[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 49 (Monday, December 13, 1999)]
[Pages 2521-2524]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Presentation of 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

[[Page 2522]]

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, 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

[[Page 2523]]

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.
    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 that 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

[[Page 2524]]

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 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; Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, 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.