    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [December 6, 1999]
    [Pages 2212-2215]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 2212]]

    Remarks on Presenting the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights
    December 6, 1999

        The President. Thank you very much, Belquis. Congressmen Gilman,
    Lewis, Jackson Lee; Reverend and Mrs.
    Jackson; Deputy Attorney General
    Holder; Harold Koh; Bob Seiple; Julia Taft; Hattie Babbitt; Bette
    Bao Lord, thank you for coming back.

    School Shooting in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma

        Ladies and gentlemen, before I begin, I need--because this is my
    only opportunity before the press today just to say a brief word about
    this school shooting this morning in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. The Federal
    Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
    are on the scene now working with the local authorities. I expect to get
    a detailed briefing shortly. Meanwhile, our prayers are with each of the
    children and their families, and the entire Fort Gibson community is--
    right now there are no fatalities, only people who are wounded, and we
    hope and pray it will stay that way.

    Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights

        It occurs to me that at some point tonight someone will be doing
    what some of us--Hillary says it's mostly a male thing--somebody will be
    channel-surfing tonight. [Laughter] And they will just come upon
    Belquis speaking. And they may stop and
    listen, or they may not. They may know what the Taliban is, or they may
    not. But I wonder if even someone who hears her will recognize that in
    nearly half the world today--in spite of the fact that for the first
    time in history more than half the people of the world live under
    governments of their own choosing--in nearly half the world, doing what
    Belquis just did, simply standing up and speaking freely, could get her
    arrested, jailed, beaten, even tortured. That's why we're here today.
        I wonder if someone who just happened along her remarks tonight would understand that until people
    like Eleanor Roosevelt came along, the rest of the world didn't even
    recognize that the right to speak out is more than something enshrined
    in the American Constitution. It is truly an international human right.
        Sometimes we forget how long it took the world to agree on a common
    definition, a universal declaration of what freedom actually means. Half
    a century ago the Universal Declaration on Human Rights said it in very
    simple words: ``All human beings are free and equal in dignity and human
    rights. All have the right to life, liberty, and security. All are
    endowed with reason and conscience. All have the right to a standard of
    living adequate to health and well-being.''
        The real genius of the Declaration of Human Rights is that it
    affirmed that basic human rights are not cultural, but universal; that
    what a country does to people within its own borders is not its business
    alone, but the business of all of us. We in the United States know how
    hard it is to achieve the aspirations of that declaration. We've been
    living with it since our Founders, and living with our flaws in failing
    to meet up to its standards.
        A hundred years ago Eleanor Roosevelt was a 15-year-old girl growing
    up in a country where women could not vote. Half a century ago, if the
    standards of the Universal Declaration were held up to segregated
    schools and lunch counters in the United States, we would have failed
    the test resoundingly.
        This century has taught us that even though human rights are endowed
    by the hand of our Creator, they are ensured by the hearts and hands of
    men and women among us who cannot bear to see it otherwise. Inch by
    inch, such people have moved the world forward. Today we honor five
    brave Americans whose lives have made a difference. And we ask that all
    of us remember, in their triumphs, the struggles of people like
    Belquis, the continuing tensions in Africa,
    the continuing tensions in the Balkans, and elsewhere in the world where
    human rights are not yet secure.
        It is said that when Burke Marshall first
    met Robert Kennedy, they sat across a table for 10 minutes and didn't
    say a single word. Those of us who had Burke Marshall in law school can
    believe that story. [Laughter] Perhaps now he will tell us who spoke
    first. But from that silent moment sprang a truly extraordinary
    partnership.
        As Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the
    Kennedy administration,

    [[Page 2213]]

