U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UN TESTIFIES TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Washington, DC
June 16, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Congressman Engel. Distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. And thank you for being here. Thank you also for your leadership in advancing America’s national security interests and our values in the world.

Last week I traveled to Ukraine, where I had the chance to see up close what happens when the rules undergirding our international peace and security are ignored. At a shelter for displaced families in Kyiv, I met a mother who told me how her husband and two-year-old child had been killed in February when a shell struck their home in a village in eastern Ukraine. The shelling, as you all know, was part of a sustained assault by combined Russian-separatist forces – and the victims just two of the more than 6,300 people who have been killed in the Moscow-manufactured conflict. Shortly after the attack, the mother fled town with her five surviving children in a van whose roof and doors had been blasted out. Her plea – one I heard echoed by many of the displaced families I met from eastern Ukraine and occupied Crimea – was for the fighting to stop, and for their basic rights to be respected.

As the members of this Committee know, we are living in a time of daunting global crises. In the last year alone, Russia continued to train, arm, and fight alongside separatists in eastern Ukraine; a deadly epidemic spread across West Africa; and monstrous terrorist groups seized territory across the Middle East and North Africa, committing unspeakable atrocities. These are the kinds of threats that the United Nations exists to prevent and address. Yet it is precisely at the moment when we need the UN most that we see the flaws in the international system, some of which have been alluded to already.

This is true for the conflict in Ukraine – in which a permanent member of the UN Security Council is violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity that it was entrusted with upholding. It is true of the global health system that – despite multiple warnings of a spreading Ebola outbreak, including those from our own CDC – was slow to respond to the epidemic. And it is true of UN peacekeepers, who too often stand down or stand by when civilians they are responsible for protecting come under attack. Thus leaving populations vulnerable and sometimes open to radicalization.

Representing our nation before the United Nations, I have to confront these and other shortcomings every day. Yet though I am clear-eyed about the UN’s vulnerabilities, the central point I want to make to this Committee is that America needs the United Nations to address today’s global challenges. The United States has the most powerful set of tools in history to advance its interests, and we will always lead on the world stage. But we are more effective when we ensure that others shoulder their fair share and when we marshal multilateral support to meet our objectives. Let me quickly outline five ways we are doing that at the UN.

First, we are rallying multilateral coalitions to address transnational threats. Consider Iran. In addition to working with Congress to put in place unprecedented U.S. sanctions on the Iranian government, in 2010 the Obama Administration galvanized the UN Security Council to authorize one of the toughest multilateral sanctions regimes in history. The combination of unilateral and multilateral pressure was crucial to bringing Iran to the negotiating table, and ultimately, to laying the foundation whereby we were able to reach a framework agreement that would, if we can get a final deal, effectively cut off every pathway for the Iranian regime to develop a nuclear weapon.

Consider our response to the Ebola epidemic. Last September, as people were dying outside hospitals in West Africa, hospitals that had no beds left to treat the exploding number of Ebola patients, the United States chaired the first-ever emergency meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to a global health issue. We pressed countries to deploy doctors and nurses, to build clinics and testing labs, and to fill other gaps that ultimately helped bend the outbreak’s exponentially rising curve. America did not just rally others to step up, we led by example, thanks also very much to the support of this Congress, deploying more than 3,500 U.S. Government civilian and military personnel to Liberia, which has been Ebola-free since early May.

Second, we are reforming UN peacekeeping to help address the threats to international peace and security that exist in the 21st century. There are more than 100,000 uniformed police and soldiers deployed in the UN’s sixteen peacekeeping missions around the world – that is a higher number than in any time in history – with more complex responsibilities also than ever before. The United States has an abiding strategic interest in resolving the conflicts where peacekeepers serve, which can quickly cause regional instability and attract extremist groups, as we have seen in Mali. Yet while we have seen peacekeepers serve with bravery and professionalism in many of the world’s most dangerous operating environments, we’ve also seen chronic problems, too often, as mentioned, including the failure to protect civilians.

We are working aggressively to address these shortfalls. To give just one example, we are persuading more advanced militaries to step up and contribute soldiers and police to UN peacekeeping. That was the aim of a summit that Vice President Biden convened at the UN last September, where Colombia, Sweden, Indonesia and more than a dozen other countries announced new troop commitments; and it is the message I took directly to European leaders in March, when I made the case in Brussels that peacekeeping is a critical way for European militaries to do their fair share in protecting our common security interests, particularly as they draw down in Afghanistan. This coming September, President Obama will convene another summit of world leaders to build on this momentum and help catalyze a new wave of commitments and generate a new set of capabilities for UN peacekeeping.

Third, we are fighting to end bias and discrimination at the UN. Day in and day out, we push back against efforts to delegitimize Israel at the UN, and we fight for its right to be treated like any other nation – from mounting a full-court diplomatic press to help secure Israel’s permanent membership into two UN groups from which it had long and unjustly been excluded, to consistently and firmly opposing one-sided actions in international bodies. In December, when a deeply unbalanced draft resolution on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was hastily put before the Security Council, the United States successfully rallied a coalition to join us in voting against it, ensuring that the resolution failed to achieve the nine votes of Security Council members required for adoption. We will continue to confront anti-Israel bias wherever we encounter it.

Fourth, we are working to use UN tools to promote human rights and affirm human dignity, as we did by working with partners to hold the first-ever Security Council meeting focused on the human rights situation in North Korea in December. We used that session to shine a light on the regime’s horrors – a light we kept shining through a panel discussion I hosted in April, with escaped victims of the regime. One woman told of being forced to watch the executions of fellow prisoners who committed the “crime” of daring to ask why they had been imprisoned, while another woman told how members from three generations of her family – her grandmother, her father, and her younger brother – had starved to death. This is important for UN Member States to hear.

Fifth, we are doing everything within our power to make the UN more fiscally responsible, more accountable, and more nimble – both because we have a responsibility to ensure American taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, and because maximizing the efficiency of our contributions means saving more lives and better protecting the world’s most vulnerable people. Since the 2008 to 2009 fiscal year, we have reduced the cost-per-peacekeeper by 18 percent, and we are constantly looking for ways to right-size missions in response to conditions on the ground, as we will do this year through substantial drawdowns in Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, and Liberia, among other missions.

Let me conclude. At the outset, I spoke of my recent visit to Ukraine. Across the range of Ukrainians I met – from the mother who lost her husband and two-year-old child in the assault by combined Russian-separatist forces; to the brave students who risked their lives to take part in the Maidan protests against the kleptocratic Yanukovych government; to the young members of parliament working to fight corruption and increase transparency – what united them was the yearning for certain basic rights. And, the belief that the United States could lead other countries – and the United Nations – in helping make their aspirations a reality.

I heard the same sentiment when visiting UN-run camps of people displaced by violence in the Central African Republic, and South Sudan, and in the Ebola-affected communities of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone at the peak of the outbreak.

Some may view the expectation that America can help people overcome their greatest challenges and secure their basic rights as a burden. In fact, that expectation is one of our nation’s greatest strengths, and one we have a vested interest in striving to live up to – daunting as it may feel in the face of so many crises. But we cannot do it alone, nor should we want to. That is why it is more important than ever that we use the UN to rally the multilateral support needed to confront today’s myriad challenges.

Thank you and I look forward to your questions.

U.S. CALLING FOR INVESTIGATION INTO REPORTS OF INTERNATIONAL SOLDIERS ABUSING CHILDREN IN CAR

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
June 5, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Since horrific allegations came to light that international soldiers may have abused children in the Central African Republic, the United States has been calling for a full and impartial investigation into these disturbing reports as well as into the manner in which they were handled. We thus welcome the Secretary General’s recent announcement of the establishment of an External Independent Review to examine the UN system’s response to the allegations.

The Secretary General’s establishment of this review is an opportunity for the UN to learn how it and member states can best safeguard the dignity and welfare of vulnerable people; ensure swift action to make certain potential abuses are investigated and halted; protect those who expose abuses; and provide appropriate privacy and other protection for witnesses who come forward with allegations of abuse. There are many questions that need to be answered, and we view this as an important opportunity for member states – and the people of the Central African Republic – to learn what went wrong at every point in this process.

Alongside this independent review, it is essential that all countries whose soldiers are alleged to have been involved in such abuses fully, urgently, and transparently investigate all claims to ensure that justice is served. Any individual found to have committed such heinous abuses must be held accountable.

The United States looks forward to reviewing the outcome of the Panel’s findings in a timely manner and working with all parties to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse.

SAMANTHA POWER'S REMARKS AT BARNARD COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
May 17, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Good afternoon, President Spar, faculty, trustees, alumni, families and friends of the strong and beautiful Barnard graduates! Congratulations, class of 2015!

Columbia grad Madeleine Albright has said, “It used to be that the only way a woman could truly make her foreign policy views felt was by marrying a diplomat, and then pouring tea on an offending ambassador's lap.” I’m here to tell you that in 2015, we have other options! [Applause].

I’m truly honored to be here, and to be among the amazing women, and men, on this stage, and to be with the amazing class of 2015 – I’m so honored that I invited my parents to your graduation. [Applause] And while we’re at it, let’s give a huge round of applause to all the parents and loved ones in the audience.

