairo,
Copenhagen, and Beijing, wejoined together to call for universal primary
education. We called for ending the gender disparities that, for too long, have
plagued primary and secondary schools and the girls who need them. And I want to
congratulate all of you ... for you have worked to lift these words off the page and
tum them into lasting achievements all over the world.
In developing countries, the primary school enrollment rate for girls has
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increased by 50percent since 1960. In the poorest countries, it has more than
doubled during that period. And, in this country, I remember what it was like more
than 25 years ago, when women in law school were few and far between. Today,
more than 40 percent of people getting law degrees here are women ... and the
number of women enrolled in college has increased by 20 percent.
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The fact is, the good news about the benefits of girls' education in this
modern world has been heard around the world. And, now communities, families,
and nations are finding innovative ways to change laws and minds so that more
girls get to school -- and stay there to complete their education.
In Bangladesh, I visited a school run by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement
Committee, an NGO that believes that education-- especially girls' education-- is a
pre-condition for economic development. Because of that, some of the BRAC
schools have been burned by extremist groups. But the schools keep being rebuilt.
In that country, I also saw how the government is working to provide
incentives for families to keep their daughters in school. The families get food each
week if they send their children, including their girls, to school. And, to help give
girls the chance to go to secondary school, the government actually deposits a small
amountofmoney in their family's barik account as long as the daughters attend
school.
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�I saw the results borne of President Museveni's promise of Universal
Primary Education in Uganda. I remember meeting a teacher who had 75
students ... no small challenge. But, instead of feeling frustrated she was proud.
Proud because for the first time, the girls in her class outnumbered boys.
We've seen results in Guatemala, where the government and the Foundation
for Sugar Producers teamed up to offer small.scholars:hips to girls in rural schools.
Between first and second grade, the drop out rate for girls in those schools was only
one percent-- that's compared to 30 percent nationwide. And in another
Guatemalan program, they've introduced afternoon school sessions to
accommodate girls who must carry out d-omestic and agricultural work in the
mornmgs.
·In Malawi, the
vill~gers
were not only asked why girls weren't attending
school...they were asked to come up with ideas to solve the problem. They
performed plays and skits. They waived school fees. They took responsibility for
getting girls enrolled in school. The result: Primary school enrollment for girls
increased from 50 to 83 percent.
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�·•
And in the Community Schools Program in Egypt, the number of girls
enrolled in school increased from 2,000 to 35,000. This happened bec~mse they
located the schools closer to homes, making them safer and more accessible. They
designed curricula that was culturally appropriate and approved by the village
leaders. And they trained women to teach the girls and asked parents to be school
monitors, thereby getting them actively involved in their daughters' education.
As we look across the globe we see a success story being written -- but a
success story that is far from complete. Right now, there are still 100 million
children worldwide who are out of school, and two-thirds of them are girls. 900
million people cannot read or write -- and sixty percent of them are women. Twothirds of the children who complete less than four years of primary education are
girls ... and countless others do not even have access to primary school. .. let alone
secondary school.
Without the ability to read or write or do math, girls are left out of the
information age, unable to increase their own incomes, and denied the chance to
contribute to their own societies;
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�fbelieve we face a number of key challenges. We must continue to work to
give all girls access to learning opportunities -- that means girls living in rural and
urban areas ... girls of every ethnic and cultural group. That means achieving the
goal of universal primary education ... and making sure girls move on and finish
secondary school as well.
I'll never forget the Pakistani women I met in the dusty courtyard of a school
built to give girls primary education. One mother talked about her 10 children -- 5
girls and 5 boys .. She had sent her daughters to this school, but now that they were
graduating, she had a problem. There were no secondary schools nearby. And
unlike their sons, they were unwilling to send their daughters away for school. So,
she asked me, and other mothers echoed her, if I would pass on to the government
of Pakistan their interest in having a secondary school for girls built in their village.
Brian was kind enough to share a soon-to-be-completed evaluation by
USAID that really makes it clear that the "second generation" of girls' education
initiatives must continue to expand girls' access to school, but also meet the
challenge of improving the quality of girls' education.
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�Many communities are being overwhelmed with an influx of students. They
are struggling to train large numbers of new teachers, provide basic supplies, and
maintain facilities. The quality of education -- which often suffers under these
circumstances-- is just one of the many reasons that girls who have access to school
.
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don't always stay there.·, In' rural areas of the poorest countries, up to 50 percent of
girls who enroll in primary school drop out before reaching the third grade~
Our battle will not be won until it is just as common for a girl to finish school
as it is for her to start. And our battle will not be won until every girl not only gets
to school, not oply stays in school, but also excels in school. Now, to win that
battle, we know we inust knock down a number of baJTiers. Legal and legislative
barriers, of course. But also cultural ones. Social challenges, yes. But also
economic ones.
· Girls education programs cannot be. isolated in a little box somewhere. They
must be part of everything we do to lift up developing and developed countries
alike. And no one cookie-cutter approach will work. Every nation has its own
unique
challenge~.
Every nation must find its unique solutions. And all of us must
. join together to make it happen.
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�In Arkansas, I saw what could be achieved when the public and private
sectors joined together to create the Home Instruction Program for Preschool
Youth. When they trained_parents to prepare their children for preschool at home,
the children's education improved. And I have seen successes borne of such
partnerships time and again from the inner cities of the United States to the outer
regions of Mongolia.
That's why this conference is so very important. As you have heard over the
last two days, every sector of society has a critical role to play. Religious
organizations can help parents understand that educating girls will not weaken their
religious or family traditions. And they can help keep girls in school by providing
child care so that older siblings don't have to stay home to care for younger ones.
Goveniment leaders can use the power of the purse and law to open the doors of
. education to all children and clear out the obstacles that keep therri from staying and
achieving.
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�•
Businesses can do what the Coffee Growers and the Sugar Producers
'·
Foundation have done in Guatemala-- provide scholarships so that pare~ts don't
have to choose between feeding their families and educating their daughters. They
can make sure that girls have transportation to and from school so that they never
have to risk their health or lives .to get an education. The media can help make th~
case about the value of educating girls and the importance of valuing girls -- not for
the way they look, but for how they think, for what's in their hearts and minds.
They can he~p parents and policy makers understand that when you educate a girl,
you educate a family, you lift up a community, you strengthen a nation. ·
And all of us must work together for the day when every single child in the
world walks through the school doors in their early years and walks out a successful
graduate in their later years. , We must work for the day when no child ever has to
live in silence. And we must live and work for the day when all children have a
voice ... the freedom to sing ... and the power to make themselves heard in their
families, their nations ... and, just like the children's choir, all over the world.
We will reach that day -- if you continue to stand together...just as you stand
today. Thankyou very much.
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)
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Remarks at the United Jewish Appeal Lion of Judah Conference
Washington, D.C.
September 14, 1998
Thank you so much. Some of you may know that I had the privilege of speaking to this
conference four years ago. I am personally delighted and very honored to be back to speak
again this year. I want to thank Betty Kane, Rebecca Newman, Ray Garfinkle and Berry
Sweet; Neil Rice, Carol Solomon, and Richard Wexler and all ofyou who have not only
planned this conference but who are deeply involved in the work of this organization
throughout the year.
I feel especially privileged to be gathering with leaders from the four corners of the earth.
And before I get into my speech, I want to congratulate one of those leaders, Betty Kane, for
her birthday today. I know that sometimes one of us would just assume that it not be
mentioned, but I didn't want the day to go by without joinir1g her friends and family in telling
her, as I tell all my friends, how grateful I am that another year in their lives has come, and
how pleased I am to be part oftheir lives. Anne Frank once;: said that no one need wait a
single moment before starting to improve the world. And I believe that with all my heart, and
I believe that all of you do as well.
There is so much that each of us can do in our own ways, and in our own corners of the
earth to make a difference. I am very honored that you would have me here because I know
that the women's.campaign never waits; Lion of Judah members never wait; the UJA never
waits; and you never wait. There are older citizens in the former Soviet Union who now have
food. And there are victims of family violence from Baltimore to Israel that now have a new
start. There are people all over Eastern Europe whose families are reunited and whose lives
have been improved. I want to thank you for the work you do every single day.
But when I read the theme for today's luncheon, "A Vision for Women in the Twenty-First
Century," I thought how fitting it was for us to have this small conversation-- the 1200 or so
that are gathered today -- to think through together what we imagine about women's lives in
the next century, and what we can do together on behalf of ourselves, our daughters, our
granddaughters and women everywhere.
I am also pleased that for the first time ever the chair of the UJA is a woman, Carol
Solomon. I am well aware of how you have been talking about issues over the days of this
conference -- ones that can no longer be pigeon holed as women's issues -- for which I am
personally very happy. I don't think health care, or child care, or domestic violence, or
education are women's issues. They are issues that should concern every person with good·
faith and a vision for the future. And you are helping to lead the way for all of us to do that.
Early in my husband's administration, I remember how 1-mset some people became when I
talked about what I thought of as a faith based belief in what each of us can do to make that
conversation to improve the world around us. There were some who did not want or expect
anyone in the publicarena to be talking about matters offaith and the fact that we have
obligations because of the blessings we were given to help others to find the blessings in their
own lives.
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But in the last four years since that has pccurred, I have seen a change as more and more
people are willing to step into the public arena, in the not-for-profit arena, and bring with
them their strong conviction that we do have obligation to one another -- that we are
interdependent; that we have to work harder together to cn:ate the kind of world we
envision. Because, certainly, if we just talk about what we envision for women in the 21st
Century, we have no context in which we put that vision. We have to imagine what kind of
world the woman we see in the 21st century will live in; will marry in; will be educated in;
will raise children in; will make her own contributions in. So, we can't just be narrowly
focused. We have to have a broader range of thought in order to begin the discussion about
the vision we share for women in the next century.
I think it is particularly appropriate that this group and all ofus together do that as you
prepare for the high holidays and as we all prepare for the new century. It is time for us to
reflect on who we are and where we are going.
My husband and I have launched a Millennium project at the White House, which is really an
attempt on our part to get Americans to think about where we have been as a p~ople, where
we are today, and where we wish to go. We've adopted a theme for that kind of conversation
we would like to occur in our country; the theme is "honor the past-imagine the future."
Well, I think that is an appropriate theme for us here today. Because by honoring the past, in
both a personal and a public way -- as this organization does -- you have helped create the
present and build a foundation for the future. But we cannot have the kind of future we
envision for humankind or for women in particular if we cannot imagine together what it
could look like.
I have been priviliged in .the past years to travel around the world. I have been priviliged in '
many places to visit Jewish communities which are coming back into their own after the
collapse of the Soviet Union. From Warsaw to Bukhara I have seen how the Jewish
community has kept it's hopes and traditions alive -- how it honored the past despite the
evils, the oppression, the troubles that were visited upon them.
I will never forget being in the Gilad Synagogue in Ukraine last November. Some of you may
know the history of that synagogue. The Nazis turned that holy place into a horse stable and
left a signature ofbullet holes in the ceiling. The Soviets had used it as a warehouse. But
because of the courage and the determination and the faith of the Jewish community that was
left and migrated back, all of a sudden it became again a holy gathering place for a vibrant
Jewish community.
The synagogue has been restored, but more than that, the faith and spirit of the people has
been restored as well. Once again, Jews can worship freely. Freedom of religion has been
reborn. The rabbi -- a young rabbi and his very energetic wife from New York, who are there
serving that community -- explained to me how much it meant to open a Jewish school there.
After so many years ofunspeakable hardship, the community-- through its children-- would
have a future that could be imagined.
What that rabbi understood, what that community understood, and what I have heard
throughout the world from people who have found the strength and determination to go on,
is that through whatever difficulties one goes, there is always the hope, the imagination, and
the vision to guide us if we have the energy and the commitment to formulate it.
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Now that is what Is organization has done, and that is what you individually in so many
instances have done. I kn.ow because I know some of ybu personally of your personal
concern and committment to the hurt; the sick, the hungry, the left out and left behind. I
know how hard you have worked to pass on your committment to pea~e and justice, and
how many .of you -- some of whom traveled with the President and me, some of whom were
at the White House on various occasions in the past -..., have worked so hard after the Oslo
Accords, to pray and do all that you can to make sure there is a lasting peace.
You have passed on ,the values of the past. The concerns that have driven you to feel as
Anne Frank would have asked us, that each of us can do something everyday to improve the
world. I know that there are individuals in this room who have poignant stories and whose
very lives honor the past. I could probably call out and ask so many to stand, and that
conversation, that intimate group we have here could come alive with stories of women .who
have gone forward despite the greatest of troubles.
I was told of one woman, Mrs. Clerman, from Miaffii~ CeciL Her story is especially poignant
because, as Israel celebrates its fiftieth birthday, it is because ofwork like hers that that
birthday could come with such celebration. She spent the war years in Romania and with the
exception of a brother and a sister, lost her entire family in the Holocaust. Instead of giving
up to sorrow, she went back to Romania and worked in the underground to teach childnre
Hebrew and to get them safely to Israel. Instead of giving up, she worked with her late
husband to create a state for the Jewish people and helped turn the dream of Israel into a
reality. Instead of giving up, she has generously dedicated her time and money to further the
vital missions of the UJA.
Now r have met countless women like her and like you. And what I am constantly struck by,
whether it is meeting with the small Jewish community in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, whether a :
Jewish community in Warsaw Poland, or a group of Mrican women villagers in Uganda, or
women who are trying to create their own small businesses· in Santiago, Chile -- no matter
where I am -- I hear the voices of women, no matter what language they speak, crying out
. for the opportunity to be able to live lives of meaning and purpose.
And the women I meet have all overcome terrible odds just to be where they are. The pride
on an African woman's face asshe shows me the rabbit hutc:hes she now keeps so she can
improve her family's income is just as real to me as the pride on the face of a friend of mine
who gets a big promotion in a corporation.
Each of them ·has done what she could do best to see a light and seize the opportunity to
imagine a better future. So what does that mean to those of us living in the United States at •
this particular point in history as we end this century?
I think there are several lessons that we have to take to hea1t. Many of the women whose
lives we admire -- Mrs. Clerman and so many others we could mention -- we admire because
they persevered, didn't they? They endured in the face ofvery difficult challenges. We
wonder if we would be as brave. We wonder if we would be as generous. Whether we woula
spend as much time and energy as they did helping others. We haven't- most ofus- been ·
challenged like they have. But, we have our own challenges, don't we? And one of our
challenges is how do we build a life of meaning and purpost;: in a land of so much plenty and
so many blessings? How do we use the gifts that God has given to us to make a difference in
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our lives and the lives· of those we. touch?
Now, very simplistically, there. are many answers to that. You are demonstrating answers to:
that by your being here. There is work to be done in every single community anywhere on .
the globe. And there is particular work to be done in the process of peace and reconciliationI
among those of different racial, religious, ethnic or tribal· backgrounds.
And that is a lesson that we as Americans must share with the rest of the world. I wish all of
you could have been with me, as Betty mentioned, when I was in Belfast. I have worked
with women in Northern Ireland for a couple of years. Just think for a minute about what life
has been like for Catholic and Protestant women in that part of the world for the last thirty
years. Think about what it must have felt like not knowing if your husband would get home
safely from work, or if your children would return safely from school, or if you would be a
victim of a bombing like those twenty nine people who died in Omagh, for reasons that make
very little sense and are driven by history and forces that want to use hatred to drive people .
apart instead of bringing them together.
