[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 29 (Monday, July 24, 1995)]
[Page 1250]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6810--Captive Nations Week, 1995

July 17, 1995

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    As we mark the 36th observance of ``Captive Nations Week,'' 
Americans reflect on the sorrow of peoples throughout the world who are 
physically and spiritually oppressed by their governments. In our 
hearts, we know that the ongoing struggle for individual liberty is part 
of a larger cause--an international quest for true peace. Recent years 
have seen great progress in the global march toward freedom. But far too 
many of humanity's children still live in fear.
    Our commemoration of this week reflects the concern of Americans for 
all of those in need. Having sustained the promise of democracy for more 
than 200 years, we understand its many blessings and its profound 
importance in the world. While we celebrate the triumph of democratic 
governments in nations around the globe, we stay bound to those who 
remain prisoners of violence, poverty, and prejudice. As beneficiaries 
of freedom's power, we must champion their struggle, promoting respect 
for human dignity everywhere on Earth.
    Stripped of fundamental personal rights and barred from realizing 
their political voice, the captive citizens of authoritarian regimes 
share our people's dreams of happiness. Today, in nations of the former 
Soviet bloc and from Asia to Africa to Latin America, our new democratic 
friends are acting on their hopes for opportunity and prosperity, 
recognizing that respect for individual freedom is the key to internal 
and international stability. America plays a vital role in this process 
of growth and change. As President John F. Kennedy said years ago, our 
``historic task in this embattled age is not merely to defend freedom. 
It is to extend its writ and strengthen its covenant.'' We Americans 
have an enormous stake in the fate of captive nations. Their future is 
no less than our greatest hope for peace.
    The Congress, by Joint Resolution approved July 17, 1959 (73 Stat. 
212), has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation 
designating the third week in July of each year as ``Captive Nations 
Week.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim July 16 through July 22, 1995, as 
Captive Nations Week. I call upon the people of the United States to 
observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities, 
rededicating ourselves to the principles of freedom and justice on which 
this Nation was founded and by which it will ever endure.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day 
of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twentieth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:43 p.m., July 17, 
1995]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on July 
19.