Secretary Clinton Addresses Istanbul Process for Combating Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief
Notice to the Press
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
December 13, 2011
Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver closing remarks at the
first meeting of the Istanbul Process for Combating Intolerance and
Discrimination based on Religion or Belief, on Wednesday, December 14,
2011, at 3:00 pm at the U.S. Department of State.
The meeting assembled experts from 30 countries and international
organizations to discuss best practices for engaging religious
minorities, training government officials on religious and cultural
awareness, and enforcing laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis
of religion or belief.
The United States believes that freedom of religion and freedom of
expression are vital to every nation and critical in maintaining
stability and promoting economic prosperity. The Istanbul Process acts
on that belief by providing a forum to implement U.N. Human Rights
Council Resolution 16/18, which calls for specific steps to combat
intolerance, discrimination, and violence on the basis of religion or
belief, while also protecting freedom of speech and religion.
Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sister Colleges Launch First Women
in Public Service Project to Build Gender-Equality in Global Government
Leadership and Public Service
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
December 9, 2011
U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in collaboration with the
Seven Sister Colleges of Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount
Holyoke College, Smith College, and Wellesley College, will launch a new
initiative Thursday to increase the number of women in public service
at the local, national, and international levels. The Project will
identify and educate a new generation of women committed to public
service, create an infrastructure of support and mentoring, and help
enable more women to enter public service and political leadership.
On
December 15 in Washington D.C., The Women in Public Service Project
will host a colloquium featuring Secretary Clinton and a global
representation of government leaders, policy makers, public officials,
scholars, students, researchers, and leaders in public service.
“Women
have to be part of the future. And it’s imperative that as
constitutions are created, as political parties are organized, as
elections are waged and won, nobody can claim a democratic future if
half the population is marginalized or even prevented from
participating,” said Secretary Clinton. “We must support the rise of
women leaders because frankly, they are more likely to have firsthand
knowledge and understanding of the challenges women face. This is going
to require legal change, it’s going to require political will, and it’s
going to require cultural and behavioral changes.”
Confirmed
speakers include Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the
International Monetary Fund; Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary
of State; Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations’
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Dr.
Florence Chenoweth, Minister of Agriculture for the Republic of Liberia;
Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations’ Development
Programme; Jane Harman, former Congresswoman and Director of the Woodrow
Wilson Center; Atifete Jahjaga, the President of Kosovo; Kathleen
Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services; and author and
activist Gloria Steinem.
A live webcast of the colloquium will be available at https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/wps. Updates on the events and the Women in Public Service project can be found on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/WPSProject or on Twitter @WPSProject.
The
colloquium will highlight the details of The Women in Public Service
Project, including a 2012 pilot summer institute at Wellesley to help
train promising women leaders from around the world. The pilot will lay
the groundwork for further development of curricula for similar
educational activities at other institutions and in other regions of the
world and will identify areas of research to help combat obstacles to
women entering public service and government leadership. Attendees of
the program will include rising young leaders from across the globe,
including women from Middle East and North Africa transition countries.
“The
Sister Colleges have a deep-rooted legacy of educating women leaders on
a global level and are enthusiastic about this unique opportunity to
help motivate and inform the next generation of women to focus
specifically on public service,” said the Sister College presidents as
part of this announcement. “We are proud of our Sister College alumnae
who have embarked on careers in public service, and are committed to
providing women with the tools and resources they need to help increase
their leadership skills in the public sector.”
As part of The
Women in Public Service Project, 40 women from 37 countries traveled to
the United States to participate in an International Visitor Leadership
Program. For two weeks, these international public servants collaborated
with their American counterparts in cities across the United States to
discuss ways in which to strengthen women’s roles in public service.
Click here to learn more.
The
Women in Public Service Project will also begin to introduce plans to
build an online network of support and mentorship to link women in
government and public service globally.
About the Women in Public Service Project
The
Women in Public Service Project is an initiative of the U.S. Department
of State and the Seven Sisters women’s colleges – Barnard, Bryn Mawr,
Mount Holyoke, Smith and Wellesley – to advance women to positions of
influence in governments and civic organizations worldwide. The
initiative is distinguished by the partners’ demonstrated legacy of
educating women leaders across the globe and linking them to each other
through powerful intergenerational networks. The Women in Public Service
Project envisions a world in which political and civic leadership is at
least 50 percent female by 2050. The Department of State and the Sister
colleges are committed to building the infrastructure and convening the
conversations necessary to achieve this vision.