But throughout those thirty years of troubles, there were women who had a vision of what
the future could be like. I met some of those women when I first went toNorthern Ireland
several years ago. I walked into a small fish and chips restaurant where I was going to be
meeting Catholic and Protestant women who had braved not only the abuse oftheir
neighbors, but the potential threats on their lives, to come together to sit around tables like
the one we sat around, to talk about the vision they had for their futures.
One woman made a particular impression on me. Her name was Joyce McCarten. She was a
grassroots activist. She had many people in her .extended family killed during the Troubles,
including one of her sons. She met me at the door, and stuck out her hand, and with' a big
grin said she had been looking forward to meeting me because she was a family feminist too.
Now, 1 had neyer heard the phrase before. But boy, do I lik1e the phrase. I like it because I
believe that any woman who cares about the future, families and children, cares about giving
opportunities to every little. boy and girl, knows how important it is that we have pea~e and
reconciliation so that every boy and girl can live up to his or her God-given potential.
And there is woman who walked across barbed wire streets to get to that restaurant to meet
with me, and I told her I would be proud to be considered a family feminist alongside her.
But I met many women that day, who are finally finding their voices. And that is what all of
us must do. It is more difficult certainly to find one's voice among violence and troubles than
perhaps it is-- even though we think not-- in times like this, when it is easy for our voices to •
get lost in a cacophony of noise.
I see women finding their voices in South Mrica, where in the aftermath of apartheid they
. decided they would build their own futures. I have visited them on dusty patches of what
appears to be barren ground outside of Capetown, where they are building homes for
themselves and their children.
I have met such women in China, where I was told about a panel ofwomen in Beijing that
they either would say nothing, or they would only parrot the government line. How wrong
that was. I have never had a livelier converstaion anywhere :in the world with women who
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were anxious to spill their voices out so that we could know what issues they were
concerned about, and I could begin to piece together the vision that they had for women in :
the future.
And you know what? The vision, whether it is Northern Ireland, or South Africa, or in
China, sounds very much the same to me. Women who want the tools of opportunity, who .
want to be educated to the fullest of their abilities, who want to be able to make the right
choices for their own lives, who want to be respected for the choices they do make, who
want to participate in the lives of their communities and their countries. There may be
diff'erent cultural and linguistic and racial tinges to these dreams they have, but at bottom I
hear the same voice coming from women everywhere.
We know that women cannot realize this vision-- a vision that was set forth eloquently at
the United Nation's Conference of Women in Beijing since we have last met. I know they
cannot realize that if they don't have the tools they need. And what are those tools? They are
tools that you are helping to provide. We know that they cannot make progress if they are
underfed or undervalued or underpaid. We know that women will never even be able to
envision a different future if when they are born they are devalued because they are girls
instead of boys, or denied schooling or health care commensurate with their abilities.
We know that women cannot build that vision of the future if they do not have access to
tools of opportunity such as credit to start businesses, child care so that their children are
well tended while they are working. We know that the progress. of nations depends on the
progress of women. And it is time that all of us understood what our contributions must be :
in order to make that possible. We know that women cannot have a vision of themselves or a
better future if they fear violence at the hands of their loved ones or strangers, or if they are
used as tools and tactics of war in ethnic conflicts.
We know they cannot have that vision if they are not at the tables where decisions are made'
about their lives and their families. We know they cannot have that vision if they do not have
control over their bodies or the access to the health care they need as they go through their
entire lives. We know that by providing these tools, we empower women throughout the
world to make the decisions they believe are right for themselves.
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You know sometimes when I talk about what women need or even when I say that women's.
rights are human rights, I am looked at quizzically, not only elsewhere in the world, but
sometimes here at home. I remember being on a Voice of America radio show, and I was
getting calls from all over the world, and a gentleman from the Middle East called in and
said, " I have heard you say that women's rights are human rights and human rights are
women's rights, but what does that mean?" And I said, "well, shut your eyes and imagine all
the rights that men have, and those are all the rights that women should have as well. And
they are no different-- no better or worse."
·
But in order to function in any society, they should have access to the same rights. And even.
here at home, I sometimes think that women's issues are marginalized. Talking about tools of
opportunity, or domestic violence, or even education and health care is sometimes viewed as
a soft issue -- a women's issue -- and I think nothing could be farther from the truth.
These are the issues that determine how we live together. And I am fond of pointing out that
during the 1996 election, a number of commentators criticized my husband because he talked
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about things like child care, education and health care. And some of those commentators said
the President is talking about issues in a way that will lead to the feminization of politics.
Well, there are those that would not object to that. But that would be missing the point. This
is about the humanization of politics. This is about putting on the very top of the agenda the
issues that determine how people live, and what kinds of future they are able to imagine for
themselves and their children.
·
Now here at home, we are not immune from looking at ourselves and taking a critical look
about what we need to do to envision the kind ofwoman and the kind of future that woman
should have in the next century. We have made an enormous amount of progress together.
We know that. But we also have not fulfilled all our obligations either.
We need to stand firm as a nation and have embedded in our foreign policy as Secretary
Albright and I have said on several occasions, the idea that women's rights need an interest need to be taken into account in American foreign policy. So that for example, when we hear
about the kind of abuses perpetrated by the Taliban, that is an important matter for our
nation to take into account in any dealings we would have with any regime that does what it
does to women on a daily basis.
Because in the world as it is today, it is in America's interest to empower women -:- to give
women opportunities to have their voices heard - to be participants in the decision making in
their communities and countries. And in those places, such as those under the rule of the
·
Taliban, where women cannot go to work, leave their homes alone, attend school, or get the
health care they need, then we have to take a stand against that.
And when we hear about women being enticed from the former Soviet Union wjth promises
of jobs as nannies and hair stylists, but instead are being shipped around the world like drugs
and sold into slavery, we have to take a stand against that. And when we hear about children
who are aborted or denied food simply because they are girls, we must take a stand against
that. And we must do so in a very loud and clear voice.
America must lead, and it must lead on issues that affect women and girls around the world.
We should for example, join the rest of the world and ratify the Convention on the
Elimination of Discrimination Ag~inst Women. It has been sitting for 24 years.
And we must be more vocal in standing up and having our voices heard against those who
hold our contributions to the United Nations hostage because they don't believe that women
around the world should have access to family planning services, that is just wrong.
So, there are steps we must take as American women. And we must urge our leaders in the
Congress and elsewhere, to put down markers about where we stand on the rights and
opportunities of women around the world. But ultimately, our power to build the kind of
world we want rests not just on laws or diplomatic action, but on our own attitudes and
values. How will we convey what we believe women in the twenty first century should be?
How will we teach our children how women should be given every opportunity to make the
best choices they can make? Will we once and for all end the false debate on women's
choices?
Think about the energy it takes for women among themselves to undercut each other for the
choices we make. Each of us are individuals. Some women choose to be full time mothers
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and homemakers, and we should respect and applaud their choice. Some women choose to
be full time in the world of work, they may or may not many, they may or may not have
children, but we should respect their choice. And, for most of us in today's world, as we
attempt to strike that balance at various points in our lives--· between our obligations to our
family and our obligations outside our home to work-- and other obligations such as the one
you take on with UJA-- we should do more to help respect and support those choices.
It is time for our country to do what it can do to support the important work that women do
inside the home and outside the home. We have to do more to give women the child care and
other tools they need to successfully balance work and family. We have to make it absolutely
unheard of in the twenty.:.first century that any woman would have to choose between the job
she needs to put food on the table and the child she loves and needs to nurture. We can do a
better job by providing more part timework opportunities, more leave opportunities, and
more support for women who are in the work force.
Now those are all ways that we can help create an environment where women's choices are
truly our own--and in which we can, as we live such longer lives, thankfully-- make different
choices depending on where we are in our lives. We have to reach out and support each
other, and we need the kind of real life politics that makes it possible not only to envision
that future, but to create and build it. We need areal life politics, that does once and for all,
put behind divisions in our country, that supports the peace makers, the conciliators, the
mediators; that reaches across racial and religious lines to make sure that every American
feels included, supported and respected. We need to stand up for the rights of any oppressed
person anywhere in America. We need to stand up against the very destructive images that
are fed to our daughters by the media about how it is more important how you look than
·
how you feel or .who you are or what you do.
And if we begin to envision this future and act on it, I am enough of an optimist to believe
that we will go a long way to creating it. You know, sometimes I look around our country
and I am amazed at all the progress we have made. Now certainly, we have fallen short of
where we would like to be. We have a lot of work to do. But we have over the years
continually pushed progress forward.
When I was at Seneca Falls, as Betty mentioned, I was so impressed with the words I read of
those women who gathered in 1848 to envision a world that was hard for them to imagine ..
This was a world in which ifyou married you owned nothing; your husband owned the
clothes on your back, had every right to the children-- you had no rights whatsoever. You
couldn't vote. You had no stake in the leadership ofyou community. And these women sat at
that small table together and they dreamed, and they looked at each other and they said we
can do better, there is more to life than we have been given. As women we should have more
possibilities to be whomeverwe want to be.
Woodrow Wilson was incensed at these pushy women who were chaining themselves to the
gate of the White House demanding the right to vote. But ifthey hadn't imagined it first, rio
action would have occurred. They wouldn't have invited the abuse, but it was a necessary
part of change and transformation. And then look at what they have given us.
So we can envision a future that gives every woman and ev(;:ry man, every girl and every boy
the tools they need to make whomever their dreams and work will make them be. But do
· you know what my biggest concern is? My biggest concern is that we will grow complacent
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in America, and we will grow satisfied, and we will believe that we are entitled to all the
goodness that has come our way, and all those whci don't share in the blessings of America
are just not good enough, or smart enough, or work hard enough. And we will begin to go
the way of most civilizations where a large group of people are left behind. And then the
vision we have for women will only apply to women like us, instead of opening doors to all
women.
I fear that in these times of plenty and blessings and record stock markets where it looks like
we are defying history-- which is always a dangerous thing to think-- that some ofus will
begin to believe our own P.R. about how lucky and fortunate and blessed we are, and how
therefore, we don't owe much to anyone else.
And that is one of the reasons why I wanted to. come here today, because I know that you do
not believe that, and that you were constantly urging yourselves forward to think about all
the challenges that face us, and you were doing concrete tasks to build the kind of future that
would give every person the opportunity we are so blessed to have for ourselves.
When I told a friend of mine how excited I was to come baek to the Lion of Judah -- in fact I
talk a lot about Lion of Judah-- I talked about it yesterday in New York where I was with
my husband at an affair for the Democratic party. I was sitting at a table, and one of the
women there knew I was coming and was actually flying back to be with me and I thank her
out there in the audience. We started talking about the Lion of Judah and two women didn't
know anything about it-- and so I think I got you two more members.
So I told this friend of mine that I was coming here today, and she shared with me a passage
from this week's Torah reading, many ofyou know what I am going to talk about. The
Ancient Hebrews are preparing to go into Israel together and on this last day of his life,
.Moses gathers them together, men and women of all stature:s and ages, and initiates them
into a new covenant where they will be responsible not only to God, but for one another.
And he asks them to choose life and the good, over death and evil.
That is really a question for all ofus in every time in every place. What choices will we
make? How will we use our voices, our resources, our blessings on behalf of those near and
dear to us, but also on b~half of those with no voice? How will we in our own way respect
the dignity of each person, pass on the values of caring and concern and inter-connectedness
to our children?
·
·
As you approach the high holidays, and as each of us takes stock of where we are and who
we are and what is important in our lives, I hope we ask ourselves these questions; because
no vision of anything in the next century will be worth much or stand the test of time, as
most or this question did, unless it is rooted in a strong belief that we are obligated to one
another.
And if we carry out those obligations, then I believe we will create a future in which women
and men will be able to live more peacefully together and in respect and dignity and have the
opportunity each of us want to live lives of meaning and purpose.
I hope that you will continue the work that you are doing. I hope that the conversation about
the next century will continue. I hope each of us will, in our own way create that vision of
the twenty-first century. And I hope we will continue to raise our voices and work together.
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I wish you a happy new year. I wish that all of you may have the fulfillment that comes from
knowing that you have been of service to others. May you all be written in to the Book of :
Life.
·
Thank you.
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�..
FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
REMARKS AT LION OF JUDAH CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1998
I
1
•
..
•
�----------------------------
[Acknowledgments: Betty Kane; Rebecca Newman; Rani [Rain-ee]
Garfinkel; Berry Sweet, Gail Reiss, Carole Solomon; Richard Wexler]
I am thrilled to be back at the Lion of Judah Conference ... and to
gather with leaders from the "four comers of the earth." Anne Frank once
said, "No one need wait a single moment before starting to improve the
world." Because the Women's Campaign never waits, because Lion of Judah
members never wait, there are older citizens in the former Soviet Union who
now have food. There are victims of family violence in Baltimore and Israel
who now have a new start. There are people all over Eastern Europe whose
families are reunited, whose lives are simply better. And I want to thank
you.
When I read the theme oftoday's luncheon, "A Vision for Women in
the 2P1 Century," I thought how fitting it was to have this conversation here
and now. For the first time ever, the Chair ofUJA's National Campaign is a
woman, Carole Solomon. And I know for the last few days, you have been
'
talking about health care and politics, the workplace and the peace
process ... all the challenges we face as women and as people of faith. And I
combine those two things intentionally. Early in my husband's
Administration, I remember how upset some people became when I gave a
speech about the role of spirituality in public life. One commentator said my
critics were divided between conservatives who didn?t think I meant what I
said and liberals who feared that I did.
2
�But, I think it's always important, and especially as we prepare for
both the High Holidays and the new century, to reflect on who we are. On
what remains to be done. And, with the sound of the Shofar [Show-Far], to
recommit ourselves to live a better life and create a better world. During the
Holidays, we will read again the story of the binding of Isaac ... and learn
about the ram that was sacrificed in his place. It had two horns. One was
heard during the giving of the Torah at Sinai. And we will hear the other
when there is peace and justice for all God's children-- all boys and all girls.
It falls on every generation to move us closer to that day.
From Warsaw to Bukhara, I have seen how the Jewish community
kept its hopes and traditions alive in the face of oppression and pure evil.
And, I'll never forget my visit to the Gilad [Gee-Lahd] Synagogue in
Ukraine last November. The Nazis had turned this holy place into a horse
stable and left a signature of bullets in the ceiling. The Soviets used it as a
warehouse. But, because of the courage, determination and faith of the
Jewish Community, this beautiful Synagogue has been restored. People can
once again worship freely. Freedom of religion has been reborn. The Rabbi
explained to me how much it meant to open a Jewish school there after so
many years of unspeakable hardship. He said it had given him faith that the
community would survive.
3
�What that Rabbi understood ... and what this community has
shown ... throughout the world and the ages ... through the horrors of Pogroms
[poh-Groms] and inquisitions, through exile and the Holocaust. . .is that
survival depends not just on saving our cherished buildings, but on passing
on to our children the values and culture and heritage at their foundation.
And that is exactly what you have done. You have passed on these
values in your commitment to Tzedekah [Sed-Ah-·Kah], making it clear that
we are all our brothers' and sisters' keepers, all responsible for providing
healing for the hurt, caring for the sick, food for the hungry. You have
passed them on in your commitment to pursue peace and justice. Five years
after the Oslo Accords, we must continue to work by day and pray by night
for a lasting peace in the Middle East. And you have passed them on
through the essential ethic of Jewish philosophy and practice- Tikkun Olam
[tee-Koon oh-Lu~] and the role that women must play in that healing and
building of our world as we enter a new year and century.
