Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered this statement in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Today the United States of America signed the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.

This agreement ensures international recognition and enforcement of custody and visitation orders, complements and reinforces the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and contains provisions addressing cooperation on key issues such as runaway children and the cross-border placement of children in foster families or institutional care.

Signing this Convention reaffirms the deep commitment of the United States to protecting the rights and welfare of children around the world. Our country is also a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The U.S. Senate also recently approved the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance.

Going forward, the State Department will work closely with Congress, other Federal agencies, and state and local officials to address implementation of the Convention in the United States. And we look forward to working with the Hague Conference on Private International Law and other countries to implement it around the world.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and Secretary Robert Gates delivered this Op-ed in the Washington Post

Secretary Clinton and Secretary Gates. For decades, American inspectors have monitored Russian nuclear forces, putting into practice President Ronald Reagan's favorite maxim, “Trust, but verify.” But since the old START Treaty expired last December, we have relied on trust alone. Until a new treaty comes into force, our inspectors will not have access to Russian missile silos and the world's two largest nuclear arsenals will lack the stability that comes with a rigorous inspection regime.

Before this session of Congress ends, we urge senators to approve an arms control treaty that would again allow U.S. inspectors access to Russian strategic sites and reduce the number of nuclear weapons held by both nations to a level not seen since the 1950s.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), signed by President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April, builds on foundations laid by American leaders from both political parties over the past four decades. It has broad bipartisan backing. Six former secretaries of state, five former secretaries of defense and three former national security advisers have endorsed ratification, along with seven former commanders of U.S. Strategic Command and the entire current U.S. military leadership. They understand that nuclear dangers did not disappear with the Soviet Union and that we have a responsibility—to Americans and our allies—to keep our eyes on the world's other major strategic nuclear arsenal.

Time is running out for this Congress. Here is what's at stake:

New START will advance critical national security objectives: Reducing the number of deployed nuclear weapons while retaining a safe and effective deterrent; providing direct insight into Russia's nuclear arsenal; and creating a more stable, predictable and cooperative relationship between the world's two leading nuclear powers.

It will put in place an effective verification regime to track each side's progress in reducing its arsenal to 1,550 strategic warheads. We will be able to count the number of deployed strategic weapons more accurately, because we will exchange more data on weapons and their movement than in the past. We will also conduct 18 short-notice inspections of Russian nuclear forces each year, including checking warheads on individual missiles.

New START will also set the stage for future arms reductions, including negotiations on tactical nuclear weapons. It will help solidify the “reset” of U.S. relations with Russia, which has allowed us to cooperate in pursuit of our strategic interests.

That's what the treaty will do. Here's what it will not do:

It will not limit our ability to develop and deploy the most effective missile defenses to protect America's forces and territory, and to enhance the security of our allies and partners. This administration is committed to sustaining and improving our missile defense capabilities and has proposed spending nearly $10 billion in fiscal 2011 to do so.

It will not restrict our ability to modernize our nuclear forces. On the contrary, the United States will continue to maintain a robust nuclear deterrent based on our “triad” of delivery systems: intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers for nuclear armaments. To sustain and modernize these systems, the administration has proposed spending well over $100 billion during the next decade.

Furthermore, the treaty permits us to make investments as needed to maintain a secure and effective nuclear stockpile. The administration has proposed spending $7 billion for this purpose in the current fiscal year—a nearly 10 percent increase—and more than $80 billion to modernize our nuclear weapons complex over the next decade, including a major life-extension program for current warheads. In all, the administration proposes spending more than $180 billion on the infrastructure that sustains our nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them—a substantial investment in the credibility and efficacy of America's nuclear deterrent.

Finally, New START will not constrain our ability to develop and deploy the most effective conventional capabilities possible, including strike systems that could potentially hit a target anywhere on the globe in less than an hour.

