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U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON.
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Showing posts with label
U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON.
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FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Statement
Press Statement
Philippe Reines, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 2, 2013
Secretary Clinton was discharged from the hospital this evening. Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery. She's eager to get back to the office, and we will keep you updated on her schedule as it becomes clearer in the coming days. Both she and her family would like to express their appreciation for the excellent care she received from the doctors, nurses, and staff at New York Presbyterian Hospital Columbia University Medical Center.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
BIOGRAPHY OF HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON FROM THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
On January 21, 2009, Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn in as the 67th Secretary of State of the United States. Secretary Clinton joined the State Department after nearly four decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, First Lady, and Senator.
Secretary Clinton was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 26, 1947 to Dorothy Rodham and the late Hugh Rodham.
She attended local public schools before graduating from Wellesley College and Yale Law School, where she met Bill Clinton. In 1974, Secretary Clinton moved to Arkansas, a year later then married Bill Clinton and became a successful attorney while also raising their daughter, Chelsea. She was an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, and after working to strengthen the local legal aid office, she was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 to serve on the board of the Legal Services Corporation, which she later chaired.
During her 12 years as First Lady of the State of Arkansas, she was Chairwoman of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee, co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and served on the boards of the Arkansas Children's Hospital, and the Children's Defense Fund.
In 1992, Governor Clinton was elected President of the United States, and as First Lady, Hillary Clinton became an advocate of health care reform and worked on many issues relating to children and families. She led successful bipartisan efforts to improve the adoption and foster care systems, reduce teen pregnancy, and provide health care to millions of children through the Children's Health Insurance Program. She also traveled to more than 80 countries as a representative of our country, winning respect as a champion of human rights, democracy and civil society. Her famous speech in Beijing in 1995 -- when she declared that "human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights" – inspired women worldwide and helped galvanize a global movement for women’s rights.
With Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Secretary Clinton worked to launch the government’s Vital Voices Democracy Initiative. Today, Vital Voices is a non-governmental organization that continues to train and organize women leaders across the globe.
In 2000, Hillary Clinton made history as the first First Lady elected to the United States Senate, and the first woman elected statewide in New York. In the Senate, she served on the Armed Services Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Budget Committee and the Select Committee on Aging. She was also a Commissioner on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
As a Senator, Clinton worked across party lines to build support for causes important to her constituents and the country, including the expansion of economic opportunity and access to quality, affordable health care. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, she was a strong advocate for funding the rebuilding of New York and the health concerns of the first responders who risked their lives working at Ground Zero. She also championed the cause of our nation's military and fought for better health care and benefits for wounded service members, veterans and members of the National Guard and Reserves. She was also the only Senate member of the Transformation Advisory Group to the Department of Defense's Joint Forces Command.
In 2006, Senator Clinton won reelection to the Senate, and in 2007 she began her historic campaign for President. In 2008, she campaigned for the election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and in November, she was nominated by President-elect Obama to be Secretary of State.
Secretary Clinton is the author of best-selling books, including her memoir, Living History, and her groundbreaking book on children, It Takes A Village. She and President Clinton reside in New York.
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Statement on the President's Nomination of Senator John F. Kerry to Succeed Her as Secretary of State of the United States
Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
December 21, 2012
Today, I spoke to Senator John Kerry and congratulated him on his nomination to be the next Secretary of State. I also spoke with President Obama and told him that he has made an excellent choice. I hope Senator Kerry will be confirmed quickly.
I have been privileged to know John for many years and to call him a friend, colleague, and partner. He will bring decades of service to our country and deep experience in international affairs. The son of a career Foreign Service Officer, diplomacy is in his blood. As a decorated veteran, he knows what it takes to defend our nation and our values. As a leader in the Senate, he understands how to build coalitions and craft compromises. As a statesman respected around the world, he will be able to sustain and extend America’s global leadership.
John Kerry has been tested – in war, in government, and in diplomacy. Time and again, he has proven his mettle.
I remember watching young Lieutenant Kerry’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee many years ago and thinking that I had just seen a man of uncommon courage and conscience. Years later, as First Lady, I admired John’s integrity and leadership as he returned to Vietnam to uncover the truth about fellow American soldiers who never came home, and to help normalize relations. Then, as Senate colleagues, we worked together on behalf of wounded warriors, working families, and other causes close to both our hearts.
Over the past four years, now as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Kerry has been my trusted partner on major foreign policy challenges facing our nation. He helped us end the war in Iraq and advance a responsible transition in Afghanistan, co-authored key assistance legislation for Pakistan, won ratification of the New START Treaty with Russia, led the way on climate change, and helped us navigate a fast-changing Middle East.
President Obama and I have often asked Senator Kerry to undertake delicate diplomatic missions and to deliver difficult messages. He has forged strong relationships with leaders around the world. As I have learned, being able to talk candidly as someone who has won elections and also lost them is an enormous asset when engaging with emerging or fragile democracies.
Through it all, Senator Kerry has fought for our nation’s diplomats and development experts – and for investing in their mission and America’s global leadership. And now, he is working closely with me and my team to learn the lessons of the tragedy in Benghazi, further protect our people and posts, and implement every single one of the Accountability Review Board’s recommendations.
