16 February 2011
Clinton Opens “Strategic Dialogue” with Civil Society Groups
Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says global civil society groups must be engaged to take advantage of the opportunities presented by popular demands for more freedoms in the Middle East and elsewhere.
She also announced that the Obama administration is more than doubling its assistance to activists, journalists and other human rights champions around the world.
Clinton spoke February 16 at the inaugural “Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society” at the State Department. The Obama administration has been using strategic partnerships and dialogues as a means for deeper consultations and commitment with select nations. The dialogues are designed to respond to the specific needs of partner nations and enhance cooperation in critical areas.
The strategic dialogue marked the first time that the United States has used such a forum to partner with an entire group, rather than a government, Clinton said. She was joined in Washington by civil-society representatives from more than 20 countries and thousands more who participated in the event through a live videoconference.
The secretary said she hoped that regular contact between civil society groups and U.S. officials will help to build “habits of cooperation,” increase understanding to produce practical results, share insights and make it easier to identify common problems and interests.
“Our work together on women’s rights, corruption, religious freedom and other issues is just as important as anything we do with governments,” Clinton said.
The recent political unrest in Tunisia and Egypt “makes our meeting even more timely and the issues more urgent,” Clinton said. “We have to tap the expertise, experience and energy of civil society” to “take advantage of this historic moment.”
Clinton said the Obama administration will more than double its financial support for “efforts to respond to threats to civil society, to help human rights workers who have been arrested, activists who have been intimidated, journalists who have been censored.”
She said the United States has also launched “an international fund that will provide quick assistance such as communications, gear and legal support” to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that have been affected by government crackdowns.
Tomicah Tillemann, Clinton’s senior adviser for civil society and emerging democracies, told reporters February 16 that the new funding will be used to identify what he described as “regulatory threats” to civil society.
“These are instances where laws restrict the ability of NGOs or activists to operate and to act freely in the manner that they would like,” Tillemann said. “In the last six years, 50 countries have passed legislation that restricts the space in which civil society can operate, and we will be doubling our funding through [the U.S. Agency for International Development] to programs that are designed to identify and address those legal and regulatory threats,” he said.
The amount targeting the regulatory threats will rise from approximately $1.5 million to $3.4 million.
Clinton said U.S. support for democracy and human rights “is not about siding for or against either governments or citizens,” but about “standing up for universal principles and for those in and out of government who support them.”
She said the Obama administration will support the efforts of partner governments to open their political and economic systems and she urged others to follow their example.
“Governments that pursue democratic change [and] economic openness will have a friend in the United States,” she said.
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
