The group she alleges, this documentary, are you familiar . Guest i have for the families name but i have not met them before. Hello, and welcome to this special pride addition. I am the senior director of engagement and external affairs at the Atlantic Council and we are delighted for todays conversation featuring usaid admin Samantha Power is important to me and the atlanta commission. Todays conversation will be led by pulitzer winning journalist jonathan k parts that head of his own show on msnbc, at the head on the washington Editorial Board and a commenter on pbs. We welcome participation by those joining us today in person and those joining online you think the ac front page. Administrative power, thank you for joining us here today. We are very eager to hear from you about the Biden Administration and usaid priorities. Now i will turn it over to jonathan to lead the discussion. Jonathan thank you, this intake for the end vicente. As a sum in every teleprompter for a living, i felt for you because the script is so small. Thank you for that introduction. Administrator powers, thank you for being here to be a part of this conversation. Within the first months of taking Office President biden issued a memorandum that directed various parts of the u. S. Government responsible for Foreign Policy such as usaid to prioritize efforts to advance lgbtq rights around the world. Follow those efforts going . What have been the Biggest Challenges . Adminstrator power thank you everybody for turning out. We harness the energy to try to do the work in the world. Usaid is one of 15 agencies being responsive to president bynums direction to promote and protect and respect the rights of lgbtqia plus individuals around the wound. I feel fortunate every day to be at usaid because we have a toolkit. We have programming in Public Health on maternal and child health. We work with the state department and cdc that has, of course, made a major difference saving 25 million lives and 5. 5 million babies is the estimate for the good done overtime. That has had a particular effect on lgbtqia plus communities around the world. Beyond that we do agriculture and Economic Growth and inclusion, livelihoods work. In many parts of the world, if you are lgbtqia plus, coming forward to seek social services may risk something near and dear to you depending on the Legal Environment in which you are working. When the fallout from covid occurred and you saw such economic devastation around the world, given the fact lgbtqi had less people are often working in the Informal Sector and may have had, in some instances, less backup, the kind of crises that have befallen the planet have a disparate impact on marginalized communities and those that have in a sense faced. Does preexisting conditions including discrimination, violence, etc. We went forth. We tripled the size of our staff. We have the great jay gilliam that many of you work with as our lead lgbtqia plus coordinator. That position was filled in the previous administration. This fiscal year we had a dedicated pool of resources around 60 million doing everything from spot Emergency Assistance to people that need Legal Defense because they are being rounded up in some cases or addicted to working really closely with the state department to identify people that would be eligible for asylum or to become refugees because of their Sexual Orientation or gender identity. I would say you see a massive surge in programming and attention. For me, and i think the thing that jay has helped us so much with on the team, if you believe in the event met in 2023, actually, Scene Development outcomes which matter and reversing development setbacks that have occurred, it is not enough to have a little pot of money, or, a big pot of money, even, dedicated to lgbtqia plus. All of the program and we do on food security, education, health, b2b attentive and intentional about going out of our way to make sure that we are not just practicing development, but Inclusive Development. The Biggest Challenges, i am sure we will get into them and i know that many in dalliance in the audience are involved with them is criminalization. Even in countries that have already criminalized lgbtqia plus status, new moves desire to render more salient laws that might be on the books. Being ignored by work in places like uganda, because of the introduction of the antihomosexuality act, vigilantes and citizens and others taking what is happening in the legal space or parliament and getting signed into law and viewing it as license to do whatever they want, to vulnerable people. Its not just having uganda, of course, something that has happened very recently. We see the instrumentalization of the human rights agenda that so many in the world aspired to see progress being turned on its head and in places where antidemocratic forces are ascendant or are getting either support or supported or abetted, or at least not counteracted by authorities, you see those voices getting louder and even when there is not a law for legal ballast behind the voices that itself is terrifying and exclusionary. And a deterrent for communities to come forward and access the programs at the very time where we are seeking to make sure we leave no one behind. You brought up uganda. Also, your point about usaid having all these programs. But, there are countries where just presenting yourself to make yourself, to avail yourself of these programs could put yourself in danger. The question is, what is the u. S. Government doing or can it do to push back on what is happening in countries like uganda . Administrator power i would start with what i