Los Angeles, CA – A new report by Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) released a new report, Maternal Mortality in the United States After Abortion Bans, which analyzes trends in maternal mortality, reveals that women living in states with abortion bans are twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly after giving birth, compared to those in states where abortion is legal and accessible. Currently, 62.7 million women and girls live in states with abortion bans.
Key Findings:
Mothers living in states that banned abortion are nearly 2x as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after giving birth, compared to mothers living in supportive states where abortion was legal and accessible.
Maternal mortality fell 21% in supportive states post Dobbs
Maternal mortality rose 56% in Texas in the first full year of the state’s abortion ban; up 95% among White women
Black mothers living in banned states were 3.3x as likely to die as White mothers in those states.
Women’s risk of maternal death in Texas was 155% higher than in California
Latina mothers in Texas faced nearly triple the risk of maternal mortality as those in California.
A stark example of the disparity between banned and supportive states is Texas, where mothers face significantly higher risks of maternal mortality compared to those in supportive states. In Texas, mothers are 1.7 times as likely to experience maternal mortality, with Latina and White mothers facing double the risk compared to their counterparts in states that provide abortion access. Additionally, Black women in Texas were 2.5 times as likely as White women in the state to suffer maternal death.
“Abortion bans are putting the lives of women—particularly Black and Latina mothers—at serious risk,” said Dr. Nancy L. Cohen, President of Gender Equity Policy Institute. “This data is a wake-up call: maternal mortality is preventable, yet we are failing to protect those most vulnerable. If we don’t change course, I fear more and more women could die.”
This report is the fourth publication in Gender Equity Policy Institute’s series on Reproductive Health in the United States, and presents GEPI’s analysis of 2019-2023 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data on maternal mortality to compare maternal health outcomes in the banned states, the supportive states, and the U.S. overall.
Meanwhile, Women’s March is sounding the alarm that” the Trump administration is floating a plan to reward women with cash and medals for having more children. Nazi Germany awarded the ‘Motherhood Cross’ to women who birthed for the regime. Mussolini paid women to have six or more kids—while banning abortion and birth control. This was never about supporting parents. It’s about controlling our bodies and turning us into tools of the state. “
Seems ironic since these same WhiteChristoFascists “reformed” welfare to force new mothers to immediately return to the workforce in order to get welfare, without the benefit of available, affordable childcare.
But if you think those two things contradict each other – sitting back as women die while forcing women to give birth – this how it all fits: the birthrate is falling, and despite having an actual worker shortage, they are deporting every immigrant they can get their hands on. So they will need more workers, but they want an overflow of cheap, ignorant labor for the new factories and mines and drilling rigs – people who will be too much under The Man’s thumb to complain about working conditions, just like in that Gilded Age that Trump loves so much.
So they will force women to give birth – even making contraception illegal – without having adequate health care, child care or whatever care, without providing vaccinations. Because at this point, people are mere cogs, expendable. They don’t want the sickly, the disabled, the special needs children or their mothers to survive. If they die – along with the elderly who will die waiting to get their Social Security and Medicare benefits and for lack of vaccinations for diseases that were largely eradicated – that’s okay – less burden on the nation’s tits (treasury); and they don’t vote. It’s survival of the fittest, baby.
The 6,000 May Day protesters gathered at Foley Square in front of the Federal Courthouse and surrounded by federal buildings, were fired up by the surprise appearance of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who had raced from an airport to give her energy to the labor movement amidst the unprecedented crackdown of civil and workers rights by the Trump Administration.
AOC called on them to keep the pressure on the MAGA Republican lawmakers, who have ceded their co-equal power to the dictator wannabe rather than face his ire or a primary challenge. The protests – collectively the largest in history -through the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, have not been futile exercises. Just that day, Republicans pulled a vote to slash Medicaid by an unprecedented $888 billion. “They have stopped and suspended next week’s Medicaid cuts because they’re getting too scared,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “They see you, New York, they see the gathering.”
She urged continued vigilance, warning that they will vote again in the dead of night when they think no one is watching.
She energized the crowd, declaring that the Trump administration is much more prepared and planned this time around in terms of the kinds of chaos that they’re trying to unleash. More than legal programs, more than policy, they are trying to invokefear.