4
�. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
~---
---------------,
I know that throughout this room, there are healers and builders like
Sisel [Sea-Sui] Klurman of Miami, whose story is. especially poignant right
now, as Israel celebrates its 5<Jh birthday. Sisel spent the war years in
Romania ... And with the exception of her brother and sister, she lost her
entire family in the Holocaust. Instead of giving up to sorrow, she went back
to Romania and worked underground to teach children Hebrew and get them
. safely to Israel. Instead of giving up, she worked with her late husband to
create a State for the Jewish people by turning the dream of Israel into a
I
reality. Instead of giving up, she has
gen~rously
dedicated her time and
money to further the vital mission of the United J~~wish Appeal.
As I have been privileged to travel around the world, I have met many
women like Sisel and all ofyou ... who are working to heal and repair
families and communities in Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Nicaragua, Russia,
Romania, and Rwanda.
I have seen women healing their world in Northern Ireland. Two
weeks ago in Belfast, I spoke with women from aU over Northern Ireland, to
congratulate them on the peace that they had hoped for, worked for lived for,
died for, and yes finally voted for. And I recounted a small meeting I had a
few years ago with a grassroots activist named Joyce McCarten and other
women who had literally woven communities together during the Troubles.
5
�We sat in a small restaurant, around a wooden table, sipping a cup of
tea. And one by one, the women told me how tired they were of seeing their
husb,ands and their fathers and their sons and their nephews gunned down.
How they realized that the only things separating them were religion and
history. And how they had come together as women have always done ... at
the market, around kitchen tables, at conferences like this. It was their
whispers of "enough" that finally became a torrent of voices that could no
longer be ignored.
I have seen women repairing their world in South Africa, at a housing
project right outside of Cape Town. As you drive up, you see on one side of
the street, shanties and shacks, where these women used tp live as homeless
squatters. But something changed. They decided to take a stand for their
dignity. With the help of small loans, they took a dusty patch of land and set
about building homes and a future. When I first visited them in 1997, they
had 18 homes built and a lot of dreams. When I took my husband back this
March, there were more than 100 homes. They had bought the property
across the railroad tracks to build 400 more. They had a day care center, a
store, an entire community. And when I asked them how many of them
thought they would own a home someday ... every hand ... every single
hand ... shot up.
6
�I saw women building their world at the UN Conference on Women in
Beijing. I remember the banners that women from each country created for
that conference, which they spread across the Great Wall. Woven into them
were the dreams of women, who may have worn different clothes, eaten
different food, followed different religions, and talked in different
languages ... but they spoke the same mother tongue - the language of
freedom and hope.
And they sent a clear message: Economic progress depends upon the
progress of women. Social progress depends upon the progress of women.
Democratic progress depends on the progress of women. Human rights are
women's rights and women's rights are human rights.
We know that women cannot fulfill the pledge ofTikkun Olam [teeKoon oh-Lum] if they are if they are underfed, undervalued, and underpaid.
Women cannot repair our world unless they have access to tools of
opportunity- and by that I mean health care, education, credit, and child
care. I am told you had a session yesterday on breaking the glass ceiling.
But, we all know that women cannot even touch the glass, unless they have
child care they can trust. The President has proposed an historic in~estment
to make child care better, safer, and more affordable for American families.
Now, we must make it the law of the land.
7
�Women cannot repair the world unless they no longer fear violence at
the hands of loved ones and strangers. It doesn't matter where it occurs.
Domestic violence can never again be pushed aside as cultural or explained
. away as trivial. It is a crime that must be punished with the full force of the
law.
And women cannot repair the world unless they are at the table when
decisions are made about their lives and families. We must work for the day
when, we never have to hold up the one woman board member or
representative as a symbol of our progress ... the day when all over the world,
women and men sit in equal numbers in the boardrooms and laboratories, on
our sports fields and college classrooms, in our houses of worship and our
chambers of Congress.
I like how Bella Abzug put it. She said, "First they gave us the year of
the woman. Then they gave us the decade. Sooner or later, they'll give us
the whole thing."
Surely getting the whole thing requires laws grounded in a belief that
advancing the status of women worldwide is not a "soft issue," not a "side
issue," but essential to our foreign policy objectives and the very progress of
all nations.
8
�When we hear about abuses like those perpetuated by the
Taliban ... where women cannot go to work, leave their homes alone, attend
school or get the health care they need ... When we hear about women being
enticed from the former Soviet Union with promises of jobs as nannies and
hair stylists ... and instead being shipped like drugs and sold into sexual
_slavery ... When we hear about children who are aborted or denied food
simply because they are girls ... we must, with words and deeds ... do
everything in our power to stop it.
We must, for example, join the rest of the world and ratify the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. We must
continue to invest in lifelines like microcredit and education for women,
through the United States Agency for International Development. I will
never forget the woman in Santiago, who told me that when she got a small
loan to buy a new sewing machine, she felt like a caged bird set free. And
we must finally put an end to the tactics of those who would hold our
contributions to the United Nations hostage because they don't believe
women should have access to family planning services.
But, ultimately, whether women have the power and ability to heal
and build the world depends not just on laws, but on attitudes and values.
On the lessons we teach our children as we tuck them into bed at night. Will
we teach our girls that we value them, not for what they look like, but for
what they think, feel, do and dream? Will men of all ages come to see this
as their battle too ... because it can never and will never be won without
9
�them?
Will our businesses do more to help women get the child care and
other tools they need to successfully balance work and family ... so that no
woman ever has to make the choice between the job she needs and the child
she loves?
As women, will we finally respect each other's choices? Will we
admit that there is no cookie-cutter model for being a successful and fulfilled
woman today? That we can choose full.;time work or full-time
motherhood ... or like, most women, compose a life that is something in
between. And that all of our choices will be supported?
And will we pledge to reach out to all others ... to not just preach to the
choir ... but to ask everyone to use their voice to lift up the status and dignity
of women everywhere?
With the Lion of Judah members continuing to lead the way, I lmow
we will.
10
�When I told a friend of mine that I was coming here today, she
showed me a passage from this week's Torah reading. The Jews are
preparing to go into Israel .together. And on his last day of his life, Moses
gathers them together, men and women, of all statures and ages and initiates
them into a new Covenant where they will be responsible not only to God but for one another. And he asks them to choose life and the good over
death and evil.
And I think by life and the good, he is
aski~1g
them to choose, as you
have done, to renew the ethic ofTzedekah [Sed-Ah-Kah] and Tikkun Olam,
[tee-Koon oh-lum] to use our voices not just for our own individual good,
but to speak out for those who have no voice. To respect the dignity of each
person. And, to pass on these values to our children. Which is really the
challenge all of us must meet as we approach the High Holidays and the new
century.
Because if we do, if we do everything in our power to usher in peace
and justice for all children, boys and girls then, as Moses told his people,
" ... You will live and multiply and God will bless you in the land to which
you come."
Shana Tova [shaw-Na toe-Va --Happy New Year]. May you all be
"written into the book of life."
11
�Thank you very much.
12
�"
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 11, 1998
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE FIRST LADY
ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
(
The East Room
2:47 P.M. EST
MRS. CLINTON:
Thank you and welcome to the East Room of the White
House for this very important occasion.
The President and I are pleased
to be joined by so many people who have worked tirelessly to lift up the
lives of women and girls here and around the world.
There are so many of you, I wish I could acknowledge every single
one of you.
I'm unable to do that and so let me just acknowledge a few
of you.
In addition· to those who have already been introduced, I'm
delighted that Secretary Shalala is here, accompanied by her
counterpart, the Russian Minister of Health, as part of their continuing
negotiations; Administrator Browner; Administrator Barshefsky. And
we're pleased to have two members of Congress, two others were unable to
stay, but I'm delighted that Congresswoman Pelosi and Congresswoman
Millender-McDonald are here.
And we're sorry that Congresswoman Lofgren
and Morello were unable to stay.
But thank you both for coming.
The Administration of USAID, Brian Atwood; Deputy Secretary of
Labor Kitty Higgins; USIA Director Joe Duffy; VOA Director E~elyn
Lieberman; Ambassador Linda Tarr-Whelan; Theresa Loar who is the senior
coordinator for International Women's Issues and Director of the
President's Interagency Council on Women. And we're also pleased that
we're joined by the United Nations Deputy Secretary General Louise
Frechette.
In addition, I look out at this audience and see so many of you
who have been advocates and workers in the trenches and on the front
lines on behalf of human rights and women's rights for many, many years.
And we are grateful that you could be here today in honor of
International Women's Day.
We have come together this afternoon to celebrate what we have
done and what we must still do to ensure that all over this Earth
women's rights are protected,· women's voices are heard, and women's full
participation is guaranteed.
Next week, the United Nations Human Rights Commission will gather
in Geneva to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal
D~claration of Human Rights, and honor all who are helping to fulfill
its promise.
Woven into that document are timeless beliefs that must
always set the standard for how we treat each other in every part of the
world.
The Declaration puts it simply: All human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and right. All.human beings--· not just men, not
just those particular skin colors or religions. And on International
Women's Day, we want to commit ourselves to expanding the circle of
human dignity to encompass all human beings -- men and women, boys and
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girls.
At the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women, I remember
very well looking out at delegates from 189 different countries, all
united by a common vision.
And look at the progress we have made in
fulfilling how that vision became an agenda and then acting on that
agenda.
Even in the short time since Beijing, governments,
nongovernmental organizations and individuals have made tremendous
progress.
I have met women all over the world, as many of you have, who are
working to end domestic violence, who are working to bring microcredit
into every village that can be reached.
I have seen women who, all of a
sudden, are for the first time in their lives able to access health
care. And I've heard and seen many eloquent women and men speaking out
on the importance of recognizing women's rights.
I've also been very impressed by those of you who have worked to
remind us of how much we have yet to do and how much our country, the
United States, can contribute to the unfinished agenda.
Our nation's
assistance and leadership is essential.
I have visited women's health
care clinics that we have helped open in Central Asia.
I have talked
with refugees from war and genocide who are rebuilding their lives in
Rwanda and Bosnia, thanks to our assistance.
I have learned about a
joint campaign to warn women and girls in Ukraine about those who might
exploit them through trafficking. All because our government,
universities, hospitals, businesses, NGOs, citizens, all are committed
to expanding that circle of human dignity to every woman.
So we may celebrate today, but we also should challenge ourselves,
for there is much more to be done.
If the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights is going to keep its promise to all women, then all women
must hear that message and be empowered to act on it.
One of the most moving experiences I had was in New Delhi, when I
met a young Indian woman who gave me a poem she had written. And in it
she said:
Too many women in too many countries speak the same language
of silence.
There must be freedom if we are to speak, and, yes, there
must be power if we are to be heard. We must give voice to women in
Afghanistan, where women are brutalized and silenced by the Taliban -(applause) -- where girls are barred from school, where thousands of
women cannot go to work, leave home alone or get the health care they
need.
And where those who don't follow every rule of attire or conduct
are punished with beatings, whippings, even death.
We must give voice
to the more than one million women who are trafficked every year in the
former Soviet Union and all around the world.
(Applause.)
These women and girls are desperate for economic opportunity.
They think they're applying for jobs as babysitters, waitresses and
sales clerks.
Many think they are following their dreams and, instead,
they find themselves in a nightmare, sold as part of an international
trade in human beings and forced into modern day slavery.
Imprisoned by
employers, they are often not seen, let alone heard.
Lured by organized
crime operations, they represent an international problem that, like
drug trafficking, requires an international solution.
We must give voice to women plagued by violence in all its forms.
It doesn't matter if it's by law or custom, ignorance or inaction.
It
doesn't matter if it's in war or peace, in our homeo> or our streets.
No
woman should ever be degraded by violence. And violence against women
must never again be pushed aside as trivial or explained away as
cultural.
Let us call it what it is.
(Applause.)
Violence against
women is a violation of human rights.
(Applause.)
And as we work to give voice to all women, let us judge ourselves
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not only by what we choose to say, by not only what we choose to see,
but by what we choose to do in our nation and around the world.
And few people have done more for women and girls than our next
speaker.
Through her words, her deeds and hear leadership, Secretary
Madeleine Albright has ensured that the issues affecting women are
exactly what they should be -- a part of American foreign policy and an
international priority.
Please join me in welcoming Secretary Albright.
(Applause. )
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT:
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Doctor. And to
all our distinguished guests here today, let me welcome you and say that
I have rarely enjoyed anything in this room as much as I have what has
already happ~ned.
I've told this story before, but I feel just like I did the first
time I gave remarks, a speech, as a public official.
It was at one of
these civic banquets, and it· started at 6:00 p.m. in the evening.
Everyone in the audience was introduced, hundreds of people -- except
three people and they went home mad.
(Laughter.)
Five people spoke
before me.
I got up to speak at a quarter to 10:00, and the man who
introduced me did not do nearly as good a job as our distinguished guest
from Thailand -- he said, "You know, you could stop here and have had a
very nice evening."
(Laughter.)
Well, we could certainly stop here and
have had a very fine occasion.
Let me begin by thanking the Secretary General for being here.
We've had a very good meeting, just before we came over here to talk
about our shared goal of preventing the spread of weapons of mass
destruction, and of securing Iraq's compliance with its obligations
under the U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The Secretary General deserves the thanks of all Americans for
securing the agreement with the Iraqi government to open all sites for
inspection.
(Applause.)
The commitments made to him as well as last
week's successful U.N. inspections in sites that had previously been
closed are quite significant.
They must be carried out.
The last six
days must be replicated in the coming six months. P.nd the United States
must remain vigilant to see that that occurs.
Let me say, since we're honoring women today, in case you all
missed it and you want to be reminded what the stakes are in what is
going on now, I commend to you the Op-Ed article from the distinguished
British physician in the hometown paper here today~ discussing the
consequences of the use of chemical weapons.
Mr. Secretary General, your work is important, c:.nd we intend to
see that you succeed.
(Applause.)
Let me also say that the United Nations is an invaluable partner
in an increasingly interdependent world where we have to work together
on things, as evidenced by the presence here today of members of the
Diplomatic Corps, the Russian Health Minister, our distinguished
physician from Thailand, and so many people from the U.N., and those of
you in NGOs who work around the world.
If the United States expects to
continue to exercicse a leadership role in a way that: benefits our own
people in the 21st century, we have got to pay our U.N. dues and fulfill
our responsibilities.
(Applause.)
The Secretary General has supported the reform of the U.N. in
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positive ways, and I'm doing my best to get legislation through the
Congress, which will fulfill our responsibilities to the United Nations,
to the IMF, to the cause of U.N. reform.
I'm very proud to be here with all of you today to celebrate your
progress and to chart our course to the future.
I especially thank the
members of Congress who are here and those whom they represent who
couldn't be present for their support and leadership.
I thank the First
Lady, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General for the
accomplishments of the last five years.
I think it's fair to say that
as long as I live, I will always look back on the First Lady's speech at
Beijing as one of the high-water marks of our public service in this
White House.
(Applause.)
You know, we always say that human rights must be a central pillar
of America's foreign policy, but that is meaningless if those rights are
not fully enjoyed by half the people on the planet.
Secretary Albright
has already discussed our assistance to Afghan women and girls who have
suffered much under the Taliban.
Today I want to announce some further
actions to advance your cause and our cause.