consider a statement of the obvious that nevertheless i believe needs to be set. You start from the proposition of nothing about you without you. These questions of tactics and how to prevail or how to counteract are super complicated. Imagine being part of the Biden Administration and tactical questions about how we move the Inflation Reduction Act and convince joe manchin to be part of that. When we are operating in someone elses country. Understanding the complex ecosystems from which we were drying, at usaid, very heavily on the expertise of our local staff, at least two thirds are nationals of the country in which we work. But fundamentally it is the communities that will be affected by laws that provide cues to us on how focal to be, how much to signal in a deterrent way in advance of the movement of a piece of legislation that risks putting the u. S. At the center of a National Drama potentially triggering nationalism and other forces are some historical dynamics, lets put it that way. But even what i have said is kind of simplistic because there is no one view. Even in an organization, people are debating at a fever pitch what the right approach is. This is really hard, but we do come in with humidity as humility and come in with humility and try to be in lockstep with groups we have funded in the past or are funding currently. In the case of the antihomosexuality act uganda has moved forward with, president President Biden was very clear that the law should be repealed. He came out with a public statement. He has talked, and this is one of the approaches we have taken not only in uganda but in other places threatening to put in place similar laws, talking about the effects, jonathan, on this incredibly Successful Partnership we have had combating hivaids. There is one report in uganda that shows Service Utilization is down more than 60 since the law was introduced. That is a people that are afraid of coming forward for Vital Health Services because they are afraid it could lead to their arrests or eviction or vigilante violence. Here we are trying to get this epidemic under control by 2030 part of this grand global coalition. And at the same time steps are being taken that would set back not only the health of lgbtqia plus communities but the health of all you bond ends. In this sense, looking at what the practical effects are of being seen to license Community Involvement in discrimination stigmatization and even law enforcement. You see citizens again taking things into their own hands. Trying to find also arguments that have broad appeal in services or programs that a broad swath of the societies in which we work are enthusiastic about, showing the link between those, for example, private sector investments. There is not one country in which usaid works that is not interested in fielding Economic Growth, recovering from covid and getting young people to work. The Multinational Companies we in the Congress Department and state department have been working with to try to encourage them to invest in these countries, their own antidiscrimination policies and values are not going to make that an attractive place for investment. So its a combination of the state Department Taking steps now, potentially, to sanction individuals involved in the measure in uganda. That is something that has been measured publicly and again these practical effects that will extend practical harm that will extend beyond if the law is not repealed. Lets talk about another country. In response to my question about uganda, talking to groups on the ground getting their input into what usaid and the u. S. Government should do. Lets talk about ukraine. There is a war going on. Hopefully at some point the war will end and reconstruction will begin. Where does the Lgbtq Community come into the conversation about rebuilding, both from making sure they are hold in ukrainian society, but also, that their rights are protected and respected . Administrator power well this is a complex issue i could come at a couple ways. First let me say that part of putins motivation for invading ukraine was watching ukrainian society, the Ukrainian Government move at a really rapid pace to integrate itself into europe. Yes, that carries with it a lot of economic benefits for young people in ukraine. But, much of the impetus behind what was between 2013 and last year, such a shift, right . In an orientation that went in one direction then shifted into another direction. Much of that was valuesbased. That does not mean everyone was with all aspects of the european agenda or programmer convention on human rights immediately. We have seen that, of course. But, part of what ukraine is fighting for and part of what russia is trying to squelch is liberalization. Its a broad understanding of who human rights protections apply to. Now, again, that is a kind of general statement. What we do, shall i say, in of course following russias invasion, ukraines work to liberalize and build checks and balances and build in human rights protections, although not making headlines in the american or european media, that work has accelerated. Which is, frankly, remarkable that a country fighting for its life and people can walk and chew gum at the same time. Meaning, you see lgbtqia protections progressing not only through legislative measures and regulation, and, as the ukrainians have had, programs to vet judges. Their human rights credentials being assessed in a much more comprehensive way, but also, again, as parts of the economy flourish, and this is hard to believe, but the Technology Sector grew by 7 or 8 last year. That itself, young people being out