 Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, depending on what part of the world you're joining us from. My name is Timothy Cain, Associate Director of Inclusion Initiatives at the George Washington University, and my gender pronouns are he, him, and his. I'll be moderating this discussion today that features top human rights diplomats here at the US Department of State. As we celebrate Human Rights Week in the lead up to Human Rights Day on December 10th, we are hosting this event to highlight the importance of inclusion democracy. This event and this program are an opportunity to recognize that human beings are entitled to certain fundamental rights, regardless of race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or any other feature of human diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, LGBTI persons, and other marginalized populations are increasingly exercising their rights to participate in the political process, and civil society continues to be a catalyst for social, political, and economic change. Today we are pleased to be joined by Judy Heumann from the State Department's International Disability Rights Office, Randy Berry from the Office for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons, Sean Casey from the Office of Religion and Global Affairs, and Ambassador Keith Harper, the US permanent representative to the UN Human Rights Council. Each of these leaders has worked with foreign government officials and civil society to demonstrate our country's commitment to advancing the human rights of all people, not just here at home, but abroad as well. We're also joined today by a featured viewing group at the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, who'll be asking the panelists questions and sharing their perspectives. Those of you viewing online can also ask questions by submitting them in the chat space next to the video player or tweeting them using the hashtag democracy for all. I would like to start by asking each of our panelists to briefly explain their role and what they've encountered during their time with the State Department, traveling the world, and working on these critical issues. Special Ambassador Heumann, would you mind starting? Thank you, and very happy to be here with all of this great panel, and for the audience that's viewing us today. So my position as special advisor was created by the Obama administration. That in and of itself, I think, was a very powerful statement around the world in the disability community, basically showing that disabled people are part of the human rights agenda worldwide. This position also came about because of efforts from the disability community within the United States, saying that they felt that the voices of disabled people were not being appropriately integrated into our broader agenda. We have, as a result of that, had very positive opportunities, meeting with governments and disability rights organizations, and also being able to integrate a broader discussion in the area of disability. So all of the panelists today are people that we have worked within the past because we're working on getting people to recognize the fact that disabled people are across every aspect of the human life spectrum. So we have people who are from the LGBTI community, different religious communities, women, people with all types of disabilities, but we've been really, I think, in a very unique position where not only has this position been created, but I'm very well known internationally as a disability rights advocate. So it was very clear that in selecting me, could have been another person too, but in selecting an advocate that our government really wanted to put a very strong statement forward, that the rights of disabled people, strong civil society, good governance, rule of law are what we're all about. Thank you very much, Judy. Special envoy Barry. Thank you, and I'd like to also just add my welcome to our viewers and for those embassies and viewing audiences that are joining us. Back in 2011, the administration first began to work on issues related to the basic fundamental human rights of LGBTI persons as a policy priority for the very first time. In early 2015, Secretary of State John Kerry appointed me to a new role that was created to use an office of a special envoy to elevate and to broaden our conversations about the realities facing members of the LGBTI community globally. In the intervening months between April of 2015 and now, I've had the chance to travel to 50 countries in every part of the world to really engage in a core set of conversations that are constructive, that are rational, that are rooted in the reality that we know that what we are talking about in terms of fundamental protections and respect for the equal rights of this community really is based in an issue of identity and immutable elements of a person's individuality. When I travel, I've had the chance really to have some amazing conversations, but at the heart of that are interactions with government representatives in each of the countries where I've traveled in the opportunity to interact with civil society leaders who are working for tremendous change in some very, very challenging environments, but also to engage in conversations with leaders in communities of faith, to engage in conversations with business leaders because these issues of fundamental basic fairness have broad, broad ramifications in so many areas. The core of our work on the human rights of LGBTI persons really resides in two key aspects. One of those is to do what we can in working with our partners all across that spectrum to decrease levels of violence that we see against members of the community because we know that in nearly every society anywhere in the world, we see rates of violence that are much higher against members of this community than exists in the general population. And then second, to work on issues of discrimination which often lead to the greater marginalization of members of this community, so equality of access to healthcare, to housing, to employment, to education. So these are the two pillars of our engagement. Thanks, Randy. Special Representative, Sean Casey. Thank you, Timothy. It's also a pleasure for me to be here with you. Like both my friends, Randy and Judy, Secretary Kerry invited me to come into the administration in my case to launch the Office of Religion and Global Affairs in early 2013. And what I wanna talk about are four areas where our office has looked at and worked with human rights specialists and communities. So we've worked in a variety of policy areas but we have focused a lot of our energy frankly in four spaces in the human rights community. One of the first people I met in the State Department was in fact Judy Heumann. I think my second or third day in the State Department. And Secretary Kerry asked me to help bring religious communities into the discussion around the rights of persons with disabilities. And we were looking at a U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at that point. So Judy and I did a lot of outreach to American religious communities raising awareness. And frankly, it was a bit shocking to see how low the awareness really was in a lot of American religious communities. And to talk to them about how the rights of people with disabilities around the world would be enhanced if indeed we got Senate approval of this particular convention. The second area we've done a lot of work on is an anti-Semitism around the world. The Special Envoy to Monitoring Combat Anti-Semitism I Reform and Works in our office. And one of the disturbing trends we've seen in that space particularly in Europe has been not only the increase in the numbers of anti-Semitic events but the nature of those events become more public and they become more violent. So we see some disturbing trends there. We've done a