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[Remarks to the Fourth World Conference on Women by Madeleine Albright] [loose]
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[Remarks to the Fourth World Conference on Women by Madeleine Albright] [loose]
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"REMARKS TO THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN"
AMBASSADOR MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT
U.S. PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
BEIJING, CHINA
SEPTEMBER 6, 1995
Honored guests, fellow delegates and observers, I am pleased
and proud to address this historic conference on behalf of the
United States of America.
My government congratulates the thousands who have helped to
organize the conference, to draft the Platform for Action, to
inform the world about the subjects under discussion here and to
encourage wide participation both by governments and NGO's.
We have come here from all over the world to carry forward
an age-old struggle: the pursuit of economic and social progress
for all people, based on respect for the dignity and value of
each.
We are here to promote and protect human rights and to
stress that women's rights are neither separable nor different
from those of men.
We are here to stop sexual crimes and other violence against
women; to protect refugees, so many of whom are women; and to
end the despicable notion--in this era of conflicts--that rape
is just another tactic of war.
We are here to empower women by enlarging their role in
making economic and political decisions, an idea some find
radical, but which my government believes is essential to
economic and social progress around the world; because no
country can develop if half its human resources are de-valued or
repressed.
We are here because we want to strengthen families, the
heart and soul of any society. We believe that girls must be
valued to the same degree as boys. We believe, with Pope John
Paul II, in the "equality of spouses with respect to family
rights". We think women and men should be able to make informed
judgments as they plan their families. And we want to see
forces that weaken families--including pornography, domestic
violence and the sexual exploitation of children--condemned and
curtailed.
- 2 -
Finally, we have come to this conference to assure for women
equal access to education and health care, to help women protect
against infection by HIV, to recognize the special needs and
strengths of women with disabilities, and to attack the root
causes of poverty, in which so many women, children and men are
entrapped.
We have come to Beijing to make further progress towards
each of these goals. But real progress will depend not on what
we say here, but on what we do after we leave here. The Fourth
World Conference for Women is not about conversations; it is
about commitments.
For decades, my nation has led efforts to promote equal
rights for women. Women in their varied roles--as mothers, farm
laborers, factory workers, organizers and community leaders
helped build America. My government is based on principles that
recognize the right of every person to equal rights and equal
opportunity. Our laws forbid discrimination on the basis of sex
and we work hard to enforce those laws. A rich network of
nongovernmental organizations has blossomed within our borders,
reaching out to women and girls from all segments of society,
educating, counseling and advocating change.
The United States is a leader, but leaders cannot stand
still. Barriers to the equal participation of women persist in
my country. The Clinton Administration is determined to bring
those barriers down.
Today, in the spirit of this conference, and in the
knowledge that concrete steps to advance the status of women are
required in every nation, I am pleased to announce the new
commitments my government will undertake:
First, President Clinton will establish a White House
Council on Women to plan for the effective implementation within
the United States of the Platform for Action. That Council will
build on the commitments made today and will work every day with
the nongovernmental community.
Second, in accordance with recently-approved law, the
Department of Justice will launch a six-year, $1.6 billion
initiative to fight domestic violence and other crimes against
women. Funds will be used for specialized police and
prosecution units and to train police, prosecutors and judicial
personnel.
- 3 -
Third, our Department of Health and Human Services will lead
a comprehensive assault on threats to the health and security of
women--promoting healthy behavior, increasing awareness about
AIDS, discouraging the use of cigarettes, and striving to win
the battle against breast cancer.
And, as Mrs. Clinton made clear yesterday, the United States
remains firmly committed to the reproductive health rights gains
made in Cairo.
Fourth, our Department of Labor will conduct a grassroots
campaign to improve conditions for women in the workplace. The
campaign will work with employers to develop more equitable pay
and promotion policies and to help employees balance the twin
responsibilities of family and work.
Fifth, our Department of the Treasury will take new steps to
promote access to financial credit for women. Outstanding U.S.
microenterprise lending organizations will be honored through
special Presidential awards; and we will improve coordination of
federal efforts to encourage growth in this field of central
importance to the economic empowerment of women.