“That is how authoritarianism works. These are the tools to get us to sacrifice and surrender our civil liberties, more than they take them.” Indeed, Trump pardoned virtually all the January 6th insurrectionists, including those who had threatened her life. “I’m not going to give them my fear,” she has told supporters. “They’re relying on us giving up. Hell no.”
We’re going to keep standing with trans people. We’re going to keep standing with the LGBT community. We’re going to keep standing for the working class. We’re going to keep fighting for a better minimum wage. We’re going to keep fighting to guarantee healthcare.
The issues that have dominated the anti-Trump protests that have been virtually constant were present here too – Hands Off public education with huge contingents of protesters from colleges and teachers unions and immigrant rights.
And typical of May Day protests were the demands by workers, but the Tax the Rich and Down with Billionaires themes more vitriolic and urgent. You get the feeling that if Trump is not stopped in his march toward authoritarianism, there will be an equally strong backlash. One cannot but think that Trump is hoping for these protests to get even more animated and violent, so he can declare martial law under the Insurrection Act and snuff out the last vestige of opposition, after decimating the judicial system, the Congress, a free press (he just signed an order canceling federal spending for NPR and PBS).
The May Day protest, an annual rite in New York City, featured the city’s labor unions, students and educators, a huge contingent of pro-Palestinian protesters, and were joined by those standing against encroachment of power, rise of autocracy and Fascism, and standing up for due process, democracy, public education, healthcare, immigrant rights, social security and Medicaid and healthcare.
Many protesters exclaimed support for immigrants, for students whose visas were cancelled and arrested for exercising free speech, and for Khalil Abrego Garcia specifically, wrongly deported to an El Salvador gulag without due process, as the face of a victim of a tyranny.
Veronica Salama, the New York Civil Liberties Union staff attorney who is part of the legal team representing Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, condemned Trump for separating Khalil from his family and said Khalil’s arrest violated the first amendment.
The protesters marched down Broadway, ending at the Charging Bull, the iconic image of Wall Street, to emphasize the message on many of the signs: Send Billionaires to Mars, Tax the Rich, Fight Fascism.
New York City’s May Day protest was one of more than 1000 in more than 800 cities and towns across the country, and the second that day at Foley Square (some 3,000 lawyers came out in front of the federal court during Law Day, an annual affirmation of the Rule of Law), plus several others around the city, organized and promoted by multiple organizations. They have realized that only through solidarity can they fulfill their individual goals. The overarching message: “Together we win.”
Hallie Brenner Perles, co-leader of Show Up Long Island and an organizer of the Long Island protest, stated, “Authoritarians like Trump and Musk want to divide us and to appeal to the smallest, cruelest, and most selfish impulses of humanity. That’s the only way they can win. But we still live in a democracy. And right now we can choose to care, to stand up for each other, to seek truth and facts over lies, to know that an attack on any groups’ human rights is an attack on all. We can choose empathy and the courage to acknowledge these are not normal times so we won’t pretend that they are. We will continue to nonviolently protest all that is wrong with this administration as heroes have done before us. Then some day books will be written that tell our story: that when our country, our children and the world needed us, so many Americans in all 50 states stood together on the right side of history. “
“This was by far the largest, most widespread May Day action in the history of our country,” MayDayStrong.org reported. “The billionaires are waging a war on working people—and on May Day, international workers’ day, hundreds of thousands of us stood together and stood strong, fighting for public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, shared prosperity over free market politics. Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down—we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that ensure access to opportunity and a better life for all Americans. Their time is up.”
Numerous protests are upcoming with another national day of protest slated for June 14th organized by 50501.org: They are looking to “amass in spectacular numbers for the “Anti-Regime Day of Protest” and counter the massive (6600 soldiers! 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters! 2,000 civilians!) and massively expensive ($92 million!) military parade Trump, in true dictator fashion, is organizing for his 79th birthday, even as he orders cuts to Medicaid resulting in hospitals laying off healthcare workers.
At its protest in suburban Long Island, Hallie Brenner Perles, co-leader Show Up Long Island, declared, “Authoritarians like Trump and Musk want to divide us and to appeal to the smallest, cruelest, and most selfish impulses of humanity. That’s the only way they can win. But we still live in a democracy. And right now we can choose to care, to stand up for each other, to seek truth and facts over lies, to know that an attack on any groups’ human rights is an attack on all. We can choose empathy and the courage to acknowledge these are not normal times so we won’t pretend that they are. We will continue to nonviolently protest all that is wrong with this administration as heroes have done before us. Then some day books will be written that tell our story: that when our country, our children and the world needed us , so many Americans in all 50 states stood together on the right side of history.”