    Burke Marshall was a bridge between
    Government and those activists fighting every day to end Jim Crow.
    Congressman John Lewis, who received this award
    last year, once recalled that whenever Martin Luther King or James
    Farmer needs to talk to somebody in Washington--needed to talk to
    someone in Washington, they would simply say, ``call Burke.''
        His work was crucial to passing the Civil
    Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. After he had helped shape a new
    America, he later worked equally hard to shape young minds at Yale Law
    School.
        I made a joke about Hillary and I being students. But I can tell
    you, I never will forget the first time I saw him. And I imagined how this man of slight stature and such
    a modest demeanor could almost shake with his passion for justice. It
    was quite something to see for the first time, and we are all in his
    debt.
        When Leon Sullivan was 8 years old, he
    walked into a grocery store, slapped a nickel on the counter and said,
    ``I want a Coke.'' The place being in segregated South Carolina, the
    shopkeeper threw him out. That moment was the beginning of his life's
    work. The pastor of two churches by the time he was at the ripe old age
    of 17, Reverend Sullivan went on to write the Sullivan principles, which
    called upon companies all around the world to act in a socially
    responsible manner. By compelling dozens of businesses to desegregate
    their plants in South Africa, his work helped to pull down apartheid.
        Today, as the author of the new global Sullivan principle, Leon
    Sullivan is still changing the world. He's too
    big for anyone to deny him a Coke--[laughter]--but he has helped to win
    that right for millions of others who aren't so large.
        Reverend Sullivan, thank you for keeping
    your eyes on the prize for nearly 80 years now. Thank you.
        For those of you who wonder from time to time about whether there
    really could be a divine plan guiding our lives, consider this: In
    Spanish, the name, Dolores Huerta, means
    ``sorrowful orchard.'' But if Dolores has her way, her name will be the
    only sorrowful orchard left in America.
        She began her career teaching young
    migrant children but couldn't stand seeing them come to class hungry. So
    in 1962 she and Cesar Chavez cofounded the United Farm Workers. While
    Cesar Chavez worked the fields, she worked the boardrooms and the
    statehouses, negotiating contracts and fighting for laws that lifted the
    lives of thousands and thousands of Americans. In the process, she found
    time to raise 11 children.
        Dolores, we thank you for all you have
    done and all you still do to promote the dignity and human rights of
    your family and America's family. Thank you.
        It is no accident that when America opened its arms to Kosovar
    Albanians early this year, one of the first calls that went out was to a
    Dominican nun in the Fordham section of the
    Bronx. Scripture tells us that ``if you spend yourselves on behalf of
    the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your life will
    rise in the darkness and your night will become like noonday.'' If that
    is true, there are few people who live their lives in more sunshine than
    Sister Jean Marshall.
        Disturbed by the sight of refugee families picking up garbage off
    the street to feed their children, in 1983 Sister Jean founded St. Rita's Center for Immigrant and Refugee
    Services. In the days since, it has helped thousands of refugees, from
    Vietnam to Cambodia to Bosnia, to find jobs, learn English, live better
    lives.
        Sister Jean, we thank you for all you are
    doing to make our democracy real and dreams come true for thousands who
    flee human rights abuses and come here expecting the Statue of Liberty
    to live up to her promise. Thank you.
        Lastly, there are few people who have done more to directly build on
    Eleanor Roosevelt's work on women's rights around the world than
    Charlotte Bunch. Gloria Steinem once
    observed that for every question that comes up regarding women's rights,
    sooner or later someone asks, what does Charlotte think? [Laughter]
        As the founder of the Center for Women's Global Leadership at
    Rutgers University, she has worked to build
    a worldwide network of activists. As a result, when the World Conference
    on Human Rights was held in Vienna in 1993, for the first time there was
    a network in place to raise international awareness of issues like
    violence against women and gay and lesbian issues. And for the first
    time, the U.N. acknowledged that women's rights are human rights.
        Today I think the best way to thank Charlotte Bunch is for the Senate to finally ratify the Convention
    on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Thank
    you.

    [[Page 2214]]