First, I'm instructing Secretary Albright and our AID
Administrator, Brian Atwood, to expand our international efforts to
combat violence against women.
All too often, we know violence limits
the choices open to women and young girls, damaging their health,
disrupting their lives, obstructing their full participation in society.
We will provide $10 million to strengthen partnerships with governments
and NGOs to help them to fight violence against women everywhere.
(Applause.)
Second, I am launching a variety of steps to combat the inhumane
practice of trafficking of women.
I've asked our Attorney General to
make sure that our own laws are adequate to the task we face here at
horne; that trafficking is prevented, victims are protected, traffickers
are punished. And we will use our consular and law enforcement presence
in other nations to combat trafficking worldwide, to assist victims,
improve legislation, train judges and law enforcement in other lands.
We will step up our public education campaigns abroad in an attempt to
stop trafficking at its source.
Secretary Albright has already discussed her partnership with the
government of Ukraine to jointly develop a comprehensive strategy to
fight trafficking to and from that country with the hope that our
cooperation will become a model for other nations across the globe.
Finally, I have asked rny Interagency Council on Women to convene
an international conference to cast a spotlight on this human rights
atrocity and develop new strategies to combat it.
One important tool,
as the Secretary General has reminded us, for rnakinq progress on these
issues is the Women's Human Rights Treaty, the U.N. convention on the
elimination of all forms of discrimination against ~1ornen.
It has the
cumbersome acronym of CEDAW, but its message is very simple.
Again, I thank the Secretary General for his leadership.
I ask
you to think about this convention and its impact.
It has a proven
record of helping women around the world to combat violence, gain
economic opportunity, strike against discriminatory laws.
Its
provisions are consistent with United States law, which already provides
strong protections for women.
It offers a means for reviewing and
encouraging other nations' compliance.
Yet, because of our historic and often manifest allergy to joining
international conventions, we remain alone in our hemisphere, alone
among the industrialized nations of the world, apart: from 161 other
nations alongside nations like Sudan and North Korea in not ratifying
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this treaty.
This is not an issue of
but of principle. Today, I am
sending a letter to th~ Senate leadership asking them to ratify the
treaty. And I ask the Senate
(applause) -- I ask the Senate to do so
this year. We signed this treaty in the late 1970s. Finally, after we
took office, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted the treaty out
of committee with a bipartisan vote in 1994. If we are going to be true
to our own
of leadership in human rights, we must ratify this
treaty.
(
.)
When you look ahead to this new century and new millennium and you
ask yourselves what you would like the story of the next 100 years to
be, surely all of us want one
chapter to be about how, finally, in
all nations of the world,
of all races and ethnic groups, of many
different religious persuasions and cultural
came together to
guarantee that every young
got a chance to grow up to live up to
the fullest of her abilities and to live out her dreams. Let that be
our mission as we leave today.
Thank you and God bless you.
END
5 of5
(Applause.)
3:24 P.M. EST
2/24/99 5:39PM
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PIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
ADDRESSING THE
WOMEN AND THB UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL CHAMBER
THE UNITED NATIONS
NEW YORK CITY I NEW ·l'ORK
MARCH 14, 1995.
Thank you so much, Amb. Albright, for that introduction, and for ·
your friendship and your leadership. Amb. vanden Heuvel and
officers of the Roosevelt Institute, members of the Group on
Equal Rights for Women at the United Nations and the United
Nations Association of the United States o·f America.
Excellencies, senior officials of the United Nations, and the
United Nations staff and representatives of NGOs and many
friends.
It is a great personal privilege for me to join you at this
Conferen~e on Women and the United Nations.
It is held in
conjunction with the celebration of International Women's Day
which we celebrated, some of us together, last week in
Copenhagen. It comes at a time when the .role of women around the
world deserves renewed attention. It is a special honor for
those of us in the United States that this conference is
dedicated to Eleanor Roosevelt.
Last week:, when I was lucky enough to be in Copenhagen, I had the
opportunity to.meet with men and women around the world who had
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gathered there who a-re devoting their livea.to the goals of
,eradicating poverty, protecting human rights and integrating
marginalized groups into mainstream society. All of these issues
disproportionately effect women, and for that reason, I, and many
others, came away from Copenhagen even mor•e convinced that we
must work harder for ways to open opportunities to woman so they
may play a central role in helping find solutions for their.own
lives.
At a time when full economic, social and political opportunities
for women too often remain an elusive goal we should commend the
United Nations for inviting serious discussion of the unique
obstacles confronting women in every country, rich and poor.
With the work of the world conferences in Rio, Vienna, in Cairo
and Copenhagen we have helped the world elucidate the specific
challenges posed to our global community and with Beijing on the
horizon issues historically dismissed as llnimportant may now be
understood in a larger global context. It is my hope that
through this conference today, and the ongoing work of theUnited
Nations, the special barriers that women face in becoming full
partners in society will be viewed with greater urgency, honesty
and insight.
As others have noted, it is impossible to think about the history
of the United Nations, or the role of women in the United
Nations, without thinking of Eleanor Roosevelt. I happen to be a
great admirer of Mrs. Roosevelt, so I am doubly pleaseQ that w~
are remembering her contributions today <md I hope will <..:ontinue
·aa we celebrate the anniversary of the United Nations.
So much of what she accomplished aa a delegate to the ON,· and
throughout her life, is instructive to us today. Not only as
women, but. because all of us as human be.ings at the end of the
Cold War face new.opportunities and challenges. It is easy at
times like these when we see eo many nations conful::led and
struggling about their own futures, wasting precious ~esources on
building weapons of mass destruction, doing violence to basic
human rights, to assume that collective global solutions exist
only in the realm of fantasy. And it iEJ equally easy to assign
blam~ for all of the worlds problems to one group of n.;~rions or
another and.to assume that the political and cultural divide~-.>
among us are too wide to overcome. !f. anything, we should be
reminded that every generation.every time in history faces its
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own special challenges. And instead of giving into the
frustration of the time or to a sense of futility we need only
think of leaders like Eleanor Roosevelt who always for me
provides inspiration and incentive to carry forward no matter
what the odds.
Even before she came to the United Nations her efforts to help
those in need, those less fortunate were unparalleled . She
spoke up on behalf of Japanese Americans detained in this country
during World War II. The civil rights of American blacks was a
special cause for her. Migrant workers, coal miners, the poor
and dispossessed, anyone who did not have a voice was someone for
whom she spoke. Anywhere she came acrose human suffering she was
determined to do something about it.
When she came to the United Nations there were many who dismissed
her arrival. They thought she came as a token, the widow of a
great President, and she faced considerable personal challenges
in Ufldertaking the work she did.
We know from various histories
and from Mrs. Roosevelt's own writing that she was dismissed by a
number of her fellow male delegates and.in fact assigned to a
committee. where they said she could do no harm. She was assigned
to the Third Committee; the Social, CUltural, and Humanitarian
Committee. Apparently assignedby men who had no idea what she
was capable of doing. She made from the very beginning it her
mission to insure that that committee, which deals so directly
with the stuff of life, was one that had a very important
portfolio. We also know that she was alternately perplexed and
amused by what she viewed as an obsession with rule making among
he~ male peers. As the men around here would sometimes argue for
hours over matters that Mrs. Roosevelt felt did not deserve
minutes of conversation, she would sit and knit.
It turned out Lv be not only a controversial job for her but one
that took tremendous diplomatic skill . . Among her critics was the
very powerful American John Foster DUlles. Who at the end of the
Assembly did finally say to her and I quote "I must tell you that
when you were appointed I thought it terrible, and now I t.hink
your work has been fine.n She wrote about her reaction to that
statement in a letter home, and I quote, "so against the odds the
women inch forward. 11 I read her response with mixed feeling.
Yes, I say t.o myself, the women inch forward. Oh dear, I say to
mysel,f, we still are inching forward and ! wiah we ho.d more Lo
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show for those inches than sometimes we do .
Her role within the Assembly, although sometimes not welcome, and
certainly never easy, was very important. She out worked most
of her colleagues. She did turn that Third Committee into one of
the most important of the entire Assembly. She became
instrumental in decisions about the fate of refugees. And she
negotiated over many very sensitive issues with a great deal of
success.
t.._
Her greatest achievement, as we all know, was to help persuade 55
nations to sign a bill of human rights, something that had never
been done before. Even with her successes she was under no
illusions about the capacity.of this organization, or any
government body or agency, to effect change on its own. The
United Nations she said soon after its founding, is "a piece of
machinery and the pe9ples of the world have to make it work. You
make it work by what you do in your own communities, by the
things you build there which spread out through your
representatives into your national government''.
That observation by Mrs. Roosevelt holds l:ipecial weight today
when all nations are grappling with a range of human problems at
a time of shrinking resources and increased global competition.
There is no panacea, no magic bullet that will s'uddenly empower
women or free people from the bondage of inhuman living
conditions. Progress depends on our working together in
partnership to create conditions around the world that en~hle
women, men and children to reach their God given potentials and
flourish within their own families and societie~. But today,
perhaps even more than in Mrs. Roosevelt's time, there is a
special urgency to helping women around the world assume their
rightful places :l.n society. That is beca.use the fortunes of our
women are inextricably tied to the fortunes of our global
community. If women don't thrive the world won't thrive. At
least in words we tend to.agree that women should be actl.ve
participants il) helping their societies meet thP. great challenqes
of this and the next. century. But that c:::an only be achi.eved
through t:eal concrete actions. Actions that empower women
through education, legal rights and protection from violence.
And.actions that assure women access to adequate social services,
employment opporLunities, political institutions and decision
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making.
We know that investing in women in their health and education is
essential to improving global.prosperity. And we know that
investing in women so that they can assume their rightful places
in decision making bodies is essential to continued democracy and
prosperity as well. The United Nations must play a leadership
role and must play a role by example. Every program, policy and
decision that emanates from this building directly or indirectly
effects women. Women as they care for children, manage
households and work at their jobs. Women must be a part of the
process within the United Nations as we search for answers and
women must continue to demand that their rights and opportunities
be respected in nations around the world.
If one looks at among Mrs. Roosevelt's great accomplishments
certainly the Bill of Human Rights continues to chall~nge all of
us. Although international humanitarian law had been evolving
before the United Nations, human .rights in general and women's
rights in particular, were not widely recognized. On December
10, 1948 the General Assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and Eleanor Roosevelt played a major role in the
drafting and adoption.
Now Mrs .. Roosevelt originally opposed the language in the
Declaration seeking specific rights for l.folomen. But through her
work in human rights she changed her position and she embraced
the idea that women deserve the same rightaof men and that it
must be made articulate and explicit. Because of Mra .
. Roosevelt's opinion on this matter in the fifth paragraph of that
resolution the words "and women" were added. so that the
paragraph reads, "were as the peoples of the United Nation~ have
in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human
rights, iri the dignity and worth of the human person, and i.n the
equal rights of men and women, and have determined to promote
suc.:ial progr~oe and better standards of life in larger freedom".
Those words have enabled us to move the agenda of the United
Nations forward throughout the Women' a <:!onferences, they will
give us the kind of platform we need in Beijing to talk about how
we move forward to enable women to assume their rightful places
in all societies and they should serve ao a reminder here within
the United Nations that we are far from having women in enough
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decision making positions here in this body either. When only
15\ of the Secretariat are women that is a long way from the
assumption that Mrs. Roosevelt had that wornen will be able in.the
years to come after 1948 to assume those positions. She was
disappointed that more nations had not dispatched women to serve
as delegatee because she recognized that in these positions women
could effectively work for equality. I think she would S.till be
disappointed and surprised that we have not made very much
progress since those early years and certainly the United Nations
which has done such important and essential work in opening up
the eyes of the world to the concept of human rights and in
emphasizing the particular needs of women should serve as an
example to the rest of the world.
In paying tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt, as part of this
conference, we would do well to consider her great vision, her
compa~sion and her common sense approach to solving very
difficult human problems. For her no political obstacle was to
large, no cultural gap· was too wide, no difference of opinion was
to serious to overcome. And as Amb. Albri.ght has reminded us, no
controversy was to be avoided. One of my favorite quotations
.from Mrs. Roosevelt is that she often said her work was to
comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Certainly those of us, women and men together, who. share the
vision of the United Nations who know the work the United Nations
has done over the last 50 years who can point to its successes
bear an even greater· burden to make sure that we continue to do ,
what we can to. insure that the United nations itself lives up to
its own aspirations and that it continues to be a stronq voice
for all of those who needs must be heard by the rest of the
world.
The important thing Mrs. Roosevelt said was to go on working and
yrowing in understanding. If w~ follow that one piece of advice
our world will be better for it and I believe the UniLed Nations
has a major role in insuring that we do. Thank you all very
much.
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lOTH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1997 Federal Document Clearin9 House, Inc.
FDCH Political Transcripts
March 12, 1997,· Wednesday
TYPE: NEWS EVENT
LENGTH: 5769 words
HEADLINE: DELIVERS REMARKS WITH FIRST LADY HILLARY CLINTON AT A STATE
DEPARTMENT EVENT IN HONOR OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY; WASHINGTON, D.C.
SPEAKER:
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, SECRETARY OF STATE
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, FIRST LADY OF THE
UNITED STATES
BODY:
ALBRIGHT: Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you very much, Tim, for .that exceptionally warm and friendly
introduction.
Mrs. Clinton, Dame Eugenia Charles, Geraldine Ferraro, Members of Congress,
Excellencies, and friends, I am delighted to welcome hte first lady and all of
you to the State Department's observance of International Women's Day.
I also want
the tremendous
you tend to be
team at global
to thank that really great feminist Tim Wirth and Teresa Loar for
job that they are doing. When the globe is your.coristituency,
pretty busy, and no one burns energy more efficiently than our
affairs.
Let me begin this morning with one very simple statement. Advancing the
status of women is not only a moral imperative, it is being actively integrated
into the foreign policy of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
It is our mission.
smart thing to do.
It is the right thing to do.
And frankly, it is the
The reason is that, as we approach the new centu.ry, we know that we cannot
build the kind of future we want without the contribution of women. And we know
that, around the world, women will only be able to contribute to their full
potential if they have equal access, equal rights, equal protection, and a fair
chance at the levers of economic and political power.
Towards these goals, we have made progress. I said once that if I had been
born a generation or two earlier, and if I had wanted to make a definitive
statement on American foreign policy, my only option would have been to enter
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11
FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
society and then pour tea into an offending ambassador's lap.
(LAUGHTER)
Today, women are engaged in every facet of international affairs -- from
policymaking to deal-making, from arms control to trade, from court room at the
War Crimes Tribunal to the far-flung operations of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, and to the top floor of the State Department.
So we have much to celebrate.
We also have much further to go.
During my recent round-the-world trip, I met with six presidents, four prime
ministers, eight foreign ministers, three defense ministers, two premiers, one
chancellor, one secretary general, and one trade minister.
And if you put us chll in one room, you would have had 26 suits and my skirt.
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This lack of representation at the top is mirrored throughout the political
and economic structures of most nations. Whether one is bumping against a glass
ceiling or standing on a dirt floor, equality remains for most more aspiration
than reality.
It is in America's interests to change this. Advancing the status of women
is directly related to our foreign policy goals. . We 1.~~rant to build peace and
expand the circle of democracy. We want to sustain a growing global economy
that creates good jobs for Americans. And we want to see a future in which the
values we cherish are more widely shared.
