[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 241 (Thursday, December 14, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 78075-78076]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-32035]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 241 / Thursday, December 14, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 78075]]

                Proclamation 7386 of December 9, 2000

                
Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human 
                Rights Week, 2000

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified. 
                A century and a half later, on December 10, 1948, the 
                United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal 
                Declaration of Human Rights. Though separated by more 
                than 150 years, these two documents are not dusty 
                relics of a distant past--the ideas they so powerfully 
                express continue to shape the destiny of individuals 
                and nations across the globe.

                Because the rights guaranteed by these documents, such 
                as freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of 
                assembly, and freedom from arbitrary arrest, are such 
                an inherent part of America's history and national 
                character, we at times may take them for granted. We 
                sometimes forget that people elsewhere in the world are 
                suffering, struggling, and even dying because these 
                rights are denied them by oppressive governments. In 
                countries such as Afghanistan, Burma, and the Sudan, 
                men and women are harassed, arrested, and executed for 
                worshipping according to their conscience. In many 
                corners of the world, modern-day slavery still exists, 
                with criminals trafficking in women and children and 
                profiting from their servitude.

                But there is hope for the future. Globalization and the 
                revolution in information technology are helping to 
                break down the former barriers of geography and 
                official censorship. People fighting for human rights 
                in disparate places around the world can talk to one 
                another, learn from one another, and shine the light of 
                public scrutiny on the dark corners of the world. Free 
                nations can work in concert to combat human rights 
                abuses, as the United States did last spring when we 
                joined with the Philippines and more than 20 other 
                Asian and Pacific nations to develop a regional action 
                plan to combat trafficking in persons and protect 
                trafficking victims.

                The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., once said that 
                the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends 
                toward justice. We have seen the truth of that 
                statement in the history of America, where each 
                generation has strived to live up to our founders' 
                vision of human dignity: that we are all created equal 
                and that we all have the right to life, liberty, and 
                the pursuit of happiness. But that statement holds true 
                for the world's history as well; in our own lifetime, 
                we have seen the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 
                triumph of democracy in the Cold War. More people live 
                in freedom today than at any other time in history.

                But that march toward freedom is not inevitable; it is 
                advanced by individual acts of courage and will; by the 
                strong voices of people refusing to be silenced by 
                their oppressors; by the willingness of free people and 
                free nations to defend the rights of men, women, and 
                children. Heroes like Lech Walesa in Poland, Vaclav 
                Havel in the Czech Republic, Nelson Mandela in South 
                Africa, and Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma are powerful 
                reminders of how precious our human rights are and how 
                high the cost is to sustain them. The Bill of Rights 
                and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that we 
                celebrate this week are not merely proud words 
                preserved on paper; they are a pledge written on our 
                consciences and to oppressed people

[[Page 78076]]

                everywhere, so that they too will some day know the 
                meaning of dignity and the blessing of human rights.

                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 December 10, 2000, as Human 
                Rights Day; December 15, 2000, as Bill of Rights Day; 
                and the week beginning December 10, 2000, as Human 
                Rights Week. I call upon the people of the United 
                States to celebrate these observances with appropriate 
                activities, ceremonies, and programs that demonstrate 
                our national commitment to the Bill of Rights, the 
                Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and promotion 
                and protection of human rights for all people.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                Ninth day of December, 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. 00-32035
Filed 12-13-00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P