[applause] [applause] good morning Everyone Welcome to georgetown for this special event, the presentation Hillary Rodham clinton awards for advancing women in peace and security. Today we have the honorable Hillary Rodham clinton fare of the jordan chair of the Georgetown Institute secretary clinton we are deeply grateful for your presence and extraordinary contribution to recognize the role of women. Thank you for being here. [applause] we honor three individuals that exemplify what it means to serve, protect and empower vulnerable populations. And those that served as the republic of chile. [applause] and that incarcerated people. To put people back into the workforce. [applause] and in virginia found of the organization based in legal ando have Psychological Services to women who have survived violence. Most of you we reach out to the sincere gratitude of your leadership and recognize your exceptional contributions and accomplishment the award name for secretary clinton recognizes her pivotal role with promotion of womens rights, her distinguished career in public service. Words she offered in 1995 in beijing and famous address of womens rights that are convening today. Cormack if women are healthy and educated their families will flourish. If they have a chance to work and earn as equal partners of society their families will flourish. And then communities and nations will flourish. 16 years after that speech on that one this very stage she joined us for the fteris of the Us National Action Plan for peace and security. And that initiative of the recognition of the truth with the security and wellbeing of the nations. Under that exceptional l Leadership Institute has leaders and scholars and practitioners of dialogue to forge and strengthen georgetown collaboration with organizations engaged across the globe. Look at that scholarship to enhance the understanding of the cultural, political and issues. This provides a framework for the students to have an understanding and experience necessary to develop this compassionate Global Leaders committed to womens inclusion today we are honored to present Hillary Rodham clinton awards fore advancing women peace and security and recognition of the leadership of secretary clinton and the contributions of our awardees. Secretary clinton has championed the rights of the role of women for so many years in a leadership role that she has served as first lady of thela United States, as senator from the state of new stage ande global most recently as the first woman in the countrys history to be nominated by a Major Political party. [cheers and applause] she has strengthened opportunities for womens political and social engagemen engagement, creating an institutionalized new position and policies help to ensure greater recognition of women of the Economic Development , peace building and political systems communities and nations around the world. She continues to serve as honorary cochair of the afghan Womens Council and we are grateful for her ongoing commitment and example of public service. Secretary clinton, it is a privilege to have you with us here again, welcome back to georgetown. Please join me to extend a, warm welcome to secretary clinton. [cheersin and applause] thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for welcome me back to the hilltop oncell again. It is a great, great pleasure and im so honored to come back to georgetown especially for this one and of course i have to express my personal gratitude to the ambassador who has been a dear friend for many years, but her unparalleled commitment to advancing the rights of women and girls shines a bright light on those who are on the front lines engaged in this work. The institute that the moderator just described is the best in the entire world the first dedicated to thehe idea that womens full participation of peace and security should no longer be relegated to thega margin of international affairs. It is inspiring and humbling and energizing with the extraordinary women we will meet in a few minutes who have done so much to advance peace and security to lift up women. I have to say this event seems to grow more timely and relevant each time we are together and this year is no exception. These are perilous times for our world , nationalism, tribalism and authoritarianism are on the rise. Technology is a doubleedged sword capable of carrying Democratic Values to oppressed people as well as giving authoritarians the tools they need to tighten control and counterattacked thefo foundation of open society. We are in the mix of a refugee crisishi accelerated by violent extremism. And here at home, europe and other places around the worl world, witnessing the all out assault on our values of democracy, free speech and the rule of law. In the midst of all this, women are proving yet again to be a beacon of hope doing the hard essential work to reinvigorate and protect democracies and people standing up to human rights abuses shining a bright light on corruption to take on urgent challenges with the cruelest and most violent resistance imaginable. Here in the United States we have some examples of that leadership. Look at the speaker of the house nancy pelosi. [applause] her clear eyed leadership has led the house to pass essential legislation from guaranteeing health care to protect us from gun violence and dont you think its about time that the United States that it did its d job to vote on that legislation . [cheers and applause] of course she Just Announced the opening of the impeachment inquiry into the president on the basis of evidence he betrayed his oath of office to andld the constitution protect the defense of our country. He has