Every president since the beginning of the Cold War has opted for verifiable arms control deals. Each time, the Senate has backed these treaties by overwhelming margins. The START Treaty, negotiated by Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, was approved in 1992 by 93 votes to 6. The Moscow Treaty, negotiated by President George W. Bush, was approved 95 to 0 in 2003.

The New START Treaty also deserves prompt ratification. Our national security depends on it.

Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered these remarks to the Overseas Security Advisory Council in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, it is a real delight for me to take a few minutes to come and say thank you. Thank you for participating with the Overseas Security Advisory Council and being part of that effort to advance American interests around the world.

So to stay active and engaged, we need to work with you. And that's why it's so important that you take this seriously, you take time out of your busy schedules to come here to participate. Because in this audience are experts from government, business, academia, the nonprofit sector. This is a model public-private partnership which I'm very committed to doing more of. And in fact, any other ideas any of you have about how we can expand on our partnership models, I hope you will let us know.

Just this year, the Hotel Security Working Group stepped up its hands-on training in screening techniques and responses to terrorist attacks. A new Maritime Security Group began working to address rising concerns over piracy and port security. There were conferences on protecting computer networks from cyber attacks and keeping exchange students safe no matter where they study. The Council reaches out to NGOs and faith-based organizations that have learned some ways of operating in some very difficult countries, and even advised organizers of the Olympic Games and the World Cup.

And just this week, the Council unveiled a new website that offers businesses and citizens a wide range of useful information and serves as a portal for staying in even closer touch with Americans on the ground in foreign countries.

Now, many of you here know firsthand how important this information is because you are responsible for keeping your colleagues and your customers safe day in and day out. This is a difficult but crucial effort. And it is a difficult effort, in part, because while we want to be as safe and secure as we can be, there is no zero-risk environment. And we don't want the precautionary measures that we take in order to be as safe and secure as we can be to undermine and interfere with actually performing the work that we set out to do.

We are constantly trying to assess our risk management, trying to balance the many competing considerations. We have, for example, nearly quadrupled our civilian presence in Afghanistan, and I have to think a lot about how we're going to keep safe those agricultural experts, those rule of law instructors, the people who we want to get out of the Embassy in Kabul and into the countryside.

Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered these remarks at National Women's Law Center in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Oh, it is wonderful to be here with all of you. The National Women's Law Center is very near and dear to me and I am delighted to have this very brief opportunity to join you in not only celebrating the work of the Center, but in honoring my friend, Ambassador Melanne Verveer. And I wanted this to be a surprise, so my coming here was a covert operation. My staff and Melanne's were sworn to secrecy. I hope and think we have succeeded, because if we did it will be the first time in 20 years at least that anyone managed to pull a fast one on Melanne.

And I want to thank Brooksley Born, someone whom I have admired and worked with in the American Bar Association whose career as a lawyer really did help to pave the way for so many others. Thanks to Kevin Kelly, the entire National Women's Law Center team, especially Marcia Greenberger and Nancy Duff Campbell for their leadership, and every one of you who supports the Law Center in doing the critical work that it does every day in supporting women and girls. And I want to join in recognizing Geena Davis for her passionate support of the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

This treaty is a priority of the Obama Administration. Tomorrow Geena and Melanne and others will be testifying on Capitol Hill and we want to move this treaty forward. We cannot wait any longer to try to put it to a vote. Let people either vote for it or against it and we will know where they stand.

Melanne has been a dear friend as well as a colleague. And she actually, along with her wonderful husband Phil, went to college with Bill. So we have had a very close, personal relationship. And then 18 years ago we started working together and it was the beginning of an epic journey that has taken us together and separately on behalf of the work we love to every corner of the world. We've been sitting together under sweltering tents in a village in India or at a meeting with thousands of civil society activists packed in that room in Huairou, China in 1995 or going to a housing development, literally, built from the ground up by formerly homeless women squatters in South Africa, and so many other places that flash through my mind like the movie that reminds me of everything that we have done on behalf of women and girls.

