Since the beginning of 2012, over 250 elephants have been killed in Cameroon. Adults are being slaughtered for ivory to be used for jewelry, ornaments, and traditional medicine; young juveniles and infants are being killed indiscriminately or left orphaned to die without the protection of their mothers. Having lived in Kenya and Tanzania earlier in my life, I experienced firsthand the wonder of African elephants in their native habitats. That's why I feel a personal sense of outrage at the senseless and immoral killing of wildlife. We should all feel outrage -- even those who have not had the privilege to see elephants close up -- because the conservation of our planet's wildlife is an moral obligation we all share. The U.S. government has consistently been among the leaders in the efforts to protect elephants and other wildlife, but to be effective it's vital that all governments… more »
In these videotaped remarks, President Obama sends an important and very clear message to the people of Sudan and South Sudan: conflict is not inevitable. The people of Sudan and South Sudan still have a choice, a chance to avoid being dragged back into war. Sudan needs to halt all military actions, including aerial bombardments; give aid workers unfettered access to people in need; and end support for armed groups. Similarly, South Sudan must end its support for armed groups inside Sudan and cease its military actions across the border. All parties fighting -- including in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States -- must recognize that the only way to achieve real and lasting security is to resolve their differences through negotiation.
President Obama is gravely concerned by the situation in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, especially as the violent clashes continue along… more »
When Ambassador Susan Rice assumed the rotating monthly Presidency of the UN Security Council from the United Kingdom this week, she began by taking a question on Twitter.
"The world is shrinking," Ambassador Rice said recently. In a world of freely moving information, we also face rapidly evolving threats that can just as easily cross borders. As President, Ambassador Rice is using her agenda-setting power to focus the Council's attention on such 21st century challenges, from the proliferation of nuclear materials to illicit arms flows to humanitarian crises.
This week's "Photo of the Week" comes to us from Michael Gross, who serves as the official photographer at the U.S. Department of State. In this photograph, Gross captures Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama with the 2012 International Women of Courage Award winners: Maryam Durani, Kandahar Provincial Council Member (Afghanistan); Major Pricilla de Oliveira Azevedo, police officer, Rio de Janeiro Military Police (Brazil); Zin Mar Aung, political activist and NGO co-founder (Burma); Jineth Bedoya Lima, investigative journalist (Colombia); Hana Elhebshi, architect and political activist (Libya); Aneesa Ahmed, gender-based violence (GBV) activist and former Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs (Maldives); Shad Begum, human rights activist and founder/executive director of Anjuman Behbood-e-Khawateen Talah (the Union of Women's Welfare) (Pakistan);… more »
Today, on the Ninth Annual International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, we stand in solidarity with men and women who are working to address and prevent this practice that takes place in many countries around the world. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) occurs across cultures and religions, although no religion mandates the procedure. It is a practice rooted in beliefs about the “dangers” of women's sexuality, and involves a rite of passage into adulthood that has extremely detrimental consequences on the health and overall well-being of women and girls subjected to it.
It is estimated that 100 to 140 million women globally have undergone this procedure and three million girls are at risk every year. Cutting is often performed by untrained practitioners, employing no anesthesia and often using such instruments as broken glass,… more »
Today, State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland held a Twitter briefing, answering questions selected from the U.S. Department of State's 10 official Twitter feeds. Spokesperson Nuland will answer questions submitted via Twitter each Friday during the month of January. Questions can be submitted using the hashtag, #AskState.
Throughout the month of January, U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. and at U.S. Missions abroad will host digital engagements across multiple social media platforms on a wide array of issues to directly… 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 »
![Elephants walk across the Taita Hills Game as the sun sets after a day long's walk in Kenya, Feb. 5, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0523_elephants_m.jpg)
![The United Nations Security Council holds a meeting on the situation in Syria, Jan. 31, 2012 at United Nations headquarters. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0404_unsc_m.jpg)
![Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama pose for a photo with the 2012 International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony winners: the Honorable Maryam Durani, Kandahar Provincial Council Member (Afghanistan); Major Pricilla de Oliveira Azevedo, police officer, Rio de Janeiro Military Police (Brazil); Zin Mar Aung, political activist and NGO co-founder (Burma); Jineth Bedoya Lima, investigative journalist (Colombia); Hana Elhebshi, architect and political activist (Libya); Aneesa Ahmed, gender-based violence (GBV) activist and former Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs (Maldives); Shad Begum, human rights activist and founder/executive director of Anjuman Behbood-e-Khawateen Talah (the Union of Women's Welfare) (Pakistan); Samar Badawi, political activist (Saudi Arabia); Hawa Abdallah Mohammed Salih, human rights activist (Sudan); and the Honorable Safak Pavey, Member of Parliament (Turkey), at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on March 8, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0309_IWOC_m.jpg)
![A Masai girl holds a protest sign during the anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) run in Kilgoris, Kenya, in 2007. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0206_stop_fgm_m.jpg)