lot of work researching best practices. What kind of grassroots civil society groups are doing effective combating of anti-Semitism there. The third area where we've done a lot of work is combating the rise of Islamophobia. Again, around the world but also in the United States. The Special Representative for Muslim Communities works in our office, Shariq Zafar. And Shariq has spent a lot of time both domestically and globally trying to make the argument that indeed discrimination against Muslims simply on the basis of their religious belief is not acceptable as a violation of basic fundamental human rights. And the last area is we've teamed with Randy in his office working on the rights of LGBTI. One of the things we've done collaboratively is we have run a civil society interest group on the rights of LGBTI and religious communities. Because as is often the case, sadly, religious communities are sometimes part of the problem with respect to violating rights, but they're also gonna be a key to solving the violation of human rights. So with the civil society group, we've developed a toolkit which is going out to US diplomatic posts all around the world to train staff on how we advocate for reducing violence against LGBTI folk as well as discrimination in public and in the workplace. So religion is one of those multi-valent forces. It can be a very, very powerful force for good, but at times it can be a counterproductive force when it comes to human rights. So a central focus of our effort the last three and a half years has been looking at the promotion of a wide array of basic fundamental human rights around the world. Well, thank you, Sean. And lastly, Ambassador Harper, can you share a bit about your role? Well, first, Timothy, thank you for having me here. It's an honor and I'm the US representative to the UN Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council is the principal body within the multilateral within multilateralism to advance the promotion of the protection of human rights in all its manifestations. We do that principally through passing resolutions that take various action. So for countries where there are particularly dire human rights circumstances, we may pass a resolution that appoints a rapporteur or appoints an independent expert or appoints a commission of inquiry. And they will point a spotlight on these particularly challenging situations. In other circumstances, we address particular issues such as the ensuring that LGBTI persons are freed from violence and discrimination. And over time, working with governments to establish best practices to ensure that wherever these kind of discriminatory practices arise where there is violence that they are addressed and working with states to address those issues. Whether that be the advancement of women's rights or the rights of indigenous peoples or issues like freedom of expression or freedom of religion and belief. We work with colleagues from around the world from every region. And most of our resolutions are consensus. Sometimes we have work that is a little bit more contentious but we make every effort to try to work with partners from around the world. And usually with great success in achieving key objectives in pursuing human rights. It is all based on the fundamental and core belief in the words of President Obama that human rights is the cornerstone of American foreign policy. And that is because human rights sort forms the foundation for a more prosperous and secure world. Thank you, Ambassador. Now, before we jump into questions from Nairobi and the larger global online audience, I wanted to ask the panelists to briefly describe the most significant achievement in your tenure at the Department of State. Judy, would you mind starting? I don't think I have one achievement but what I'd like to say is I think our achievement is really getting disability to be more visible across the institution. So it's our expectation that there are a fair number of individuals now our foreign service officers, locally employed staff and civil service officers who previously did not look at disability with what we would call a disability human rights lens. And so we've seen, for example, in the human rights reports that come out every year, there is a provision in their under section six on disability. The reporting has gotten much better. That's really the result of work of people in the field who are talking to disabled people in their various organizations to learn about what the problems are and the solutions. Some specific things that we've done, I feel really good about work that we did with Ethiopia. They approached us because they were building the first light rail system in all of Africa and asked for assistance. And we were able to link them up to a US agency that works on this. And I was back in Ethiopia a year or so ago and actually rode on an accessible light rail system with ramps and elevators. And that is something quite tangible. I think also we've very much supported the voices of disabled people and spoken out very clearly with governments that have been putting practices in place that are restricting the space for civil society organizations to be able to develop because in all of our areas, but speaking about disability, the failure to have organizations which are established and run by disabled individuals who can really put forward solutions to problems has an adverse effect on the governments overall and their ability. 168 countries have ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This administration, while we haven't been able to ratify it yet, very much is in support of this. So our efforts to work with civil society groups and governments around the world to get the CRPD effectively implemented has been, I think, one of our other accomplishments. Terrific, thank you Judy. Randy, would you be able to describe one of your most significant achievements? Well, you know, Timothy, when you're working on an issue, I think, which at its foundation goes back to an issue that Judy raised, and that's one of visibility. You have to understand that we're working on very long-term, broad change, and a lot of that really relies on very patient, constructive conversations that extend over time. For that reason, it's hard really oftentimes to point to a single accomplishment, but what I would say, one of the phenomena that I'm really proud that we have had, I think, a prominent role in, is really in the internationalization of this conversation that the leadership on LGBTI understanding and issues really is a conversation that is occurring globally, and really to use our leverage, our ability to speak, to fundamentally promote that concept. The reality is that the leadership that's been shown in international organizations has not been defined by solely countries that I think were on the right side of this 20 years ago, that some of the greatest leadership that we've seen as Ambassador Harper knows on LGBTI issues at the Human Rights Council, for example, has been demonstrated by the Latin American group that is continually growing and I think being more resourceful in their engagements, and we're very happy to support that. So we see such really promising developments really throughout Latin America, I think emerging leadership in Asia and Africa, particularly from the civil society component, that to play our role in really making sure we understand this as a universal human rights issue and not a niche issue, not something that is culturally or situationally defined, I think that's the evolution that I've been most happy to see occur under my watch. Sean, how about in your area of religious global outreach? I love Judy's verb, mainstreaming. We, I think in our suite, we talk about engaging religious actors with a degree of sophistication and understanding and assessing religious dynamics at the local and country level. I think