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Bill of Rights Day 2000
- Presidential Proclamation December
2000
- Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day,
and Human Rights Week, 2000
President Clinton says
globalization and the information technology revolution are making it
possible for people who are fighting for human rights in disparate
places around the world to talk to one another and learn from one
another.
"There is hope for the future," the president said in a
proclamation on Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day and Human Rights
Week.
He said the Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights are "a pledge written on our conscience and to oppressed
people everywhere, so that they too will some day know the meaning of
dignity and the blessing of human rights."
Following is the text of Clinton's proclamation:
On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified. A century and a
half later, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly
adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Though separated by
more than 150 years, these two documents are not dusty relics of a
distant past -- the ideas they so powerfully express continue to shape
the destiny of individuals and nations across the globe.
Because the rights guaranteed by these documents, such as freedom of
conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom from
arbitrary arrest, are such an inherent part of America's history and
national character, we at times may take them for granted. We
sometimes forget that people elsewhere in the world are suffering,
struggling, and even dying because these rights are denied them by
oppressive governments. In countries such as Afghanistan, Burma, and
the Sudan, men and women are harassed, arrested, and executed for
worshipping according to their conscience. In many corners of the
world, modern-day slavery still exists, with criminals trafficking in
women and children and profiting from their servitude.
But there is hope for the future. Globalization and the revolution in
information technology are helping to break down the former barriers
of geography and official censorship. People fighting for human rights
in disparate places around the world can talk to one another, learn
from one another, and shine the light of public scrutiny on the dark
corners of the world. Free nations can work in concert to combat human
rights abuses, as the United States did last spring when we joined
with the Philippines and more than 20 other Asian and Pacific nations
to develop a regional action plan to combat trafficking in persons and
protect trafficking victims.
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., once said that the arc of the
moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. We have seen the
truth of that statement in the history of America, where each
generation has strived to live up to our founders' vision of human
dignity: that we are all created equal and that we all have the right
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But that statement
holds true for the world's history as well; in our own lifetime, we
have seen the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of democracy in
the Cold War. More people live in freedom today than at any other time
in history.
But that march toward freedom is not inevitable; it is advanced by
individual acts of courage and will; by the strong voices of people
refusing to be silenced by their oppressors; by the willingness of
free people and free nations to defend the rights of men, women, and
children. Heroes like Lech Walesa in Poland, Vaclav Havel in the Czech
Republic, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, and Aung San Suu Kyi in
Burma are powerful reminders of how precious our human rights are and
how high the cost is to sustain them. The Bill of Rights and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights that we celebrate this week are
not merely proud words preserved on paper; they are a pledge written
on our consciences and to oppressed people everywhere, so that they
too will some day know the meaning of dignity and the blessing of
human rights.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States
of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim
December 10, 2000, as Human Rights Day; December 15, 2000, as Bill of
Rights Day; and the week beginning December 10, 2000, as Human Rights
Week. I call upon the people of the United States to celebrate these
observances with appropriate activities, ceremonies, and programs that
demonstrate our national commitment to the Bill of Rights, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and promotion and protection of
human rights for all people.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of
December, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-fifth.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
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The Bill of Rights
