Secretary Clinton Releases 2011 Human Rights Report May 24, 2012

 
 
Secretary Clinton Releases 2011 Human Rights Report
May 24, 2012 
 
Release of the 2011 Human Rights Report
Remarks 
 
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Washington, DC
May 24, 2012
 
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Good morning. Good morning, everyone. I’m very pleased to be joined here  
today by Assistant Secretary Posner to release our 2011 Country Reports on  
Human Rights Practices. These reports, which the United States Government has 
 published for nearly four decades, make clear to governments around the 
world:  We are watching and we are holding you accountable. And they make 
clear to  citizens and activists everywhere: You are not alone. We are standing 
with  you. 
Mike and his team and the staff at our embassies and consulates around the  
world have worked tirelessly to produce these reports. And I want to thank  
each and every person who has contributed to them. 
Now, as you know, this has been an especially tumultuous and momentous year 
 for everyone involved in the cause of human rights. Many of the events 
that  have dominated recent headlines from the revolutions in the Middle East 
to  reforms in Burma began with human rights, with the clear call of men and 
women  demanding their universal rights. 
Today in Egypt, we are seeing in real time that those demands are making a  
difference as Egyptians are going to the polls to determine for the first 
time  in their history who their leaders will be. Whatever the outcome of the 
 election, the Egyptian people will keep striving to achieve their 
aspirations.  And as they do, we will continue to support them. 
We will support people everywhere who seek the same. Men and women who want 
 to speak, worship, associate, love the way they choose – we will defend 
their  rights; not just on the day we issue these reports, but every day. 
As Secretary, I have worked with my superb team on advancing human rights  
in a 21st century landscape, focusing on new frontiers even as we  stand up 
against age-old abuses. Where women have been and continue to be  
marginalized, we’re helping them become full partners in their governments and  
economies. Where LGBT people are mistreated and discriminated against, we’re  
working to bring them into full participation in their societies. We’re  
expanding access to technology and defending internet freedom because people  
deserve the same rights online as off. And we know that in the 21st  century 
human rights are not only a question of civil and political liberties,  it’s 
about the fundamental question of whether people everywhere have the  chance to 
make the most of their God-given potential. 
So we are supporting efforts around the world to give people a voice in  
their societies, a stake in their economies, and to support them as they  
determine for themselves the future of their own lives and the contributions  
they can make to the future of their countries. We think this is the way,  
together, we can make human rights a human reality. 
Now as these reports document, there is a lot of work that remains to be  
done. In too many places, governments continue to stifle their own people’s  
aspirations. And in some places like Syria, it is not just an assault on  
freedom of expression or freedom of association, but an assault on the very  
lives of citizens. The Assad regime’s brutality against its own people must  
and will end, because Syrians know they deserve a better future. 
These reports are more than a report card; they are a tool for lawmakers  
and scholars, for civil society leaders and activists. We also think they are 
 a tool for government leaders. It’s always been bewildering to me that so 
many  government leaders don’t want to make the most of the human potential 
of their  own people. 
And so I don’t expect this to be reading material everywhere, but I do hope 
 somewhere in the corner of my mind that maybe a leader will pick it up and 
 say: How do we compare with others, and what can we do today, tomorrow, 
and  next year that will maximize the potential of more of our citizens? 
This year we’ve made the reports easier to read online, easier to track  
trends across a region, easier to follow the progress of a particular group,  
easier to find out which governments are or are not living up to their  
commitments. 
Now, every year that we issue this, we take stock of ourselves. We say:  
What more can we do? Where have we succeeded or are succeeding? Where are we  
falling short? And we know we have to recommit to the work of advancing  
universal rights, building the partnerships that will move us forward, helping  
every man, woman, and child live up to their God-given potential. And we 
know  we have to be able to speak out and speak up for those unable to use 
their own  voices. 
But this is at the core of who we are. This is central to what we believe.  
And this is the work that will continue administration after 
administration,  secretary after secretary, because of its centrality to our foreign 
policy and  national security. 
Now I’d like to turn things over to Assistant Secretary for Democracy,  
Human Right, and Labor Mike Posner, who will speak further about some of the  
specific findings in this year’s reports. Thank you all very much. Thanks,  
Mike.