Freedom of expression is a cornerstone to any thriving democracy.
This idea came to life while I spent three days at UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day in Tunisia, where I had the opportunity to listen to and engage with journalists, bloggers, and citizen activists from across the Middle East and North Africa and beyond.
I arrived May 3 in Tunis to deliver remarks at Tunisia's Presidential Palace to a crowd of more than 400 in attendance, and thousands more watching virtually. The audience welcomed video… more »
On an unseasonably cold and rainy Sunday, the action inside the Smithsonian's new Warner Bros Theatre was anything but dreary. The afternoon's celebration of jazz featured a roundtable discussion with jazz experts followed by musical performances before a crowd of diplomats and other invited guests.
I was thrilled to co-host our inaugural Embassy Jazz Day, Bridging Cultures Crossing Divides, with the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History this past weekend. This occasion provided the opportunity to mark the role jazz plays in creating linkages between peoples, communities, and cultures while also enabling the next generation of jazz innovators to perform including Howard University's Afro Blue and Lena Seikaly. This event also represented a first: a partnership… more »
Earlier today, I spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, where I joined many other nations gathered to demand an end to the Assad government's outrageous and ongoing crimes against the people of Syria. Syrian civilians and international journalists risk their lives daily to inform the world of the horrendous scale of slaughter and suffering, and the Commission of Inquiry launched by the UN Human Rights Council last August concluded that the Syrian government forces have perpetrated crimes against humanity. No one can deny that Bashar al-Assad and his regime are waging a brutal campaign of slaughter, bombardment, torture, and arrest that already has murdered thousands of women, men, and children, with more killed each day.
As I said earlier today, the Syrian government must… more »
May 23: The State Department, through its office of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa. more »
May 23: Today, Russia was invited to join the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) at a ceremony hosted by its parent body, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. ã more »
![Dr. Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, participates in an interview with a journalist in Tunis, Tunisia, May 3, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0509_brimmer_tunisia_m.jpg)
![Performance at the Embassy Jazz Day, Bridging Cultures Crossing Divides, co-hosted by the U.S. Department of State and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C., on April 22, 2012. [Smithsonian Institution photo by Harold Dorwin]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0425_jazz_day_m.jpg)
