 So I think that General Kelly and Admiralty would agree that every time we talk about human rights in Southern Command, we talk about it as a North Star. And I think it's a bright shining light that we have put emphasis on. And since we're celebrating the 25 years of this initiative, it really tells you how hard-hitting and how important that it is. But it can't just be us leading the way here. It takes everybody piling on. And that's why this whole group that's here today is really, really important to this initiative. But broadly speaking, most of us in this room defend our countries through our support and defense of our constitutions. We do this so that our fellow citizens can freely exercise their human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. More specifically, while providing this vital defense, we recognize that we can never, regardless of the threat, rescind or violate our fellow citizens' human rights. Governments don't grant human rights. We recognize value and protect them, but we don't grant them. With that as our foundation, I want to take us back to February of 1996, when Southcom's commitment to this North Star took on a new form. In 1995, the Defense Ministerial of the Americas had taken place in Williamsburg, Virginia. Representatives from 34 democratic governments committed to the Williamsburg principles, which affirm that Latin America and Caribbean armed forces must respect human rights and subordinate themselves to civilian and constitutional authority. Five years later, the UN published Resolution 1325, detailing the importance of women's human rights and gender equality. It recognizes their importance to the maintenance of international peace and security. Women's peace and security is also now its own office here in Southcom, and we, on all my travels, as I visit the region and travel to all the countries, I want to thank the chiefs of defense, the ministers, and the militaries, all that you do to help support that initiative. And I must report that we are making really great progress and really proud of the accomplishments that you've achieved. Southcom's Human Rights Division worked with the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, who is represented here today to organize the first human rights conference. 186 participants attended, including six ministerial level leaders and eight senior defense officials. This was and is a reflection of the commitment to democracy in our hemisphere. A commitment we share with the 32 nations in our Western Hemisphere that our democracies, a quarter of the century of human rights labor followed that first conference, and over that time, some of the most notable human rights advancements in partner nation militaries have been the creation of the human rights offices and the ministries of defense, as well as joint staffs, the establishment of human rights policies and doctrine, the establishment of human rights schools, training centers, and curricula, increased transparency and cooperation with civilian-led investigations, dialogue with civil society, education and training on women, peace, and security, and the development and use of rules for the use of force that integrate internationally recognized human rights norms. Perhaps most importantly, these accomplishments did not occur independently within national contexts. They occurred within partnerships and within our own shared neighborhood. Under the Human Rights Initiative, we have convened over 30 regional or sub-regional events, and we have learned each other's lessons. Several countries like Columbia and Dominican Republic represented here today opened their human rights educational institutions to others. At Southcom, we've long regarded respect for human rights as an integral component of military professionalism, a shared core value that unites us and unites us all. Human rights is a guiding principle. Our North Star, it's in everything that we do. Emphasizing respect for human rights is a common value that unites military forces serving the democracies of the Western Hemisphere. Despite our progress, the protection of human rights is an enduring struggle. The noteworthy accomplishments I cited earlier, they don't come easily for sure. Shortly, you'll hear from Leanna Bresnahan on the many challenges we have faced over the last 25 years. Hi, Leanna. And 25 years from now, others will convene in our places, maybe even here at Southcom, to celebrate progress and chart courses to engage the challenges of their day. But we want them to be further along than we are today. 25 years after the beginning of the Human Rights Initiative, our democracies are facing some of their greatest challenges as we see. Around the globe, human rights violations continue to occur from Russia and the People's Republic of China to here in our own region by authoritarian regimes in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. These human rights violations do not contain themselves politically. They bleed across borders, across oceans, and they affect us all. Sometimes our human rights challenges have roots close to home. As we will hear during this afternoon's panels, many partner nation militaries have been and are being called to support roles and functions that are not traditional for military forces. Migration has been a great destabilizer in the region, as we know, and military support to migration management is increasingly necessary and is being directed. And it shouldn't be lost on any of us that this migration has largely been fueled by regional governments that systematically violate human rights. Similarly, the specter of corruption is never far off. Whether the temptation to corruption comes through transnational criminal organized crime or extra regional actors makes no difference. Every corrupt act elevates personal interests over the interests of societies we serve and that we defend. These acts threaten the equal protection under the law do as a basic human right to every person, and they erode the public trust that is indispensable to the military forces of constitutional democracies. Today's event is so important. It's a chance for us not just to discuss safeguarding human rights, it's a chance to roll up our sleeves and get more work done with the great people in this room and their great ideas. We can continue supporting non-traditional defense roles that take on this mission as well as current and future challenges to respect for human rights on the part of military and security forces. Human rights is not a one and done. You don't do it one time and we've accomplished everything that we need to accomplish. Creating a culture of respect, training that adequately prepares our service members, and a strict system by which we hold ourselves accountable all require long-term commitment and effort. We have to set the bar and we must show others that what respect for human rights looks like. We have to show what right looks like. We are committed to long-term partnerships based on shared values and to support our partners in strengthening human rights programs. And so doing a network of military forces committed to democratic forces. A network of military forces committed to democratic values and human rights respect has come into being. We value that network and look to strengthen and then also expand it. This shared commitment and vision and long-term partnership is what distinguishes this region as one of the great promise for a more prosperous and peach school future. Human rights has manifested in the Human Rights Initiative has been our North Star for 25 years. And may the North Star continue to guide us today, tomorrow, and always. Thank you very much. Again, I look forward to all the great work we're going to get done today, the great conversations. It's not just the presentations that we have today and the panels that we're going to have this afternoon, but it's also the discussion that we have through our relationships and our bonds of friendship for the commitment for our shared neighborhood. And so I look forward to, again, the great discussions. And thank you all for being here. Really, really appreciate it. I'm very grateful. Thank you.