ALBRIGHT: In each case, we can't get from where we are to where we want to go
ff women are left on the sidelines. Women must be in1:egrated at every step of
the way.
Consider, for example, the pursuit of peace. I am not among those who
believe that if the world were run solely by women, war would disappear. The
human capacity for folly and miscalculation is widely shared. But the history
of this century tells us that democracy is a parent to peace. And common sense
tells us that true democracy is not possible without the full participation of
women.
The Beijing conference has created new momentum for women to speak out, get
involved, organize, vote and become candidates for office. The vast network of
non-governmental organizations that women have built is focused on these tasks.
Greater participation translates into richer democracy and more representative
policies. And in those regions where democracy makes the greatest difference for
peace, women are hard at work creating and expanding the institutions for
freedom .
. I
I have seen in Bosnia the efforts o,f women 1 s groups to heal the wounds of
ethnic division. The women of that country are dete~1ined to build a society in
which they, who have paid a fearful price for wrong decisions in the past, will
have a role in making the right decisions in the future.
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FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
I have seen in Central Europe and the new independence states the birth of
movements designed to give women a real voice in the construction of new
democracies. This is crucial because women were hardest hit by the economic and
social disruptions of recent years.
I have seen in Burundi hundreds of women from the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic
groups working side by side to prevent in their country the genocidal violence
that caused so much suffering in neighboring Rwanda.
During and since the women's conference, I have see:n representatives of
groups from around the world -- African, Asian, Latin, Jewish, Islamic and
Christian -- joined in a common cause of sustaining the global momentum towards
more open and representative political systems. That is~their goal, and, as
Americans, it is our goal. So is economic growth.
Since 1993, under President Clinton's leadership, we have negotiated more
than 200 trade agreements, given a tremendous boost to internatiqnal commerce,
and created millions of new jobs. But for the world's economy to keep growing,
women everywhere must have increased
access to the building blocks of economic opportunity and power. A growing
economy requires a modern economy. And as Turkey's Kernal Ataturk said seven
decades ago, you cannot catch up with the modern world by modernizing only half
the population.
Despite recent gains, women remain an undervalued and underdeveloped human
resource. That is not to say that women have trouble finding work.
ALBRIGHT: In many societies, in addition to bearing the children, women do
most of the non-child-related work, but often women are barred from owning land,
excluded from schools, provided less nourishment, and permitted little or no
voice in government.
- It is no accident that most of those in the world who are abjectly poor are
women. Frequently, they are left to care for children without the help of the
children's father. Many are trapped at a young age in a web of ignorance and
abuse.
Women are prepared'to be full partners in sustainable development. But they
education, decent health care, access to credit, and pr·otection from violence.
They need knowledge, and the power to make our own choices.
We know from experience that when tha.t happens, the cycle of poverty can. be
broken, birth rates stabilized, environmental awareness increases, the spread of
sexually-transmitted disease slows, and socially-constructive values are more
likely to be passed on to the young. That is a priceless and lasting gift to
the future.
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We also serve the future when we stand up for basic values of law and respect
for the dignity of every human being. A half a century ago, a great American
first lady was the driving force behind the adoption of the Universal
.Declaration of Human Rights. In Beijin~, another great first lady eloquently
reaffirmed America's commitment to that declaration and in.its application to
all people, specifically including women and girls.
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FDCH Political Tranocripts, March 12, 1997
Now I don't know whether this resulted from a conversation between these two
first ladies.
(LAUGHTER)
But I do know that the universal declaration reflects spiritual and moral
values that are all central to all cultures·. Respecting both the wondrous
diversity that defines us and the common humanity that pinds us, the declaration
obliges all governments to strive in law and practice to protect the rights of
those under their jurisdiction.
And by its very existence, it shows that whether a government fulfills that
obligation is a matter not simply of domestic, but of y.niversal concern.
Unfortunately today, around the world, appalling abuses are being committed
against women. There are those who suggest that many of these abuses are
cultural and there's nothing we can do about it.
I say they are criminal and it's the responsibility of each and every one of
us to stop them.
{APPLAUSE)
It is encouraging that in the wake of Beijing, efforts to curb violence
against womeri have surged. In country after country,, we see projects designed
to heighten awareness and gain for women greater protection under the law.
:i.;'.
This matters because every time a special police llllit is created to insure a
prompt response to sexual or domestic abuse, every time a cooperative effort is
undertaken to end female genital mutilation, every time a program is launched to
halt the exploitation of women and girls, every time strides are made toward the
equal valuation of women as individuals, family members and citizens, our world
-is uplifted and we are all enriched.
·.·..
ALBRIGHT: In the effort to advance the status of 1r~omen, the United States is
a leader. But a leader cannot, and we are not, standing still.
At President Clinton's initiative, we are incorporating concerns related to
women into the mainstream of American foreign policy. What does that mean?
For o'ne thing, it means that the President • s Interagency Council on . Women,
created last year to implement the Beijing Platform for Action, will be chaired
this year by the Department of State. It means that our overseas aid programs
will continue to emphasize- projects that expand the ability of women to
participate economically and politically, to gain access to education and
healthcare, including reproductive healthcare, and to protect themselves against
violence and disease.
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It means that we will place special emphasis on the institutions of civil
society that include women and refugee relief that is designed to meet women's
needs. It means that we will continu"e to report honestly and thoroughly on
violations of human rights, and that we will denounce those violations whether
they are sins of omission by those who refuse to investigate or prosecute
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FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
domestic abuse, or sins of commission by dictators, i9UCh as those in Burma or
extremists in Afghanistan.
It means that we will continue to back the International War Crimes
Tribunals, because we believe that the authors of etl1nic cleansing should be
held accountable, and those who see rape as just ano1:her weapon of war should
pay for their crimes.
(APPLAUSE)
It means that we will take part in a global effor1: to crack down on illegal
trafficking in women and girls. And let me say that if those who traffic in
drugs should be punished severely -- and they should -~ so should those who
traffic in human beings.
(APPLAUSE)
Finally, it means, because I said that .I would te:Ll it like it is, when I go
to North Carolina in a couple of weeks to speak at the Jesse Helms Center, I
will state explicitly that it is long past time for l\merica to become party to
the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination l\gainst Women.
(APPLAUSE)
As I think many people know now, I have a very good relationship with the
chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and we agree when we can, and we
disagree agreeably when we don't agree on the subject.
The integration of women into our foreign policy is an active, ongoing
worldwide process. It requires working not only with other governments but also
with non-governmental organizations and other agents of progress. It affects
_everything, from the design of aid programs to policy decisions made by our
bureaus here in Washington; to embassy activities around the globe. And it
reflects our understanding that progress requires not: simply opening doors, but
a vigorous effort to reach out and spread the word that the old era of injustice
and repression must end so that a new era of opporturLity and full participation
may dawn.
Before closing, I want to say a few words about our next speaker, for she is
certainly one of the women we have incorporated into the mainstreams of our
foreign policy.
ALBRIGHT: During the past four years, Hillary Rodham Clinton has become
America's most-respected and valued albeit unofficial ambassador. She has
advocated America's agenda of peace, democracy, economic growth and law from
India to Indonesia, from China to Copenhagen and from Ukraine to a memorable
diplomatic and culinary experience in Ulan Bator.
(LAUGHTER)
She brings to her assigned tasks enormous energy, brains, commitment and
volumes of eloquence. Those of you who have done public speaking know how hard
it can be to excite an audience -- at least without getting int.o trouble.
·'.'
:·:
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15
FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
·'
{LAUGHTER)
Imagine how hard it is when that audience comes from 150 different countries
and when most of them are sitting there with earphones on, wires going every
way, listening to emotionless and not always accurate translation.
And yet, this woman, the. honorary chair of our delegation, electrified
precisely that kind of an audience in Beijing. Her mes.sage still echoes. Her
contributions to American leadership continue to build. Her _wisdom has become
an international force for good -- all this and a Grammy award, too.
{LAUGHTER)
As secretary of state, I can think of no greater blessing than to have.the
first lady at my side and on America's side.
This weekend, at my request, she will travel to Africa, a region of great
importance to the United States and to the progress of women. I look forward to
hearing about her trip, and I know. we all look fo~ard to hearing from her now.
Please welcome our terrific first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
{APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Thank you.
{APPLAUSE)
Thank you very much.
to say that.
Thank you so much, Secretary Albright -- I still love
(LAUGHTER)
We are gathered today to celebrate International \ITomen 1 s Day in the heart of
the State Department, and we do, as Americans, have much to celebrate starting
with a secretary of state who, yes, broke a barrier by virtue of her own gender,
but who much more importantly is committed to defending the rights, not just of
Americans, but of citizens around the world regardless of gender.
Not only has Madeleine Albright broken many a glass ceiling, she has brokered
many a peace. Not only has she opened many doors, she has opened many minds.
And since she mentioned it, I would say that in my last conversation wi.th Mrs.
Roosevelt ...
{LAUGHTER)
.;. she told me how pleased she was that her husband had appointed the first
women to the Cabinet in United States history, and how pleased she was that my
husband had appointed the first woman secretary of state.
·
'I;
.... "
(APPLAUSE)
I thank Secretary Albright for her leadership, her courage, and on a personal
note, her friendship.
·;·:'
.-·
.
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16
FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
CLINTON: And I am delighted that she has agreed to serve as the new chair for
the President's Interagency Council on Women, ably ausisted by Teresa Lo~r and
Tim Wirth, and others of you here.
We all know that countless responsibilities face our new secretary of state,
and all of us. Our foreign policy does not lack for challenges. We must
continue to reduce weapons of mass destruction. We must realize the centuries
dream of a wholly united, democratic and peaceful Europe. We must work to
capture new opportunities .in Asia, to seize opportunities for peace in the
Middle East and other areas that are strategic not only to the United States,
but to the entire globe.
·
·'
We must work with our partners in Latin America, ~.frica and elsewhere to
build an inclusive and expanding global economy. We must safeguard our people
from the threats of terrorism, extremism, international crime, drugs and
environmental degradation.
I
.'
While all of these require our attention and commitment, todaY I have come to
advance a simple idea-- and that is the seamless inclusion of girls' and
women's needs in American foreign policy.
Despite the work they do, the families they raise, the communities they hold
together, too many of the world's women, particularly in developing nations,
live on the outskirts of opportunity and equality.
But let me be clear. This challenge is not confined to the developing world.
We still have plenty of work to do here in the United States and in other
advanced economies of the world to insure that women have a full stake in
democracy.
One goal in every country should be to see that all citizens, ·regardless of
race or gender or ethnicity or religion, have a full place at their society's
table.
If you'll forgive just a slight diversion, yesterday I was in Arkansas. I
visited people who had been hit by a terrible tornado in the morning. Even
before that disast,er struck, these were people alread~r working overtime to build
good lives, to reach their aspirations. The full benefits of American society
were still a long way away for them. After this tornado, all that they had
worked for, all they had hoped for seems lost.
Later that day, I spoke at an event that helps raise funds to send single
parents, primarily women, to college or vocational school. I heard stories from
five women, who told us what it had meant that
their society in the form of those who had raised these funds reached out and
told them that they could make something of their own lives.
CLINTON: They could go to college. They could support themselves and their
children. They had heard the message.that is even still too often conveyed in
America -- that they weren't worth very much, that nob()dY really cared too much
about them.
�,--------------------------------------------,-------------------------
PAGE
FDCH Political
Transcrip~s,
17
March 12, 1997
As one young woman said -- Five years ago, I was in a battered woman's
shelter in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I had nothing. I not only didn't have a
car, I didn't have a driver's license. And my face looked as though it had been
run over by a truck. All of a sudden there were people there who convinced me
that I could make something of myself and care for my nine-month-old son. I
thought to myself, how can these people believe in me, that I could go to
college, that I could support myself? How.could these people care about me when
my own husband didn't care about me?
Thos·e stories, as I heard them, reminded me of stories that .I have heard
around the world -- as women in Bangladesh or India or Nicaragua or Chile stood
up and told me what it meant to them to have someone believe that they, too,
could make a living for their families, that the skills they had would be valued
in the marketplace, that their children, especially ttleir daughters, could have .
a 'better life.
The women last night were helped to return to school. And today, they are
citizens of the United States in the fullest sense of that word.
Whenever disparities of wealth exist in our country and around the world, it
means that people are left by the side of the road, detoured off the information
highway, unable to take advantage of democracy's opportunities. What America
must do for its own sake, as well as for the sake of its leadership in the world
we are in_today and that we are entering tomorrow is: to promote democracy and
civil society in every nation, so that all citizens -- every man, woman and
child -- can live up to their God-given potential.
But one may ask -- Well it's fine for me to care about the women of Arkansas,
but-why should I or any American-care about women in developing countries ·and
around the world? Why should women, as Secretary Albright just eloquently
explained, be a concern of ours and our foreign policy here in the United
States?
Well, what the secretary said, and what this administration believes is that
if half of the world's citizens are undervalued, underpaid, undereducated,
under-represented, fed less, fed worse, not heard, put down, we cannot sustain
the democratic values and the way of life we have come to cherish.
CLINTON: If,--as a nation, Americans care about opening foreign markets for
American goods and services, i f we care about making our country secure in the
face of new threats, if we care about widening the circle of peace and
prosperity, then we must address the conditions and circumstances of the world's
women.
You in this room know better than anyone else that ,our world is in a time of
great transformation, heralding ever more democracy, leading, we hope, to ever
more peace. But the great promise of this time is. not without its challenges.
Global competition, the information revolution, the rapid pace of change, create
pressures on every society, from governments down to families. And these
pressures pose unavoidable questions· for us as we approach the 21st century.
How do we figure out ways to balance individual and community rights and
How do parents raise children in the face of the influences
re~ponsibilities?
.. :•:
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18
FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
of the mass media and consumer culture? What do we make of what seems to be a
conflict in many instances between personal identity and the work available in
an age of globalization and high technology? What about the roles of women in
society? How will people preserve their ethnic pride and value their national
citizenship? And how will nations protect their sovereignty while cooperating
regionally and globally with others.
Thinking about these questions, and how a free nation like ours will respond
to them, we may need to be reminded that democracy :Ls not just about
legally-protected rights, elections, or free market economies. It is about the
internalization of democratic values in people's hearts and minds. It is about
how, in the absence of either hot,-or cold wars, democracy is rooted in people's
everyday lives.
Given the changes that are going on ar·ound us, we can no longer gauge our
interests .around the world solely through power blocs and vast arsenals. Across
the globe, here at home, at the end of the Cold.War, we have been freed to focus
on issues that edge right up to our own front doors. How do we educate our
children? How do we ensure that families have proper healthcare? How do we
ensure that democracies and free markets produce citizens, not just consumers?
CLINTON: I have said before that in this time of challenge around the globe,
we know we will continue to cope with what is often thought of as ,the
traditional balance of power among countries.
But I would also argue that we must now add to that balance of power
equation, often called Realpolitik, the idea that real life politik may be just
as intimately connected with whether or not democracies'survive and flourish.
These issues that we speak of today should not be considered women's issues,
but certainly it is fair to say that women often, by necessity, become the
world's experts on the hazards and vicissitudes of life, and they therefore
-often understand and appreciate. more clearly that they have a, vested interest in
insuring that their societies and governments address these real life
challenges.