in our three and a half short years, we now advise the secretary, he relies on our analysis. We also have empowered posts to know which religious actors to engage and how to do it in a more sophisticated way. We have visited dozens, you know, of our relatively roughly 200 posts, we've probably visited over 100 of them and engaged the staff to increase the knowledge and how you understand and approach religion in all of its glory and all of its not-so-glorious elements. And then the last piece of that, I think, is we are a point of contact where any external actor, whether they're a religious person or religious community and NGO or a scholar, can come and interact with us and partner with us. And we have literally met tens of thousands of individuals and groups around the world in our three short years. All under the rubric, I think, of mainstreaming a more sophisticated approach to religion and diplomacy. Great, thank you. Ambassador Harper, would you like to address what you think would be one of your most significant achievements? Sure, Timothy, I have to admit that for me, it's sort of a question like, which one of my children do I love most? So it's a little challenging. But I think I'm proud of a lot of the work that we've done in collaboration with many of our partners from around the globe. Let me sort of identify two, one on the country-specific side, Sri Lanka. I mean, this was a country that had a awful end of the conflict with the Tamil Tigers, the LTTE, where there were mass atrocities that were not being investigated. And through consistent pressure by the United States working with key partners, we're able to push the government to change the political mix in Sri Lanka with the election of President Suresena. And now they're on a path to have accountability, a path to reconciliation. And I think a far brighter future for the Sri Lankan people. It's still two steps forward, one step back, but at least they're on that path. And the United States is gonna continue to work with them on that. On the other area, again, as Randy Berry was mentioning, we're certainly very proud of the work that we've done in partnership with our friends from Latin America on LGBTI rights. This is a subject that in multilateral fora not too long ago was essentially taboo. But through efforts of the United States and our partners, we have passed a series of resolution. And most recently, this past June established an independent expert, an individual who will regularize consideration of the rights of LGBTI persons to be free from discrimination and violence at every session of the Human Rights Council and that will be doing reporting to ensure that we can address this issue in a more comprehensive, effective and a sustainable way. Great, thank you, Ambassador. Now let's go to our viewing group, join us at the U.S. Embassy Nairobi. Good morning and good evening, Nairobi. U.S. Embassy Nairobi is pleased to host today representatives of Kenya's vibrant civil society, including DPOs and human rights organizations, alumni of U.S. State Department programs, as well as U.N. and foreign mission counterparts. For our first question, I'd like to give the microphone to Peter. Please introduce yourself, Peter. Okay, my name is Peter Mosheri from League of Persons with Disability. My question is this, what local opportunity does the American government have for persons with disability and democracy? Okay, so Judy, would you be able to address Peter's question? Well, certainly we'll give it a start. Nice to see you, Peter. There are many various programs that the department has and one thing I would suggest is that if you haven't already, speak to people in the public affairs, public diplomacy portion of the embassy who can give you greater details, but broadly speaking, the United States has programs like our IVLPs, our visitors' leadership programs, the visitors' leadership programs bring people to the United States, disabled and non-disabled individuals with particular focus on the purpose of the trips and we've seen an increasing number of disabled people participating in those programs. They're English language programs that the embassy has where they work in more rural communities, typically helping individuals learn English. There are various opportunities, Africa in particular, because of the Mandela Fellowship Program or the YALI program, which quite frankly I think has been a major success for the United States and something that the Africa region overall should be very proud of. When I came in six and a half years ago, there were no disabled people participating in those programs, particularly the Mandela Program. This year there were 68 disabled individuals who participated. I think that in and of itself shows a commitment across our embassies. So another opportunity is also looking at ways that you can be participating at the national level within Kenya and continentally to develop voices of disabled individuals who are putting forth a message speaking about the importance of effective implementation of the CRPD, sharing information with our embassies about problems that are going on and successes getting governments to develop and implement effective legislation. So for me, and Kenya is a great example of some really dynamic people who are working in the embassy who are very interested in moving the inclusion of disabled people as a part of our human rights agenda. Well, thank you, Judy, and thank you, Peter, for your important question. Nairobi, do you have another question that you would like to offer the panelists? Yes. Thank you. This is Faye Flaunjira from Handicap International. Good morning. My name is Faye Flaunjira from Handicap International here in Nairobi and I'm also a Mandela Washington fellow 2015. My question goes more specifically to, we know that the United States has these policies that have tried to reduce the discrimination against minority groups, people with disabilities, the LGBT communities, and even religious minorities. So is there plans or what do you see as possible ways of applying those good lessons that you have back there and using your missions to the different countries to help us in these countries to advance and also use the ATOPSE skills and whatever strategies you've gotten to also run for issues in the normal countries. Thank you. Thank you. My question was, here in the United States we have worked very hard on developing promising practices to address civil rights in different areas and how could those practices be adapted and adopted and improved in international settings? I'm keen to take on that one. I think going back to a couple of the things that have been very, very clear is the fact that for Sean, for Ambassador Harper, for Judy and I, it should be no surprise to any of you that we know each other extremely well and we work together very, very closely. The reality is that at its core, at its base, the policies that we are working on to protect whether it's members, the rights of members of the disability community, whether it's the LGBT community, whether it's based on race or ethnicity or religious belief, these are all fundamental markers of individuality. These are basic freedoms that we're working on. And I think one thing that certainly has been very, very empowering from my perspective and I think can be very, very effective in other contexts is to understand that although your more parochial issues might be a bit different than your brothers and sisters working on adjacent issues, it's really understand what that fundamental basis is and the fact that really, Judy and I are working on exactly the same issue just with a focus in two separate communities, but at its core, it's on the same issue. That Sean and Judy and I, all of us are working on this same basic question which is on the issue of basic equality and dignity under the law. And it's that simple. So I think