[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 50 (Monday, December 15, 1997)]
[Pages 1999-2000]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7059--Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Human 
Rights Week, 1997

December 9, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Human rights are the cornerstone of American democracy. The founders 
of our democracy, in their wisdom, recognized the inherent dignity of 
every human being and enshrined in the Bill of Rights our profound 
commitment to freedom of speech, religion, and assembly and the right to 
due process and a fair trial. Through more than two centuries of 
challenge and change, these guiding principles have sustained us. They 
form the common ground on which our racial, religious, and ethnic 
diversity can flourish.
    It is a measure of our greatness as a Nation that each new 
generation of Americans has sought to advance and extend the rights set 
forth by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and by the 
framers of our Constitution. Promoting human rights and democracy around 
the world is a central pillar of our foreign policy. We seek to protect 
and advance human rights for all, not only because a world that respects 
such rights will be freer, safer, and more prosperous, but also so that 
we may keep faith with the vision of our founders, who knew that these 
rights are the deepest reflection of America's fundamental values.
    This week marks the beginning of the world's celebration of the 50th 
anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 
adoption of this set of principles by the United Nations on December 10, 
1948, was a landmark event in the course of modern human history. The 
Declaration represented a collective condemnation by nearly 50 U.N. 
member states of the widespread and devastating human rights abuses 
committed prior to and during World War II, and it reflected a consensus 
on what the postwar world should seek to become. Among the Declaration's 
30 articles are affirmations of the right to life, liberty, and personal 
security; the right to freedom of thought, religion, and expression; and 
the right to freedom from slavery, torture, and arbitrary arrest and 
detention.
    It was fitting that a great American, Eleanor Roosevelt, played a 
pivotal role in the development of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, which so closely reflected the tenets of our own Bill of Rights. 
As Chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, she led the efforts of 
its 18 members to define basic rights and freedoms and to draft the 
international affirmation of rights that was ultimately adopted by the 
General Assembly. Today, thanks to those efforts, scores of countries 
across the globe have incorporated these fundamental principles into 
their laws and practices, and millions of people are leading freer, 
happier, and more fulfilling lives.
    Now our challenge is to reaffirm the universality of these precepts 
and to ensure that all the world's peoples share in their protections. 
While we have made great progress in this endeavor, we must recognize 
that intolerance, discrimination, and persecution continue to darken our 
vision of a better future. Each of us has a part to play in upholding 
human rights for men and women of all political, ethnic, religious, and 
racial backgrounds. The words of Eleanor Roosevelt are both an 
inspiration and a challenge, not only to Americans, but also to citizens 
throughout the international community: ``The destiny of human rights is 
in the hands of all of our citizens and all of our communities.''
    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,

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1997, as Human Rights Day; December 15, 1997, as Bill of Rights Day; and 
the week beginning December 10, 1997, as Human Rights Week. I call upon 
the people of the United States to celebrate these observances with 
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that demonstrate our 
national commitment to the Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights, and the promotion 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 nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., December 11, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
December 12.