Your great school came into existence largely due to the vision of a remarkable woman, Annie Nathan Meyer. Meyer didn’t get the kind of schooling you got, or I got. Her mother kept her home as a small child because she wanted company. Meyer read voraciously, finishing all of Dickens’ books by the age of seven. [Laughter]. Yeah, seriously. When she was eleven, her mother died, and while her father agreed to let her go to school, he was so overprotective that he kept her home whenever there was bad weather.

When Meyer learned about a special college course for women at Columbia University, she set about secretly studying for examinations, which she passed on her first try. When she finally told her father, she later wrote, “He drew me gently and lovingly to him and announced, ‘You will never be married…Men hate intelligent wives.’” Meyer decided to go to Columbia anyway.

It was not what she had hoped. Women were not allowed into lectures; instead, they were given a reading list, a short meeting or two with the professor, and then an exam. When Meyer sat for her first exam, she found the questions were based entirely on the lectures that she had been barred from attending. Feeling what she called a “devastating sense of desolation,” she answered as best she could. And though she passed, she eventually dropped out, and, soon after, started her full-court press to secure the education for women that she had been denied. Four years later, in 1889, as we know, Barnard College – your college – was founded.

As Barnard finishes its 125th school year, it is safe to say that the cause of equality has come a very, very, very long way. But what I want to talk to you about today is how some of the remaining barriers to true equality can, and must, be overcome.

First, true equality will mean not letting our doubts silence our voices.

We live in a time where women have made tremendous strides, particularly here in the United States. And you all know the statistics. Women earn 60 percent of all undergraduate and graduate degrees; hold more than half of all professional-level jobs; and study after study shows that companies employing greater numbers of women outperform their competitors. And you know that, at the end of your four years, you are as well-equipped as any Barnard graduating class to make your mark. So why do you still feel that persistent self-doubt? That fear of making mistakes? And why do those doubts sometimes get in the way of your voices being heard?

I wish I had the answer. Instead, all I can tell you is that we all experience that feeling – even if it’s not obvious on the outside. I have even adopted a name for it – the Bat Cave; it’s that dark place in your head where all the voices tell you every reason you can’t do something.

Let me give you an example. Rewind to August 2008. I am working as a senior advisor on the campaign for then-Senator Barack Obama – who has just earned the Democratic nomination for President. And I find out that I’m pregnant with my first child. Now, I have an amazing husband, and this news – it’s seismic. I am over the moon.

And I tell no one at work. Lots of nods, I bet, back here and up there [Laughter].

I have never gone through this before, and I am worried that if I advertise my blissful state, it will affect how seriously I will be taken by the campaign, and potentially even shut me out of the kind of job that could make an impact. Everything I know of then-Senator Obama and the people around him tells me at the time that this makes zero sense. After all, this is a man who was raised by a single, working mother. A man whose brilliant wife worked while raising two daughters. A man who would go on to demonstrate daily as President his commitment to supporting working moms and dads. But at the time, I am way too deep in the Bat Cave to see any of that.

Eventually, it is my body that tells people the news – not me. And I acquired quite a collection of scarves.

I ended up having two babies while spending four years at the White House, and thereafter still managed to get to serve in my dream job, representing the United States at the United Nations [Applause]. But if I felt the way I did with a boss like mine, I can only imagine how other women feel – the ecstasy of a pregnancy clouded by the fear it could cause severe professional damage.

Last year, when the Ukraine crisis began, I momentarily experienced another version of this anxiety. Russia, a permanent member on the UN Security Council, is trying to lop off part of its neighbor, Ukraine – a clear violation of the rules that the United Nations was created to defend. An urgent UN Security Council session is called on Russia’s attempted takeover of Crimea. I take my seat, and my mind recalls Prague 1968, Budapest 1956, and some epic occasions in the twentieth century when Ambassadors Adlai Stevenson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Madeleine Albright, and other legends made memorable, forceful interventions at the United Nations on behalf of the United States.

Then it dawns on me: that’s me now! I’m the United States!

Deep in the Bat Cave, I think of the consequences if my response – the United States’ response – is too forceful, or not forceful enough. I think of the overwhelming responsibility that comes with speaking on behalf of America and the ideals we stand for. And I think of the people of Ukraine who are counting on me. And I speak.

The fact is that doubt – and his more lovable big sister, self-awareness – both are more pronounced among women. Turns out Batwoman’s cave often has more square footage than Batman’s.

True equality will not mean shedding our doubts or our self-awareness – but rather not letting them quiet us when we should be speaking up. There are more than enough forces out there doing that without needing our help. And it will mean that, while everyone will have moments of uncertainty – and humility is an especially prized quality – women should not have to worry that if we stumble, it will be more noticed than when men do the same [Applause].

But it is not enough to find our own voices. True equality also requires that we learn to hear, and lift up, the voices of those whom others choose not to hear. This is my second point: You have to teach yourself to see the people and communities who live in society’s blind spots. Of course, everyone should strive to do this. But as women who, even to this day, know what it feels like to be unheard or unseen, we have an additional responsibility. I think the burden of being treated differently is also our strength – because it gives us the capacity to notice when others are treated differently. To see the blind spots.

That includes the discussion of gender identity on campus, which the Barnard community – and particularly your class – has embraced [Applause]. We must see that seemingly simple actions that most of us don’t have to think twice about – the bathroom we walk into; the gender listed on our driver’s licenses; the name people use to address us; the boxes “male” and “female” on a college application – can be a source of profound anguish for others. We must recognize the cruel and hostile treatment that transgender people experience in so many communities, which, according to one study, has contributed to 40 percent of transgender people in the United States attempting suicide during the course of their lives.

We must all work toward the goal of ensuring equal rights for all people – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. And while we have a very long way to go, I’m extremely proud to work for an administration that has lifted Medicare’s ban on covering gender reassignment surgery, and whose Justice Department has decided to take on cases of discrimination based on an individual’s gender identity, including transgender status, under the Civil Rights Act.

Now again, it is no coincidence that women’s colleges have been among the first to embrace this discussion. Women know what it feels like to have to fight to be part of institutions whose doors should never have been closed to them.

You often hear people say that past generations struggled so that you would not have to. But I say, past generations struggled so you would be free to fight on behalf of someone else.

The idea of seeing the struggles of others around you – whether the other is a gender or an ethnic or religious group, or even an entire nation that usually does not have a voice – is one of the principles that has defined President Obama’s foreign policy. We know that America is stronger, that our policies are more effective, and that the world is better off when America is listening. And that includes listening to countries and communities that often feel invisible to the world’s superpowers.

That is why, when I started as the United States Ambassador to the UN a year and a half ago, I decided to visit as many of the other 192 UN ambassadors as I could, regardless of the size or the geopolitical heft of the country that they represent. By visiting their missions, rather than having them travel to ours, as was common practice, I would be able to see the national art they wanted to showcase, the family photos on their desks, the books that they had carried with them long distances to America. And I could show them America’s respect and our curiosity. So far, I’ve visited 119 countries’ missions. And when I visit, I try [Applause], when I visit I try to put my long list of policy asks aside. Instead, I ask the ambassadors about their upbringings, about how they became diplomats, what they are most proud of about their countries.

True equality will mean not just seeing the unseen, but also finding a way to make invisible problems visible – and this is my third point. I think the contemporary conversation about the challenge that women face in balancing a demanding job with raising a family is important. Women are opening up about how overwhelmed they feel trying to “have it all.” Back in 2013, when I arrived in my job, I was still nursing my one-year-old daughter as I tried to move my family to New York, and find schools for my two kids – and no, I did not enroll my then-four-year-old in a Kaplan course so he could get into a New York pre-school. I had to do all this at the same time, roughly, that the Syrian regime decided to stage massive chemical weapons attacks against its people, horrific atrocities were being committed in the Central African Republic, and a new government was cracking down on the opposition in Egypt. When asked by friends whether I subscribed to “lean in,” I would instead describe my philosophy then as “hang on.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has put it even better – “lean on.”

While Ambassador, I have spoken in public a fair amount about the ways my six-year-old, my now six-year-old son Declan, interacts with my new life – making visible a version of what goes on behind the scenes in many homes. Like most young kids with their parents, he seems to delight in interrupting me when I’m on the phone. “Mommy,” he says, “Can I ask you something?” I shake my head and I whisper, “I’m on the phone.” He says, “Mommy it’s important.” “I’ll be off in a minute.” “But Mommy, what’s the score of the Nationals game?” he says. I beg him to let me finish the call. But he is insistent. “Mommy, I said it’s important.” And I hold my hand over the phone and say – “Mine too, this is important too” – I may well be talking to the UN Secretary-General, a UN envoy on a crackling phone line from a war zone, or a fellow diplomat that I’m trying to put the squeeze on. But nothing persuades Declan. And when this little showdown has abated, and he gives up – which after nine or ten exchanges he does, usually – he invariably storms off in a huff, usually grumbling some version of, “Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine!” He’s had it up to here with Ukraine.

Now, the juggling act that I am attempting pales compared to that faced by moms who are raising kids alone; or who struggle to provide for families on a minimum wage that is not a livable wage [Applause]; or who risk losing their jobs if they have to stay home to care for a sick child. But I share these stories because – even with all the support that I am lucky enough to have – the balancing is hard and making that visible might be useful to somebody somewhere.

Of course, it is not just our personal challenges that we must make visible. There are far bigger and more important problems that we have to shine a bright light on – like the dark chapters of our own nation’s history.

Let me give you one of the most chilling examples. Between 1877 and 1950, nearly 4,000 African Americans were lynched in 12 Southern states, according to a remarkable report released this year by the Equal Justice Initiative. In 1916, a man named Jeff Brown was lynched in Mississippi for accidentally bumping into a white girl while running to catch a train. In 1940, Jessie Thorton was lynched in Alabama for failing to address a white police officer as “Mister.” Many of the lynchings were public spectacles, advertised in advance in newspapers. Vendors hawked popcorn and lemonade. Families had photos taken by the bodies of the victims as souvenirs. In 1893, 10,000 people came to watch the lynching of Henry Smith in Paris, Texas.

One of the most alarming findings of the Equal Justice Initiative report is that there are virtually no public memorials to these killings. South Carolina, which witnessed 164 lynchings during this period, has only a few public markers of where they occurred. But the state has at least 170 memorials to Confederate soldiers of the Civil War.

Fifty years after Selma, and 150 after the end of the Civil War – at a time where there remains such enduring racial inequalities – these sites should not be invisible. We have to stop looking past them. Which is why finding ways to mark more of these sites – as the Equal Justice Initiative plans to do – is such an essential step [Applause].

To memorialize the Holocaust – the most unspeakable atrocity of the 20th century – a German artist named Gunther Denmig began installing what he called stolperstein, or stumbling stones. He placed the tiny, four-inch cubes – which simply note the name, date of birth and, when known, the death of an individual victim – in the ground outside the Holocaust victim’s former home. He started in Cologne, Germany, in 1992, with 250 little stones. Since then, Denmig has laid some 48,000 stolperstein in 18 countries. Any of you who have stumbled upon one knows the impact. The stone telescopes history. In humanizing a single victim – you feel it, if only for a minute, the incomprehensible loss of six million people.

Of course, we cannot limit ourselves to surfacing the dark parts of our past; we must do the same right here in the present. Consider the enduring problem of sexual violence on college campuses [Applause], only a tiny fraction of which is reported by victims. In spite of this problem, we have too often seen colleges and universities falling short of adequately investigating and disciplining perpetrators, and of protecting victims.

And yet – even as we are aware of the seriousness of this problem, it takes a woman picking up a mattress and carrying it around her campus to make people really see it [Applause]. A mattress that a good number of the women in this graduating class have helped carry. And men from Columbia, too.

This challenge of rendering the invisible visible is one I face every day at the United Nations, where the people most directly affected by the policies discussed are often far removed from sight and mind. We talk so often in terms of thousands or even millions of people that it’s easy to lose a sense of what one person is – and why even a single human being’s dignity is so important. So, wherever possible, the United States tries to bring those voices into the debate as a way of sharpening understanding of the human consequences of what can otherwise feel like abstract challenges.

Last September, as the Ebola outbreak was spreading exponentially in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the most dire evidence-based projections suggested more than a million people would be infected if the international community failed to mount a swift and massive response. Yet most countries were doing far too little to stop the outbreak. Worse, several countries in the region were sealing their borders out of fear, preventing crucial aid from reaching those in need.

So the United States convened the first-ever emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on a public health crisis – and instead of simply having UN officials present statistics and charts, we arranged for a video link from the Security Council to the capital of Liberia, where a 38-year-old healthcare worker named Jackson Naimah was asked to describe what was happening in his country. Jackson, who was working at Médecins Sans Frontières Ebola clinic, described people dying outside the gates because the clinic was overflowing and had run out of beds to take more patients. He described having to turn away a boy with all the symptoms of the virus, whose father had died a week earlier, and he recalled thinking, “This boy is going to take a taxi, and he is going to go home to his family, and he will infect them.” He told the diplomats crammed into the UN chamber: “I feel that the future of my country is hanging in the balance. If the international community does not stand up, we will all be wiped out.”

As Jackson spoke, you could hear a pin drop in the Security Council. People who had not really seen Ebola up to that time were forced to grapple with its monstrous efficiency. And you could feel the momentum in the room shift as, one by one, countries spoke with a greater sense of urgency about the need to stand up rather than stand by.

Today, we haven’t just bent the curve of the epidemic, we are closing in on ending it [Applause]. And we try, we try, to seize every chance we have to bring voices like Jackson’s into discussions at the United Nations. And, when a conflict or a prison cell or some other barrier prevents these individuals from speaking for themselves, we try to describe their experiences in a way that others will hear.

Now, I have talked about what it will mean to secure lasting equality – slaying the bats in our bat caves; taking on the struggles of others seeking dignity; and using a range of means – from mattresses to human contact – to make the invisible visible.

This brings me to my last point, and arguably the simplest. True equality is going to require showing – not telling, but showing – people that change is possible.

Let me tell you what other countries see today when they look at the United States delegation to the UN. They see a woman Permanent Representative – one of only 37 women permanent representatives out of 193 ambassadors to the UN – they also see two other women Ambassadors for the United States, Michele Sison and Isobel Coleman, all three of us working mothers. And when the General Assembly is held each September, the world sees the U.S. delegation led by an African-American man – our President. What we look like to the world matters. Because we know, empirically, that people’s belief systems and biases can be shifted dramatically by what they see.

In West Bengal, India, for example, a political affirmative action program reserved spots for women in village governments. Within seven years, a study found, men’s individual biases against the capacity of women leaders almost fully disappeared; and women have become more likely to run for – and win – local seats. Parents have developed higher aspirations for their daughters, and girls’ expectations have increased for themselves.

I can tell you it’s true personally, as well. As a girl growing up in Ireland – where my family lived until I was nine – I watched my mother attend medical school while playing world-class squash and caring for me and my kid brother. I also learned from the stories my mother and father, Dr. Vera Delaney and Edmund Bourke – both kidney doctors – brought home about their patients. I loved the way they saw their patients not as a spreadsheet of symptoms and diseases, but as individuals. And I learned from the way they knew how to listen to them, and glean the details that others may have missed.

There is no question in my mind that growing up with my mother as my model gave me the confidence – or the hubris – to think that covering the women’s volleyball team for my college newspaper was experience enough to send me to the Balkans to become a war correspondent. Thanks, Mom [Laughter]. And there’s no question that I took from both my parents that – in work, in friendship, in love – we must understand where people around us are coming from, what motivates them, what saddens them, what inspires them, and how they got where they are.

And it’s worth remembering to the extent to which we – any of us here – see the world the way we do; make it to the heights we reach; and experience days of such great pride like this one – it’s worth remembering that all of that starts with the people we saw first. When you hug them after this, thank them for that. And you can give them a round of applause now, too [Applause].

As I’m wrapping up, I want to leave you with one last image. As you know, there are few places where women and girls have endured greater hardship – or been less visible – than in Afghanistan. Under Taliban rule, women couldn’t even walk outside without a male relative and a burqa. No girls were allowed to go to school, and no women served in positions of authority. Today, notwithstanding the persistence of the Taliban and its monstrous attacks against civilians, more than three million Afghan girls are in school. Women hold 28 percent of seats in Afghanistan’s Parliament – a higher proportion, I would note, than in the United States Congress [Applause].

And today, women can not only walk outside without a man or a burqa, but members of Afghanistan’s Women’s National Cycling Team are racing down the country’s roads on their bikes. Team members are pinched for resources, but big on courage. Some drivers yell at them and threaten them, but they ride on. One day, a man on a motorcycle reached out and tried to grab at the captain, causing her to crash and hurt her back. But today she is back on her bike, leading more than 40 other women training with the team.

One of the team members, Malika Yousufi, not only wants to become the first Afghan woman – but the first woman, period – to compete in the Tour de France. She told a reporter, “Nothing will stop us.”

Now, imagine just for a minute, what it must feel like to be a little girl from a rural town in Afghanistan – and to suddenly see those 40 women, in a single file, flying down the road. To see something for the first time that you couldn’t have believed possible. Think about where your mind would go – about the shockwave that image would send through your system. Think what it would allow you to believe possible. You would never be able to think the same way again.

That impact – that is what equality is all about. It is a memorial that forces us to see a dark part of our history. A woman who picks up a mattress to show us a problem we are overlooking. A woman or girl in a classroom, or on a bike, or in the water – clearing a path that otherwise would have seemed closed or unimaginable.

Now it’s your turn to climb on the bike. As Malika said, nothing can stop you. What will you make people see?

Thank you, and congratulations again, Barnard Class of 2015!

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO UN CONCERNED BURUNDI IS SLIDING INTO VIOLENT TURMOIL

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
May 8, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Good afternoon. We just heard a very concerning briefing from Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, Said Djinnit, about the situation in Burundi.

This is the third time the Council has come together just in the last month to address the need for all parties in Burundi to refrain from violence and intimidation before, during, and after elections, and to actively support the conditions for a peaceful, timely, credible, and inclusive elections process.

What we are seeing is a Burundi sliding into violent turmoil. The intensity of the violence has increased this week. Live rounds, water cannons, and arbitrary arrest have been used against protestors. We’ve now seen reports of grenade attacks.

While reports of those killed and arrested vary, we know that on May 4th at least three protestors were shot dead. On May 6th, another half dozen people were reportedly killed, and over the last three days, we have started to see more gruesome attacks against alleged members of the Imbonerakure, including a lynching and separate burning.

Amidst this increase in violence, refugee flows into Rwanda, Tanzania, and the DRC have skyrocketed to over 50,000 people. Any further violence carries with it the risk of irreversible consequences not just for Burundian citizens, but for the people of the Great Lakes region writ-large.

This violence is due to two very foreseeable and very preventable events. First, President Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term, which the United States has clearly stated is a violation of the Arusha Agreement. Despite warnings from multiple parts of Burundian society and the international community that such a move would lead to violence, Nkurunziza decided to move forward. He rejected, and indeed was extremely dismissive, of the possibility that his moving out in abrogation of the Arusha Agreement would generate protests and would result in violence. He ruled that out – out of hand – and now we are seeing, unfortunately, the consequence of his decisions and of his dismissiveness of these risks. Second, the government’s continued and relentless crackdown against the people’s rights to peacefully protest and freely express their views has itself increased violence. The severe restrictions placed on the media – traditional and social – have only exacerbated these problems.

While the government claims that President Nkurunziza’s third term is constitutional, and the Constitutional Court ruling this week supported that finding, we must underscore the apparent lack of judicial impartiality that led to this decision. The Vice President of Burundi’s Constitutional Court fled to safety in Rwanda this week and refused to succumb to the government’s pressure to validate President Nkurunziza’s third term.

This Vice President said judges, “were subjected to enormous pressure and even death threats,” stating that, “those opposed to a third term - violating the constitution and the Arusha Agreement - were afraid, because they were put under pressure.” “We risk our lives,” he said, “so judges had to get behind the third term and join the camp supporting it.”

We welcome the leadership being shown by the region. The foreign ministers of Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Angola were in Burundi this week to engage all parties to seek a way out the crisis. The heads of state of the East African Community will meet next week in Dar es Salaam, where we hope the crisis in Burundi is front and center – and we have every reason to believe it will be.

We also welcome African Union Chairwoman Dlamini-Zuma’s statement yesterday that Nkurunziza should not seek a third term and that what is most important at this critical time is to ensure a peaceful environment conducive to elections.

The government of Burundi has a window to stop and reverse the outbreak of violence by agreeing to allow for peaceful protests, easing restrictions to media, respecting human rights, and preventing violence by the Imbonerakure and the security forces. To date neither President Nkurunziza nor his government has condemned the violence by the youth militia or called for restraint by the police. We urge them to do so immediately; failure to take these steps will only heighten the scale of violence and increase the risk of this turning into a regional crisis.

With that, I’m happy to take a few questions.

Reporter: Madame Ambassador, thank you. What more can the Council do on this issue, given that Russia has sort of made clear that they think it’s a constitutional issue that the Council shouldn’t get involved in. Did you raise the possibility of threatening sanctions? And, what can you tell us about these reports that the President’s security are distributing weapons throughout the country and training militia? How concerned are you by this and what do you know about it?

Ambassador Power: Okay, let me get all of this. Let me just start with the reports that you mentioned. You might recall that, now, more than six months ago, the security advisor to the prior UN mission in Burundi was expelled from Burundi because of the leak of a report alleging the massive distribution of weapons to the Imbonerakure.

Now, we hear that some of those weapons are being used. We hear of threats by the youth militia toward people who peacefully protest against President Nkurunziza’s decision to pursue a third term. These are extremely alarming reports. There’s no question that there are weapons in the hands of people who are not affiliated with the traditional security establishment—with the armed forces and with the police. And the fact that these reports are increasing, not decreasing; the fact that prior reports appear to be credible; and the fact that the government’s only response to those reports was in effect to shoot the messenger—not literally, thankfully—but to expel the BNUB security advisor and indeed to end the prior mission, which had much more of a monitoring role than the current election-related mission. These are all extremely worrying facts.

In terms of sanctions, let me just say that the United States is very carefully monitoring the situation, and we are prepared to take targeted measures, including visa bans or sanctions, against those who plan or participate in wide-spread violence of the kind that we all fear. The United Nations Security Council has threatened action, and it remains to be seen what action the Council would come together in support of.

I think for all of the disagreement perhaps here or there about the constitution, there is no disagreement about the need for the Council to do everything in its power to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. I mean, the Council is alarmed. I don’t think there’s been a period, maybe even in the last decade, where the Council has met this many times on Burundi consecutively. So right now, we’re emphasizing support for Said Djinnit, who’s actually trying to bring the parties together and see if there’s a peaceful way out of this crisis, and I think we will get at the “what are the next steps” again if these negotiations cannot bear fruit.

Reporter: Thank you. You have been to Bangui not once, but twice. So I must ask you, in light of these horrific allegations, are you satisfied that both France and the United Nations initiated this investigation quickly enough? Made sure that the soldiers were removed from that mission quickly enough? And that all the steps towards accountability have been taken? And related, does this draw new attention to all the reforms that have been called for in the past, on how to handle sex abuse in peacekeeping?

Ambassador Power: Thank you for the question. It’s an extremely important one. The allegations are completely horrific. You know, the fact that soldiers who are entrusted with the protection of civilians, the protection of young people—if these allegations prove true, again, it is such a profound violation, not only of the dignity and physical security of individuals in their most vulnerable state, but it is a complete abrogation of trust, between those who are alleged to come as protectors and those who violate that trust and take advantage of, again, the most acute vulnerability any of us could imagine experiencing. A vulnerability that comes from being desperate for food. From being desperate for protection.

So we don’t know, again, the full facts of the case at this stage—that is the case of the allegations of sexual abuse—whether those will be borne out. They are certainly very credible and very disturbing allegations. So it is essential that those countries whose soldiers are alleged to have been involved in crimes of this magnitude act aggressively to track down the facts and to punish anybody responsible.

In terms of the UN and the member state’s handling of the issue, I think it is extremely important that an impartial investigation be done also of that, on top of investigating the allegations themselves. When allegations like this are made, and sadly, this is not the first time that peacekeepers have been accused of sexual abuse of civilians who’ve put their faith in the international community. When allegations like these are made, speed is essential, absolutely imperative, because for as long, potentially, as crimes like these are being committed, then individuals are vulnerable to the same individuals who are alleged to be carrying out the crimes.

The safety of those who are brave enough to come forward, notwithstanding having potentially been abused, the safety of those individuals, those witnesses—the confidentiality of their testimony—that’s also essential.

So there are a number of elements to the appropriate handling of cases like this, and we need this impartial investigation of the handling to be carried out swiftly. We need all individuals, both in member states themselves and within the UN organization who were involved in the handling of this, again, grave and grotesque set of allegations, to involve themselves and come forward and make everything that they know available. And, I think the investigation needs to span, again, from start to finish. Because there were a lot of different stages to this.

But we need a system here, number one, where peacekeepers are vetted appropriately before they go into the field. Number two, at the slightest hint that peacekeepers could be carrying out abuses—that needs to be reported up the chain and investigated extremely swiftly. And we, again, like everyone, are concerned about the length of time between the alleged crimes and the time at which the appropriate authorities were made aware, and the lag between the time at which the appropriate authorities took the required action.

Reporter: Follow up on that? One question? Thanks. Appreciate it. One issue that has arisen that may not even need to wait for an investigation is that the Central African Republic says that they were never told of this, and given that these were their citizens, I wonder if you—does the U.S. think that when the UN system becomes aware of charges such as these, that the host country should be told? There’s also this issue, in the UN Dispute Tribunal ruling, that the Under Secretary General of Peacekeeping was reported, and the UN didn’t seem to dispute it, to have said that the whistleblower should resign or be suspended. And I wonder, this seems like a pretty serious charge. What do you think of that? Do you think that that is appropriate? What do you think of the treatment of the whistleblower who brought it to light?

Ambassador Power: I think, on a lot of these issues, we’re all going to be better off if we allow an impartial investigation to take hold. And, I think, you raise a really, really important issue about host country involvement, and we’d want to, again, get the facts on that. Certainly, it is the case that the host country itself, of course, has the sovereign responsibility for the protection of its citizens, and so, looking at what role Central African Republic authorities played or didn’t play has to be part of this.

And then, in terms of the individual who disclosed the allegations, who worked for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, again, it’s extremely important that any individual who comes into possession of allegations of this gravity acts swiftly. It is also extremely important that victim and witness safety be a very significant, a primary consideration as well. And so again, the impartial investigation will look at the handling and how both the issue of speed and the issue of victim and witness protection—how those issues were handled.

Ambassador Power: I think on a lot of these issues we’re all going to be better off if we allow an impartial investigation to take hold. And I think you raise a really important issue on host country involvement

Looking at what role Central African Republic authorities played or didn’t play has to be part of this.

It’s extremely important that any individual who comes into possession of allegations of this gravity acts swiftly, it is also extremely important that victim ad witness safety be a very significant, a primary consideration, as well.

Reporter: Ambassador, back to Burundi: I wonder if you could talk about the way the international architecture is set up. There’s been a lot of criticism from the Burundians themselves that the international community has been very slow on this issue – the fact that we do have 50,000 refugees and when the international community has been very well aware of what was going to happen. What can you say about how the international community responds to these issues, given what we’ve seen in South Sudan and Syria today?

Ambassador Power: Well, the international community, as represented by the UN Security Council, has actually been quite aggressive in the preventive diplomacy phase. I mean, the fact that just two months ago, or whenever it was, we all traveled all the way to Burundi as a way of sending a message to President Nkurunziza about what the risks were if he went ahead in violation of the letter and the spirit of the Arusha agreement. That’s actually quite unusual. And everybody on the Security Council, just as in the broader international community, is well aware of the history in Burundi, and of course the broader region, and how quickly political disputes can get – can descend into ethnic disputes. And Arusha enshrined a social compact that has allowed Burundi to make tremendous progress. And, you know, for the sake of Burundians who suffered so much and worked so hard to reconcile, and to get to the place they have gotten to, in terms of stability, including relative political stability – for that to be endangered. Sub-regional organizations sent the message that that was imperiled; regional organizations sent that message, including Dlamini-Zuma – not just yesterday, but over the course of recent months – and the Security Council traveled all the way there to send that message. I myself have been to Burundi twice in the last year to send that message. I believe the first Cabinet member to travel to Burundi in a long time, on behalf of President Obama, in order to send that message. So it is clear things are not going well in Burundi; and all of us want to learn if there was more we could have done. But at the end of the day, President Nkurunziza has to put his people first. The international community can’t make him privilege the welfare of his people, privilege the end of violence, over his own personal desire to seek a third term. He has to make that choice. And I think the message from the international community was loud and clear, and it’s a message that he has chosen not to hear. Thank you.

Reporter: (Inaudible, off mic) Syria?

Ambassador Power: I’ll just do that real quick. I’m not going to get ahead of the diplomatic discussions, but you all know that resolution 2118 – best remembered as the resolution that dismantled Syria’s declared chemical weapons program – bans the use of chemical weapons. And you know that resolution 2209 – the chlorine resolution – makes very clear that the use of chlorine as a weapon is chemical weapons use. And we heard in the Arria session devastating reports. I believe you all met as well with the doctors who treated the victims of chlorine attacks. So we believe, and it’s clear that many Council members agree, that we have got to have a means of establishing who was carrying out these chlorine attacks. To us, the Fact Finding Mission’s report was very clear – from the OPCW – it described hundreds of witnesses with the same symptoms. Victims who died without a cut on their bodies, just because they suffocated on this gas; and witnesses who described the smell of chlorine emanating at just the moment a helicopter came and dropped a barrel bomb on a particular building; the victims themselves smelled like chlorine. There are no allegations of how chlorine could be disbursed in the manner the OPCW has described it has been disbursed absent, again, these air attacks. Everybody who has been interviewed has described a correlation between the chlorine-related deaths and the dropping of what appear to be chlorine barrel bombs from helicopters. And, as you know, only the regime has helicopters. So we believe the factual record is quite straightforward and devastating in terms of Syrian regime use. But it is, as a factual matter, true that no one in the international system is mandated to establish attribution for these attacks; and we need to fix that. So we hope that we can make progress on a resolution to ensure that there is a mechanism that will not only establish chlorine use, but establish who carried out that use.

AMBASSADOR POWER'S REMARKS ON SCREENING OF SELMA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
April 23, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Thank you very much, Under Secretary-General Gallach, for your introduction and thanks to the entire Department of Public Information team for the important work you do in telling the story of the work of the United Nations. You give people outside these walls a deeper understanding of the ideals that this institution was created 70 years ago to embody, and which we fight for every day.

And good evening ambassadors, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen and a special welcome to the young people from those twenty eight schools in New York and New Jersey. It is truly thrilling to look out and see so many young faces and I actually find myself asking whether the world would look differently if you were at more of our events at the UN. Because when we look out at your faces we really see the stakes of what we are trying to achieve and maybe if you were here more often we’d do a better job at overcoming divisions to promote human rights and human dignity and peace and security. So don’t make this your last visit to the UN. I hope to see more of you.

I have the privilege of just sharing a few thoughts with you before you see the remarkable film “Selma,” and I know you are here to do that. Tonight’s screening and discussion allow us an opportunity to look back 50 years, and to reflect on and be inspired by the determination of a group of people to change the course of history.

Let me take a moment to give a shout-out to the acclaimed director of “Selma,” Ava DuVernay. Ava, as you know, has graciously agreed to join us to share her own reflections on what this moment in America’s history means, what it meant then and what it means now.

For those of you who know the story of the march from Selma to Montgomery, watching it tonight will bring you into the swirling clouds of tear gas, the snarl of those police dogs and the sickening thud of the nightsticks used against the peaceful marchers on Edmund Pettis Bridge. For those of you who are hearing this story for the first time, you will soon know the bravery of so many great American heroes, including Congressman John Lewis, and one of my predecessors, Ambassador Andrew Young. Their stubborn determination and complete dedication to their cause should inspire us to try harder – and to be better – today.

Make no mistake, the men and women who marched at Selma in 1965 had little on their side: not the law, not public opinion, not force of arms. What they had was courage in the face of oppression, faith in their right to be treated equally, and an iron will to end the injustices that kept most African-Americans in the South from being able to vote.

Those injustices were many. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and hostile registrars intimidated an already marginalized population. Limited registration hours excluded them, as they toiled in working class jobs day and night. Police harassed them while they were waiting in line to add their names to the voting rolls. In Dallas County, Alabama, where Selma was located, more than half of the county’s residents were Black, but only one percent of them were registered to vote in 1965. Think of that. One percent.

And so the marchers marched. And as they did, their footsteps jolted a sleeping nation awake. They built a movement and, through their sweat and their sacrifice, they got the vote that they had been denied, and this is a truly inspiring story. But later tonight when the credits roll, let us not forget that the story is not complete.

On the 50th anniversary of Selma and standing on that infamous bridge, President Obama said “From the streets of Tunis to the Maidan in Ukraine, a new generation of young people can draw strength from this place.” Selma is a place where people without power changed forever a most powerful nation, and both their struggle against injustice and their courage to act are alive and well around the world. You’ll find the struggle in places like North Korea, where tens of thousands are being imprisoned in camps and subject to the most unspeakable tortures for so-called “crimes” ranging from speaking out to possessing a radio. In Russia, where telling the truth in print means risking your livelihood, or much more. Or in Burma, where claiming your identity as worthy of dignity and deserving of citizenship can mean risking your life.

And we ask of others what we ask of ourselves. The spirit of Selma must continue here in America. Just two years ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down a part of the Voting Rights Act – the legislation that was a victory for those marching on Selma and for our democracy. The decision effectively made it easier for states to put up obstacles to voting – for minorities, the poor, and the disabled. How is it possible in 2015 that one would put up obstacles to voting? President Obama has called on Congress to right this wrong, and throughout the country, civil society activists, many of them young people, are engaged in this modern day struggle for full civil rights. They and we will succeed. After all, our democracy is built on the hard work of righting wrongs again and again. Consider that just one month before the Supreme Court decision to degrade the Voting Rights Act, that same Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. It was a decision that brought us one step closer to ensuring that all Americans, including gay and lesbian Americans, have the same rights no matter who you are or who you love.

What will be our Selma? Against what injustices will we, will you, march? How will what you see up there on the screen inspire you to act out there in the world?

Thank you and enjoy the movie and the discussion.

AMBASSADOR POWER'S REMARKS ON CRISIS IN DEIR EZ-ZOUR

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
April 24, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Minister Judeh, for dedicating today’s meeting to a crisis that so urgently demands the world’s attention. And thank you to our briefers – Under Secretary-General Amos, High Commissioner Guterres, Executive Director Cousin, and Special Envoy Jolie – for your appropriately stark, firm, and extremely moving briefings.

The United States would also like to recognize the dedicated humanitarian workers serving in UN agencies and other organizations who are putting their lives on the line to get assistance to people in the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. People like the two Syrian Arab Red Crescent workers who were killed on April 3rd while retrieving bodies of the deceased and preparing shelters for the displaced in Idlib. And people who are constantly looking for ways around seemingly endless obstacles to delivering vital aid, like WHO staffers who took advantage of a six-hour ceasefire last month in Aleppo to deliver medical supplies across lines. They reached 5,000 people – using pull-carts.

In Deir ez-Zour, approximately 228,000 residents are caught between ISIL, which has circled the city and systematically cut off humanitarian access, and regime forces, which prevent people from leaving. On April 13th, a one-year-old reportedly starved to death, and NGOs are receiving reports of young girls trading sexual acts for bread. While the ICRC was able to reach Deir ez-Zour with three airlifts in recent days – the first aid deliveries to the besieged city in nearly a year – residents of all ages remain on the brink of starvation.

Ghastly as it is, the situation in Deir ez-Zour is not an outlier. We are all well aware of the ongoing crisis in Yarmouk, where many thousands of Palestinians are still trapped and cut off from vital assistance. In Yarmouk, it is regime forces that are doing the blockading, as they have for more than two years. And since moving into Yarmouk weeks ago, ISIL and other armed groups have only exacerbated the suffering of residents by further limiting their movements.

As several of the briefers noted, the UN estimates that 440,000 civilians in Syria are living in besieged areas where most aid cannot get in and most people cannot get out. Only four percent of people living in besieged areas received food deliveries last month. Four percent. Health assistance reached less than one-third of one percent – 0.3 percent – of civilians living in besieged areas.

Siege is just one tactic used to prevent vital humanitarian aid from reaching people in need. According to the UN’s most recent report, nine WHO requests to deliver health assistance to locations in Aleppo, Daraa, Idlib and other governorates have gone unanswered by the regime. While life-saving medical supplies sit in warehouses, people die on operating tables; in crowded, ill-equipped field hospitals; and even in their homes – all from wounds and illnesses that would be treated with adequate resources. Meanwhile, nineteen requests for interagency convoys, which aim to reach the hardest-hit areas, are pending approval by the regime. Many have been stuck in limbo for months, exacerbating suffering and even causing death by bureaucratic delay. What possible excuse is there to not respond to a UN request? There is no excuse.

These tactics demonstrate the immense gap between the demands of this Council and the actions on the ground by parties in this conflict, particularly the Assad regime. Security Council resolutions 2165 and 2191 direct all Syrian parties to enable the immediate and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance by the UN and their implementing partners, yet the regime and ISIL are deliberately blocking such aid. And rather than fulfill their obligation to protect civilians, each – ISIL and the regime – deliberately targets civilians to advance their aims. We are past the point of highlighting or lamenting this enduring gap; we must come together to close it. The survival of millions of Syrians demands it – not to mention the credibility of this Council’s word. Our resolutions are currently being ridiculed by the Syrian regime. In the immediate term, aid must be allowed to reach besieged areas, and people must be allowed to leave besieged areas. Imagine being trapped – just imagine being a parent and being trapped.

International monitoring is crucial to ensuring that civilians leaving such areas are not arbitrarily detained, separated from their families, or harmed in any way – as happened in February 2014, when hundreds of people disappeared as they passed through government-controlled areas while leaving the besieged city of Homs.

Syria’s neighbors have shown remarkable generosity in helping those trapped in Syria as well as those who have managed to escape. Of the nearly four million people who have fled Syria, Turkey has taken in a staggering 1.7 million refugees. One in every four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. And this unprecedented influx has demanded countries take robust measures to accommodate the new populations. In Jordan, for example, where the population of some northern cities has doubled since the arrival of more than 620,000 Syrian refugees, the government worked with development and humanitarian groups to come up with a comprehensive plan to respond to refugees’ diverse needs – from health and education, to security and drinking water.

While Syria’s neighbors have already welcomed unprecedented numbers of refugees, we strongly urge these countries to keep their borders open and ease restrictions that prevent the most vulnerable from reaching refuge. If the international community is going to ask more of Syria’s neighbors, who have already done so much, we cannot allow them to shoulder the impact of sheltering millions of refugees alone. And that is why, in addition to the $556 million that the U.S. has provided Jordan to support refugee programs and host communities since the start of the Syrian conflict, we announced our intention in February to increase annual bilateral assistance from $660 million to $1 billion over the next three years, given the extraordinary needs generated by this crisis and the extraordinary generosity of Syria’s neighbors.

In addition to helping Syria’s neighbors, all countries, including the United States, must welcome displaced Syrians in greater numbers. As the recent catastrophes involving refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean demonstrate – many of the victims of which have been Syrians – people are willing to take tremendous risks to escape their country’s brutal violence. Just this week, Turkey’s coast guard rescued thirty Syrians aboard a sinking boat trying to reach Greece.

The disparity between what the international community is providing and what the Syrian people need is growing. At the end of last month, the Secretary-General convened a conference, together with the government of Kuwait, to raise funds toward the $8.4 billion that the UN needs to respond to the crisis. Only $3.6 billion has been pledged toward that goal. It is critically important that all countries, including members of this Council, make more substantive contributions. And it’s important that those countries that have pledged actually deliver promptly. The United States announced a new $507 million pledge in Kuwait last month, which brought our total contributions to Syria since the crisis began to $3.2 billion.

Today, in response to the devastating crisis in Yarmouk, we are announcing an additional $6 million in aid to UNRWA, to provide urgent assistance, both for the many thousands still trapped in Yarmouk and for other Palestinians and Syrians receiving a lifeline from the agency.

But even as we seek to fill these gaps, we must not lose sight of the foundational reason that Syria’s population needs humanitarian assistance, and that is the Assad regime. A regime that continues to torture, gas, barrel-bomb, and starve its own people. A regime whose brutality fed the rise of ISIL and other violent extremist groups in Syria. A regime that, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, killed an average of five children per day last month alone.

Let us be clear, ISIL could disappear tomorrow and the regime would still block UN convoys, ignore UN appeals and UN Security Council resolutions, torture detainees in its prisons, and use barrel bombs and chlorine chemical weapons to attack civilians. Partnering with a regime like this would not help us defeat violent extremist groups – it would only strengthen their appeal. The only viable political solution to this crisis is one without Assad in power; a political push at the highest levels, and a sincere and united effort to secure a political transition, is urgently needed and, of course, long overdue.

Let me conclude. National Geographic recently organized a photography camp in Jordan for teenage refugees from Syria. Twenty kids, ages 13 to 15, spent a week using cameras and words to tell their stories. A slideshow of some of their photos is online and I urge you all to look at it. A common thread cuts across the testimonies of the young Syrians: they want to go home. One participant, fourteen year-old Abdullah, fled to Jordan from Daraa three years ago. For an assignment to take a self-portrait, he took one with his face covered – a way, he said, to make himself anonymous. Speaking about his future, Abdullah said: “I hope to become an engineer and rebuild Syria, house by house, and build the biggest hospitals, the biggest mosques, the biggest schools, build bakeries, and rebuild our home…Insha’Allah, we will rebuild Syria the best we can. We are going to make Syria the most beautiful country and restore the life in it.”

Abdullah and so many young people from his generation are waiting to go home and rebuild. Who would deny them that opportunity? And who better than Syria’s young to motivate and unite us, the members of this Security Council, to work relentlessly to enforce our own resolutions so as to mitigate the suffering of the Syrian people and to find a political solution to this devastating conflict.

Thank you.

NSC STATEMENT ON CONCLUSION OF OPERATION DECISIVE STORM IN YEMEN

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
April 22, 2015
Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on the Conclusion of Operation Decisive Storm

The United States welcomes the decision by the Government of Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners to conclude Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen.  With this announcement, we look forward to a shift from military operations to the rapid, unconditional resumption of all-party negotiations that allow Yemen to resume an inclusive political transition process as envisioned in the GCC Initiative, the National Dialogue outcomes, and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.  We also welcome the United Nations continuing to play a vital role in facilitating the political talks and look forward to the United Nations announcing a location for the talks in the very near future.

We strongly urge all Yemeni parties, in particular the Houthis and their supporters, to take this opportunity to return to these negotiations as part of the political dialogue.  Having bravely and resolutely sought a democratic political transition, the Yemeni people deserve the opportunity to hold a peaceful debate about their new constitution, to participate in a credible and safe constitutional referendum, and to vote in free and fair national elections.

We commend the commitment of King Salman of Saudi Arabia to provide $274 million in emergency humanitarian relief to Yemen.  We also strongly support the commitment of the Government of Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners to facilitate the provision of humanitarian and medical aid to those displaced and injured by the fighting.  We look forward to this transition from Operation Decisive Storm significantly increasing the opportunities for international and Yemeni humanitarian organizations to access and deliver assistance to the Yemeni people.

The United States reiterates the obligation of all nations to abide by the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 that prohibit the supply of arms or other related materiel to key Houthi leaders, as well as former president Ali Abdallah Saleh, his son, and those acting at their direction.  The United States will continue to support efforts to build international cooperation to seek to prevent violations of this resolution, including through enhanced maritime monitoring and inspection by international partners.

At the same time, we will continue to closely monitor terrorist threats posed by al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula and to take action as necessary to disrupt continuing, imminent threats to the United States and our citizens. AQAP and other terrorists have sought to benefit from the deterioration of the political and security situation in Yemen, and we strongly believe it is in the interests of the Yemeni people to unite to confront the shared terrorist threat to their country.

U.S. AMBASSADOR POWER'S REMARKS ON SYRIA'S CHEMICAL WEAPONS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
April 16, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Thank you all for coming out. The first thing I want to do is to encourage you to, later this afternoon, have the experience that the Council just had, which is to listen to three remarkable individuals who testified to the experiences that they have had inside Syria, related to Syrian chemical weapons use – chlorine use most recently. And in the case of Qusai Zakarya, his experience of being left for dead in August 2013 in the chemical weapons attack in Moadamiya.

What the Council heard were testimonies from Dr. Tennari, who is a Syrian Arab Red Crescent-affiliated physician in the town of Sarmin, who dealt with the chlorine attacks that occurred in March – at great risk to himself and the other medical professionals he was working with tried to resuscitate and care for the people who came to his hospital, his impromptu field clinic, you might say, and were in desperate need of help. They were choking, they were vomiting and they bore all of the tell-tale signs of chemical weapons use. None of them, as he’ll describe, had fragments, shell fragments, or any of the kinds of injuries you would expect from conventional weapons use, or even from conventional barrel bombs use – if you can put it that way.

So Dr. Tennari described the horror of being in a situation where you can’t help everyone who comes to you: when parents are bringing their children and you are trying to resuscitate them and you cannot because you don’t have the medical supplies and because the toxic chemicals are so overpowering. We also heard from Dr. Zaher Sahloul who is the President of the Syrian-American Medical Society, who has made innumerable medical missions to Syria, who raises money here in this country and elsewhere to try to fund medical supplies, to try to care for people who suffer all injuries and ailments. And Zaher is just back from a medical mission where he talked to and saw the doctors and the survivors of the Sarmin attack, as well as others.

In terms of the Council, we held this meeting – we brought the Council members together with these remarkable individuals because the Security Council has come together to pass Security Council resolution 2118, which has come a long way in dismantling Assad’s declared chemical weapons program. But that resolution, which was a resolution – unusual for Syria that all members of the council were able to agree upon, and very much the product of U.S.-Russian cooperation in dismantling the Syrian chemical weapons program – has not resulted in the end of chemical weapons use in Syria. And the council, as you know, came together again recently in resolution 2209 to make very clear that chlorine use is a form of Syrian chemical weapons use. It’s not what people think of necessarily. They think of it being a household product. But when you stick it in a barrel bomb and you turn it into a toxic weapon, it is prohibited by the chemical weapons convention, it is prohibited by resolution 2118 and it is made very clear that it is utterly condemned and prohibited by resolution 2209.

So what we’ve done today is brought individuals who can testify to what happened; brought the facts to the council in as rapid and moving a way as we could do, and it is now in our view, incumbent on the Council to go further than we have been able to come to this point, to get past the old divisions, to draw on the unity that we have managed to show on the single issue of chemical weapons, and stop these attacks from happening. Now the form that that takes, of course, getting everything through 15 members of the Security Council is extremely challenging – there were 4 vetoes issued on Syria, on attempted Syrian resolutions in the past – but we feel as though anybody who witnessed what we just witnessed, and what you will hear from these individuals later today I hope, can’t be anything but changed, can’t be anything but motivated. And we need an attribution mechanism so we know precisely who carried out these attacks; all of the evidence of course shows that they come from helicopters, only the Assad regime has helicopters; that’s very clear to us. But we need to move forward in a manner that also makes it very clear to all Council members, and then those people responsible for these attacks have to be held accountable.

The very last thing I’d say, because I know there’s a lot of skepticism about accountability, because of the veto that we experienced when we put forward, with our partners, a referral of the crimes in Syria to the ICC: it is true that we failed to secure an ICC referral out of the Security Council, but it is not true that that means that accountability will not happen in Syria. Individuals who are responsible for attacks like that will be held accountable, and the documentary record is being built, the testimonies are being gathered and the long arm of justice is taking more time than any of us would wish right now, but this documentary record will be used at some point in a court of law and the perpetrators of these crimes need to bear that in mind.

Reporter: Ambassador, can you describe to us what the atmosphere was like in the room when you saw and heard this evidence?

Ambassador Power: The only analogue I can come up with is the experience of seeing the Caesar photos. I mean, the video, in particular, of the attempts to resuscitate the children – if there was a dry eye in the room, I didn’t see it. It was – it’s just devastating to see the facts of what this regime is doing. So people were visibly moved, people had questions, very fair questions, about “how do you know this?” and “what are the symptoms?” But for the most part, almost every Council member prefaced what they said by saying, “forgive me if I don’t use diplomatic language, but I am so moved and so overwhelmed by what I have seen,” and then they proceeded with their comments. It was an extremely unusual and very, very emotional meeting.

Reporter: How do you see an attribution mechanism – you mentioned an attribution mechanism?

Ambassador Power: You know, we have to work through the modalities on this. Traditionally, criminal responsibility is best established in a criminal tribunal, which is why we and so many Council members supported an ICC referral. But in this instance, that has not proven possible at this point. And of course, the Syrian authorities are in no positon to judge themselves, given that they are gassing their own people and dropping barrel bombs on civilian neighborhoods. So we need to think through what are the right modalities for an attribution mechanism. The OPCW already, as you know, has fact-finding missions that it has dispatched and they have produced very important layers and layers of testimonies and eyewitness reports and have shown, and reported with high confidence, that chlorine is being used as a chemical weapon in Syria,

systematically. But what the OPCW has never done is point the finger and establish attribution. And that has not been in their mandate up until this point. Bear in mind, again, that the traditional model for OPCW is parties to the chemical weapons convention who want the OPCW’s help getting rid of their chemical weapons stockpile or monitoring it – we haven’t had a circumstance like this where we have a party to the chemical weapons convention that is still prepared to use chemical weapons. And so OPCW and the UN Security Council have to come together and deal with a devastating and grotesque historical anomaly.

PRESIDENT OBAMA GIVES NOTICE OF CONTINUATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO SOMALIA

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
April 08, 2015
Notice -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Somalia
NOTICE
- - - - - - -
CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH
RESPECT TO SOMALIA

On April 12, 2010, by Executive Order 13536, I declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the deterioration of the security situation and the persistence of violence in Somalia, acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, which have repeatedly been the subject of United Nations Security Council resolutions, and violations of the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

On July 20, 2012, I issued Executive Order 13620 to take additional steps to deal with the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13536 in view of United Nations Security CouncilResolution 2036 of February 22, 2012, and Resolution 2002 of July 29, 2011, and to address:  exports of charcoal from Somalia, which generate significant revenue for al-Shabaab; the misappropriation of Somali public assets; and certain acts of violence committed against civilians in Somalia, all of which contribute to the deterioration of the security situation and the persistence of violence in Somalia.

Because the situation with respect to Somalia continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, the national emergency declared on April 12, 2010, and the measures adopted on that date and on July 20, 2012, to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond April 12, 2015.  Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13536.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

BARACK OBAMA

SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON U.S. CLIMATE CHANGE SUBMISSION TO UN

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Submission of the U.S. Intended Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
March 31, 2015

Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation, and the United States is committed to playing a leading role in the global effort to address it.

I was in Beijing with President Obama last November when he outlined the United States’ ambitious post-2020 greenhouse gas emissions target alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping. At a joint press conference, our nations each outlined bold climate change and clean energy objectives. For our part, the United States committed to cut our emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by the year 2025 – which would put us on the path to economy-wide reductions of around 80 percent by mid-century.

Today the United States took an important step towards its objective by formally submitting our commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Now it’s time for other nations and come forward with their own targets to help ensure we can reach a global agreement at the UN Climate Conference in Paris later this year.

President Obama has already put in place the most ambitious set of climate change actions that the United States has ever undertaken. We’ve adopted standards to double the fuel efficiency of American cars and trucks, and we also have rules in the works to cut emissions from new and existing power plants. And the target we formalized today will only accelerate these reductions in the future.

We know there is no way the United States--nor any other country--could possibly address climate change alone. This is a global challenge, and an effective solution will require countries around the world to do their part to reduce emissions and bring about a global clean-energy future. That’s the only way we’ll meet this challenge, and it’s the only way we’ll honor our shared responsibility to future generations.

U.S. VOTES NO ON PROPOSED CHANGE TO AUTHORITY OF UN SECRETARY GENERAL

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
March 24, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The United States will vote NO on the resolution proposed by the Russian Federation and we urge that other countries do the same.

This resolution attempts to undermine the Secretary-General’s authority as Chief Administrative Officer of the United Nations, a role entrusted to him by the UN Charter. At issue is a staff bulletin issued by the Secretary-General that made a straightforward change with respect to how the UN Staff Regulations and Rules are implemented. This is an administrative decision made by the UN, for the UN; this decision has not interfered and will not interfere with any Member State’s domestic legislation.

In issuing this bulletin, the Secretary-General acted within his legitimate authority and on the advice of the United Nations’ Office of Legal Affairs, OLA. OLA has shared that advice, in detail, with this Committee on several occasions. In our view, OLA’s advice is clear and persuasive, grounded in important and well-established precedents. Nonetheless, the Russian Federation has continued to press the Secretary-General to rescind the bulletin, leaving some in this Committee with a misleading impression of the bulletin’s effect.

Russia claims the administrative decision will impose a new standard on Member States. But this is not true. The bulletin changes the UN’s practice and does not seek to change Member States’ domestic legislation.

The sponsor claims the bulletin will carry significant costs. However, the UN Office of Human Resources Management has informed us that there have been no financial implications as of yet, and that any future costs would be insignificant.

It is the resolution we are being asked to vote on that would have a profound and lasting impact. This resolution seeks to alter the division of labor between the Secretary-General and the General Assembly. Of course, the General Assembly, and the Fifth Committee in particular, have essential roles to play in guiding the operation of the organization – and the United States joins all Member States here in guarding this role vigilantly. But this resolution would have us micromanage a decision that is well within the Secretary-General’s discretionary authority. It would set a dangerous precedent, diminishing the office of the Secretary-General and involving this Committee and the General Assembly in a degree of granularity that could negatively impact the effective delivery of mandates, and would create legal uncertainty around the extent of the Secretary-General’s administrative authority and legal uncertainty about the durability of future administrative decisions made by the Secretary-General.

The Secretary-General’s authority should not be undermined, this bulletin should not be politicized, and this Committee and the General Assembly should not be divided by a vote that almost none of us wanted. As such, the United States will be voting NO and we respectfully urge other countries to do the same. Thank you.

U.S. WELCOMES PROGRESS IN HAITI

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
March 18, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Mr. President, thank you, Special Representative Honoré, for your briefing and your leadership. And thank you to all the dedicated men and women serving in MINUSTAH, who are working with you to build a more secure and stable Haiti.