        We honor these five Americans today with the thanks of a grateful
    nation. But let me say again, to echo what Hillary said earlier, if we
    truly want to honor their work, we must stay committed in the places
    where the glory has not come and continue to speak out for human rights
    around the world, from Burma to Cuba to Sudan, from Serbia to North
    Korea and Vietnam. We must do so because it's the right thing to do and
    the surest path to a world that is safe, democratic, and free.
        In Afghanistan, we have strongly condemned the Taliban's despicable
    treatment of women and girls. We have worked with the United Nations to
    impose sanctions against the Taliban, while ensuring that the Afghan
    people continue to receive humanitarian assistance. We are Afghanistan's
    strongest critic, but also its largest humanitarian donor.
        And today we take another step forward. I am pleased to announce
    that we will spend, next year, at least $2 million to educate and
    improve the health of Afghan women and children refugees. We are also
    making an additional $1\1/2\ million available in emergency aid for
    those displaced by the recent Taliban offensive. And we're dramatically
    expanding our resettlement program for women and children who are not
    safe where they are.
        But, as Belquis said, these are but temporary solutions. The Taliban
    must stop violating the rights of women and respect the human rights of
    all people. And we must continue to work until the day when Afghanistan
    has a government that reflects the wisdom of its people.
        The whole world is also concerned about the plight of innocent
    people in Chechnya. Two weeks ago, at the OSCE summit in Turkey, I
    raised the issue directly with President Yeltsin. The people of Chechnya are in a terrible position,
    beleaguered by paramilitary groups and terrorists on the one hand and
    the Russian offensive on the other. I made clear that Russia's fight
    against terrorism is right, but the methods being used in Chechnya are
    wrong. And I am convinced they are counterproductive.
        We've seen rocket and artillery attacks on largely civilian areas,
    with heavy losses of life and at least 200,000 people pushed from their
    homes. I'm deeply disturbed by reports that suggest that innocent
    Chechens will continue to bear the brunt of this war, and not the
    militants Russia is fighting.
        Russia has set a deadline for all inhabitants, now, to leave Grozny
    or face the consequences. That means that there is a threat to the lives
    of the old, the infirm, the injured people, and other innocent civilians
    who simply cannot leave or are too scared to leave their homes. Russia
    will pay a heavy price for those actions with each passing day, sinking
    more deeply into a morass that will intensify extremism and diminish its
    own standing in the world.
        Another country about which we must continue to express concern is
    China. China is progressing and opening to the world in many ways that
    are welcome, including its entry into the WTO. Yet its progress is still
    being held back by the Government's response to those who test the
    limits of freedom. A troubling example, of course, is the detention by
    Chinese authorities, of adherents of the Falun Gong movement.
        Its targets are not political dissidents, and their practices and
    beliefs are unfamiliar to us. But the principle still, surely, must be
    the same: freedom of conscience and freedom of association. And our
    interest, surely, must be the same: seeing China maintain stability and
    growth at home by meeting, not stifling, the growing demands of its
    people for openness and accountability.
        For all these challenges, we have to say that we enter the new
    millennium more hopeful than we have been at any time in the past
    century. The second half of this century began with delegates from 18
    nations, including the United States, coming together to write the
    Universal Declaration. The century ends with 18 nations having come
    together with the United States to reaffirm those basic rights in
    Kosovo--with progress from Indonesia and East Timor to Nigeria.
        Now, as I've said, more than half the world's people live under
    governments of their own choosing. Shortly before the Congress went
    home, the United States Senate unanimously ratified the International
    Convention against Child Labor, and I became the third head of state to
    sign the convention. We are moving, but we have much to do as we enter a
    new century. And again I would say to my fellow Americans, we all know
    that our efforts have to begin at home.
        On the 10th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
    Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt dedicated a book called ``In Your Hands.'' On
    that day she said, and I quote, human rights

    [[Page 2215]]

    begin ``in small places, close to home . . . Unless these rights have
    meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted
    citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for
    progress in the larger world.''
        Today we honor that message by honoring five people whose work close
    to home has made the whole world a better place. May their work continue
    to inspire us all for generations yet to come.
        Lieutenant Colonel, read the
    citations.

    [At this point, Lt. Col. Carlton D. Everhart, USAF, Air Force Aide to the President, read the citations,
    and the President and First Lady presented the awards.]

        The President. Thank you for coming. Thank you for honoring these
    great people. Thank you for reminding us of all the important work still
    to be done, Belquis.
        We're adjourned. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:17 p.m. in Presidential Hall (formerly
    Room 450) in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his
    remarks, he referred to Afghan refugee Belquis Ahmadi, who introduced
    the President; civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife,
    Jacqueline; Commissioner Harold H. Koh, Commission on Security and
    Cooperation in Europe; Ambassador at Large for International Religious
    Freedom Robert A. Seiple; and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia.