Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

February 27, 2012

I am delighted to be able to send greetings to all of you – our future leaders, and I hope our future diplomats – and welcome you to the State Department during Black History Month. I know many of you have traveled a long way to be here today. Thank you for enlivening and enriching our celebration.

I’m sure the events of the past year across the Middle East have caught your attention—they certainly have caught ours. We see people – especially young people – across the region calling on their governments to be more open, more accountable, and more responsive. We’re busy supporting them as they work to achieve their aspirations.

Beyond the Middle East and North Africa, we’re working to make the American people safer and promote our interests – reducing the threat of nuclear weapons, fighting climate change, promoting Internet freedom, and solving so many other pressing problems.

We’re not only reaching out to governments, but we’re extending our diplomacy to individuals and communities by using new technology like Facebook and Twitter. But there’s much more to do, and that’s where you come in. If we’re going to solve the most pressing problems of our day, we have to tap into your experiences and energy. So keep being ambassadors for your ideals; keep asking questions about our country and our world; and most importantly, consider lending your skills and abilities to the State Department when you graduate. Log on to our websites, follow what we’re doing, and when you graduate, give us a try, because we sure can use you. Thank you.

World Council of Churches (WCC) applauds EU court ruling on migrants’ rightsMonday, February 27, 2012 8:50 AMGENEVA, Switzerland, February 27, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The World Council of Churches (WCC) applauds the landmark ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, which held Italy responsible for violating the rights of Eritrean and Somali migrants for sending them back to Libya.

The ruling came out in the case of Hirsi Jamaa and Others vs Italy on 23 February. The court found Italy responsible for intercepting and returning a boatload of African migrants without determining whether such a decision would put their lives at risk. The court ordered Italy to pay financial compensation to each migrant in damages.

The Somali and Eritrean applicants were among two hundred individuals, who left Libya aboard three vessels in 2009 to reach the Italian coast. After being intercepted by the Italian Coastguard, the passengers were transferred to Italian military ships and taken to Tripoli, without being informed of the destination.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit called the court ruling a turning point invoking national responsibilities towards migrants.

“There is an increase in the number of people who try to reach the territories of developed countries and claim asylum due to hardships they face in their home countries,” said Tveit in his message.

However, he stressed that this should not be a “pretext for developed nations to undermine the protection of the rights of refugees.”

Tveit commended the court decision to be in line with the principle of non-refoulement in international law, which prohibits states from returning asylum seekers to a country or territory, where their lives might be at risk.

“This landmark judgement is a sign of hope for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and migrant people around the world, who are facing great peril while attempting to reach safe or better havens”, said Dr Mathews George Chunakara, director of the WCC Commission of Churches on International Affairs.

“The human rights of migrants and asylum seekers should always be at the forefront of considerations when dealing with migration policies,” he added.