Is welcome to the stage, executive director of the Georgetown Institute for peace and security. [applause] good morning, and welcome to the 2023 Award Ceremony to honor women who have played an exceptional role in advancing women in peace and security. The awards showcasing the difference womens peace building can make, particularly at the local level, are one of the aspects at the mission of our institute. We are proud to be marking our 10th anniversary this year. You can find a great deal about the institute on our website. We are always thrilled to have the secretary former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, with us. We are so grateful for her continuing support of the institute as our honorary founding chair, for leading with the rockefeller foundation, our covering of highlevel Women Leaders on critical issues, and for her continuing inspiration. Welcome back secretary clinton. [applause] let me add a special welcome to members of the diplomatic corps who have joined us. From yemen, ireland, iceland, germany, lithuania, norway, sweden, taiwan, ukraine, and the united arab emirates. Welcome to all of you. [applause] i also would like to welcome the u. S. Government officials from the white house, the state department, and usai you especially to establish the finally confirmed u. S. Ambassador for global womens issues. [applause] we are always happy to have the dean of our school of Foreign Service with us. I would like to welcome the dean of the georgetown campus, who is here from doha. [applause] and, a very warm welcome to the georgetown ambassadors to the institute who have traveled from across the United States and overseas to be here. Lastly and importantly, i want to thank the bank of America Charitable foundation for their generous support of our program. You make much possible. We are very grateful. It is always a great personal pleasure for me to introduce the president who has led this university for more than two decades with great distinction. Academically and in terms of georgetowns commitment to Public Service as exemplified in the credo, women and men for others. We remain grateful to him for his support of the institute and so much more. Please welcome president jack. [applause] good morning, its wonderful to be here with all of you for our presentation of the 2023 Hillary Rodham clinton awards for advancing women in peace and security. This morning i had the privilege of introducing the honorable Hillary Rodham clinton, the 67th United States secretary of state , and honorary founding chair of Georgetown Institute for womens peace and security. To help us present this years awards to four extraordinary global leaders. Secretary clinton, we are always honored by your presence at georgetown. We are great for grateful for your steadfast participation in promoting peace around our world. We are honored to acknowledge four awardees this year. I wish to offer my sincere appreciation to each of them. Deleting International Journalist and anchor, Christiane Amanpour. A leader for democracy, human rights and Civil Society in sudan, alaa salah. The executive director food for humanity and cofounder of Women Solidarity Network and a peace and security leader in yemen, muna luqman. In the executive director of the Mazaya Organization for Womens Development and a human rights advocate in syria, ghalia alrahhal, who will join us virtually. We are deeply grateful for this opportunity to recognize each of you at the ceremony entitled voices for peace celebrating courageous women in journalism and peace building. I thank you for your leadership, outstanding achievements for forging peace, democracy, human rights and inclusion of womens voices around the world. Each year we present this award named for secretary clinton in recognition of her pivotal role in the promotion of womens leadership and her distinguished career in Public Service. At the 2012 women in the world summit held in new york, secretary clinton described the importance of this work saying, our most important goals for making peace, encountering extremism, to broadening prosperity and advancing democracy, depend to a large degree on the participation and partnership of women. All over the world we have seen what women do when they get involved in helping to bring peace. We have been honored to partner with her, presenting these awards and to have her engagement at our Georgetown Institute for womens peace and security, which was established under the ambassadors leadership in 2011. In a decade our leadership has convened with leaders across the globe with our university community. The institute promotes teaching and education to enhance our understanding of the cultural, political and Economic Issues at stake focusing on Economic Empowerment to the relationship between womens status and democracy. In this ceremony, each year we have the opportunity to celebrate those who have championed the advancement of women in their role in the world. Its an honor to come together in recognition with this important work with this years awardees. Please join me in welcoming secretary clinton to the stage to share with us a few words. [applause] sec. Clinton good morning on this beautiful october day. Its a great pleasure to be back here at georgetown, to be in gadsden hall to have a chance to lend my voice to the important work being done by the Georgetown Institute for womens peace and security. And to honor four remarkable women. I want to start by thanking the doctor for his leadership. Its really significant, the way that georgetown, under the president , has stepped up to make a commitment to never forget and to continue to work on the overall goal of helping to achieve the full participation of women in peacekeeping