Democracy Development Foreign Aid Governance Human Rights Institutions U.S. Foreign Policy
Dec 6, 2011
Liza Prendergast
5 Comments

Clinton: All people deserve to be treated with dignity

“No practice or tradition trumps the human rights that belong to all of us,” asserted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a historic address delivered in recognition of Human Rights Day. Clinton strategically affirmed the rights of all peoples, calling on civil society to advocate on behalf of the LGBT community and urging governments to support the human rights of all people to equality under the law.  “All people deserve to be treated with dignity, no matter who they are or whom they love,” she said.

The United States has taken a series of direct steps to translate her eloquent words into action. Today, the Obama Administration issued a directive in the form of a Presidential Memorandum calling on “all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.” The President’s memo calls on agencies to integrate into their work the following:

1. combating criminalization of LGBT status or conduct abroad;

2. protecting vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers

3. foreign assistance to protect human rights and advance nondiscrimination

4. swift and meaningful US responses to human rights abuses of LGBT persons abroad

5. engaging international organizations in the fight against LGBT discrimination.

Section 6 stipulates: “All agencies engaged abroad shall prepare a report within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, and annually thereafter, on their progress toward advancing these initiatives,” while section 7 enumerates the agencies (including State, Homeland Security, DOD, and USAID).

From the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Assistant Secretary Michael Posner tweeted that “we have committed more than $3 million to start the fund, and we have hope that others will join us in supporting it.” Clinton also announced the creation of a guide that will be sent to all US Embassies to provide them with tools to support civil society actors advocate for LGBT rights.

The Secretary’s speech comes at a critical time. As global economies falter, and governments continue to cut funding for education, tolerance, and human rights programming in the name of austerity, she reminded us that “those who advocate for expanding the circle of human rights were and are on the right side of history.” She provided a rebuttal to those who say we cannot afford to do so: in fact, we can no longer afford to give governments a pass when they do not protect fundamental human rights (including the US local, state, and national governments) and our foreign policy cannot ignore governments that systemically violate the rights of their people.

To follow the ongoing conversation online, visit twitter and #Dignity4All

5 Comments

  • Barak December 6, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    I’m underwhelmed. I have no specific problem with this policy – in fact I support it. My concern is that it will turn out to be little more than empty rhetoric. (Remember “internet freedom”? What happened to that? What about the Presidential Directive against violence? I suspect no one outside of a small group of people at State and USAID have ever heard of it.) From the perspective of someone who follows project funds and policy rhetoric, what I see is that the ratio of the former to the latter is sufficiently low for me to ignore these types of “commitments.”

  • Liza Prendergast December 6, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    I think rhetoric matters, particularly when the Secretary is taking a position that is controversial in some circles (look at how vehemently Senator McCain opposed the repeal of DADT, for example). It is also more than rhetoric to require the agencies to produce reports in 180 days time on the integration of LGBT rights in programming. The one part I’m not yet sold on is the toolkit that will go to US embassies – unless people are trained and buy into using it (or are required to use it to justify funding), it might be filed in the dusty directive cabinet.

  • Barak December 6, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    Repeal of DADT wasn’t a rhetorical change – it changed the law. In addition, reports on programs may or may not amount to anything – it’s hard to tell. Besides, LGBT may or may not be relevant for any given set of programs. Is this the issue we most want to focus on in Somalia? DR Congo? South Sudan? Seems to me we need to prioritize – hi-falutin rhetoric doesn’t do a very good job of this.

  • Liza Prendergast December 6, 2011 at 10:00 pm

    Dialogue and discourse matter, especially at that level – the question is not whether LGBT issues are relevant to a specific program, but whether they have been taken into account. A whole of government approach that integrates a recognition that LGBT rights are human rights does help change the discourse that defines communities as “others.” Does it mean diverting funding away from DDR in South Sudan? No. But it does mean agencies are told to make an effort to understand LGBT issues within a country as a factor in programming, just as they do with women’s rights.

  • Barak December 7, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    Ha! I like that you use military a term “whole of government approach” to explain the point!

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Founded in 2004, Democracy and Society is a biannual print journal published by the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University. The D&S Blog provides web-only content, including special reports and investigative series, on issues relating to democracy and development.

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