what that tells us is to look for your partnerships to understand that broader context, to support your friends working in adjacent space, particularly in civil society. And I think you maximize your ability and your reach and your understanding simultaneously. We struggle with this as a country ourselves. It's not that we have settled all of these human rights questions permanently in the United States. All of these issues are debated vigorously in the United States, but we do have a strong civil society. So on this range of issue sets, we do have American communities that have wrestled and who help support us that when we do go internationally, they have lessons that we can draw from. Many of them have international partners in their own issue space. So in essence, the strength of civil society helps the United States government both internally, domestically, but also internationally speak and wrestle. You know, it's my personal view. I would love to live in a world where all of these human rights were respected and they were beyond reproach and no one ever questioned their validity. But the reality of the world is that these are contested in different ways and in different communities. But we, I think as citizens and as employees of the government, we draw a lot of sustenance from civil society, both domestically and internationally. So in many ways, it's a two-party conversation at a minimum. It's actually a rich tapestry of voices that come together. And we have to be honest when we travel internationally that the United States, for instance, we wrestle with religiously-based discrimination among many others. And I'm keenly aware of this when I travel where different religious communities will say to us, well, we read in your newspapers that Muslims are having problems or other minority religious groups in the United States are having problems. So we have to adopt the position of all of humanity is in the same boat, wrestling with the promotion and securing of human rights for all people. But we draw strength from both domestic and global civil society in our work and in our partnerships around the world. One very critical issue is by working together as we do, we're taking issues that have been sidelined. And I believe very much in the area of LGBTI and disability and minority religious communities, part of our problems go on because of discrimination, but also because of lack of knowledge and lack of exposure. When you don't know somebody, then you'll take the word of somebody else. So I call it breaking bread together. I think it's very important that the US continues to work with allies and others and specifically in country with disability rights groups, women's groups, religious groups, LGBTI groups, except for the business community to really start exposing people that difference isn't negative, that difference enriches us and to be able to look at countries where this richness is in fact being adopted and to then get the voices of people in those communities who can really speak about what their previous thoughts were, how exposure is enabling them to look at the fact that people are people. And I go across the street in a wheelchair, someone walks across the street, but they can get across the street if they're a step on either end. I can't get across the street if there aren't ramps. Therefore I'm not on the street, therefore I'm invisible and therefore you can say anything you want about me because you don't know anything about me. Ambassador Harper, would you like to share your insights? There was a number of themes brought up in response to that very important question around building collaboration and partnerships across identity, recognizing that we have intersecting identities, for example, you could be a member of the LGBTI community and a person with a disability. Also a sense of humility around the fact that we have work at home to do. So do you have any insights that you would like to add? Yes, thank you. Look, we recognize in multilateral fora all the time that nobody is free from human rights issues. It's one of the reasons why we so much support in the Human Rights Council, but it's called the Universal Periodic Review. Every country gets reviewed by all other states so they can identify problems and find ways to improve their human rights. And the story of America, to me to catch on a point that was just made, is the power of civil society. And it's one of the reasons why we preach vigorously in multilateral fora the importance of civil society both at the UN, but in each and every country because it's that civil society, that strong civil society that will raise these issues and improve nations over time. They will advocate for the communities that they come from and represent. Look, I think that the story of America, to me, is an increasing recognition over decades and years of the critical importance of diversity and empowerment of diverse communities. That in a modern economy, success, development, prosperity all occurs only if we empower women in our minority communities and our religious minorities and our LGBTI persons and everybody within our society. Once we can do that and ensure that all have equal access to education, all have the ability to have their political voices heard. Then in that circumstance, we will be able to be far more successful. And I think it's true in America and it's true around the world. Great, thank you, Ambassador. Now let's take some questions from the chat space or those asking questions on Twitter using the hashtag democracy for all. Let's see, our first question. The viewing group at the American Center in Algiers asks, how can you start working on human rights in your respective areas in countries where you have to start from the beginning? A very important question. Would any of the panelists like to jump in on that one? How do you start when it feels like you are at the very beginning stages of addressing human rights when there might be other concerns around stability, around infrastructure, things like that? Yeah, I'll start. Algeria, there are other people like yourself who are working on making changes, addressing issues of human rights and being a more inclusive society. I think it's always important to really look for other leaders in a country who share your views and other organizations that exist, looking at ways of strengthening those groups. But for myself as an example, I'm 69, so I started a long time ago. But in the early 1970s, I helped set up an organization that we called Disabled in Action. We weren't satisfied with the work that was going on with other organizations. We felt they weren't adequately representing the voices of disabled people to advance in human rights and civil rights. So we set up our own group. We brought people together who had similar views and similar objectives. We then started working with other organizations in the area of disability, but we spread out more broadly to work with other human rights organizations, civil rights organizations, and particular special interest groups. And that is something that we've seen in the United States, not just in disability, but across the board. If you feel that your voice isn't represented, look at ways of starting an organization, speaking with people who share your views and trying to move forward. But I think it's always important to believe that change can occur, that communication is very important, even in difficult times. And that you can be a change agent and you are a change agent, or you wouldn't be in the room today. You wouldn't be asking this question online. If I can hop in there as well. I think Ambassador Harper used a word that I hear a lot when I'm traveling around when he was talking about the fact that for many years, you know, that a discussion of LGBTI issues, for example, were taboo in multilateral organizations. The thing about taboo is I