and integrated in the world, there are just things happening in society that i think will put ukraine, above all, it in a much more supportive legal and social ecosystem as the whole rationale for the war is about integrating into europe and the criteria by which ukraine will need to meet, the roadmap and so forth, that will entail much stronger protections that have existed in the past. Point about reconstruction, that is incumbent on the intentionality i was talking about. Usaid is a critical partner. I was just meeting with the minister of finance yesterday talking about reconstruction out of the recent conference in the United Kingdom thinking about procurement and nondiscrimination. How are those checks and protections built in . Now we think about Health Services and making sure that those are restored every place we can, even places close to the front line or territories liberated. How does usaid support flow in a manner where we are constantly vigilant to how inclusive those services are and whether or not they are provided . We have managed to distribute like 16 million antiretrovirals in ukraine just since the war has started. So, in terms of the mainstream programs, those have continued. We have managed to keep those afloat and that took real intentionality on the part of our health team and our ukraine team. Again, i think the principle we want to bring to everything we do in terms of Inclusive Development is just that it is a design feature of any program we do that we are looking to make sure we are going out of our way, just as we would for religious minorities and on behalf of religious freedom or for women in countries where women are discriminated against to make sure we are reaching the full spectrum of beneficiaries and any kind of social deterrent door deterrent or normative factors are 12 circumvent to make sure that we are being inclusive because that will be in the interest of all individuals living in a country economically and in terms of their ability to, in this instance, integrate into europe. Jonathan what you say to people who question my supporting lgbtqia plus rights should be part of american Foreign Policy . There might be people around the world or in our own country that say, i am down with the community, but why make that part of our Foreign Policy . Administrator power one way to take that question here a lot and even increasingly in certain quarters is to imagine the counterfactual, you know . Imagine a world in which u. S. Taxpayer resources are expanded expended in a manner that in essence perpetuates or deepens exclusion of individuals that are really vulnerable. I mean, that would be bad. But only that, not only that, it would have the flavor in many other countries where we work, for a country that for all of our imperfections has long stood for human rights, it would have the effect, i believe, as being seemed to kind of legitimate some of the rhetoric and actions and legal measures that are being put forward. So, you know, there is not someplace of neutrality here, right . We are the United States. We for many years in a very bipartisan way have stood for human rights. We have stood behind the universal declaration of human rights that does not have exceptions or footnotes excluding particular communities. We stand for implementation of the Sustainable Development goals that explicitly say no person should be left behind. Again, without footnotes or caveats. So, i think there are really hard questions about tactics, about, in some places, how vocal to be to not put ourselves at the center of a narrative. Because that is in some senses just what people who would seek to repress or terrorize vulnerable communities would like to see happen. Again, its very difficult on the ground to find the right balance of tools. Look at the antihomosexuality act in uganda. We spoke out with 31 countries. We spoke out with the United Nations independent expert that u. S. Diplomacy when i was at the u. N. As ambassador was critical in securing the creation of that position. The fact that position has been renewed three times now including most recently last year speaks to, again, changing norms. The fact that International Instruments more and more are including, sometimes explicitly, sometimes less so, would you be to q in rights as human rights lgbtqia rights as human rights. We saw samesex marriage legalized last year in estonia and slovenia. And also, decriminalization in places as varied as barbados and singapore. That means these principles are getting traction and these International Instruments that are a critical part of President Bidens agenda are really important, jonathan, because it gives citizens in a country where, on the books, there are lots of happy talks about human rights, it gives lgbtqia organizations and individuals something to hang their arguments on. Saying this individual says this. When we can act in company i think that is always advantageous and something we speak to do. The norms themselves, when i was condemning the targeting of individuals based on Sexual Orientation that had never happened before hearing from around the world what it meant for the United NationsSecurity Council to have done this. This was a consensus document. Of the Russian Federation, a number of african governments had laws that were not respectful of these human rights on the books went along with that. Thinking tactically about how to do that and how the norms coram become more salient in International Law is i think very important. But it is in our interest to have maximum economic inclusion consistent with our economic objectives as a country and our Forei