I have seen for myself on continent after continent the solutions that women
are forging -- new mothers in Jakarta, Indonesia, who gather every week to learn
about family planning and better nutrition for their children; doctors and
nurses in Belarus and Ukraine, who are caring for the children of Chernobyl;
women from Santiago to San Diego, who are working on issues as diverse as
education, crime and the environment.
These issues are central to .our global democratic interests, for what
distinguishes democracy is.. fair and genuine participation in every aspect of
life. It should be too obvious to point out, but unfortunately it isn't, th t
giving women a stronger voice and fuller say over their futures is intimatel
related to the health of democracies because women are the majority in most
countries and the world over.
. I:
'
'
America's credo should ring clearly -- a democracy without the full
participation of women is a contradiction in terms. To ~each its full
potential, it must include all of its citizens.
�PAGE
19
FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
Clearly, whether we succeed in strengthening democratic values around the
world is of special consequence to women, who in our country and.elsewhere are
still striving to attain and even define their rightful place in government, the
economy and civil society, and to claim their rightful share of personal,
political, economic and civic power.
Raising the status of women and girls and investing in their potential means
insuring that they have the tools of opportunity available to them -- education,
healthcare, credit and jobs, legal protections, and the right to participate
fully in the political life of their countries.
And that is why the United States must continue its bipartisan tradition of
-supporting initiatives that move our world closer to i:.hese goals.
Today, more than 600 million women worldwide are denied the opportunity of an
education.
CLINTON: Women make up two thirds of those who can neither read nor write.
Yet the single most important investment any developing nation can make is in
the education of girls and women.
We are discovering that in country after country the benefits of educating
women go far beyond the classroom and the school house. They go to stronger
families, better health, ·nutrition, wages and levels of political participation-.I have seen how the support of the United States for the education of women
and girls worldwide is paying off.
I have seen how· simila.r social investments
-- also many supported by the United States -- can make a difference in
countries as diverse as Brazil, the Philippines, Nepal and Pakistan.
Certainly, as I travel around the world and as many of you do likewise, we
have seen with our own eyes that investing in girls and women helps to transform
communities, which in turn can transform society.
Women will not flourish and neither will democracy if they continue to be·
undervalued inside and outside the home.
I have ha.d many experts in economic
development around the world say to me that women's work is not part of the
economies of countries, that women do not participate in the economic markets of
the countries.
And yet I have seen with my own eyes as I've travelled through urban areas
and remote world ones that women are bearing often the bulk of the load of the
work that must be done to plant crops, to harvest them, to make it possible for
small enterprises to flourish in market stalls.
So I know that women are working. Their contributions may not be counted in
the gross domestic product of their societies, but they are of value.
If all
the women in the world tomorrow said they would not: work outside the home, the
economies of every country would collapse.
And it's time that we ...
�PAGE
20
FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
(APPLAUSE)
It is time that we honored and counted the.contributions that women make. both
in the home and outside.
IQ,yesting in women a:tso mean_:::, investing in their health, and in turn in the
health of their families. I am especially pleased that the United.States has
provided assistance through .the United States
Agency for International Development to assure that women~ children and families
have access to a full spectrum of low cost, high yield health care services from
safe birthing kits for expectant mothers to basic immunizations for infants, to
oral rehydration therapy to treat children suffering from diarrhea.
~
I want to say a special world about family planning and it's importance in
this larger effort.
CLINTON: Family planning is fundamental to letting women take responsibility
for themselves and their children. Right now, however, roughly 100 million
women worldwide cannot get, or. are not using family planning services because
they are poor, uneducated or do not have access to care.
Some 20 million women will seek unsafe abortion:s. Of these women, some may
become disabled for life, some will have other health problems, but
fundamentally the rate of unsafe abortions is in itself a tragedy. High
abortion rates do not represent women's equality. ~rhey represent a failure on
all.our parts to help women prevent unwanted pregna.ncies in the first place.
I£ we really care about reducing abortion and fostering strong families, we
must not back away from America's commitment to fainily planning efforts
overseas.
(APPLAUSE)
And if we really care about making women equal partners in societies the
world over, we must do everyth1ng 'in our power to fight violence against women.
Whether it is a hidden crime of domestic abuse or a blatant tactic of war, no
single social investment is a panacea for women or for developing countries.
Nor should every just cause in the world be America's to embrace.
But I do believe that, as long as discriminati011 and inequities persist on a
broad scale way against women, a stable prosperous world will be far from a
reality.
Taken together our investments in social development are vital to
strengthening free market interests, spreading our democratic ideals and
enhancing our security.
Over time, America has learned that our ideals and interests cannot be
divorced from the political, economic, social cross-currents swirling around us.
I hope we have also learned that engagement with the world represents
opportunities at home, as well as obligations abroad.
I
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21
FDCH Political Transcripts, March 12, 1997
Let me give you just one modest example. I spoke recently at a conference
sponsored by USAID called Lessons Without Boarders. At the conference,
Baltimore's Mayor Kurt Schmoke told how government leaders from his city had
gone to Africa to learn about simple low-cost strategies used on that continent
to encourage parents to immunize their children.
Now similar programs are in place in Baltimore with community clinics, a
vaccination van, door-to-door visits and the resu:tting higher immunization rates
for children under three.
CLINTON: We can learn from our neighbors around the world. And many of the
lessons we can learn, we will fin.d, are lessons that have been helped to be
taught by our own foreign policy engagement.
Less· than one percent of our budget -- yet countless lives -- can be improved
and we can improve lives here at home.
Be_;ore I close, I want to say word about my forthcoming trip to Africa. I
was very honored to be asked to make this trip because I think that America's
engagement in the world must include an engagement with subsaharan Africa.
Contemporary history is story that citizens and countries are writing.· And
there is a new story that must be told. Every re~rion is contributing its own
chapter.
Africa has a remarkable story if we will only pay attention to it.
It is moving toward democracy. In the last six years, the number of
democracies have jumped from five to 23. Africa is growing economically, moving
from suffocating state-controlled economies to ope,n markets that can give full
life and scope to human endeavor.
Last year, 30 countries recorded positive economic growth. Africa is
beginning to forge a new relationship with the United States, one based not just
on aid but on shared ideals, mutual responsibilities, integration into the world
economy, and partnerships designed to resolve conflicts and to meet common
challenges.
To be sure, many of the African democracies are new and therefore fragile.
Hope remains tenuous. Too much of the continent continues to be riven by
disease, malnutrition, poverty, injustice, corruption, perilous conflicts and
their terrible aftermath -- refugee crises that trap women and children
especially, and lives that go from bad to worse.
And yet -- and yet, in spite of these challenges, for the first time, we can
say that at this moment in history there in Africa grounds for far more hope
than despair. And with the support of the United States, we can solidify that
hope.
I will be privileged to visit Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania,
Uganda and Eritrea. And I am pleased that so many of the ambassadors from those
countries and other countries in Arrica are with us today.
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FDCH Political Transcripts; March 12, 1997
I hope to witness firsthand and to highlight each country's efforts to build
democracy and a strong civil society. I will focus
particularly on grassroots initiatives and on efforts that affect women and
children.
I hope this trip will give the American people a renewed sense of the
importance of our commitment to Africa.
CLINTON: I hope it will lay out exactly why we must do our utmost to support
democracy and social investment in Africa, and to strengthen Africa's place in
the community of nations.
And I hope it will show that American engagement must be measured not just in
aid dollars or humanitarian efforts in the wake of tragedy and crisis, but in
the democratic values we reinforce, in the human rights we defend, and in the
conflicts we help resolve preventively.
There are, to be sure, issues of America's national security at stake.
Instability in Africa -- whether it is rooted in war, in terrorism, in organized
crime, in disease, in environmental degradation and poverty -- touches us too.
There are also economic issues at stake. Right now the United States holds
only seven percent of the African market of 600 million people. By forging
stronger economic ties with Africa, we will do much to secure the prosperity of
our own people as well.
But finally, our greatest reasons for engagement with Africa are built on a
positive foundation. Africa is on the move with a new generation of leaders.
the fresh air of political reform, and thriving multi-ethnic societies.
As we look at the future for America's engagement around the world, we can
see that, wherever we help to seed the ground for democracy, wherever we reach
out to people out of mutual respect to help them help themselves, whatever we
understand clearly that in this time of interdependence and interconnection that
we all have a stake in the success of the other, we will make progress together.
Whether it comes to assisting and working with our friends in the new
democracies in Africa or understanding the importance of our commitment to women
and girls, America's interests are at stake. But far more importantly,
America's values are at stake.
If we act upon those values we will help to lead the world into the kind of
new future we envision as possible for our children and all the children around
the globe.
Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
END
NOTES:
????
- Indicates Speaker Unkown
- Could not make out what was being said.
�Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and
First Lady Hillary Rodham 'Clinton
Media Roundtable
Washington, DC, March 11, 1998
As released by the Office of the Spokesman
U.S. Department of State
"'
. SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, good morning, and thank. you all very much for coming
this morning and being here at the Department of State. We have a few other activities going
on in the building today, which explains this particular setting.
This afternoon, we're having an event at the White House with tlhe President in observation of .
International Women's Day. And we wanted to preview that eve.nt for you here now,.and have
a discussion with you - something that we'll not have an opportunity to do this afternoon.
As you·know, I'm very honored to have the First Lady with us here today, and Bonnie
Campbeil; who's the director of the Justice Department's Office of Violence Against Women. I
would also like to introduce TheresaLoar who is the State Departrnentis senior coordinator for
. international women's issues, a position created by Congress in which Theresa really is doing a
fantastic job ~ we are at this all the time.
..
And to get us started, what I wanted to do was to invite the First Lady to give us an idea of
what to expect from the President and from our event this afternoon.
--·
THE FIRST LADY: Thank you very much, and sony I didn't see the folks in the second row,
but hello, thank you for coming. Thank everybody for coming, and congratulations to you on
your upcoming nuptiais. That may be the big news that comes out of this.
I really appreciate this opportunity. A year ago, the Secretary and I gave speeches here at the
State Department on International Women's Day about the intentions and plans of the United
States to pursue' as actively as possible within our foreign policy an emphasis on women's
rights and an emphasis on working with like-minded countries and NGOs in order to further
the agenda that came out of Beijing.
It was a fitting day to give such speeches, because ever since its beginning at the turn of the
century, International Women's Day has been a catalyst for change. As the Secretary said, in a
few hours we will be joining the President, the United Nations Secretary General, Attorney
General Reno, a number of members of Congress and a member of the Thai Parliament and ·
other leaders to celebrate the progress that has been made, and to talk about the new steps that
the President is directing the Administration to take to further our objective of ensuring the
human rights of women around the world .
.
__
-,.,
Sin~e";tne!?~iji.ng·~_oilf~:tep::qe~ ~~~-~ thou~ it's !J.~Jl a~relativelrshort PC:d$1~-:of time, -~~eha~~
beena:ratner-stgrufieant.measurable·progress in furthering the· agenda"sef forth atBeijing.· ·· .·-"-:·i- /
Governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals have all demonstrated the~~. /
commitment to that agenda. Everywhere I go - and so~e of\you have traveled with me on
these trips - I. spend considerable amount of time meeting with non-governmental
---::.:--'
~~-:_-
"'::..:;:--:-.:-~
�•
as
organizations, ·as well representatives of govenunents, and with individual women to talk
about the challenges and obstacles that a particular society faces, and to share ideas about what
we can do together to try to further this agenda
·
I've seeri·a•lot:Of..progressjust=witliiiHhecyea.rs'that+ha\'e been traveling; and t4at progress is
testament to the growing awareness.around theworld of the importance of these is~ues.
Burtnere:is:more.:that=rieeds·to:..oe:aonei=and,more.;that~-we:in;the-;Unitea·state?crul'do ""t<i give·~;;
leadership-and-support t(flliese:~orts. A:WOng the announcements that the President will
is'tfiif we wilfcoritinue to build on the~y!o.l~f!~e.Against-:'W:om~n-AcLthaLwas,passed
here in the Uni~ed States in this Administration by announcing that there will be anadditional
$10 million over the next two years to respond to requests from govenunents and NGOs to
.help them fight violence against women abroad. Bonnie Campbell will speak more to that
point in a few minutes~ But I know personally, I've referred many visitors from around the
world to Bonnie Campbell, and she has had a great deal of impact in helping to provide
technical-assistance, encouragement, experience from the United States in order to make the
issue of violence against women.- which really surfaced at the Nairobi conference, but took
really seri~us steps .out of Beijing into reality. ·
·· ·
make
Some Q:f~~ou~haye~wti.!!~E:a~oJI.Ii:ssues.of.traffickiii'g'QJ:Yf~~en:-~e think there are at least a .
million women-trafficked across borders every year. I wouldpersonally argue that it's probably
more than that; but at least we.can track about' a million. And we know that a lot of the .
countries that are·the sources of this trafficking are in ~e former Soviet Union~ countries that
are facing economic difficulties and problems. This is an international problem that needs to
be confronted internationally.
Today the President. will ask the Attorney General to make sure that our laws here at home are
. ·. going te be of help in working with multilateral organizations, as well as individual nations, to
do a better.job in combating trafficking. The President Will announce a partnership with the
government of Ukraine to fight trafficking to and from that cotintry--one of the countries
most affected in the last several years.
We,need,W,dQ_IJ!qr!UQ warn potentiaJ,~aB,ms~a6but'th«!:;adveriising that.th~y-~spond to for .
. joos·as -nariill~-or .\vaitresses:or;wb~t<f.Y~(if)!iign{"be ~~t-~~tiees'the~it':\}'e nee(!:.to strertgtlie~
law enforcement's responSe in order to try and stop trafficking a.fits source; Agam, we can .
provide you more information about that. We wiU convene an international conference to
spotlight what is being done to combat trafficking. ·
One important tool in the fight for women's rights that the United States does not have is the
Convention on·the Elimination of all Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women, also known·as
CCEE>~.~Despite the fact that our govenunent signed this treaty almost two decades ago, "
.despite itsp~oven track record as a very good strategy in a number of countries around the .
world and in multilateral efforts to improve women's rights, the United States stands alone
among ind~strialized democra~ies, along with countries like Sudan, in ·not ratifying this. And .
today the President will again call on the United States Senate to act to ensure that this treaty
can be ratified by July ofthis year-' iptime for the 150th·anniversary ofthe Seneca Falls
·
·
·
Convention.
~~~&_;'!_e:~}!!~~~W±~~?d.a~~~~::.~JJlio~~to_h~l~s~~pQ_rt~~~-womenfl~Afgh~ni_s!~;:_W:K6.7-.
have been orutahzeq; s!lenced·and rendered· InVlSlble by· the Tajtban~ w:~ ~Will .funa grassroots
-.-....
-- ---- --.,.~---~-~--
~---~.
~
I
�organizations to help provide women: in Pakistani refugee camps with the services they need
now and the skills they'll need eventually when they return to Afghanistan. And in
Afg~tan, we will ~ork with non-gov<?mmental organizations to help train women to
become community health workers and address basic health issues, especially those that affect
children.
All of this, comes. ou£'Qf9i:if'q_o~c;~ -about the rights ·of women. .Jt comes outof~thisjnitiative
that has: really: taken s1f~pcfili iliisAdiiiiiiistration. It cof!les out of the leadership th!ittli~ -.-7
SecreuufOf State has given to-women'iissues~Aiuf-1t-is-soniething·that we_:h'Qp~~ll~g~
greatet-:-and greater awareness amc;>ng th~,American.people· and·.be $!JJ:ll.~thing that wecan
continue to speak outagain.and agaiiiaooutand ~k6.rat~-pregiess-.with~r~pect to the next
International Women's Day and the next and the next aii&.tl:ie Ji~xC --·
But we f~l very strongly about this, and as you'll se~l'thisafifmoon, it is a major part of how
we view American foreign policy and our role and leadership in the world.