think it sometimes can ossify and lead to an intransigence towards change. You know, all of us live and work and live our lives in societies that are under constant states of change and flux. You know, and often when I travel, I get the conversation, when you're in one of these places where it feels like you're starting at the beginning, my advice there is then you have to start at the beginning. But I think the obstacle immediately becomes the statement that, well, we don't talk about that here. Well, that's taboo to discuss here. And my response to that is things are only taboo until they're done. Things are only impossible until they become possible. When I was growing up 30 years ago in the Midwestern US, we also didn't talk about these issues. But we do now, and that's the nature of change. So I think you have to start small but I think start visibly because that's how people's understanding basically change. Great. Ambassador or Sean, would you like to add some insights? You know, we deal with a lot of countries at the Human Rights Council and countries are at different phases regarding their change, their human rights evolution. You take a country like Central African Republic, has very few institutions to address some of the really challenging human rights things that arise there, including reprisal killing from various communities. And the key ingredient to going from a situation like that to improving is political will, it's engagement. It's the government wanting to work to improve the situation. And like Randy said, it's sort of one foot in front of the other as you walk down that path and it may take really hard institutional capacity building. But there is aid, there is resources. We have the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for example, that does a tremendous amount of work around the world, aiding countries to adopt better practices to build institutional capacity. The United States has many programs to do just that as well as do other developed countries. So I think that the key ingredient is to reach out, engage and have political will. And from wherever you're starting, you can certainly improve over time if you have that political will. Well, some terrific insights about having hope, feeling empowered, taking the first steps and leveraging any existing partnerships that you see, including political and governmental opportunities. So, Isan has a question for Representative Casey and Representative Ambassador Harper. What has the State Department done to protect religious minorities from persecution and discrimination? Sean, would you like to start? Sure, I'm happy to answer that. We have an Office of International Religious Freedom here, which is part of our Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. And this office, who's run by my good friend, Ambassador and read by David Saperstein, collects information from every country around the world and puts out an annual status report on the state of religious persecution and religious discrimination around the world. And we then weave some of that into our larger, wider human rights reports. So on an annual basis, we are monitoring at every one of our posts the trend lines with respect to religious persecution and discrimination. And then we go out and we engage those countries, both at the government level and the civil society level, advocating changes of policy, advocating changes of civil society to increase the amount of religious freedom around the world. Congress established this office, I think, back in 1998. So for over 20 years or so, we have been monitoring this space. We also have an independent government commission called the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which monitors the same space and also looked at whether or not the State Department's doing its job adequately. So we have a lot of assets. We have a lot of monitors. We do a lot of reporting, which then empowers us to engage those governments and engage the civil societies of those countries to help tamp down the bad practices and elevate religious freedom for all. So we have a lot of robust assets in this space at the country level. So data collection is key and then you use that data to move forward. That's correct. Excellent. Ambassador, would you like to add something? Sure, we have a number of key initiatives that the United States supports at the Human Rights Council that seeks to aid in religious discrimination. One is a resolution on freedom of religion and belief, which establishes a special repertoire that again identifies best practices, identifies where there are problems of discrimination and tries to address them. We also have a resolution that we support and work with the OIC that furthers religious tolerance and establish a process called the Istanbul process where we can really get to the nitty gritty of pragmatic solutions of religious tolerance and how safe, for example, a police force that is predominantly of one religion can deal effectively with individuals of another religion. And many of our countries have struggles on this area and one of the things we have to do is establish the best way to handle these issues. And then some of our country-specific resolutions, for example, our resolution on Iran focuses a lot on discrimination based on religion of say Sunni Muslims or other religious minorities in Iran, highlights those issues and puts pressure on the government to try to resolve them and improve them over time. Great, thank you, Ambassador. Mr. Ebenezer asks, what strategies can you suggest to improve democracy in Africa and around the world? I think that's a general visionary question for the entire panel. Ambassador, actually, can we start with you to address that question by Mr. Ebenezer? Well, you know, it is our core belief that democratic processes are key to advancement both economically, but also socially and politically. And that democracy is an aid, a tremendous aid to effective and sustainable development as well. You have to have rule of law. You have to have an even playing field. You have to empower women, study after study, for example, demonstrates conclusively that those countries that address women's rights issue, access to capital for women, equal education for school girls, addressing violence against women, the full panoply of what rights for women, they set themselves up for greater prosperity and success politically. And countries that fail to do those things, they undermine their ability to move forward in an effective way. So we have many democratic programs run by the State Department and other entities within the United States, because we think fundamentally that establishing democracy, strong democracies with strong civil society is a key way to ultimate success for any niche. Thank you, Ambassador. Now, let's go back to our group in Nairobi for a couple more questions. Nairobi, do you have a question that you'd like to pose the distinguished panel? Hello, I'm Jacob from an organization called Heart, it deals with human trafficking. My question is about human rights and education, because it seems that in Kenya and I think a lot of other places around the world, most of the victims are not aware that they are victim of human rights crime. And some of the perpetrators of human rights crimes are not aware of the rights of the victims. So how do we get this into education so that people are aware of their civic and human rights? How is education key in helping, especially marginalized populations, understand and claim their rights in civil society? Randy, would you like to... Sure, you know, I think that's a great question and I think it goes to the heart of some of the challenges that we face, that I think a fundamental component of a democratic system that really empowers folks is that educational element to make sure that people know exactly how their rights are protected and some