and diplomacy. Its incredibly important that georgetown does this. The Georgetown Institute is the premier institute in the world that has, since 2011, made the case, gathered the data, put together the analysis about what a difference it makes when women are fully participating in peacekeeping and diplomacy. When they have seats at every table discussing National Security and vital interests. That is possible because of the extraordinary leadership of the ambassador. The ambassador has established the whole idea of women, peace, and security so firmly here at georgetown that other universities, other institutions around the world are looking here for leadership and inspiration. Last time we were together it was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the good friday agreement, and to honor, much too late, but still to honor the critical contribution that women play in bringing about the end to the troubles in northern ireland. We gather again this year to keep up that momentum. To recognize the roles that women play in peace and security, and to keep urging that more governments and more multilateral institutions do more to include womens voices. I think its fair to say that as we gather together, there are some incredibly powerful forces at work around the world. Some of them, like Climate Change, which we are seeing unfold in real time before our eyes. Some like unimaginable technical advances, like artificial intelligence, whose pluses and minuses we have no real understanding of, yet. To changes in the geopolitical environment. The return to great power competition. Some of the conflicts that are not just springing up in ukraine, but continue to haunt the world. These forces impact every one of us, but they dont impact everyone of us, but they do impact women. The drive to diminish womens rights is actually linked to the quest for political power. Many leaders use women as a reason for back on rights. Use womens lives and aspirations as a challenge rather than an opportunity to existing power structures. These forces that are at work around the world have created perilous times for everything that we have held dear and that we believe in can make a better world for everybody, women and men. People from all walks of life are melting a massive resistance to autocracy, to the oppression of women and girls, to irresponsible Tech Companies whose platforms are rife with misogyny, sexism, and viral attacks on women in the public sphere. We are trying to tell a different story, a different narrative for the future by, not only standing up for democracy, human rights in progress, but highlighting women who are doing it in their lives every single day. Like these incredible women who you will heal hear from in a minute. Protecting and promoting a free press is critical to all of us. To our democracy, sense of security, and freedom. Its imperative we have womens perspective in german in journalism just as we must have in diplomacy. We need to hear stories about whats happening in peoples real lives. We need to hear what happens to women in repressive places, like afghanistan and iran, whose rights are either being totally denied or shrunken. We need to hear the story stories, sometimes hard to listen to, of women in ukraine were russians are using rape as a tactic of war. We need to hear the stories where Maternal Mortality is higher than any advanced country in the world. We dont take care of mothers, we dont take care of children the way that we should. I think its important to recognize that women should not be characterized as victims. I reject that at every turn. Women are agents of change and womens stories are powerful reminders of whats possible. More than 10 years ago i stood on the stage and announced the obamas administrations executive order establishing a National Action plan on women peace and security. An ambitious and necessary step. We made progress, but have a long way to go. Which is why the Research Done at georgetown is important. Im excited to be in the classroom at columbia university, where we Just Launched a women led and women founded institute of global politics. Trying to connect the local and the global, which is critical. To continue the hard work of advancing the rights and full participation of women and girls. Which is great for women in the 21st century. I dont think i have to convince any of you in this room how vital the mission is. I hope to convince you to use your voices, your agency and activism to stand up for women who are under threat, marginalized, whose stories are not being told. We have an extraordinary lineup of award winners. Personally, Christiane Amanpour is someone whom im ive admired for a long time, before i had a chance to meet were meet her or be interviewed by her. I saw her reporting from crisis zones. Often the only woman wearing a helmet and a flak jacket in the midst of conflict, but trying to tell the rest of us what she was seeing and hearing. She has received every major broadcast Journalism Award at least once. She is being awarded today, not only as a trailblazer for women in journalism and a fearless truth teller, but as someone who has worked really hard to make sure womens voices, on the ground, wherever shes reporting from, are included. Alaa salah gained national and International Attention when there was a photo of her standing on a car, leading protest chance in suit on that went sudan that went viral. I have to say, i saw alaa salah s photograph, i was incredibly moved by what you were doing. I was also worried and afraid for you. But i was so happy that you were there and you were standing up for the rights of all of your fellow citizens, particularly women and girls. She emerged as an important voice for