[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
[September 23, 2008]
[Pages 1232-1233]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following a Lunch With Human Rights Activists in New York City
September 23, 2008

    The President. Laura and I and Secretary 
Rice and members of my administration have 
just had a wonderful lunch with democracy leaders, human rights 
activists, courageous men and women who have stood strong for freedom. I 
assured them that this Government--or my Government believes in the 
universality of freedom. We believe there's an Almighty, and a gift of 
that Almighty to every man, woman, and child is freedom.
    They inspire us. Here in America, we have an obligation to help 
others realize the blessings of liberty. They have been on the 
frontlines of securing liberty. And so we want to thank you very much 
for your courage. We thank you for your set of beliefs that remain 
strong. Thank you for taking time to be with us today. And you might 
want to say something.

[At this point, First Lady Laura Bush made brief remarks, concluding 
with the introduction of human rights activist, U Kovida.]

    U Kovida. Thank you very much for 
inviting me here. This is really a nice day and my friends--discussion 
with many people. In Burma, many hundred people, a lot. We all need 
human rights, all the world's people, because we are all human. So if--
when people--there's no human rights, there's no people, and there's no 
human. So I hope so--I hope that we all--international community need--
help the

[[Page 1233]]

Burmese people, and I hope to get help to others--international 
community and the U.S. and the European, every country. And I hope we 
can change the Government some without weapon in Burma and Tibet and 
other--Zimbabwe--other countries, so around the world, we all need peace 
for--need a change without weapon. Thank you very much.
    The President. Thank you all. Thanks.
    The First Lady. Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:32 p.m. at Governors Island. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
these remarks. The transcript released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary also included the remarks of the First Lady.