[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 151 (Friday, August 4, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 47825-47826]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-19939]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 151 / Friday, August 4, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 47825]]

                Proclamation 7332 of August 1, 2000

                
Helsinki Human Rights Day, 2000

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Twenty-five years ago today, in a world marked by 
                brutal divisions and ideological conflict, the United 
                States joined 33 European nations and Canada in signing 
                the Helsinki Final Act. That watershed event 
                established the Conference on Security and Cooperation 
                in Europe (CSCE) and affirmed an international 
                commitment to respect ``freedom of thought, conscience, 
                religion or belief, for all without distinction as to 
                race, sex, language, or religion.''

                During the Cold War, the Helsinki Principles were the 
                rallying point for courageous men and women who 
                confronted tyranny--often at great personal risk--to 
                win the fundamental freedoms set forth by the Final 
                Act. Today, citizens of our vast Euro-Atlantic 
                community from Vancouver to Vladivostok live by, or 
                aspire to live, by those fundamental freedoms. The 
                Helsinki Final Act has been instrumental in the 
                progress we have made together toward building a Europe 
                that is whole and free; a Europe where our partnership 
                for peace is overcoming the possibility of war. The 
                Helsinki Final Act continues to shape our vision for 
                the future of transatlantic cooperation, and the 
                Helsinki accords remain the basic definition of common 
                goals and standards for how all countries in the new 
                Europe should treat their citizens and one another.

                The evolution of the CSCE into the Organization for 
                Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reflects the 
                changing face of Europe. The OSCE's integrated 
                structure of commitments in the areas of human rights, 
                economics, arms control, and conflict resolution 
                provides a defining framework for a free and undivided 
                Europe. The United States will continue to promote the 
                OSCE's efforts to build security within and cooperation 
                among democratic societies; to defuse conflicts; to 
                battle corruption and organized crime; and to champion 
                human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law 
                throughout the Euro-Atlantic community. We remain 
                committed to the OSCE's essential work of bringing 
                peace and civil society back to Bosnia and Kosovo, and 
                we are grateful to the many dedicated men and women 
                engaged in the OSCE's field missions, who in many ways 
                are our front line of conflict prevention in Europe.

                Today, as we mark the 25th anniversary of the Helsinki 
                Final Act, the United States takes pride in remembering 
                our role as one of its original signatories--a ringing 
                call for freedom and human dignity that played a 
                decisive role in lifting the Iron Curtain and ending 
                the tragic division of Europe.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United 
                States, do hereby proclaim August 1, 2000, as Helsinki 
                Human Rights Day and reaffirm our Nation's support for 
                the full implementation of the Helsinki Final Act. I 
                urge the American people to observe this anniversary 
                with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities 
                that reflect our dedication to the noble principles of 
                human rights and democracy. I also call upon the 
                governments and peoples of all other

[[Page 47826]]

                signatory states to renew their commitment to comply 
                with the principles established and consecrated in the 
                Helsinki Final Act.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                first day of August, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand, and of the Independence of the United States 
                of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 00-19939
Filed 8-2-00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P