The United States welcomes the recent progress Haiti has made toward holding elections this year, including the promulgation of an electoral decree on March 2 drafted by a new electoral council drawn from civil society, and that council’s subsequent announcement of voting dates. While we commend President Martelly’s efforts to promote an inclusive political process, including by forming a multiparty government, the health of Haiti’s democracy depends on restoring a functioning legislature without further delay. That is why it is so important that elections take place this year as planned, and that the government continue to use its extraordinary decree powers solely to administer elections and keep the state running. We also call upon all of Haiti’s political leaders and parties to participate in elections and to ensure an atmosphere of peace so that all eligible Haitians who wish to vote can do so without fear for their safety.

With the electoral decree in place and election dates set, urgent attention to preparing for and organizing the polls is required, to ensure elections that are free, fair, credible, and inclusive. Continued inclusive political dialogue and preparations for elections that are transparent and ensure a level playing field will be required to sustain the generally stable security situation that the Secretary-General has reported.

While MINUSTAH and the rest of the international community, including my government, stand ready to support the administration of the elections, ultimately the responsibility for ensuring their success lies with Haitians: the Haitian government, the electoral council, the political parties, and the Haitian people themselves.

The level of support provided by MINUSTAH, particularly its engineering battalions, for elections in 2010 and 2011 were part of the package of extraordinary measures that the international community took to help Haiti recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake, not an enduring precedent for elections this year or in the future. We join the Secretary-General’s call on the government to ensure the electoral council and other state institutions have adequate resources to administer elections in a manner that reflects Haitians’ increased assumption of a responsibility so central to the exercise of sovereignty. The United States will do our part in support.

Successful elections will require robust international support, of course, including from MINUSTAH. MINUSTAH should without delay catalogue the functions played in the last elections by each of its respective components, including the funds and programs. It should identify any of those critical functions each component will not be able to carry out in 2015. And it should work urgently across the UN system and with the electoral council, donors, Haitian and international civil society actors, and the government of Haiti to ensure that those functions are carried out effectively during this year’s elections. MINUSTAH also should work closely with the electoral council to identify any elements of Haiti’s election planning, including the number and location of polling centers, that may make the process more vulnerable to violence or manipulation, and to develop and implement corrective measures transparently and in consultation with Haitian political actors. The 2015 elections will not be Haiti’s last; it is important to use each electoral cycle to improve Haiti’s electoral system and to make it more sustainable.

We note the generally stable security situation that the Secretary-General reported. This comes amid the continued growth and professionalization of the Haitian National Police, to which donors and MINUSTAH should continue to offer maximum support. The Haitian National Police needs to continue to grow in size and capability. But while we were in Haiti, we heard that every trained Haitian National Policeman or woman is worth ten international police. Moreover, even with the reported increase in crime and gang-related violence, Haiti’s homicide rate remains well below the regional average. Incidents of violent unrest during the reporting period totaled only 215 events. In most of these cases, the HNP required no operational support from any MINUSTAH forces to manage the situation, and in only 16 percent of all incidents of violent unrest nationwide did the HNP require some level of operational support from MINUSTAH’s military forces.

Most of those incidents took place in close proximity to the three locations where the military component will be based following MINUSTAH’s reconfiguration. When support from the military component is required elsewhere in the country going forward, it will be available thanks to the mobility that the reconfigured Mission will have. The overall security situation in the six departments where MINUSTAH military no longer reside remains stable in this reporting period.

MINUSTAH continues to be an essential hedge against the risk of any future deterioration in security conditions. And the United Stated strongly supports a push by the UN, backed by member states, to ensure the dispatch of an additional three hundred international police forces to Haiti, as authorized but not yet deployed. We also support adding without delay medium-lift helicopters to MINUSTAH’s aviation component, which will make the Mission’s forces more quickly deployable in large numbers to any location in the country in the event of a different scale of unrest than we have seen so far. We also support the Secretary-General’s call, echoed here today by the Special Representative, to ensure maximum visibility of MINUSTAH’s forces, an objective well-served by ensuring the Mission’s leaders retain the flexibility to redistribute their forces as necessary to respond to evolving security conditions.

2015 poses extraordinary challenges for Haiti, but also extraordinary opportunities. An opportunity to break from past electoral cycles marred by fraud and disenfranchisement, and the violence that both have historically engendered. An opportunity for Haiti’s political parties to put aside their differences and cooperate to ensure elections that place Haiti’s democracy on sounder footing. An opportunity to adopt more sustainable elections architecture. An opportunity for Haitians to take a giant step forward toward sustained political stability and self-sufficiency. As they seize these opportunities, the government and people of Haiti can continue to count on the utmost support of the United States. Thank you.

U.S. PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO UN MAKES REMARKS ON AFGHANISTAN

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
March 16, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Special Representative Haysom, Ambassador Tanin thank you for your observations today. And on behalf of the United States, I would like to thank you, SRSG Haysom and your team for your dedicated and humane work to help the Afghan people improve their lives, their institutions, and their nation. Today’s unanimous renewal of UNAMA’s mandate shows the Council’s ongoing support for your efforts and for your country.

As we mark the beginning of Afghanistan’s Transformation Decade, we have seen both encouraging advances and enduring challenges. Last year, we saw Afghans take real risks and conquer fear to cast their ballots in an election. We saw two candidates put the country’s future first – forming a unity government and sustaining it as they confront shared challenges, including cabinet formation, electoral reform, and peace and reconciliation. The United States calls on the leaders to put forward urgently a full slate of cabinet nominees who meet the rigorous requirements that they established and who can obtain parliamentary approval.

We commend President Ghani and CEO Abdullah’s shared commitment to prioritizing electoral reform. Last year’s election exposed chronic weaknesses in Afghanistan’s electoral system. Promptly identifying the necessary reforms and implementing them urgently and in a manner consistent with international standards is critical, including to ensure successful parliamentary and district council elections. Establishing the Special Electoral Reform Commission, which the two leaders agreed upon last fall, would be an important step toward that end.

Making fundamental changes to a country’s political and electoral system is challenging under any circumstances. Yet Afghans are undertaking this extraordinary task amid continued attacks by insurgents who seek to destabilize the country.

UNAMA’s exceptional reporting on the toll on civilians – a model for other missions – testifies to the impact of this violence on Afghan society, particularly some of its most vulnerable members. Compared to 2013, civilian casualties increased by 22 percent in 2014. Civilian deaths rose by 25 percent. The number of women casualties increased by 21 percent, and the number of children casualties by 40 percent. 714 children were killed in 2014. 714 kids. UNAMA’s reporting attributes roughly 75 percent of all civilian casualties to the Taliban and affiliated groups.

What statistics cannot capture is the immeasurable impact on the families of those wounded and killed. For example, UNAMA’s report tells us that women left as sole income-providers after their husbands were killed or maimed experienced lasting consequences, “with poverty forcing many women to give their daughters in marriage in exchange for debts or to take their children out of school often to work.” And this does not even capture the emotion and the pain of all the losses.

Afghanistan’s leaders understand the far-reaching impact of violence on the Afghan people, which is one of the many reasons they have committed to bringing peace to their country – a goal we strongly support. We see tremendous bravery exhibited by many Afghans. One unheralded group is de-miners. De-miners venture out day after day to clear minefields so that their fellow citizens are not maimed as they harvest their land or walk to school. Thirty-four de-miners were killed last year, including eleven who were killed on December 13th by insurgents, while they were clearing unexploded ordnance in Helmand province. We see similar dedication in the legions of Afghan teachers who show up to their classrooms every day, despite threats and harassments, to give boys and girls the education they need to build their future, and the future of their country. We also honor Afghan security forces who risk their lives – and in far too many cases, give their lives – protecting their fellow citizens.

The resolve and capabilities of these Afghan forces has improved a great deal. Continued professionalization of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces – with robust, sustained international support, including through NATO’s Resolute Support Mission – is crucial both to improve effectiveness, and ensure more faithful adherence to international human rights standards.

The abusive tactics reported to UNAMA and catalogued in its recent report on the treatment of Afghan detainees have no place in the pursuit of justice. Nor does the complicity of justice officials who – according to the same report – “overwhelmingly” rely on confessions from defendants in criminal prosecutions, even when credible evidence suggests such confessions may have been obtained through abusive tactics. That is why we applaud the Afghan government’s commitment to eliminate the use of torture.

As you all know, last week we marked International Women’s Day. It was a day for marking a number of inspiring stories from around the world, including Afghanistan – a country where, under Taliban rule, women could not walk outside without a male relative and a burqa.

Last week, members of the Afghanistan Women’s National Cycling team were not only walking outside, they were racing down the country’s roads on their bikes. Team members are pinched for resources, but big on courage. Some drivers yell at them and threaten them, but they ride on. One day, a man on a motorcycle reached out and tried to grab at the captain, causing her to crash and hurt her back.

But today she is back on her bike, leading more than 40 other women training with the team. Imagine what it must feel like to be a little girl, sitting in a car, and to suddenly drive by those 40 women, in a single file, flying down the road. Imagine how inspiring that must be.

One of the team members, Malika Yousufi, wants to become the first Afghan woman to complete the Tour de France. She told a reporter, “Nothing will stop us.” We believe that, if she is given the chance, and if her country stays on the brave but difficult path it has charted, Malika is right. Nothing will stop them. There is so much to lose, and so much left to gain in these difficult days, and the United States will support the Afghan people in every step of their journey to take their place as a stable, peaceful, independent, and democratic nation. Thank you.