turned american diplomacy into a cheap extortion racket. He has denigrated and be honest stabbed in the back of the Career Foreign Service officers who served bravely and selflessly no matter the politics of the administration. And now they are caught in the crossfire. Serving with Foreign Service officers in Civil Servants at theytate departmentan deserve the support and gratitude of all americans. [applause] sadly we have known who donald trump is for some timewe now as a corrupt businessman who cheated people and he and his campaign invited former adversaries to tamper with elections and now we know in the course of his duties as president , he has endangered us all by putting his personal and political interest ahead of the interest of the americante people. But this is ultimately about much more than donald trump. It is about us and who we are as a nation. History is being written and enthe world and our children are watching. Women have been in the forefront we saw that again just this past week with greta. [applause] who first captured at 15 years old to begin demonstrating outside the Swedish Parliament to protect her governments in action on climatecl change. At first she said i tried to bring people along to join me but nobody was interested so i had to do it by myself but soon students across europe and the world started to follow suit by the dozens that hundreds and millions. This week she delivered a powerful speech to the United NationsClimate Action senate that should be required reading for every lawmaker as she spoke for so many and her own generation when she condemned World Leaders by saying you have stolenha my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. I know she engendered backlash from the deniers from the anti anything coalition that takes on those that stand up and speak out and actually lives in the evidencebased world instead of the fact free worldly so there was a backlash that only made her message more significant and more important for every one of us to Pay Attention to and i personally am grateful to her and what she is aspiring asian people across the world. Never underestimate the power of women and girls not only to improve their own lives but communities and entire nations. And those that embody that trut truth. Someone i have known and admired for a long time in fact my daughter chelsea and i wrote about her and greta in the book about women that comes out next week as a reminder of all the obstacles of women in the past and present had to overcome to make change and take a stand and who the authentically intended to be and to champion womens rights and full participation throughout herar career, she passed sweeping policies to expand access to Maternity Care to disaggregate data by gender after escaping a brutal dictatorship she has spoken out as the high commissioner against human rights abuses to syria to the United States border and me and marv. I have to recognize the prior commissioner former president of ireland. [applause] we are so pleased she is here. [applause] if you want aea job done then you have perfect examples. Rose is pioneering justice and of the prison system, one of the most violent places on our planet unfortunately. Working to have inmates become engaged citizens and promoters of peace. But those on one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Human rights are personal and they should be for the rest of us for going dancing the rights of women and girls is Unfinished Business of the 21st century. But also to take a broad view of what is happening and to promote worldwide in the recent report from the Defense Department on the condition the whole refugee camp in syria of tens of thousands of women and children are held in horrible conditions and lack of proper security to result in the spread of isis ideology by the women. We know they play a Critical Role of violentis extremism as perpetrators and victims that women are in a prime position to root out early signs because their physical safety isth the first target of a fundamentalist yet too often the United States in global counterterrorism strategy failed to list women to combat that radicalism over the years to Georgetown Institute has a compelling Evidence Base case to support the fact that they participate in peacemaking and more secure and for women they are included in peace negotiations and the vital interest we lose out on half of the challenge of the population. There is a lesson here for all leaders that includes womens rights are respected as part of any peace negotiation in afghanistan. [applause] this is a moment to double down with human rights however our own government turned its back on refugees living children away from parents andnd family members with at all out concerted assault. Then to see a troubling shift and then to create something it calls the commission on unalienable rights. So this are really a named commission has promised to undertake one of the most profound examinations of human rights so based on what we have seen already we have every reason to believe the reexamination will be a reversal of commitment and reproductive rights. Think back to 1948 with 48 nations who come together to represent the vast majority of the worldsth population more than 70 years ago to vote in favor of the universal declaration of human rights which is the very first time in Human History that all human beings are free and equal in dignity they are granted byal any deming on government but a birthright of every man and woman and child since in the declaration has been the most widely translated document in the history of the world. They have struggled and worked and losing their own lives to ensure