Remarks With Dutch Foreign Minister Uriel Rosenthal
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Hague, Netherlands
December 8, 2011
FOREIGN MINISTER ROSENTHAL: Okay.
Let me, on my part first, welcome Secretary of State Clinton to the
Netherlands, after a long trip through Asia, back home, Europe.
Secretary Clinton – Hillary, dear Hillary – you have shown great
leadership in defending online freedom, and this issue perfectly fits
the agenda of our transatlantic relationship, and I’m very pleased
indeed to have you here.
Before our conference on internet
freedom, we will have bilateral consultations on a couple of issues,
such as the recent developments in Burma, the need to enhance pressure
on Iran, and our cooperation with the United States to achieve peace in
the Middle East, a matter of mutual concern.
And as to the
conference, for centuries we have been struggling to achieve freedom of
speech, whether spoken, written, or broadcasted. Nowadays, it’s also an
online battle – not just offline, but online. And freedom of speech
online surely is as crucial as that freedom offline. More and more
countries are trying now to regulate and control the internet, and it is
unacceptable that websites are blocked, internet use filtered, content
manipulated, and bloggers attacked and imprisoned. And bloggers and
other voices deserve our support, not only from the civil society, but
also from governments, like the Dutch Government, like the United States
Government, but also from the private sector and academic community.
At
the conference you are attending – and that is delightful to have you
there – we shall establish a coalition of states which will work to
ensure that the internet is open, free, innovative, and accessible to
all of us. Self evidently, the coalition will engage with IT companies,
NGOs, the academic community, and members of the public, and together we
were will promote the cause of human rights via the internet.
The
Dutch Government will step up its efforts to help voices online in
repressive environments around the globe, and we will provide funding
for mesh networks to those who cannot access the internet when
communication infrastructures are going down. And next year, we will, on
the part of the Dutch Government, contribute 1 million euros to these
and other initiatives. And from 2012 to 2015, we are allocating almost 5
million euros from our human rights fund to freedom online. And we will
continue to raise the issue of internet freedom bilaterally and
multilaterally, and also under the co-guidance of the United States.
Ladies
and gentlemen, it’s delightful for us to have Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton here in The Hague, the capital of peace. And I would now
like to give the floor to you, Hillary. Thank you for coming.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Thank you very much, Uri. And I’m always delighted to be back in the
Netherlands and to be here in The Hague. And I want to thank you for
many things. Our two countries have such a strong, close relationship.
We work together on issues that span the globe, from the Middle East to
Afghanistan, Iran, counterterrorism, global economic governance,
humanitarian assistance, and so much more.
This conference on
internet freedom is another example of your leadership, and we
particularly applaud it for all the reasons that you just mentioned.
This is one of the defining issues of our time. Countries like the
United States and the Netherlands have fought for centuries for free
speech, the freedom of assembly and association, the freedom of
religion, and all the other freedoms and rights that we hold dear and
that we believe are universal – they’re not Dutch, they’re not American,
they’re not Western. And as we look now at the challenges to a free and
accessible internet that are popping up around the world, it’s
particularly timely that you would hold this conference here in The
Hague, because it reflects your values but also your extraordinary
determination to lead in areas that are going to affect the world for
years to come.
I’m honored to be here to deliver a speech that
outlines some of the concerns we have. As you know, I made internet
freedom one of the cornerstones of American foreign policy. I am
personally passionate about it, because, to me, it’s the same as the
fights we have waged around the world when people are persecuted for
speaking their minds or for gathering in basements or around corners to
talk about what they hoped for their own lives and were brutally abused
and persecuted. So now we have to protect those – which is most of
humanity – that use the internet for communication.
I’m sure that
out of this conference there will be some excellent proposals. I look
forward to continuing to work with you and your government on this and
many other issues of great importance to us both.
Thank you.