We need a leader with John Kerry’s experience and talent at the helm of the State Department and USAID in the years ahead. There is much more to do on all of these crucial challenges, from Afghanistan to nonproliferation to climate change, and many others. We also have to consolidate America’s expanded engagement in the Asia-Pacific, continue championing the rights and opportunities of women, pursue a new approach to development centered on dignity and self-sufficiency, keep putting economics at the center of our foreign policy, and practice the kind of smart power that harnesses innovation and partnerships – with governments and with people – to solve problems and seize opportunities.
The men and women of the State Department and USAID represent the best traditions of a bold and generous nation. They serve and sacrifice every day, often in dangerous circumstances. It has been one of the great honors of my life to serve with such fine public servants over the past four years. I could not be prouder of all we have achieved together. They deserve the highest caliber leadership, and that is exactly what they’ll get in John Kerry.
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Remarks at a UN Secretary General Meeting on the SahelRemarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
United Nations
New York City
September 26, 2012
Secretary General, thank you for calling this meeting and co-chairing it along with so many distinguished heads of state and government and ministers and excellencies. And let me recognize the leadership of President Hollande. I think we all respond to President Hollande’s sense of urgency and passion, and therefore, it is imperative that we leave this special high-level meeting resolved to immediately get to work. And it is the work that should begin in the Security Council to consider the various proposals by ECOWAS, France, and others because the chaos and violence in Mali does threaten to undermine the stability of the entire region. We all know too well what is happening in Mali, and the incredible danger posed by violent extremists imposing their brutal ideology, committing human rights abuses, destroying irreplaceable cultural heritage.
But it’s not only the violent extremists. We now have drug traffickers and arms smugglers finding safe havens and porous borders, providing them a launching pad to extend their reach throughout not only the region, but beyond. And nearly 500,000 people have been displaced from their homes, and 4.5 million more are suffering from dwindling food supplies. This is not only a humanitarian crisis; it is a powder keg that the international community cannot afford to ignore.
The United States supports the appointment of a senior UN envoy empowered to lead a comprehensive international effort on Mali and the creation of a diplomatic core group. This effort must include coordinating the delivery of emergency aid, helping address longstanding political grievances of ethnic groups in the north, and preparing for credible elections. We need to bring together all of the nations affected, and I appreciated President Yayi’s very strong statement about what is at stake for the countries of the region, and also his speaking on behalf of the African Union. The African Union must be at the table, ECOWAS must be at the table, because these are complex and interconnected security, political, and humanitarian challenges.
The United States has already provided more than $378 million to meet the escalating humanitarian needs in the Sahel, and we call on all parties to ensure unhindered access so that emergency aid meets those who need it most. We encourage fellow donors to increase their pledges and follow through quickly and fully. The need is urgent and growing.
It is also critical for all the actors in the region to redouble their efforts to develop a sound approach to tackling what is happening coming over their borders. We have to train the security forces in Mali, help them dislodge the extremists, protect human rights, and defend borders. We have seen the success of African-led efforts to do just that in Somalia and in Cote d’Ivoire and elsewhere. We need to now get about the business of examining seriously proposals to do the same. Because in the end, only a democratically elected government will have the legitimacy to achieve a negotiated political settlement in Northern Mali, end the rebellion, and restore the rule of law. So it is imperative that the interim government meet the April deadline for holding elections that are fair, transparent, and free of influence by the military junta. And all parties must do more to protect human rights and punish abuses.
But let us be clear. What is happening inside Mali is augmented by the rising threat from violent extremism across the region. For some time, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and other groups have launched attacks and kidnappings from northern Mali into neighboring countries. Now, with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions. And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions underway in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.
This is a threat to the entire region and to the world, and most particularly, to the people in the region themselves who deserve better. They deserve better from their leaders and they deserve better from the international community. The United States is stepping up our counterterrorism efforts across the Maghreb and Sahel, and we’re working with the Libyan Government and other partners to find those responsible for the attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi and bring them to justice. But we are also expanding our counterterrorism partnerships to help countries meet their own growing threats. We’re taking aim at the support structure of al-Qaida and its affiliates – closing safe havens, cutting off finances, countering their ideology and denying them recruits. Let me mention briefly three initiatives.
First, our Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership is now helping build the capacity of 10 countries across the region, providing training and support so they can tighten border security, disrupt terrorist networks, and prevent attacks. This program brings together civilian, law enforcement, and military experts to pursue a comprehensive approach to counterterrorism.
Second, we are expanding our work with civil society organizations in specific terrorist hotspots – particular villages, prisons, and schools – trying to disrupt the process of radicalization by creating jobs, promoting religious tolerance, amplifying the voices of the victims of terrorism.
And third, we are working with our partners to reform security services and strengthen the rule of law. For example, Tunisia has agreed to host a new international training center that will help police, prosecutors, and other criminal justice officials across the region move away from the repressive approaches that helped fuel radicalization in the past, and instead develop strategies grounded in the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Ultimately, our perspective is that strengthening democratic institutions must be at the heart of our counterterrorism strategy. It is democracies that offer their citizens constructive outlets for political grievances, create opportunities for upward mobility and prosperity, and are clear alternatives to violent extremism. And their success offers a powerful rejection of the extremist ideology of hate and violence as we also saw in Benghazi last week.
So all this work, from meeting the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel to bringing stability back to Mali to combating violent extremism across the region is a shared responsibility. And there is no place where that shared responsibility can be actualized other than the United Nations. So in the days and weeks ahead, I look forward to deepening our cooperation and accelerating our common action. I personally don’t believe we have any time to waste.
Thank you. (Applause.)