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Thank you very much, Mrs. Clinton. I think all of us know that
we have no better spokesperson on this subject than the First Lady, who is so highly respected
abroad, as she talks apout women's issues as part of our overall foreign policy. And every
place I go, everybody keeps congratulating me on.the fact that we have such a First Lady.
The main point that I'd like to add is that the initiatives announced today are part of an ongoing
strategy to identify and seize the opportunities to advance the status of women around the
world. A year ago here at the Department, 8$ the First Lady said, we had a meeting to begin a
process of advancing the status of women as part of the mainstream of American foreign
policy. And today's announcements and the remarks by the President and the First Lady and
the Attorney General will reflect that
We have made ratification ofCEDAW a priority~ I had a discussion with Chairman Helms
about it yesterday. It's not his favorite treaty, but I have made it very clear that it is an
Administration priority. We have made the treatment of women a key element in our policies · ·
towardsAfghanistan and otl.r discussionS With the Tali ban. I think some of you were With·me
when we were in Paiclstan .and visited the refugee camps. You know how important that trip
was and the sense that we gave to them about our concern about their condition.
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.In our human rights reporting anq.intemationallaw enforcement activities, we've placed new
emphasis on the halting of the trafficking in women and girls;· and this agreement that we have
developed with Uknilne, I think, is just one example. I was in Ukraine three days ago; and it
was a subject that we talked about at length; and I think it's a ,very important initiative. In fact,
wherever I go, I do try to meet with NGOs or community leaders who are working on human
rights issues or on initiatives to help women. I think it is a way of showing that America cares
about their workand that we'll help wherever we can. It clearly is :a great learning experience
for me, and I enjoy those meetings tremendously. In some countries, it's also a not-so-subtle
way of saying that America is watching, and that we expect the rights and safety ofhumari .
rights workers and NGOs to be honored.
More broadly, in our development and refugee assistance programs, we're taking into account
more and more the special needs of women. Partly this is to keep woinenand children from
being exploited or abused, and obviously we know that they are especially vulnerable in
refugee situations; and it's partlybecause, to a great extent, development depends on women.
�..What is interesting - yesterday I was in Canada, and we were talking generally about the great ·
role that they play in peacekeeping operations; And we discussed the importance-of sensitizing
peacekeepers generally, in terms of the way that they deal with women in situationS where they
go into these c~untries.
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We have found that when women gain the knowledge and power to make our own choices,
women are often able to break out of the cycle of poverty in which so many societies remain
entrapped and birth rates stabilize and environmental awareness increases and the spread of
sexually transmitted diseases slows and socially constructive values are more likely to be
passed on to the next generation. And again, just to tell you how much it's a part of all our
discussions, again, in Canada yesterday, where we ta1ked about the necessity of dealing with
future threats of weapons of mass destruction, we talked about the fact that if women in
societies knew· more about what the problems were, that it would help spread the word. So it is
just a common theme in terms of the way that we deal with all foreign policy issues of kind of
using women's basic networks' to get a problem out to the whole society. And really, this is
how social progress is made and how peace and prosperity are built.
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That's wi1y making the advancement ofwomen a part of our foreign policy is not only the right
thing to do, but I think it's the smart thing to do. And f can tell y~u that as you think about the
next century and what it will be like, the movement to recognize the rights of women, to
empower them economically and politically and to curb violence and exploitation, I think is
going to be one of the most powerful forces for shaping the globe.
You can see now how the momentum is building on every continent. Everywhere there are
ripples from Beijing. The countries have developed their own systems for following up on· ·
Beijing, aJ?.d we keep_in touch.with.theril; and it has just created a whole growth in te~s of
· ·how women deal with their own societies and how we deal with each other. And I think that
for us it's been important because we have put women's issues into the mainstream of foreign
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Now, before opening ~ll thi$ -~P to you, I'djust like to' invite Bonnie Campbell, \\rho really has
been such a leader on the issue -of violence against women~ to say a few words about the
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Justice Department'sparticipation. Bonnie.· . .
BONNIE CAMPBELL: Thank you so much. When I was contemplating what I would say
today, I realized- and Mrs. Clinton, I know you will remember- it was re8lly three years ago
this month that the President appointed me to head the Violence Against Women Office. I
have t() be very hOI~est, I could not at that time have imagined how pa5sage of the Violence
Against Women Act and the obvious support of this Administration would resonate around the
world. I did not anticipate that. It has been an interesting and very wonderful-experience for
me.
It occ\lrs to me that having a First Lady who has framed around the world and for us women's
rights as human rights, which seems so-basic, and a Secretary of State who quite literally
shines a very bright light on. these issues of violence against women is the main reason that
these issues have resonated.
But there is also this notion of critical mass happening around the world. My job, of course, is· ·
to focus on fighting violence against women at home. And I find that there are so many
�intersections with what happens globally. We very vigorously, every day, work hard to address
·domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking here at home. When the Violence Against Women
Act was signed into law, it was the first time the federal government had ever spoken to these
issues of violence against women. It is a partnership arrangements that we have with the states,
where most of these cases are investigated and prosecuted and heard.
An important pieee of the partnership is roughly $2 billion going to the states, which dx:ives, as
you can imagine, a great deal of energy and creativity and much needed resources are added.
We understood, when the Violence Against Women Act was pa'ised and when I was
appointed,·that a critical piece of transforming attitudes about violence against women would
be elevating the public's awareness that no longer, for example, iis domestic violence just a
private dispute between two people. and something that's not fit tor legal adjudication. Bu~ ·
rather, 'it is now a crime and it will be treated as seriously as any crime committed by a
stranger.
And it seems that having this Administration in every way make that statement over and over
again in Beijing, around the world, struck a chord around the world. And I have the feeling
that everywhere the First Lady goes, I'm then shortly visited by people who have been
suggested by the First Lady that they meet with us and that we C(;m share about our experiences
-how we got the Violence Against Women Act passed. When I was fortunate enough to go to
a Vital Voices conference in Vienna, I'm not a diplomat so I really didn't understand, in
dealing with women from the former Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries, how little
their experience with democracy ever has been.
And when I talked about. getting the Violence Against Women Act passed, they had these
blank looks like, well, how do. Y.<m do that? Our eng~genient is so important. How do you get a
law passed where there is none? Why did the federal govemmen1~ in our setting, speak to these
issues? What were our goals? How do we do that?
Needless to say, in the context of our commitment to holding justice systems around the world
accountable for protecting women from violence, became the mantra. I~ literally has been in a
way that I could not have anticipated. We always-articulate our gc>als very clearly. 'Needless to .
say, trafficking of women- which will be an important topic for us today- is violen~ against
women. We understand it also to be another one ofthose intersections with the rest of the
. globe. I talk- in Theresa's wonderful parlance, we talk in terms of technical assistance; but it's
really sharing of experiences and partnerships -not unlike our partnership with the_ ·states in
many w~:ys -- where w~ can figure out together what are the best mechanisms. But the goals
are always the same - to hold justice systems, whether they are in the United States or any
other region of the world, accountable for the protection of women and children; to change the
public attitudes about these crimes.
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It's not ever acceptable to be violent toward women and children or to traffic women for sexual
exploitation or slave labor- not ever, under anyone's cultural history or scheme.
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And finally, how do we come together where we live to stop it? And it turns out that we really
can't do it without each other. Yesterday I met with-- along with many~people from the Justice
Department -- with a delegation from Italy, who really wanted to share with us their
. experience with trafficking in Europe and to encourage us to view trafficking as a very
significant challenge in organized critninal entity that we will see, ifwe haven't already seen,
· in as big a way as they are. The sharing of information from the perspective of our prosecutors
�is criticai, because now we will meet again, probably next month; we will talk about how we
literally share intelligence and information that is crucial to learning more about trafficking
trends and enabling us to prosecute these eases ..
Indeed, the world seems very small. I know just sitting here trying to recall the people from
arourid the world with whom I have met - way too many to recount, but I have met .with
people from Thailand and Italy, as I said, numerolJ$ places in Mexico, the UK, Israel, Greece,
Holland, numerous countries in Africa: The interest in what we are doing, the interest in the ·
partnership, is absolutely profound to me.
Part of the problem I think we encounter- and I would be happy to address this. more when we
have opportunities for questions - is that trafficking, in particular, is so shocking. When I go
home to my wonderful state of Iowa, it is. very difficult for them to believe that anybody
anywhere w~uld actually enslave human beings and sell them. I must tell you it is a bit
appalling, which I think is one of the most important consequences of today, from my
perspective, that the President, the FirstLady, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General and
. others will say unequivocally this is happening, it is horrible, and it's unacceptable. I am really
honored to be here. with both of you. ·
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Thank you very much. And so now let us open it upto
discussion and questions. If you would identify yourself, Andrea.
.QUESTION: Andrea Mitchell, from NBC. Madame Secretary, Mrs. Clinton, a great deal of·
the leadership on this, as you know, has come from the United Nations at the Beijing
Conference. And I am wondering if you could address what we can do about your efforts to get
the UN dues paid in Congress. And the insistence now by Congress, again, that the family
pl~ng langl:Jage, which is so crucial.to·women around the world, be taken back as
conditienal approval of the -- (inaudible).
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, we have all argued loud and clear that it is
essential for the United States to pay up to the United Nations. These are dues and bills of a
club, basically, that we started and.we consider as a major help to American foreign policy and
in American national mterests that .the United Nations function effectively. Last year I was ..
very pleased that we were able to .WQrk out some excellent legislation thatwas.abletopay
back the bulk of our arrears, well as lay down some very important benchmarks for United
Nations reform and which we believe. And it was held up by a small group of members who
believed that the issue qffamily planning should-be attached to·a national security issue. ·
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I have now testified number of times to the following point, which I deeply believe. I think
that the issue of family planning is one that is a highly debated issue in the United States and
the question of pro-choiCe and pro-life. I happen to be on one side of the issue, as is the First
Lady, and there are very good people on the other side of the issue. It is an issue of major
importance and it should be debated; but it should be debated separately.
It is a custom in the United States to be able to vote an issue up or down on the basis ofits
substance, and not on the basis that it is attached to national security legislation. And it ·
continues to ~e put forward that way and we are in danger of shutting down our. foreign policy.
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And so we are saying that it is an important issue, it should be debated separately,.and we
should allow it to have an up or down vote and moye the rest of the legislation -- not only t6
do with UN arrears, but the IMF replenishment, the supplemental that also will have Iraq and
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Bosnia in as well as some natural di~terways to .help- on its own merit~ We can not tie up · ·
.these important issues with another important issue, which is th·e discussion on family
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QUESTION: Can you compromise on it?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, I think the issue here is that it ought to be sepanited. It's
very hard on an issue of this kind. There are really good people on both sides. I believe that;
because it is an issue of such importance. And it should not be attached to national security
.·legislation.
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QUESTION: Judy Woodward, from ~NN. IfCJ;:DAW is this importrultto the
Administration, why hasn't it been ·pushed more aggressively early on-- from the very
beginning of the Administration in 1993?
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SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I have made it very clear that it is an issue of great- of priority
for the Administration, and I have done it, interesting~y enough, when Chairman' Helms invited
me to go to his college in North Carolina, where the loudest applause that I got was on
CEDAW and paying back UN arrears. So I have made it Very clear-- I did again yesterday.
And if you note the various speeches that I have made, it has been a·high priority issue for us.
It is blocked and we· are going to continue, and today the President will also remake his point ·.
on this, as the First Lady jtist haS.
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QUESTION: Sonya Ross, from AP. Following upon the question, what is it that makes you
hopeful that this convention can be ratified either this year or by July, when the Urutec(States
has avo~ded it for so many years,. pretty much half of my lifetime? I.
what makes you
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hopeful that it will get done by July or even .by the end of the year?
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THEFIRSTLAD:V: Well, I think we're hopeful because, if we could get suffici(mt public
. attention paid to .the convention and more people, like we are, con.~cerned about how the United
States .looks standing on the wrong side of this issue with ~orne pretty unsavory company; that .
it could very well have the intended effectof giving it enough momentum to overcome the .
objections that people have to it.
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. What we are looking for is a ciiscussion about it. I Il1ean, we haven't even been able to h~ve.a
discussion. It's never even gotten to thatpoint. So a lot of the objet~tions which are bandied
about ()n right wing radio S!ations and in brochures and pamphlets: that people $end across the
transom, they've never gotten a hearing ~because we·have never bee:n able to have a national ·
debate about this. And 1 hopeful that the more attention that is paid to it· and ·increased
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emphasis that we're all putting on it will at least bring about that disc'ussion.
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THERESA LOAR:.Thereis also·a lot of groups across the United States who are working to
advocate at the state level, at the nation~ level, who have been in touch With their Members of
· Congress to indicate their support. And these are groups like church groups and civic gro'ups
and women's organizations, who have been very active in the last several months in a
campaign to get greater attention to this •treaty and .to try. to get sortie acti?n qn it...
QUESTION: Tom Lippman, from The Washington Post: I M1ould·like to address ~hat Tim
Moore used to call the "Real Men Don't Do Lunch," issue. You are sort ()f expanding here the
definition of national secudty and foreign policy interests of the United States with these kinds
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of issues that were no ton the traditional national secwity agenda; How do get bur~ucracy to
. incorporate an issue like.this into its planning for events or issues or-:- (inaudible)? .
SECRETARYALBRIGHT: Well, we do it here on a daily basis by making very clear that
. 'women's issues are national secwity.issues because they are the·basis. of how societies operate.
· And when there are progcims here that have to do with refugee assistance or environmental
issues or, I think, as I mentioned~ what I found interesting yesterday, as I said;my discusl)ion in
Canada about that women heed to get more involved.indiscussions about weapons of mass .
'destruction. So it's kind of a daily input in'terms ofhow all our issues are handled that there is
a sensitivity raised about ~e fact !flat womenare Il()tjust victim~rdfpoiicies.butcan actually
be proponents of policies that assist the entire world in terms of developing the world we want
to bein in the 21st Century.
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Theresa, you might want to taJk about ~)Orne more specifics.
THERESA LOAR: Well, I can tell you that with Secretary Albright at the.head ofthis
department,. her ;example sends veiy strong signals. When Assistant Secretaries go out to the
region, they come and ask rrieJor.a briefing; what are the issues; who are the people I should
be working with; wh~t of yom is~u~s of your points can I be sure to incorporate i~ th.is trip?
. This is not th~ way it was a few years back at the State Department This is a sea change. This
·is a dramatic change in the one year that there has been a great emphasis on this, and it really
· has to do with example at the top, and it has to do with follow.,through throughout the whole
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.It is also when the Se~retary goes on· trips. You know how the Secretary - this complex paper
process works. There is ·a: tasker that goes out through the whole builqing - these are the issues
we ihfnk she should work on. Well, our is~ues .are incorporated into that and we are part of that·
. tasker, so we are alerted whenever the Secretary is traveling to see how we can .put some of the .
. 'issues that we. are particularly working on.·her agenda. And its been a tremendous r~sponse ..