of the challenges that are out there. I believe that deficiencies in civic education exist certainly in our own country and just about everywhere else. But I think a key component of that is to make sure that our civic education at every level of public education is respected and to really begin to chip away at this lack of information. I think that in so many of the aspects of what we've been talking about today, really our challenge is a lack of knowledge in many ways, knowledge of the realities that members of many communities face. And I think the intersectional issue that was raised previously in our discussion also is pretty fundamental here, that when you're talking, I mean, you work in a field related to human trafficking, which is obviously an extraordinary concern for us. And the degree to which marginalized groups, whether they be ethnic or racial, religious, bisexual orientation or gender identity or disability are particularly vulnerable in those types of sittings as well. So I think robust structures through educational approaches at the national level is very important. And then the support from multilateral institutions that I think have a role to play as, for example, UNESCO does in educational standards can be very, very helpful. Great. Judy, I just wanna quickly ask you, in terms of educating for empowerment with people with disabilities, could you speak to your work in that area? Well, I'd like to speak to the question because the United States has a report called the TIP Report. It's a trafficking report that comes out every year. And again, I would speak to people at the embassy about who writes the TIP Report. It's a public document on addressing the issue of trafficking. It is a big issue in the area of disability for the following reason. We're talking across the board about a vulnerable population of people who are being trafficked, who are being moved from one country to another and sometimes within their own country. They're marginalized populations who don't have a voice and typically are also poor. So it is very important that governments themselves and that civil society hold governments accountable. I see the TIP Report as being critical because it's not only looking at what the country is doing but it also grades the country. So it enables you to see what level we believe is the United States. The government is at in enforcing laws to prevent trafficking, to address people who have been trafficked and to address the issue as you started out saying, helping to educate people. The religious community, the business community, all communities, women's community, disability on and on have to be involved in these issues because it is a secret problem that goes on and it must be exposed. Disabled people, either people who have disabilities or people who acquire disabilities as a result of being trafficked, it's a very big issue and something we've been working on for the last six years. Thank you, Judy. Sean? I would say this is one of those interesting areas where religious communities have played actually a very positive role. Most global religious communities who adopted explicit standards rejecting human trafficking and they often are then great educators in this space to make the moral case why in fact people should expose the networks and try to help people who have in fact been trafficked. So it's one of those wonderful spaces where at least at official levels religious organizations are on the right side of the human rights case. So they are often conduits for information and for education and that's the power of these global networks that also have local reach to communicate both the legal, the moral and the frankly theological case against this kind of abhorrent behavior. Nairobi, do you have another question that you would like to ask to our panelists? Good morning and greetings from Kenya. My name is Sharon from InformAction. So I wrote down my question because it's rather long. The question is, during President Obama's visit in Kenya earlier this year, the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta clearly stated that LGBTI issues is a non-issue. And yet we see that the situation in Kenya is not as grim as that of Uganda, that the LGBTI community is still not recognized by the government of Kenya and by religious groups. So what is the US government and its missions through its foreign policy doing to encourage Kenya and other African countries like Uganda to acknowledge the rights of LGBTIs in terms of policy formulation, stigmatization, provision of healthcare, access to government services, et cetera. And we also have to take it to, if we have to factor in that the issue of LGBTI still taboo in Kenya, almost especially the religious groups and Africa at large, thank you. Well, thank you Sharon for your very important question. And I believe Sharon's question is about when a government, specifically the government of Kenya or other African governments, do not acknowledge the stigma and the marginalizations of specifically LGBTI persons. What can the United States do in collaboration with the people of Kenya, with civil society in Kenya to raise awareness and to empower communities to improve the situation? Well, thank you for the question. That was a long question. But I think you hit, it was important because you hit many of the elements of a conversation that I think has to occur to address what real equality means, that we can talk in very vague terms about equality and dignity under the law. But you mentioned many of the aspects of it in some greater detail. Those are all really important in part of that conversation. I think whether it's in Kenya or Uganda or Singapore or Indonesia or anywhere else in the world, our fundamental challenge on LGBTI understanding is really one of lack of information. What we have seen here in the US over a very long span of time has been that as visibility has increased, as more people are personally familiar with a member of the LGBTI community, a lot of the fear, a lot of the misunderstanding, a lot of the prejudice and discrimination drops away because there's an understanding that you're dealing with, not a theoretical issue or a construct that is hard to grasp, but you're dealing with an individual who has a name and who has a family and who has the same challenges that you have every day. So our approach really throughout all of this is to work on that deeper level of understanding. As a representative of government, obviously we have these conversations, oftentimes quietly, constructively with governments about those building blocks, but I would say that at the very core of our foreign policy on this issue really is at our partnership with civil, where our partnership with civil society is, that there's an understanding that the change that occurred here in the US was very much a product of civil society activism over decades that really now has seen a more positive change. So all of our engagement really is based in the idea that if it provides greater space for civil society actors to work within their local context to increase visibility and increase understanding, that's the road we're gonna take. And that looks different in every country, that our conversations can be very, very different depending on what society that we're working in, but we also understand that nobody has a better sense about how to proceed on that conversation than the people from that society and who are leading the change. Our role in this is really more in a supporting role, but then to just encourage the conversation to help with technical or experiential advice where we have it, and then to support that national conversation. Well thank you Randy for your insights and thank you Sharon for your important question. We have some other questions coming in from our online viewers and one question is the viewing group at the American Center in