And Melanne has always been unflappable, compassionate, funny, stubborn - unstoppable. And she is one of the few people whose schedule even puts me to shame. She has friends in every corner of every country. Her energy is legendary. I've been on week-long trips with her, everyone is ready to collapse, and she's still making calls and taking notes and planning the next project.

We are so lucky to have Melanne as our first-ever ambassador on behalf of global women's issues. And I'm grateful that - this Administration and this country has elevated the roles and rights of women around the world in our foreign policy. For me, Melanne has been not only a colleague and a friend, but an inspiration. And together we are working to translate into action our hopes and dreams. We have launched initiatives to combat gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and sexual violence against girls and women worldwide. We've worked to improve maternal health and women's rights in Afghanistan and to focus on integrating women into every aspect of American foreign policy. We've launched the mWomen Program to close the gender gap in mobile technology and done what we could to support women's economic opportunities.

At the UN, we've helped to create a new mechanism to fight discrimination in the UN Human Rights Council. We thought it a little odd that discrimination against women had never been a focus of the Human Rights Council, so we decided that it should be. We've worked to lead the Security Council in passing unanimously a resolution establishing a special representative to the Secretary General to lead and coordinate our efforts to end conflict-related sexual violence, and strongly supported the creation of UN Women, a new agency headed by the former president of Chile, a friend to many of us, Michelle Bachelet, to mainstream gender issues throughout the UN system.

And the list goes on and on and on - but if Melanne, who is motioning me to cut it short, quit talking about her - go deal with some other world problem - but I think I can speak for Melanne when I say, as much as we've been doing and trying to do, we know that we have so much more that has to be done, and with your help we will do it. We will keep working together to support women and girls. And we will do it because it's not just the right thing to do; it's the smart thing to do. As I constantly remind my colleagues, and not only in other governments but our own, supporting women and girls worldwide is in the national security interest of the United States and we have to remember that.

So what we hope is to institutionalize this work, to make it clear that it doesn't depend upon who the Secretary of State is or even who the President is, but the United States of America stands for women's rights -and that we know that that is unfinished business.

And so as you honor Melanne tonight and as she expresses her appreciation to all of you, please know that there are truly millions of women and girls around the world who may never know her name, may never know anything about the Law Center, but whose lives are better because of what she and you have done and will do.

So thank you. Thank you so much for supporting the Center, and thank you so much for honoring Melanne Verveer. Thank you and good night.

President Barack Obama delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

President Obama. I want to begin by thanking the incredible leaders who are around this table, not only the Vice President and the Secretary of State, but also some of the most able statesmen from both parties that we've had in modern American history who are sitting around this table.

We are here to discuss the importance of ratifying the START treaty. And let me be clear: It is in the national security imperative—it is a national security imperative that the United States ratify the New START treaty this year.

There is no higher national security priority for the lame duck session of Congress. The stakes for American national security are clear, and they are high. The New START treaty responsibly reduces the number of nuclear weapons and launchers that the United States and Russia deploy, while fully maintaining America's nuclear deterrent.

If we ratify this treaty, we're going to have a verification regime in place to track Russia's strategic nuclear weapons, including U.S. inspectors on the ground. If we don't, then we don't have a verification regime—no inspectors, no insights into Russia's strategic arsenal, no framework for cooperation between the world's two nuclear superpowers. As Ronald Reagan said, we have to trust, but we also have to verify. In order for us to verify, we've got to have a treaty.

The New START treaty is also a cornerstone of our relations with Russia. And this goes beyond nuclear security. Russia has been fundamental to our efforts to put strong sanctions in place to put pressure on Iran to deal with its nuclear program. It's been critical in supporting our troops in Afghanistan through the Northern Distribution Network. It's been critical in working with us to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world, and to enhance European security.