Sixth, the Agency for International Development will
continue to lead in promoting and recognizing the vital role of
women in development. Today, we announce important initiatives
to increase women's participation in political processes and to
promote the enforcement of women's legal rights.
There is a seventh and final commitment my country is making
today. We, the people and government of the United States of
America, will continue to speak out openly and without
hesitation on behalf of the human rights of all people.
My country is proud that, nearly a half century ago, Eleanor
Roosevelt, a former First Lady of the United States, helped
draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are proud
that, yesterday afternoon, in this very hall, our current First
Lady-Hillary Rodham Clinton--re-stated with memorable eloquence
our national commitment to that Declaration.
The Universal Declaration reflects spiritual and moral
tenets which are central to all cultures, encompassing both the
wondrous diversity that defines us and the common humanity that
binds us. It obliges each government to strive in law and
practice to protect the rights of those under its jurisdiction.
Whether a government fulfills that obligation is a matter not
simply of domestic, but of universal, concern. For it is a
founding principle of the United Nations that no government can
hide its human rights record from the world.
At the heart of the Universal Declaration is a fundamental
distinction between coercion and choice.
- 4 -
No woman--whether in Birmingham, Bombay, Beirut or
Beijing--should be forcibly sterilized or forced to have an
abortion.
No mother should feel compelled to abandon her daughter
because of a societal preference for males.
No woman should be forced to undergo genital mutilation, or
to become a prostitute, or to enter into marriage or to have
sex.
No one should be forced to remain silent for fear of
religious or political persecution, arrest, abuse or torture.
All of us should be able to exercise control over the course
of our own lives and be able to help shape the destiny of our
communities and countries.
Let us be clear. Freedom to participate in the political
process of our countries is the inalienable right of every woman
and man. Deny that right, and you deny everything.
It is unconscionable, therefore, that the right to free
expression has been called into question right here, at a
conference conducted under the auspices of the UN and whose very
purpose is the free and open discussion of women's rights.
And it is a challenge to us all that so many countries in so
many parts of the world--north, south, west and east--fall far
short of the noble objectives outlined in the Platform for
Action.
Every nation, including my own, must do better and do
more--to make equal rights a fundamental principle of law; to
enforce those rights and to remove barriers to the exercise of
those rights.
That is why President Clinton has made favorable action on
the Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women a top
priority. The United States should be a party to that
Convention.
And it is why we will continue to seek a dialogue with
governments--here and elsewhere--that deny to their citizens the
rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration.
- 5 -
In preparing for this conference, I came across an old
Chinese poem that is worth recalling, especially today, as we
observe the Day of the Girl-Child. In the poem, a father says
to his daughter:
We keep a dog to watch the house,
A pig is useful, too,
We keep a cat to catch a mouse,
But what can we do
With a girl like you?
Fellow delegates, let us make sure that question never needs
to be asked again--in China or anywhere else around the world.
Let us strive for the day when every young girl, in every
village and metropolis, can look ahead with confidence that
their lives will be valued, their individuality recognized,
their rights protected and their futures determined by their own
abilities and character.
Let us reject outright the forces of repression and
ignorance that have held us back; and act with the strength and
optimism unity can provide.
Let us honor the legacy of the heroines, famous and unknown,
who struggled in years past to build the platform upon which we
now stand.
And let us heed the instruction of our own lives. Look
around this hall, and you will see women who have reached
positions of power and authority. Go to Huairou, and you will
see an explosion of energy and intelligence devoted to every
phase of this struggle. Enter any community in any country, and
you will find women insisting--often at great risk--on their
right to an equal voice and equal access to the levers of power.
This past week, on video at the NGO Forum, Aung San Suu Kyi,
said that "it is time to apply in the arena of the world the
wisdom and experience" women have gained.
Let us all agree; it is time.
It is time to turn bold talk into concrete action.
It is time to unleash the full capacity for production,
accomplishment and the enrichment of life that is inherent in
us--the women of the world.
Thank you very much.