the transformation of her country. After the spark of revolution, came the long patient rebuilding. Often the hardest work. Why do revolutions fail . Often times because its really hard to turn a country around, to build institutions of government to govern. She was in the midst of doing exactly that. She dedicated herself to working with a Broad Coalition of women and activists. Even today, despite conflict currently underway in sudan, she is working to figure out what can be done when the fighting finally stops. Muna luqman is a cofounder of the womens solidarity network, a chairperson of the yemeni foundation, and a member of the Womens Alliance for security leadership. Working with yemeni grassroots organizations, she is always advocating for women to have a seat at the peacekeeping table. I have to say, it reminds me, we were at a conference together after the start of the war in ukraine and we were working to get humanitarian supplies. We were working with the wonderful Organization World central kitchen, and they were setting up kitchens and handing out food all over the country. We were in conversation with women on the ground in ukraine and they were telling us they need to move where they are getting the food. They need to move it over here. We immediately got on the phone and told people, we are hearing it from the women who are collecting the food and hearing people, this is what you need to do. I know, muna, you are on the ground. You are not only a woman for peace, but a worldwide advocate for peace. You have been involved in Briefing Members of congress and the u. N. Human rights council. Ghalia alrahhal is going to be with us virtually. She is the founder and executive an executive director of messiah. Mazaya. She is a member of the womens syrian Political Movement. Lets not ever forget syria. They have been under attack from assad and their allies, iran and russia, for decades. She is someone, who in defiance of personal threats and attacks, including the assassination of her son, a journalist, has been working to energize the syrian womens movement. In 2013, she converted her beauty salon into a center to provide education and first aid to women. Mazaya is a network of eight Women Centers and five Childcare Centers and publishes a magazine that makes the case for education and empowerment for women and girls. Before i end by congratulating our awardees, let me ask all of us, myself included, what is it we need to do to protect democracy here at home . What is it we need to do to make sure womens voices are heard . That they arent drowned out by the constant attacks on social media, that are quite frightening to many women. What is it we are to do with our educations in great universities like georgetowns to lift up more women here and around the world . As we celebrate these awardees and thank them for their courage and faith to build a better world, lets recommit ourselves to do everything we can in the United States to make sure we never lose our freedoms, our democracy, our right. And our rights. Thank you all very much. [applause] ive been part of this amazing phenomenon that has changed the world. There is another launch. I want to report war and peace. I try to tell the stories to the people who have been caught up. Saudi arabia, kolkata, baghdad saudi arabia, baghdad. Tell the story and report the truth, it does make a difference. We discussed women rights across the world. There are many rules on women, but we need to propel our world to equality, to justice. Only gender equality will help us get there. Thats the truth, i will not be silent. Do you take any responsibility, because that is the result. We cannot continue the old paradigm. Lets fight for whats right. Lets fight for our values. Lets fight for this cause. [end of video clip] [applause] as you know, and as he just seen, Christiane Amanpour is a courageous war correspondent who has shed light on some of the darkest corners on the globe. One of the most prominent reporters in the world, she is known especially for her courageous coverage. It is said, where theres war, theres amanpour. From covering wars from syria to afghanistan and so many places in between, she has put her life in danger to give voice to those who are suffering from the consequences of what she is covering. She reports their story. She knows well that war in our times is primarily experienced by civilians who are caught in the crossfire, and that all too often our women and children. The most Transformative Experiences in her career has been covering the horror perpetrated by syria and bosnia. It was also among her most important and significant work. She saw freedom, democracy, human rights, religious and ethnic tolerance under mortal threat in bosnia. She witnessed civilians killed under bombardment. She was witness to the massacre of thousands of men and boys in the raping of women and girls on the horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing, of genocide. She learned one cannot be neutral in the face of this kind of people, but has a duty to call it for what it is. Covering the war almost daily for two years, her reports forced the world to see the atrocities that were being committed, and forced the International Committee to finally take action. Sadly, war crimes and genocide continue to haunt our world. People are being targeted and slaughtered. Sexual violence is used as a weapon in too many places. This is true today in ukraine, where she continues to do coverage. She reports on the devastating consequences of russias fullscale, unprovoked attack on the ukrainian people. But she also captures their spirit of resilience in defending ukraines freedom and democracy and its existence. She has been covering afghanistan s