Algiers asks, we have a question from a blind student who was rejected from a university because of his identity. What could be done to ensure the education is more accessible and inclusive for all? So I'm presuming that when you're talking about identity here, you're referring to the blindness of the individual, but if it's broader than that, what I'm gonna say is still applicable. In the area of disability in the United States, we have a law called the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is something you can go online and look at ADA.gov. And in the ADA, it is illegal to discriminate against a person who has a disability and blindness is definitely a protected group when applying to a university. If the student meets the qualifications for admission to the university, then accommodations need to be provided for that student to enable that student to successfully complete their studies. So again, I would link back to your public affairs office at the embassy, ask them if they could please get you some more information. There's a website for a group called Mobility International, USA. They have great resources regarding students with disabilities studying at universities and studying abroad. Look at examples of what we've done, what other countries have done, but in the area of higher education for disabled individuals, it's definitely a protected group. And in the States, if a similar situation happened, we would encourage that individual to file a complaint with our Department of Justice who has responsibility for overseeing these issues. So www.ada.gov is a helpful resource. Yes. Another question from a friend in Barbados. Since democracy starts with individuals and communities, what platforms can human rights activists use to put pressure on their governments to uphold universal human rights and democracy? Ambassador, would you like to address this question? Sure. One of the things the United States advocates both in our bilateral relationship and in multilateral spheres like the United Nations is the centrality of basic political freedoms, fundamental freedoms, things like freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and freedom of association and freedom of religion and belief. Because we believe that it is the right of the protester, the right of the individual who is dissatisfied with a government that is not observing their human rights to take to the streets in a peaceful way to allow that their voice be heard and to gather with others who feel the same way. And that is among the most vital aspects of a vibrant democracy is this right to protest. And we should celebrate the protester because certainly in our history and the history of many other nations, that protester has led to some of the most important developments in our societies. And so fundamental freedoms and ensuring that your voice can be heard within the political sphere cannot be overestimated. I'd like to also extend on that. So demonstrations I think are very important, but we have a lot of additional opportunities for how people can express themselves. And again, looking at civil society organizations around the world, you'll see additional models, so letter writing campaigns, newsletters that you may put out using social media so that people can understand what the problem is and what you're trying to do. I think there's a breadth of ways to bring these issues forward. And in the disability community, because of lack of accessibility in many ways, going to the street for demonstrations is possible. And certainly many countries are doing this very forthrightly, but we've also seen the advantage of being able to use the breadth of opportunities that are out there, which also will enable you to bring the entire community that supports the vision that you have. Thank you, Judy, and thank you, Ambassador. We have another question from the viewing group at the embassy in Abhijan, and they are asking about minority groups being excluded from the democratic process. When those voices are underrepresented or unrepresented in the government or otherwise repressed, what resources are available? Sean, would you like to take a stab at that question? Well, I think this question really extends from the last question. In a former life, I was a religion professor, and my staff says I'm still a recovering professor. I like to preach and lecture. One of the case studies that we often looked at in one of my courses was the Montgomery bus boycott here in the United States over 60 years ago where there was sort of a whole of society approach on the part of a cadre of very courageous, very smart African-American leaders, and it simply started with one young woman who refused to move her seat on a bus. She was asked to move from the white section to go back to the back of the bus where African-Americans were supposed to be seated and she refused. Now, what sprung up around her was an amazing array of techniques. They went to civil court, they went to federal court, they went to the city council, they went to the pages of the largest newspaper in the United States, and ultimately they met with the president of the United States to lobby their case, but they had an amazing array of techniques starting with nonviolent resistance, this one act of a very brave young woman, but they used the legal system, they went into the street, they used the press. There was really no lever of civil society that they didn't push, and a group of very smart people got together and planned a whole of city strategy. They even ended up setting up an alternate transportation system and they boycotted the entire bus system for the city. So I think when you're excluded and when the government will not allow you to be adequately represented, you've got to use all of the creativity you and your company have to find the ways to protest and use what, now obviously different countries in different contexts allow you more bandwidth for public engagement and public protest, but only you can do that assessment in your context and decide what are the options, learn from other people in your country, learn from other international civil society actors and protesters, and use your own creativity in that context to do whatever you need to do to get your message out. And I think use the American Corners, whatever they're called in your country, if they're particular books that you'd like to read, I think the issue of learning is very important. There are many books that the library there could help you look at online in hard copy, but there's a wealth of information on how all of our particular specialty areas have worked on moving forward to advance the rights of, really in the United States, all people. And if I can play the professor for two more seconds, there is, Martin Luther King actually wrote a record of the Montgomery bus boycott called Stride Toward Freedom, and that book is still in print, it's readily available, and it is the single most interesting toolkit for how to run a local human rights campaign that still resonates today, 60 some odd years later. So it's exactly the kind of resource that Judy is referring to. Well, we're getting close to the end of our program, but let's take one final question from our online chat space. What advice would you give to your successor in your respective positions? So you've learned many things, you've traveled many places, you've met many different people, you've seen struggles, you've seen successes. What advice would you offer your successors moving forward? Well, from my part, I would say the most fundamentally important part of my role as I've learned has been to listen to the voices in civil society. And I don't offer that as an easy answer. I think there's an extraordinary resource and knowledge within civil society and extraordinary passion and desire to realize the change that oftentimes seems elusive or