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Of eourse, ~hen the SecretarY ~ses .it, then we have ~ the. reason Bonni~ Campbell; for : ..
example~ is meeting. with italians is because. the-8~retary.raised;.the issue.oftni.fflckjng with . .
· the Italians at the G-8 st1Il11nit last June; The·ItBliaris respanded very qt1iqkly:.how can we worl<:
with you; how cari we doth~ kind of working group,that you have atyour-govermnent on tliis
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.. QUESTION: Crystal Wrigh~ With .the Fox News Channel. Arid the First Iidy, Mrs. Clinton,·
you mentioned in your .open,irig-remarks:that the former Soviet Union has' some-of the worst trafficking problems ofwom~n.. Arid I know Secretary Albright mentioned in her opening
. remarks that she takes up :this issue hea~edly in all her meetings, rio matter what she is meeting
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And I wanted to a.Sk both ofyo~·in your dialogues as Secretary of State and the 'first Lady,
what ar~ the Russians :. ·hoM: are they,.·responding when you raise thisissu~?. And if you eould
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SECRETARY ALBRIGHT:
I.think that wlien I have raised it- and I just ·rai~e.d it in
Ukraine and then with the Ru~si~ris earlier- is basically I think they are originallY' surprised a:t
the fact that this is going on, and that they are concerned about it. I thi~ that they . , f thir1k as
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Bonnie also said, there is a lack of understanding about how a system works and what the
government officials can do al;Jout this particular problem. So it's amatter not only of telling
them that there is a problert1, but that it is sqmething that they can do something about.
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And I have found generally a positive response that they want to work on this. 'I think they see
it as unacceptable and also as a mark againSt them as they·try to be a part of organized
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THE FIRST LADY: I have found the sam~.
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QUESTION: And just to follow up on this~ what ideas do they have about making changes
and tryir1g to stop it?
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SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, they do want to know about how to getlaws passed and
what they can do about it. I mean, part of their problem generally - and I think we've_ had this
discussion on other issues - is that as communist systems have moved from centralized
systems where they controlled everything Md they knew how to get things done, they have
now moved to trying to deal with developments of civil society and various pieces of
enterprises that they have no control over. .Apd so they ask, you criticized us when we were
centralized; how do you expect us now to do it when we are decentralized? And we talk about
how legislation can be done.
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QUESTION: Carol Giacomo, with Reute~sJ The Administration has talked very tough about
the Taliban and Afghanistan in particular, and has had intensive discussions with members of
the Taliban. And I wondered whether you feel like you're getting anywhere with them-- .
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whether there has been any response that YOl;l consider positive to your message. And does the
Administration consider at all the possibility' that If the civil war were to end there, that the
pipeline --the United States might oppose a pipeline there until they do better by women? I
mean, is there any quid pro quo?· ·
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SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, I mean, we have been pressing them in public
and private - and, Carol, you were with me when we· were in Pakistan. I think that we make
very clear our objection to the way that they ~t women. We have committed up to $2.5
million in new funds for women's gras$roots ;organizations in Paldstan and ways of providing
training. I think it is very much a part of our lhlnking as we deal 'Nith Afghanistan generally. It
· is a subject that is raised all the time and· that, we feel that by kind of keeping at it we are··
making some progress. It is a very tough issue. rm not trying to SJ.tgarooat this in any way. It is
certainly a priority for us and we keep stressing it. I've given a-number- well, portions of ·
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speeehes on this and I know that-the First La4y has, too. So it's· up there as a big issue for us.
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QUESTION: The President's trip to Africa il) fast approaching. Could you give us a sense of
to what degree these are problems in the countries he will be visiting, and do either· of you plan
special events or forums that will address this?
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THE FIRST LADY: I don't know that the S¢cretary is actually going to be able to niake the
trip, but in the planning forth~ trip, w~'U be going to Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Botswana·
and Senegal. And in each of those countries there is a long list of issues that the President will
be addressing and, where appropriate, these i~sues are going' to be part of that mix.
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goverrunent and outside the government, on issues affecting women and children. I am
particularly concerned, as I said when I went to Eritrea, about the systematic exploitation of
women and children by using them in military conflicts. And that is an issue that I hope to be
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able to address in the various forums there.
We may have some further information, either before the trip or during the trip; to annoimce
with respect to these specific issues that we have been talking about here as well.
QUESTION: Susan Baer, with The Baltimore Sun. Mrs. Clinton, could you talk about your
role or your input into the President's decision not to accept any compromise language on the
overseas abortion funding tha~ has now held up money for the IMF and the payment to the
UN?
·THE FIRST LADY: I don't have anything to add to what the Secretary said in describing
what the government's position is.·
QUESTION: Did you have conversations with the Secretary.or with the President about your
feelings :ibout it?
THE FIRST LADY: I never talk about my conversations .
. QUESTION: Cynthia McFadden, from ABC. One of the issues, certainly on the former
Soviet Union which- (inaudible)-- closely .is economic and after the-- (inaudible). I don't- I
. missed if there was- ~s· there any economic in~enti~e that gees along with being a partnership?
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THE FIRST LAP Y:. Well; I don't know thaf there is any economic ineentive that is directly
tied to this initiative,~ but certainly Uki:aine receives an extraordinary amount of American
assistance right now -- much of it.aimed at economic initiatives: And one of the points that we
have tried to make over the last several years·in talking about these issues is that women and
women's opportunity to make income has to be seen a$ part of economic growth and
development. So we have changed, in the last several years, a lot ofAmerican aid programs
and investment initiatives to focus on women. So I can't say that it's a direct quid pro quo, but
it is certainly part of our overall belief that the more women are empowered to be economic
actors on their own behalf and for their families, the less likely that they would be pulled into
· some of these other difficulties.
THERESA LOAR:. But, actually, Cynthia, part of our initiative with the·govemment of ·
Ukraine is a big component -:-.economic empowerment, and that's a big part of it because that's
something theyhave identified· as a need. And that's a very preventive measure and <it's part of
our long-term assistance, so that will be an important part of that. ·
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QUESTION: Could I just follow up? In terms of- it is well doc~ented around the world, in
Israel and other plaees around the world, that they are host countries. How well documented is
trafficking in women in this country?
BONNIE CAMPBELL: Let me tackle that. We are in the process right now of assessing the
answer to that question. We prosecute very vigorously, so we know thereis trafficking and we
are trying to understand the trends. But I do need to make a few points about the difficulty in
amassmg the data.
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�First of all, like most other forms of violence against women, trafficking is vastly
underreported -- often.dealing with illegal immigrants, people holding false documents, people
who are literally locked away in brothels. I mean, if they were in forced prostitution walking
the streets, we'd see them; but they are not They fear retaliation:, personal violence, violence
against their families. They fear deportation. And, frankly, our ability to provide services
.because of their immigrant status is often very challenged.
So we are trying to assess what are the trends; where are we seeing it; where is it corning
from? The President's directive, I think, will be enormously helpful in directing resources, but
also understanding what we need to do by way of providing services. From a prosecutor's
perspective, if you want to prosecute traffickers, you, a, have to discover who they are; where
they are; from whence they come; how they got people illegally into this country. And then
you have to have victims who are willing and not afraid to testify. And those two challenges
· are enormous and we are diligent because even before Theresa's directive to look at
trafficking, the Attorney General had asked us to look at it. So I hope shortly we'll know more
than we know now, but the data are very sketchy and they're difficult to gather and issess.
QUESTION: Diana Molineaux, from Radio Marti. The President is going to go to Latin
America soon. It is a very wide area, very diverse. What are the issues that-- (inaudible)?
THE FIRST LADY: Are you talking about when the President goes to the Summit of the
Americas in Santiago? Why don't I just let the Secretary respond officiaily on that. But
certainly, much of the follow-up to the first summit in Miami is going to be on that agenda.
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: The President has asked that we fbcus, basically, on three
subjects. One is on education, as a whcile; and I think that both he and a number of the other
Latin Affierican leaders are very interested in getting the whole education level up in the
hemisphere, and the ·importance of that across the boaid to issues in each of the countries on .
questions of trade and questions ofnarco-trafficking. Those are the kind·ofthe central themes,
·
· ·
but there are a· number of other aspects that will obviously flow from that.
From what I know- I'm sure you will corroborate this :-the President is looking forward very ·.
much to this sw:p.mit. He sees it as a very good vehicle for working even harder for
establishing a partnership within the Americas that we consider very important to us
throughout the world in terms of pursuing our national security agenda.
QUESTION: And as far as women's issues are concerned?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, that will.certainly come up in terms of the education
issues, in terms of all the issues, because it's an underlying issue.
Let me also say lam very glad- as· you know, there are not a lot of women foreign ministers.
There are 11 in the world and a lot of them in this hemisphere, and Mexico now has a woman
foreign minister, Rosario Green, who happens to be part of my original friend group in New
York. So we have our network of women foreign ministers who are pursuing also with~n their
country some of the women's issues, and it's what we talk about when we - in addition to all
the other subjects we talk about when we have conversations.
THE FIRST LADY: Hanging out with the foreign ministers.
�'
(Laughter.}
QUESTION: I'm Martha Brandt. I work for Newsweek, and I'm actually based in Mexico
now. Two questions. One is, I live in a pretty sexist society now and I often wonder whether or
not the two of you, or any of you, have experiences when you are trying to conVince people
that these should be on the agenda, funny experiences where they don't get the fact that these
are important issues, how you convince them. Do you have to bully them? Do you sweet-talk
them?
·
And then also, very specifically, the Rosario Green point. Do you foresee anything in terms of
Mexico's foreign policy related to women's issue because she is now a foreign minister?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, life is not too different throughout the world; I think.
(Laughter.}
We all have the same experiences and we all get together and share them. And I mtist say that
one of the fun things that I have done, as the First Lady just said,_hanging out With the foreign
ministers in New York during the General Assembly. Eight ofus~- at that stage there were only
- (END OF TAPE) . --·met and we talked about c9rnmon experiences, and the combination of bullying and
sweet-talking - !.think we all know how to practice both arts.
QUESTION: Can you think of an example, just to illustrate how you- or even a success that
you would say, well, we won- bringing some.body around to the realization that something
was an important point?
·
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: W~ll, I think ~th Rosario Green, especially. She, in New York,
was very much a part of a women's group that we had. I originally .got together the women
permanent reps. There happened to. be· seven of us, so we called ourselves the·G-7·. But she
was there as a part of the United Nations system, and was responsible for a lot of women's
.issues. She has now taken over, and I ·think that, from my disc~sions with he~, she is iooking
at ways that women's issues can be mon~a part oftheir whole .system;
But with her, she is also doing wh~t I've tried to. do; which is to try to'increase the number of·
women in their foreign ser:vice, and try to get' more women out into representing their
countries. I must say, I was asked often how I would be received by Arab countries.
QUESTION: Right.
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I went to my first· meeting ofthe Gulf Cooperation Council, ·and
. the first meeting! said, you may notice that I don't look quite the way my predecessors have·
looked; and this time, you've all been very generous to me, and next time we get together, we'll
talk about women's rights. And we did.
·
QUESTION: Did they chuckle when you said that, or did they think you were joking?
'
\
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Yes, yes, of course they chuckled.
..
�(Laughter.)
What did you expect? But I do think ~ey have made a point of discussing with me some of the
opportunities for women in their· socie~ies. I have to tdl you that as the representative of the
United States and as a woman, I have 'Oeen greeted in all countries with the highest respect.
And I think that having a woman represent the most powerful country in the world is a
·
message in itseif that they react to. ·
THE FIRST LADY: I know we have to leave, but let me just follow up on that and say that
in addition to the personal progress that can be marked by people: who have achieved high
positions; such as the Secretary of State and the other women in the foreign ministries, I think
you have to look at the extraordinary progress - it gets back to the question about how you
institutionalize this - that has occurred just in the last five years.
There was a recent article talking about all the progress that has happened in the last two and a
half years from Beijing; but there was a long process that led up to Beijing, starting in- <ibout .
1993, maybe even earlier - but that's when I first was aware of it And I think you can mark
progress in individual countries; you can mark progress in multilateral kinds of events,
focll$ing on these issues affecting women. And I think you have to view it, a5 I do, as a kind of
historical process. You move from the theoretical to the rQ,etorical to the practical and policy
implications~ The theoretical has been there for ·a long time - thert~'s been work done for about
. the last 30 years, demonstrating the important connection between development of women and
democracy and other kinds of progress that are not only good for the societies in which they
take place, but are in the interests of the United States.
Then you can move to a rhetorical basis, which we certainly have seen done in Beijing and
. . other places, where we begin to put a vocabulary out there that people can begin to accept; and
then it aH of a sudden comes echoing back to you. To the practical implications - and there are
enormous practical implications, and I think you can even look within our own
Administration. I mean, certainly when some of us 'started talking about something like
micro-credit a few years ago, it wasn't even a known issue among many people within the
State or Treasury or Defense Departments; and now itis embraced as an element of American
policy, both at home and abroad, becailse of the results.
So I think that there are many examples. And progress isn't always in a straight line and it isn't
easy, but I think that with persistence and Wit:Q. a capacity to show these results, we can .
continue building on it, and that's; ofcourse, one of our objectives from today is to · ·
demonstrate that.
. SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think the First Lady and I have·to leave, and I ·actually ain
going to go meet the Secretary General. And just as an example of what has happened, he has
named a woman as Deputy Secretary General - one of the women that had beenpart of the
original group, the Canadian permanent representative. He has a woman High Commissioner
for Refugees, and a woman who is his High Commissioner for Human Rights.·so it's rn.oving
through the system.
Theresa will be happy to stay to answer some more detailed questions.
Thank you.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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First Lady's Work on Children’s Issues and Women’s Rights
Creator
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White House Office of Records Management (WHORM)
Caligraphy Office
Chief of Staff
Domestic Policy Council
First Lady’s Office
Management & Administration
Millennium Council
Public Liaison
Special Envoy for the Americas
Women’s Initiative and Outreach
Date
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1995-2000
Is Part Of
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36054" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
Identifier
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2006-0198-F Segment 4
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection contains records regarding conferences and events attended and hosted by the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. The key events in this collection consist of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Vital Voices, Beijing +5, and the Early Childhood Development Conference. The records include background materials in preparation for each of these conferences.</p>
<p>This collection contains records from the following offices: White House Office of Records Management, Calligraphy Office, Chief of Staff, Domestic Policy Council, First Lady's Office, Speechwriting, Management & Administration, Millennium Council, Public Liason, Special Envoy for the Americas, and Women’s Initiative and Outreach. The collection includes records created by: Ann Lewis, Harold Ickes, Cheryl Mills, Linda Cooper, Ann Bartley, Lisa Caputo, Lissa Muscatine, Marsha Berry, Eric Massey, Nicole Rabner, Shirley Sagawa, Christine Macy, June Shih, Laura Schiller, Melanne Verveer, Alexis Herman, Ruby Moy, and Doris Matsui.</p>
<p>This collection was was made available through a <a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/freedom-of-information-act-requests">Freedom of Information Act</a> request.</p>
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Office of Records Managment
Publisher
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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11/14/2014
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301 folders in 30 boxes
Text
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Original Format
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Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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HRC/UN Speeches International Women [2]
Is Part Of
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Box 11
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/2006/2006-0198-F-4.pdf">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/1766805">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Creator
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First Lady’s Office
Speechwriting
Identifier
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2006-0198-F Segment 4
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Format
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Reproduction-Reference
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11/14/2014
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42-t-20060198f4-011-006
1766805