[…] Vi ringrazio molto per avermi invitato. Ė un grande piacere per me essere ospite della Commissione Straordinaria per i Diritti Umani del Senato. Come tutti voi sapete, il sostegno ai diritti umani rappresenta l’elemento centrale sia per il buon funzionamento di ogni democrazia, in America come in Italia, sia per il miglioramento della stabilità politica ed economica globale.

[…] Otero addressed the opening of the 13th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva on March 1. She presented three tenets that she said will guide U.S. participation: a commitment to principled engagement; consistent application of human rights law; and a commitment to the truth.

[…] Today the President met with 24 human rights activists who are in Washington to attend a Human Rights Summit organized by two U.S. nongovernmental organizations, Freedom House and Human Rights First. The meeting was hosted by National Security Advisor General James Jones, and included other senior National Security Staff.

[…] Each February, Black History Month tells of the struggles of millions of American citizens over the most devastating obstacles -- slavery, prejudice, poverty -- and looks at their contributions to the nation’s cultural and political life. 2007 marks the 81st annual celebration since Carter G. Woodson, a noted scholar and historian, instituted Negro History Week in 1926. He chose the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln and the black 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

[…] Internet freedom is essential to upholding human rights and encouraging economic prosperity, and the United States plans to aggressively promote Internet access for all peoples, says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas,” Clinton said in a groundbreaking foreign policy speech delivered January 21.

[…] As a political organizer, supremely skilled orator and advocate of nonviolent protest, King was pivotal in persuading his fellow Americans to end the legal segregation that prevailed throughout the South and parts of other regions, and in sparking support for the civil rights legislation that established the legal framework for racial equality in the United States.

[…] The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., challenged our Nation to recognize that our individual liberty relies upon our common equality. In communities marred by division and injustice, the movement he built from the ground up forced open doors to negotiation. The strength of his leadership was matched only by the power of his words, which still call on us to perfect those sacred ideals enshrined in our founding documents.

[…] Support for democracy and the fostering of economic development are the cornerstones of the Obama administration’s agenda for promoting human rights around the world, says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. In a speech December 14 at Georgetown University in Washington, Clinton presented the president’s goals for human rights in the 21st century.

[…] I want to thank Jas for his introductory remarks, and clearly, those of you who are in the Foreign Service School heard reflections of the extraordinary opportunity you’ve been given to study here as he spoke about the culture of human rights. It is also a real honor for me to be delivering this speech at Georgetown, because there is no better place than this university to talk about human rights.

[…] Today, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, I welcomed distinguished representatives of leading human rights and democracy promotion groups in the United States to the White House for a meeting with me and senior representatives from over a dozen offices of the National Security Staff. I reiterated the President’s strong and unwavering commitment to the advancement of human rights and democracy around the world, including the right to choose one’s leaders, to speak one’s mind, to assemble freely, and to worship as one pleases.

[…] For years, the people of Sudan have faced enormous and unacceptable hardship. The genocide in Darfur has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and left millions more displaced. Conflict in the region has wrought more suffering, posing dangers beyond Sudan’s borders and blocking the potential of this important part of Africa. Sudan is now poised to fall further into chaos if swift action is not taken.

[…] Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton unveiled a “comprehensive” U.S. policy for resolving the conflicts in Sudan, focused on ending human rights abuses and genocide in the Darfur region, fully implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and ensuring Sudan does not become a haven for violent extremists.

[…] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said an international investigation is needed into the killings and rapes by Guinean security forces against peaceful protesters and bystanders at a stadium in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, saying “there should be no impunity” for the perpetrators. “We were appalled and outraged by the recent violence in Guinea.

[…] The first session of U.S. participation in the United Nations Human Rights Council has been “a terrific learning experience,” and although the United States will not always agree with the body’s opinion, “it’s important that we’re in there defending the values we hold dear,” says Esther Brimmer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs.

[…] Gration is traveling to Sudan September 9–14 and is visiting Juba, Boma, Darfur and Khartoum. His travel comes as the United States is near announcing a new policy on Sudan, and the troubled Darfur region. The talks in Juba center on resolving issues over a census, which is essential to holding elections, and on preparations for a self-determination referendum. National elections are scheduled for 2010 and a referendum on southern independence for 2011.

[…] Today the United Nations General Assembly elected the United States to a three-year term on the UN Human Rights Council.
The promotion and protection of human rights is a fundamental value for our own society and, as such, an integral element of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice are pleased with the outcome of the election and eager to take up the important work of the Council.

[…] Speaking with reporters at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, Rice said, “While we recognize that the Human Rights Council has been a flawed body that has not lived up to its potential, we are looking forward to working from within with a broad cross section of member states to strengthen and reform the Human Rights Council and enable it to live up to the vision that was crafted when it was created.”

[…] This week marks the 15th commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It is a somber occasion that causes us to reflect upon the deaths of the more than 800,000 men, women, and children who were killed simply because of their ethnicity or their political beliefs.
The memory of these events also deepens our commitment to act when faced with genocide and to work with partners around the world to prevent future atrocities.

[…] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announce that the United States will seek a seat this year on the United Nations Human Rights Council with the goal of working to make it a more effective body to promote and protect human rights. The decision is in keeping with the Obama Administration's "new era of engagement" with other nations to advance American security interests.

[…] The United States believes that working within the U.N. Human Rights Council is the best way to improve the council’s goal of thwarting global human rights abuses, says the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice announced March 31 that the United States will seek a seat on the council this year.

[…] After Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan, he ordered 13 international aid groups expelled from the country in retaliation. The nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which are not involved with the ICC’s actions, were providing about 4.7 million people with foreign assistance for food, shelter and protection from an ongoing insurgency.

[…] “A disturbing number of countries imposed burdensome, restrictive or repressive laws and regulations against NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and the media, including the Internet,” the report says.

“Many courageous human rights defenders who peacefully pressed for their own rights and those of their fellow countrymen and women were harassed, threatened, arrested and imprisoned, killed or subjected to violent extrajudicial means of reprisal.”