F.P. Report
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has said that this week, I was honored to host the International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. In its 16th year, the award recognizes women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality, and the empowerment of women and girls, in all their diversity – often at great personal risk and sacrifice.
But in the midst of this event, millions of Ukrainian women have fled their country with their families. Millions more have stayed to help their country fight against Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified war. I saw many of them on the border with Poland just about a week ago, and it’s something that stays embedded in your mind and memory as you see women coming across the border, children in tow, fleeing the Russian aggression. One of them is Ruslana Lyzhychko, a singer, democracy leader in Ukraine and a 2014 International Women of Courage awardee. During the EuroMaidan protests in 2013, Ruslana performed the Ukrainian national anthem every night – despite death threats – to cheer other protesters, to encourage nonviolence. She’s in Ukraine now, using her voice to share information about the war.
Like Ruslana, this year’s Women of Courage are making our world more peaceful, more just.
Across four continents they’re tackling complex challenges, from organized crime to environmental degradation. They’re advancing the rights of women, girls, LGBTQI+ people, and other marginalized groups. And despite harassment, violence, imprisonment, they persist.
I am deeply honored to celebrate these remarkable women: Simone Sibilio do Nascimento is a prosecutor in Rio de Janeiro, the first woman to lead the state’s organized crime unit. Roegchanda Pascoe is a community leader in Cape Town, South Africa, who works to reduce gang violence. Rizwana Hasan is a lawyer fighting for environmental justice in Bangladesh. Facia Boyenoh Harris dedicates herself to reducing gender-based violence and increasing women’s political participation in Liberia. Ei Thinzar Maung is a democracy activist in Burma. Josefina Klinger Zúñiga promotes ecotourism among Colombia’s Pacific coast – an area with a history of conflict, driven by narcotraffickers and illegal armed groups. Doina Gherman, a member of parliament, campaigned for Moldova to ratify the Istanbul Convention, recognizing gender-based violence as a human rights violation. Taif Sami Mohammed is Iraq’s deputy finance minister and director general of the budget department. Phạm Đoan Trang, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Vietnam for her writing on democracy and human rights. In Romania, Carmen Gheorghe fights for the rights of Roma women and girls, a group subjugated to racism and sexism, social exclusion, high rates of gender-based violence, including child and forced marriage. As a trans woman, Bhumika Shrestha knows the indignity of official documents that fail to reflect a person’s gender identity. She fought for Nepal to add a non-binary option. Najla Mangoush is Libya’s first woman foreign minister.
These twelve women are separated by thousands of miles – but they are united in their dedication to serving their countries and communities with extraordinary courage and self-sacrifice.
The United States stands with them. We’ve seen the remarkable progress they’ve made toward building peace, building security, building equality, building justice. And through our diplomacy, we’re working alongside them to advance those goals.
We also want to lift up other women like them. We know there are future Facias, and Bhumikas, and Carmens who share many of the same aspirations – and face many of the same obstacles.
That means we have to address gender inequities that often relegate women to the sidelines and combat the violence that women and girls around the world endure every single day. That’s why we’re incorporating women’s equal rights throughout our foreign policy, with initiatives like the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality.
And we know policies designed with women and girls in mind are more effective and more enduring. By advancing gender equity, we can achieve greater prosperity and more lasting peace and security for all.
I’m grateful to this group for sharing their experiences with us at the State Department – and not just with us; with communities across our country. Through our International Visitor Leadership Program, this year’s awardees will meet with American public servants, with activists, community leaders working on the same issues that they work on every day. And I know we as Americans will learn so much from their expertise, from their innovation, from their courage.