that people could experience a full measure of freedom of dignity and the benefits of citizenship. And International System to protect the freedom spelled out in thest declaration and woven into domestic constitutions the idea of human rights for the declaration and of a governments legitimacy and we have also learned along the way that respecting and defending human rights makes nations more stable and secure Eleanor Roosevelt who did so much to champion from her death bed she continues to call out a message to future generations it is cowardly the invasion and poses a question i want all ofo us to ponder. Where after all do human rights begin with any map on the bus on on any map of the world. In their communities equal justice and doug dignity they have close places we will look in vain for progress in the larger world i think about a lot withsevelt universal declaration of human rights because i often need to be reminded this is the moment with the courage of our convictions. It isnt easy in fact it could be downright difficult and discouraging keep in mind roosevelt persevering through the backlash to keep in t mind the women that we honor today we cannot afford to be aloof or cowardly we have to stand together to speak out for the rights and opportunities in dignity of women and men and children. Thank you all very much. [cheers and applause] good morning everyone thank you so much secretary clinton to be back with us at georgetown today. With the honorary founding chair and for your continuing inspiration. It is significant to have you here with this focus on human rights we are on the threshold of the 25th anniversary of the conference on women that took place in beijing 25 years ago. It was your words human rights are womensen rights and womens rights are human rights to still echo around the world to remind the side of that imperative and thanks to the womens conference womens rights were chiseled finally into human rightsch law. Let me add my welcome as they recognize and celebrate womens leadership for justice and peac peace. A very special welcome to the family and friends of honorees. [applause] and i want to add a special welcome to Mary Robinson. The former president of ireland part of the envoy on climate in the former commissioner but also a very special friend of the institute of which we are veryl grateful and has been advising on gender conflict and climate so thank you for all that you do. [applause] and while there are so many important leaders i want to welcome the renowned poet and journalist is a strong human rights activist. Thank you. [applause] and to the members of the diplomatic corps the ambassadors to germany and the European Union mexico, chile, honduras, afghann , new zealand and iceland a special welcome to georgetown to all of you. [applause] and now to thed awards. Un high commissioner for human rights has a commitment to human rights that is deeply personal and lifelong. A 23 yearold medical student. Students think of yourselves as i read this, a 22 yearold medical student in 1973 who came to power following the coup that overthrew the democratically elected governments. Admits the terror that ensue ensued, she and her family were torn apart. Along with her mother she was tortured in a Detention Center and forced into exile. She lost her father who was an opponent of the brutal military dictatorship and died in prison following months of torture. Hers was clearly a firsthand experience with the violation of human rights after four years of exile first in australia and then germany she was authorized to return back to chile where she resume studies and eventually specializing in pediatrics of Public Health and among her efforts working for the ngo helping children who were tortured and missing and whose parents were missing. And she advocated for restoration of chiles democracy. When she finally realized in 1990, she began a career in Government Service that led to her becoming chiles first female minister of health and then later the first female minister of defense. And in that role among the accomplishments to improve the conditions for women in the militaryli, not too long afterwards in 2006 she was arrested president of chile the first woman to holdmato the position and subsequently elected to a second term in 2014. And as president she became a very strong voicebe to womens progress to create the First Ministry for women and gender equality and unleashing a series of programs to support women and their families. Unable to run for a successive second term, she was prevailed on by the secretarygeneral to become the inaugural executive director of the un women and undersecretary of the un and was a terrific leader to take over that new entity in the United Nations. As head of un women she made full participation in conflictd resolution ending violence against women and the Economic Empowerment among her Top Priorities into nate today she is a high commissioner for human rights appointed by secretarygeneral gutierrez last year. With children in the persecution of people and so many other abuses in so many places. And most recently, she declared Climate Change, a growing extremely serious threat to human rights. As she has rightly said, we can only attain peace, security and Sustainable Development for all societies. When we advanced, the dignity and equality of all human beings. And now for the citation. For her commitment to public service, for her leadership for humanity and dedication for being a voice for the voiceless and advocate for victims of Human Rights Violations around the world. And for recognizing the rights of women, half the population of this world built too often marginalized in on