We cannot afford to gamble on our ability to verify Russia's strategic nuclear arms. And we can't jeopardize the progress that we've made in securing vulnerable nuclear materials, or in maintaining a strong sanctions regime against Iran. These are all national interests of the highest order.

Let me also say—and I think the group around the table will confirm—that this New START treaty is completely in line with a tradition of bipartisan cooperation on this issue. This is not a Democratic concept; this is not a Republican concept. This is a concept of American national security that has been promoted by Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and now my administration.

We've taken the time to do this right. To ensure that the treaty got a fair hearing, we submitted to the Senate last spring. Because of the leadership of John Kerry and Dick Lugar, there have been 18 hearings on this subject. There have been multiple briefings. It has been fully and carefully vetted, and has the full endorsement of our nation's military leadership. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hoss Cartwright is here and will confirm that this is in our national security interests.

My administration is also prepared to go the extra mile to ensure that our remaining stockpile and nuclear infrastructure is modernized—which I know is a key concern of many around this table and also many on Capitol Hill. We've committed to invest $80 billion on the effort to modernize over the next decade. And based on our consultations with Senator Kyl, we've agreed to request an additional $4.1 billion over the next five years.

So the key point here is this is not about politics—it's about national security. This is not a matter that can be delayed. Every month that goes by without a treaty means that we are not able to verify what's going on on the ground in Russia. And if we delay indefinitely, American leadership on nonproliferation and America's national security will be weakened.

Now, as Senator Reid said yesterday, there is time on the Senate calendar to get this treaty ratified this year. So I've asked Vice President Biden to focus on this issue day and night until it gets done. It's important to our national security to let this treaty go up for a vote. I'm confident that it's the right thing to do. The people around this table think it's the right thing to do.

I would welcome the press to query the leadership here, people who have been national security advisors, secretaries of state, and key advisors—defense secretaries for Democratic and Republican administrations, and they will confirm that this is the right thing to do.

So we've got a lot on our plate during this lame duck session. I recognize that given the difficulties in the economy that there may be those, perhaps Democrats and Republicans on the Hill, who think this is not a top priority. I would not be emphasizing this and these folks would not have traveled all this way if we didn't feel that this was absolutely important to get done now.

And so I'm looking forward to strong cooperation between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, as exemplified by John Kerry and Dick Lugar, to get this done over the course of the next several weeks.

All right? Thank you very much.

Q. Do you have the votes in the Senate?

President Obama. I'm confident that we should be able to get the votes. Keep in mind that every President since Ronald Reagan has presented an arms treaty with Russia and been able to get ratification. And for the most part, these treaties have been debated on the merits; the majority of them have passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support. There's no reason that we shouldn't be able to get that done this time as well.

President Barack Obama delivered these remarks in Lisbon, Portugal

President Obama. Good evening, everybody. I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the substantial progress that the United States and our NATO allies have made here today.

We head into tomorrow's meeting with an alliance that is fully aligned in its vision and approach to collective security for the 21st century. After a year of discussions—and sometimes debate—the new Strategic Concept that we are embracing shows that NATO is fully united about the way forward and committing to addressing the full range of security challenges of this century.

Our Article 5 commitment remains the center of our approach, of course—an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all. And just as we will always back up that commitment with the conventional and nuclear strength that is necessary to defend our allies, we are now backing up that commitment with new capabilities as well.

That's why I'm pleased to announce that—for the first time—we've agreed to develop missile defense capability that is strong enough to cover all NATO European territory and populations, as well as the United States. This important step forward builds on the new phased adaptive approach to missile defense that I announced for the United States last year. It offers a role for all of our allies. It responds to the threats of our times. It shows our determination to protect our citizens from the threat of ballistic missiles. And tomorrow, we look forward to working with Russia to build our cooperation with them in this area as well, recognizing that we share many of the same threats.

