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[MUSIC]
GASIM BADRI: Michael Posner, the Assistant Secretary of State for
the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Mr. Posner
MICHAEL POSNER: First, I want to wish you all a happy and blessed Ramadan.
At this time of self-reflection and renewal, I am especially pleased to be invited here.
I wanted to come to Afhad Women’s University today to speak to you, but also to listen and to engage with you in a dialogue.
So I am going to make some brief remarks and then I want to invite you to ask questions.
I believe that Sudanese youth, and particularly Sudanese women, can and must play a leading role
in building peace, stability, and broad-based economic growth in your country.
I hope that some of you will do this within your government, but that all of you will do it as members of civil society.
The United States government and particularly my boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have been emphasizing the importance of civil society
in crafting strong constitutions, building stable societies and developing sustainable democracies.
In our country, and in a growing number of countries around the world,
it is no longer unusual for young people to work in non-governmental organizations — NGOs — and then go into government.
And after serving in government, many go back to become active in civil society.
As you may know, Secretary Clinton began her career in an NGO. She was a lawyer for the Children’s Defense Fund.
And President Obama started his political career as a community organizer in my hometown of Chicago.
In these roles, both of them represented vulnerable populations, and both urged the U.S. Government to serve its citizens better.
Now, that’s not to say that in a democracy, governments and NGOs always see eye-to-eye. They don’t — and they shouldn’t.
But there is a common recognition that it takes the work of many different kinds of citizen groups to improve democracy and governance.
They do it by informing governments about issues that may not yet have hit their radar -- become known -- to busy officials.
They do it by advocating for vulnerable people whose needs are not being met through existing government programs or policies.
And they do it by pushing government to do better, to work more efficiently, to spend its time and resources on issues that matter most to people.
And they do it by holding those of us in government accountable for our actions.
These functions are indispensible. I say this from a personal experience.
I began my career, as Dr. Badri said, as a lawyer and then did human rights work with an NGO for more than 30 years before joining the government.
Over these three decades, I have been able to see with my own eyes how the interplay between civil society and government
has helped countries emerge from conflict and corruption and become stronger.
Let me give you a couple of examples
When I first started working in sub-Saharan Africa in the mid-1970s, there were virtually no human rights NGOs in this region
except for in South Africa and Zimbabwe, which was then called Rhodesia.
Now there are civil society groups working on human rights and many other issues in every part of this continent.
They are trying to turn weak democracies into truly representative and strong ones,
and make strong democracies grow more transparent and responsive.
But unfortunately in too many countries there are still burdensome restrictions on civil society organizations.
The new constitution that was adopted in Kenya last year was the result of a decade-long struggle by civil society and government
to create a constitution based on the rule of law and respect for human rights.
[TITLE]
DR. BADRI: [INAUDIBLE]
STUDENT: This will focus mainly on the youth and civil society and will help them gain Internet freedom.
So, my question is, will this influence the technological [restrictions] that our Facebook have now,
which are facing great restrictions on our Internet freedom and our ability to communicate with civil society
[INAUDIBLE] in other countries and how to improve our civil society.
MICHALEL POSNER: The young people, if your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.
What I think, we don't have expectations of you that are any different than your expectations should be or your family's expectations.
We know that young people here, and everywhere, want both economic opportunity and a job.
And they want a share of their society -- to play a role in the political future of their society.
They want to be treaty with dignity. So, I just urge you all to think about the contribution you can make.
To get involved, as I say, to get involved in civil society, to get involved in government, but to play a role in making this a better, stronger, society.
We all have to do that. I do it in my society. My hope and expectation is that people in this audience will do the same.
The world has opportunities today that it hasn't had in a long time -- we are more connected, there's more ways to learn about what others are doing.
But, it is up to each of you in your own soul, your own heart, to decide how much time and energy you are going to spend to make this a stronger society.
And that's my hope that you would do that.
On the issue of, the first three questions of, how much we can help with the constitution, we are certainly looking at and watching closely what the process will be for the constitution.
I think our hope certainly is that it is inclusive and participatory, that it includes a bill of rights.
Again it is a Sudanese constitution, as the Kenyan is and ours is, but the process of deciding what it says is really critical.
And that is part of the discussion we've had here with the government -- inclusive, participatory, democratic process.
Second, in terms of learning about civil society in the U.S., we've just created a website -- I hope it's not subject to some of those sanctions you described --
but it is called HumanRights.gov and it is part of our State Department effort to give a broader sense of some of the things we are saying and doing
It is also a way for us to reflect on some of things that are happening in our own society. Again, it is HumanRights.gov
And in terms of scope and definition, Secretary Clinton gave a speech in Washington that defines, I think, what we are talking about
Among the elements she mentioned were a robust open civil society, a free press, rule of law, independence of the judiciary,
transparency, accountability, and free elections. All of those things -- and free access to the Internet, I'm coming back to that in a minute.
So, I think for us, again, trying to put those pieces together is really how we would define sustainable democracy with civil society being a central element of that
In terms of the access to the Internet, the Secretary has given two major speeches on Internet freedom
We are doing a lot to support programs that both train activists on how to use the Internet in a way that makes it more accessible --
we've trained 5000 activists in all parts of the world.
The notion for us is not that we want impose an American, or U.S., view of the world,
but that there ought to be a neutral open Internet that is available to all.
So, if you are a medical student here in Sudan, you ought to have access to whatever materials you need to complete your studies
and to learn about what is being studied and researched around the world.
If you are a business person, you ought to have access to information that allows you to do your business.
If you are a human rights activists, you ought to be able to find out what is going on --
what are the comparative lessons on how countries have drafted constitutions or what are some of the challenges in war zones.
So our notion is, and this is something we are trying to promote diplomatically, politically as well as through providing some grants and assistance
for training and support and technology, is that the Internet ought to be an open platform that crosses borders without restrictions on content.
Obviously, there are areas like *** for children or terrorism -- there are some things we would say no to --
but those are reasonable restrictions. We think the Internet ought to be an open platform that allows people to communicate across the globe.
And that is one of the opportunities, again, of living in the twenty-first century, it really has opened the window for lots of ideas to cross borders.
Please, you've been waiting a long time.
Thank you all, some great questions, and I really enjoyed it.
[MUSIC]