UPDATE: C-SPAN will likely stream the speech here.
At approximately 1:30 pm EST, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be delivering remarks at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. In her speech, “Development in the 21st Century”, the Secretary is expected to share her views on new directions in U.S. global development policy and its importance at home and abroad.
ONE will have staff at the speech who will report back on what they heard later today. If I can track one down, I’ll include a live stream of the speech here, as well as video and full transcript. You can read the State Department’s press release here. More soon.
This morning as weary-eyed negotiators made their way to the Bella Center for the final 48 hour push in the climate negotiations which seemed all but deadlocked, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton caffeinated the room with big news – a US commitment to long-term financing for adaptation, mitigation, and deforestation for the world’s poorest people. One of the key hurdles to the negotiations to date has been this item of long term financing. Short term financing numbers, also referred to as the fast track fund, have been on the table for some time: a $10 billion per year commitment for years 2010, 2011, and 2012. The actual mechanism and its transparency are still being worked out, but commitments have been pouring in from the EU, Japan, and others towards the fast track fund, and the US has stated that it will contribute its fair share.
The long term, and the scale of the long term financing, has however been an issue with varied opinions and much debate. So this morning when the US announced its endorsement of long term financing, with a number attached to it – $100 billion per year by 2020 – the negotiations seemed to get rejuvenated. This number is also in line with the African proposal which calls for $10 billion per year in fast track funding for years 2010, 2011, and 2012; $50 billion per year by 2015; and scaling up to $100 billion per year by 2020. All of this is however, contingent on a global effort.
From Secretary Clinton’s announcement, “And today I’d like to announce that, in the context of a strong accord in which all major economies stand behind meaningful mitigation actions and provide full transparency as to their implementation, the United States is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries. We expect this funding will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance. This will include a significant focus on forestry and adaptation, particularly, again I repeat, for the poorest and most vulnerable among us.”
Read the full statement here:
For immediate release and posting.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release December 17, 2009
2009/T17-1
As promised, here’s the video and transcript of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s address at Georgetown University. The scope of the speech encompassed numerous aspects of human rights, and Secretary Clinton noted how extreme poverty and preventable disease play a role in this. Video and key excerpts below:
At the same time, human development must also be part of our human rights agenda. Because basic levels of well-being – food, shelter, health, and education – and of public common goods like environmental sustainability, protection against pandemic disease, provisions for refugees – are necessary for people to exercise their rights, and because human development and democracy are mutually reinforcing. Democratic governments are not likely to survive long if their citizens do not have the basic necessities of life. The desperation caused by poverty and disease often leads to violence that further imperils the rights of people and threatens the stability of governments. Democracies that deliver on rights, opportunities, and development for their people are stable, strong, and most likely to enable people to live up to their potential.
So human rights, democracy, and development are not three separate goals with three separate agendas. That view doesn’t reflect the reality we face. To make a real and long-term difference in people’s lives, we have to tackle all three simultaneously with a commitment that is smart, strategic, determined, and long-term. We should measure our success by asking this question: Are more people in more places better able to exercise their universal rights and live up to their potential because of our actions?
To build success for the long run, our development assistance needs to be as effective as possible at delivering results and paving the way for broad-based growth and long-term self-reliance. Beyond giving people the capacity to meet their material needs for today, economic empowerment should give them a stake in securing their own futures, in seeing their societies become the kind of democracies that protect rights and govern fairly. So we will pursue a rights-respecting approach to development – consulting with local communities, ensuring transparency, midwife-ing accountable institutions – so our development activities act in concert with our efforts to support democratic governance. That is the pressing challenge we face in Afghanistan and Pakistan today.
Today Secretary Clinton delivered a major address on human rights at Georgetown University. I’m still searching for transcript and video, but according to Laura Rozen of Politico, Clinton was expected to touch on development.
According to Rozen, Clinon was to say:
“We cannot separate our democracy, human rights, and development agendas: they are mutually reinforcing and united in service of a common purpose: to create a world where all people have the opportunity to fulfill their God-given potential,” Clinton will say.
“It is the foreign policy of this country and this administration to support and defend democracy. We embrace democracy not because we want other countries to be like us, but because we want all people to have the opportunity to decide for themselves how to live their lives.”
Clinton’s speech will emphasize that development and democracy have to be part of a human rights agenda — as well as pragmatism.
“We will measure success by asking the question: Are more people in more places able to live up to their potential because of our actions?” she is expected to say. “Not every situation is the same. Sometimes we will have the most impact by publicly denouncing a government action. Other times we will be more likely to help the oppressed by engaging in tough negotiations behind closed doors. In every instance, our aim is to make a difference, not to prove a point.”
We’ll have a transcript and video when they’re available.
UPDATE: Georgetown blog Vox Populi has a report of the speech here
On Monday night, several ONE staff and I attended a dinner hosted by the US Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) honoring Secretary Clinton for her extraordinary leadership. Clinton delivered a powerful speech about the importance of a balanced, smart power approach to foreign policy based on strengthened development and diplomacy tools. She stated that it has been her goal as the 67th Secretary of State to “make sure that diplomacy and development were elevated alongside a strong defense.”
She praised USGLC and others in the development community for advocating for a robust International Affairs budget and educating Americans about the importance of development and diplomacy. You can find the full transcript of her speech, photos from the event and media coverage here.
The Obama administration just announced (around the 12:50 mark in this video) that the International AIDS Society (IAS) will hold the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC in July 2012.
This move comes as a result of President Obama’s earlier announcement that the U.S. will lift its travel and immigration ban on those living with HIV, effective January 4, 2010. The IAS had announced previously that it was interested in holding the 2012 International AIDS Conference in DC, but that the final decision would be contingent upon whether the U.S. travel ban was lifted.
The International AIDS Conference, the world’s largest conference in the field of health and development, is an annual event that brings together individuals from around the world to share information and discuss the global response to AIDS. The U.S. has not hosted the International AIDS Conference since 1990 due to the introduction of the existing HIV travel ban.
Earlier this month, I attended the First Annual No Limits Public Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. No Limits, a non-profit issues-based, education foundation uses new technology and social networking to encourage an exchange of ideas on a range of domestic and international policy challenges.
Secretary Hillary Clinton gave the keynote address and spoke passionately about the Obama administration’s efforts to elevate development as a US foreign policy priority. The Secretary of State said that helping developing countries lift themselves from extreme poverty is “in pursuit of our interests and in accordance with our values,” as Americans. She continued: “And it is part of the American message at core that we believe not just in a better life for our own people, but we think helping those around the world to a better life is good for America, that it gives us a chance to see our values in action.”
I caught up with No Limits President, Ann Lewis, after the conference who is a fan of ONE and happily put on a ONE band! Her members and ONE supporters throughout the world are united in their belief that together there are “no limits” to what is possible – including ending extreme poverty in our lifetime!
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