[…] For years, the people of Sudan have faced enormous and unacceptable hardship. The genocide in Darfur has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and left millions more displaced. Conflict in the region has wrought more suffering, posing dangers beyond Sudan’s borders and blocking the potential of this important part of Africa. Sudan is now poised to fall further into chaos if swift action is not taken.

[…] Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton unveiled a “comprehensive” U.S. policy for resolving the conflicts in Sudan, focused on ending human rights abuses and genocide in the Darfur region, fully implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and ensuring Sudan does not become a haven for violent extremists.

[…] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said an international investigation is needed into the killings and rapes by Guinean security forces against peaceful protesters and bystanders at a stadium in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, saying “there should be no impunity” for the perpetrators. “We were appalled and outraged by the recent violence in Guinea.

[…] The first session of U.S. participation in the United Nations Human Rights Council has been “a terrific learning experience,” and although the United States will not always agree with the body’s opinion, “it’s important that we’re in there defending the values we hold dear,” says Esther Brimmer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs.

[…] Gration is traveling to Sudan September 9–14 and is visiting Juba, Boma, Darfur and Khartoum. His travel comes as the United States is near announcing a new policy on Sudan, and the troubled Darfur region. The talks in Juba center on resolving issues over a census, which is essential to holding elections, and on preparations for a self-determination referendum. National elections are scheduled for 2010 and a referendum on southern independence for 2011.

[…] Today the United Nations General Assembly elected the United States to a three-year term on the UN Human Rights Council.
The promotion and protection of human rights is a fundamental value for our own society and, as such, an integral element of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice are pleased with the outcome of the election and eager to take up the important work of the Council.

[…] Speaking with reporters at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, Rice said, “While we recognize that the Human Rights Council has been a flawed body that has not lived up to its potential, we are looking forward to working from within with a broad cross section of member states to strengthen and reform the Human Rights Council and enable it to live up to the vision that was crafted when it was created.”

[…] This week marks the 15th commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It is a somber occasion that causes us to reflect upon the deaths of the more than 800,000 men, women, and children who were killed simply because of their ethnicity or their political beliefs.
The memory of these events also deepens our commitment to act when faced with genocide and to work with partners around the world to prevent future atrocities.

[…] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announce that the United States will seek a seat this year on the United Nations Human Rights Council with the goal of working to make it a more effective body to promote and protect human rights. The decision is in keeping with the Obama Administration's "new era of engagement" with other nations to advance American security interests.

[…] The United States believes that working within the U.N. Human Rights Council is the best way to improve the council’s goal of thwarting global human rights abuses, says the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice announced March 31 that the United States will seek a seat on the council this year.

[…] After Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan, he ordered 13 international aid groups expelled from the country in retaliation. The nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which are not involved with the ICC’s actions, were providing about 4.7 million people with foreign assistance for food, shelter and protection from an ongoing insurgency.

[…] “A disturbing number of countries imposed burdensome, restrictive or repressive laws and regulations against NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and the media, including the Internet,” the report says.

“Many courageous human rights defenders who peacefully pressed for their own rights and those of their fellow countrymen and women were harassed, threatened, arrested and imprisoned, killed or subjected to violent extrajudicial means of reprisal.”

[…] Ogni mese di febbraio, il Black History Month rende omaggio alle lotte e ai trionfi sugli ostacoli più devastanti – la schiavitù, i pregiudizi e la povertà – di milioni di cittadini americani e al loro contributo alla vita politica e culturale del paese. Nel 2009, l’insediamento di Barack Obama, il primo presidente afro-americano degli Stati Uniti, aggiunge al Black History Month un significato particolare. Obama ha prestato giuramento il 20 Gennaio, un giorno dopo la festa federale e nazionale che commemora Martin Luther King Jr.,. Il 15 gennaio l’ultimo leader del movimento per i diritti civili avrebbe compiuto 80 anni.

[…] Each February, Black History Month tells of the struggles of millions of American citizens over the most devastating obstacles -- slavery, prejudice, poverty -- and looks at their contributions to the nation’s cultural and political life. 2007 marks the 81st annual celebration since Carter G. Woodson, a noted scholar and historian, instituted Negro History Week in 1926. He chose the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln and the black 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

[…] Extraordinary results are possible when ordinary people work with dedicated volunteers to promote human dignity and freedom. The fellowship program at the University of Minnesota’s Human Rights Center allows Americans from every walk of life to spend 10 weeks working with nongovernmental organizations to promote human rights. Four of 27 participants in the center’s 2008 Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellowship Program recently shared some of their experiences with America.gov.

[…] The three-day-old administration of Barack Obama has spoken out on a broad range of human rights concerns in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia. Kyle Scott, charge d’affairs at the U.S. mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), made five statements January 22 on human rights issues in several OSCE-participating states. U.S. officials say the number of statements reflects the backup of business following the winter break and do not necessarily reflect a change in policy or emphasis on the part of the Obama administration.

[…] King was among those champions of justice whose influence transcended national boundaries. A student of the philosophy and principles of nonviolence enunciated by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), King in 1959 traveled to India, where he studied further the legacy of the man his widow, Coretta Scott King, later would call his “political mentor.” Nelson Mandela, accepting the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, similarly credited King as his predecessor in the effort to resolve justly the issues of racism and human dignity.

[…] It took some courage for Clara Van Gerven to become a volunteer with the Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (ASTT). The Baltimore-based nonprofit organization is dedicated to providing counseling, social welfare and referral services to torture survivors, who, once they reach the United States, may need help with restoring normal, productive lives. “I was terrified to begin,” Van Gerven told America.gov. “It’s really kind of scary to interact with people who have been through so much.”

[…] The United States condemns the closing of the Center for the Defense of Human Rights and urges Iranian authorities to allow this and similar civil society organizations to operate free of oppression. On December 21, Iranian authorities closed down the civil society organization of Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi just prior to a ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

[…] The United States welcomes UN General Assembly Resolution 63/191 adopted on December 18 calling upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to fully respect its human rights obligations, and to abolish, in particular, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, and juvenile and public executions, including stonings, carried out in disregard of due process and other safeguards.

[…] "For too long, the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder, and rape of innocent civilians. My Administration has called these actions by their rightful name: genocide. The world has a responsibility to help put an end to it. ... I promise this to the people of Darfur: the United States will not avert our eyes from a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world."