U.S. Embassy Israel


Embassy Home	U.S. Citizen Services	Visas to the U.S.	Contact Us	Resources

Untitled Document

America Center Homepage

Collection

Resources

Legal Innovation in
the US (LINUS)

Negotiating a two
state solution

American Center

Civil and Constitutional Rights, Liberties, and Human Rights
Latest Statements, Briefings, and Hearings

Here are summaries of and links to recent web sites and documents relevant to Civil and Constitutional Rights, Liberties, and Human Rights

Remarks at the Forum for the Future
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, Marrakech, Morocco, November 3, 2009

As President Obama and I believe, it is results, not rhetoric, that matter in the end. Economic empowerment, education, healthcare, access to energy and to credit, these are the basics that all communities need to thrive. And the United States seeks to pursue these common aspirations through concrete actions. We know that true progress comes from within a society and cannot be imposed from the outside, and we know that change does not happen overnight. So we will not focus our energies on one-time projects, but we will seek to work with all of you in government and in civil society to try to build local capacity and empower local organizations and individuals to create sustainable change.
I have asked our Embassy to engage with local communities to solicit ideas for how the United States could be a better partner. I also appointed the first-ever U.S. Special Representative to Muslim communities. The ideas we have heard have helped to shape our plan. Farah Pandith, our new Special Representative, is traveling widely and listening and coming back and expressing the concerns that she has heard from those who are living and working for a better life.

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/11/131236.htm

Secretary Clinton Announces Civil Society 2.0 Initiative to Build Capacity of Grassroots Organizations
November 3, 2009

“Civil Society 2.0” includes the following components:
Deploying a team of experienced technologists to work with civil society organizations around the globe to provide training and support to build their digital capacity. The competencies developed in the trainings will include:
How to build a website
How to blog
How to launch a text messaging campaign
How to build an online community
How to leverage social networks for a cause
Partnering these technologists with local civil society organizations and governments to develop and implement technology-based solutions to local problems.
Publishing interactive “how to” programs and curriculum online to help organizations that do not have access to in-person assistance.
Creating a curated open platform that allows any citizen or company to develop, share or suggest content for the curriculum.
Allocating $5 million in grant funds for pilot programs in the Middle East and North Africa that will bolster the new media and networking capabilities of civil society organizations and promote online learning in the region.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/nov/131234.htm

Twitter against Tyrants: New Media in Authoritarian Regimes
Briefing at the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission), October 22, 2009

We must ensure that all closed-society residents have free and open access to the Internet. This is the surest and most cost-effective way to jumpstart
liberty. Indeed, the more the oppressed see and understand the real nature of their regime and the more they share with the outside world, the more power they will have to determine their own future. This is a key effort on our part to open up the Internet to regimes and to the people in these regimes that suppress their action and their access to it.
So it’s my hope that hearings like this, today, will help us in getting funding for groups that provide access to Internet, to Twitter, to Facebook, to other
social media, that we can provide that and help these, in many cases, very difficult operations that people are putting together on private dollars to
open up the Internet to people that don’t have access to it themselves. So I hope that we can do that. I want to thank the panel very much for allowing me
to come in a little bit late and put forward that statement, and I look forward to hearing some of the comments from other individuals here.

Updated: Tuesday, November 10, 2009.