aspirational, but I think listening to those voices and then seeing where that partnership can provide space, can provide a path forward is the single most important part. Great, Sean? I would dovetail right on that. I think asking good questions of religious actors and religious leaders and listening very hard, I think it's the key to the success that we've had. I think it's also important that my successor, Fingers Cross, they will be one, is recognizing that part of their role is to be a teacher. So, and it's to listen, it's to listen to the community, but it's also to listen to people who are working for the State Department and our embassies, to be able to give them the tools that they need, because I believe there are many people out there that are interested in all of the issues that we're addressing, but in some cases, people don't know exactly what to do. So, it's very important to listen to a broad variety of people. It's important, in my view, never to give up and to recognize that change takes time, but that the person in the position is a leader. Ambassador, would you like to offer some remarks? Sure, I would say, I would identify three things that I would tell a successor. The first is to think big, that United States, working with its partners can advance human rights around the world and you have to push the envelope in a way that is using smart diplomacy and not being counterproductive, but not also being afraid of pushing the envelope a little bit. The second thing I'd say is, especially at places like the UN, it's very important to assess and make sure that whatever you're thinking about an initiative to ask the question, will this initiative likely lead to improvements on the ground in countries in the near term or the long term? Because sometimes we get caught up in these conversations that may not have an impact in the real world. So we'd have to really concentrate our limited resources on these things that actually do matter and actually can bring about change. And the third thing I would add is that we're seeing a global crackdown on civil society and this is an existential threat to improving human rights. This is an existential threat to the effective workings of the United Nations and multilateral bodies and we have to fight against it and ensure that they're safe space for civil society. Thank you, Ambassador. And thank you all so much for your fantastic questions and the insights shared. We've really covered a lot of ground today. Hopefully those of you watching will continue engaging on these important human rights issues. And for all the young people participating, hopefully you will have been inspired to take action as your energy and your new ideas will be vital to creating more inclusive communities both locally and globally. Special thanks to our panelists and advisor human. Would you like to offer some final remarks? I think this panel is a good example of what you can be doing in your local communities. Bringing people together locally who come from diverse backgrounds in diverse areas of interest and hold a panel where you can invite the community in. You can look at doing it with the US Embassy with our American Corners but there are lots of different opportunities. And make sure that when you're doing that you really are looking for diversity. Try to have a sign language interpreter so deaf people can participate. Look broadly and really think about where you want to be going over the next three to five years. Switch on, Mike Barry. You know, I think the parting thought that I would offer is to understand that the role of an activist, the role of someone who seeks changes often can feel isolating and can feel lonely. And to understand the vast power that exists in establishing relationships and partnerships and alliances, that there is tremendous power in numbers and in common purpose. And to look for those opportunities, I think it's often easy to become self-reflective of the challenges that you personally face or the limitations of your personal circumstance or the issue that you're working on. But understand that so many other people are working in similar veins for justice. Befriend them, support them, work with them. Special Representative Casey, would you like to offer some final wisdom? Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote a very famous letter, letter from Birmingham City Jail when he was imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama for his civil rights work. And he said there are four key components to any successful nonviolent human rights campaign. And I think they still speak very eloquently today. He said, first, you have to have the ability to assess injustice in your context. You may understand the contours of injustice in Washington DC, but that's not the same as Lagos, Nigeria. So cultivate the ability to assess injustice where you are. Secondly, you have to develop ability to negotiate with the oppressor or the person in control. That simply throwing a rock is not the formation of a dialogue. You have to develop a capacity to confront the source of the injustice. He said, thirdly, you have to be committed to direct action and direct action can take a multitude of forms as we've already talked about. But the fourth piece he says, which was very interesting is you need a form of spiritual and moral sustenance which does not come in isolation, it comes in community. So seek partners, seek people of like mind who can sustain you in those difficult times when you're under pressure, when you don't seem to have friends and support. And without that community of sustenance, many human rights campaigns fail because of the pressure in the isolation. And Ambassador Harper, any parting thoughts? Sure, you know, I'd like to speak to the human rights defenders, the non-governmental organizations, those people that we rely on to do that very hard work day to day, day in, day out. I understand how sometimes it feels like you're not making progress. It feels like you're frustrated that despite very hard work, you're not seeing the advancement that you'd like. And all I wanna say to you is I understand the position takes a lot of courage. Sometimes you're in perilous circumstances, but your actions, your work is absolutely essential and vital to ensuring that we live in a better world that's more observant of human rights. So I just say to you, keep it up because I've seen whether in countries or in the United Nations, how critical that work is. Well, thank you, Ambassador, for ending our program on a note of hope and inspiration. And closing, I'd like to thank all of our panelists for your incredible insights today. And a big shout out as well for the excellent questions from the group at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and to the viewing parties at the U.S. Embassy, Abhijan Kotvoir, U.S. Embassy, Tunis, Tunisia, American Space, Algiers, Algeria, American Center, Moscow, Russia, American Space, San Pedro Sula, Honduras and the American Center in Caracas, Venezuela. And a big thanks to all of you who watched the program and submitted such great questions. I think we've learned today that we really have to work together on a people-to-people level, all trying to find ways in which we can promote the values of dignity, humanity and respect that too often are being threatened. We are all part of a global movement and we in the United States are one player amongst many. We recognize that our efforts must be guided by the work of civil society organizations that push for social change in their own contexts. Our collective efforts will help support a world in which everyone is afforded the dignity, the freedom and the equality they rightfully deserve. You can see additional resources listed in the chat space and we hope you will follow us on social media accounts provided there as well. Thank you again to everyone and have a great day.