Under the leadership of Secretary General Rasmussen, I'm also pleased that we're looking at the full range of capabilities that we need to secure our people—from more deployable capabilities, to new measures to deal with new threats like improvised explosives, to the cyber defenses that will be so essential in the years to come.

And just as we have full agreement on our new Strategic Concept, tomorrow our NATO allies, ISAF partners and the Afghan government will work to align our approach on Afghanistan, particularly in two areas: our transition to full Afghan lead between 2011 and 2014, and the long-term partnership that we're building in Afghanistan.

Finally, let me say a few words about the need to ratify the New START treaty. As I've said, this is a national security imperative for the United States. We need to ratify New START to put in place on-the-ground inspections of Russian nuclear arsenals, to reduce our deployed weapons and launchers, and to build on our cooperation with Russia—which has helped us put pressure on Iran and helped us to equip our mission in Afghanistan.

But just as this is a national security priority for the United States, the message that I've received since I've arrived from my fellow leaders here at NATO could not be clearer—New START will strengthen our alliance and it will strengthen European security.

Nobody is aware—nobody is more aware of the need for a strong, secure and democratic Europe than our Eastern and Central European allies. And my friend, the Foreign Minister of Poland, Radoslaw Sikorski, put it well when he said that New START will—and I quote—“bolster our country's security, and that of Europe as a whole.”

On the other hand, we know that failure to ratify and move forward with New START will put at risk the substantial progress that has been made in advancing our nuclear security and our partnership with Russia on behalf of global security.

Indeed, tomorrow we will build on the reset of U.S.-Russian relations by resetting relations between NATO and Russia as well through the NATO-Russia Council, which opens the door to cooperation on a range of security interests—cooperation that can lead to a more secure Europe and a more secure world.

So I want to thank all of my fellow leaders for the work that's been done. The progress that we've already made here today gives me great confidence that this will be a landmark summit in Lisbon, where the strong ties between the United States and Europe will continue to grow for years to come.

Thanks very much, everybody.

Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Well, good afternoon. Do we have enough room in here? I want to take a moment to discuss the recent news reports of classified documents that were illegally provided from United States Government computers. In my conversations with counterparts from around the world over the past few days, and in my meeting earlier today with Foreign Minister Davutoglu of Turkey, I have had very productive discussions on this issue.

The United States strongly condemns the illegal disclosure of classified information. It puts people's lives in danger, threatens our national security, and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems. This Administration is advancing a robust foreign policy that is focused on advancing America's national interests and leading the world in solving the most complex challenges of our time, from fixing the global economy, to thwarting international terrorism, to stopping the spread of catastrophic weapons, to advancing human rights and universal values. In every country and in every region of the world, we are working with partners to pursue these aims.

So let's be clear: this disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests. It is an attack on the international community—the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations, that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity.

I am confident that the partnerships that the Obama Administration has worked so hard to build will withstand this challenge. The President and I have made these partnerships a priority—and we are proud of the progress that they have helped achieve—and they will remain at the center of our efforts.

I will not comment on or confirm what are alleged to be stolen State Department cables. But I can say that the United States deeply regrets the disclosure of any information that was intended to be confidential, including private discussions between counterparts or our diplomats’ personal assessments and observations. I want to make clear that our official foreign policy is not set through these messages, but here in Washington. Our policy is a matter of public record, as reflected in our statements and our actions around the world.

I would also add that to the American people and to our friends and partners, I want you to know that we are taking aggressive steps to hold responsible those who stole this information. I have directed that specific actions be taken at the State Department, in addition to new security safeguards at the Department of Defense and elsewhere to protect State Department information so that this kind of breach cannot and does not ever happen again.

Relations between governments aren't the only concern created by the publication of this material. U.S. diplomats meet with local human rights workers, journalists, religious leaders, and others outside of governments who offer their own candid insights. These conversations also depend on trust and confidence. For example, if an anti-corruption activist shares information about official misconduct, or a social worker passes along documentation of sexual violence, revealing that person's identity could have serious repercussions: imprisonment, torture, even death.

So whatever are the motives in disseminating these documents, it is clear that releasing them poses real risks to real people, and often to the very people who have dedicated their own lives to protecting others.

Now, I am aware that some may mistakenly applaud those responsible, so I want to set the record straight: There is nothing laudable about endangering innocent people, and there is nothing brave about sabotaging the peaceful relations between nations on which our common security depends.

There have been examples in history in which official conduct has been made public in the name of exposing wrongdoings or misdeeds. This is not one of those cases. In contrast, what is being put on display in this cache of documents is the fact that American diplomats are doing the work we expect them to do. They are helping identify and prevent conflicts before they start. They are working hard every day to solve serious practical problems—to secure dangerous materials, to fight international crime, to assist human rights defenders, to restore our alliances, to ensure global economic stability. This is the role that America plays in the world. This is the role our diplomats play in serving America. And it should make every one of us proud.

The work of our diplomats doesn't just benefit Americans, but also billions of others around the globe. In addition to endangering particular individuals, disclosures like these tear at the fabric of the proper function of responsible government.

People of good faith understand the need for sensitive diplomatic communications, both to protect the national interest and the global common interest. Every country, including the United States, must be able to have candid conversations about the people and nations with whom they deal. And every country, including the United States, must be able to have honest, private dialogue with other countries about issues of common concern. I know that diplomats around the world share this view—but this is not unique to diplomacy. In almost every profession—whether it's law or journalism, finance or medicine or academia or running a small business—people rely on confidential communications to do their jobs. We count on the space of trust that confidentiality provides. When someone breaches that trust, we are all worse off for it. And so despite some of the rhetoric we've heard these past few days, confidential communications do not run counter to the public interest. They are fundamental to our ability to serve the public interest.

In America, we welcome genuine debates about pressing questions of public policy. We have elections about them. That is one of the greatest strengths of our democracy. It is part of who we are and it is a priority for this Administration. But stealing confidential documents and then releasing them without regard for the consequences does not serve the public good, and it is not the way to engage in a healthy debate.

In the past few days, I have spoken with many of my counterparts around the world, and we have all agreed that we will continue to focus on the issues and tasks at hand. In that spirit, President Obama and I remain committed to productive cooperation with our partners as we seek to build a better, more prosperous world for all.

Secretary Clinton delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I join with our partners around the world to recognize December 9 as International Anti-corruption Day. As we continue our common fight against corruption and recommit ourselves to the work ahead, we also recognize the significant achievements of the past year.

Last month, G20 Leaders adopted a landmark Anti-Corruption Action Plan to promote an open, rules-based environment worldwide. Implementing this plan will require cooperative efforts among our G20 partners, the private sector, and civil society organizations. The participation of emerging G20 economies is particularly important as they lay the foundation for generations of sustainable growth and prosperity.

The United States has made unprecedented strides over the past year to enforce our anticorruption laws and ensure our companies do not practice bribery or unfair practices in countries where they operate. This year, the States Parties of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) also launched a process to review implementation of the treaty. The United States is proud to be among the first nations to undergo a peer review, and we look forward to working with our partners in the UNCAC process to translate this global commitment to root out corruption from promise to practice.

Corruption stunts economic growth, damages confidence in democracy, and fosters a culture of graft and impunity that undermines the ability to operate in our interconnected world. Every country has a role to play as we work to advance our collective anticorruption agenda and institutionalize the highest standards of transparency. Together, we can ensure the integrity of our markets, improve our government institutions, and increase opportunity and prosperity for all our citizens.

Secretary Clinton delivered these remarks at Human Rights Day Town Hall in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. [F]or the United States, supporting civil society around the globe is a crucial priority. I made that clear in a speech I gave last summer at the Community of Democracies in Krakow, where we laid out an agenda of support for civil society, because we think it's not only a matter of good global citizenship, but it's a key to advancing so many of our national security priorities.

So we intend to make engagement with civil society a defining feature of our diplomacy. We've asked our embassies and missions around the world to develop strategies to elevate support for and protection of civil society. Next year, I will launch the new strategic dialogue with civil society to bring together representatives from government and civic groups for regular consultation, just as we do in our strategic dialogues with other countries.

We have seen increased efforts by governments to restrict civic space, whether in Cuba or China's efforts to somehow divert the world's attention from the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony today. We really know that we have our work cut out for us. And in Krakow, I called on the UN Human Rights Council to do more to protect civil society and announced the creation of a new fund for embattled NGOs. And I want to thank Lithuania, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, and the Czech Republic for their pledged contributions to this fund and for joining us in providing a lifeline to NGOs under siege. We also have worked with a coalition of countries on the Human Rights Council to create a new special rapporteur on freedom of association.

Now, just last week, Mike and I were in Central Asia, a place where civil society faces severe challenges. And we worked hard to give civil society a voice at the OSCE summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. And in each country, from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, I met with the brave men and women who are committed to improving the lives of their fellow citizens, often at significant personal risk. These meetings, as they always are for me, were inspiring and deepened my appreciation for the difficult work that you and many others on the front lines of human rights and civil rights actually face every day.

So this year's State Department Human Trafficking Report, for the first time, graded our own efforts as well as others. Last month, we presented our own human rights record as part of the UN's Universal Periodic Review. And just as we ask other governments to work with civil society groups, we also held a special event to allow NGOs from around the world to speak directly with officials from 12 different federal agencies, and we webcast the proceedings.

Secretary Clinton delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Over the last year, the United States has worked with our international partners to build on the progress achieved at the climate change conference in Copenhagen. We have pressed for substantive steps that would advance the vision of the Copenhagen Accord. This month we joined the nations of the world in Cancun for a new round of talks aimed at mobilizing common action to meet the shared global challenge of climate change.

Today, I am pleased to announce that we secured the Cancun Agreements, a set of balanced international decisions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which represent meaningful progress in our global response to climate change.

This outcome advances each of the core elements of the Copenhagen Accord: They anchor the Accord's mitigation pledges; build on a system of transparency, with substantial detail and content of International Consultations and Analysis which will provide confidence that a country's pledges are being carried out; launch a new Green Climate Fund; create a framework to reduce deforestation in developing countries; establish a technology mechanism; and setup a framework and committee to will promote international cooperation and action on adaptation.

The Cancun Agreements represent a balanced and significant step forward. In the days and months ahead, the United States will work with our friends and partners to keep the world focused on this urgent challenge and to continue building on this progress.

Secretary Janet Napolitano delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Today the Senate took a great step forward in enhancing our national security by providing its advice and consent to ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation. I congratulate the Senators of both parties who worked tirelessly to ensure that New START was approved, and I thank all the Senators who voted for this treaty for their commitment to our national security.

Once this Treaty enters into force, on-site inspections of Russia's strategic nuclear weapons facilities can resume, providing us with an on-the-ground view of Russia's nuclear forces. The information and insight from these inspections forms the core of our ability to “trust but verify” compliance with New START. A responsible partnership between the world's two largest nuclear powers that limits our nuclear arsenals while maintaining strategic stability is imperative to promoting global security. With New START, the United States and Russia will have another important element supporting our “reset” relationship and expanding our bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues.

President Obama and Vice President Biden have been unwavering in their dedication to this treaty to both strengthen our domestic security and reduce the international threat of nuclear weapons. This day would not have been possible without their leadership or the efforts of Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen. I also thank President George H.W. Bush and all the former Secretaries of State who added their support to this Treaty and worked to see New START approved. I and all my colleagues at the State Department look forward to working with our Russian partners to conclude the approval of New START in Russia, bring the Treaty into force, and deliver the global and national security benefits of New START.