Let the protesters speak for themselves. Here are highlights from the New York City May Day protest:
Across the globe, the lives of 500 million people in more than 190 countries have benefited from the more than 4,100 projects and partnerships made through the Clinton Global Initiative’s programs and initiatives since 2001. This is just one of the impacts reported in its annual Impact Report. The report details a continued legacy that brings diverse and unlikely partners together to take action. In 2024, the Foundation focused on what worked around the world and how to keep moving forward in unprecedented times.
Some of the other key milestones reached in 2024 include:
891,000 doses of lifesaving Naloxone distributed to recovery residences, high schools, universities, and community organizations in 20 states through the Overdose Response Network.
517,000 students and educators have participated in enriching educational and cultural programming free-of-charge at the Clinton Presidential Center.
21 million people worldwide have access to lifesaving HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria medications through the Clinton Health Access Initiative, an independent, associated organization.
1.4 million children’s books donated and provided to families in communities that are under-resourced through Too Small to Fail, the Foundation’s early childhood initiative.
31 million U.S. children leading healthier lives through the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, an initiative jointly founded by the Foundation and the American Heart Association.
In a joint letter to the Foundation’s community, President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton wrote, “For more than two decades, the Clinton Foundation has aspired to build a world where everyone has the opportunity to create better tomorrows for themselves, their families, and their communities. As we share in this report, in 2024 we saw how bringing together diverse and often unlikely partners from business, government, and civil society can be a practical strategy for delivering outsized impact across the United States and around the world.”
“The gaps between what the public sector can provide and what the private sector can produce seem to be growing bigger each and every day. The work we do here will continue to help fill those gaps. Whether we’re launching targeted initiatives that test new solutions or expanding proven programs that have transformed millions of lives, we must work together to keep putting people first and building a better future,” the family shared.
Some of the key moments that inspired action in 2024:
Using Media to Educate on Early Childhood: Too Small to Fail partnered with the FrameWorks Institute and Rockefeller Foundation to create a playbook for storytellers on how to frame the impact of climate change on children’s health. Secretary Clinton and Chelsea expanded on this work by hosting “Media that Motivates,” encouraging popular media to share stories that explore this topic
Protecting Children from Social Media: At the CGI 2024 Annual Meeting, Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, launched a new CGI Commitment to Action through The Archewell Foundation’s Parents’ Network to help protect children from the harmful effects of social media.
A Critical NATO Milestone: President Clinton traveled to Prague to mark the 25th anniversary of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary joining NATO, which helped create a more peaceful, democratic Europe. In his keynote, he reflected upon his early support for NATO’s expansion at the time, as well as the continued importance of NATO and maintaining our global alliances.
Profiling Moments in American History: The Clinton Center’s permanent exhibitions chronicle American history and culture at the turn of the 21st century. Visitors experience full-scale replicas of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room and original works of art, such as the Crystal Tree of Light crafted by American artist Dale Chihuly. This dazzling glass sculpture was created for the Millennium Celebration and is part of the permanent collection at the Clinton Presidential Center.
Reflecting on Decades of Impact: In November, President Clinton released his memoir, “CITIZEN: My Life After the White House,” providing a detailed and moving account of his post-presidential years, including stories of the Clinton Foundation’s impact, the origin of the Clinton Global Initiative, key events of the 21st century, and the people who’ve inspired him to keep going
A Moment of Unity: At the CGI 2024 Annual Meeting, Yael Admi, co-founder of Women Wage Peace, and Reem Hajajreh, founder of Women of the Sun, discussed the historic partnership between their movements to promote a nonviolent resolution to conflict across the Middle East.
Marking Two Decades of Work in Little Rock: Former colleagues and friends from the Clinton Administration and Foundation community reunited at the Clinton Center’s 20th anniversary celebration. Administration alumni joined “The West Wing” stars Dulé Hill, Richard Schiff, and Melissa Fitzgerald for a conversation about Hollywood moments and the real-world leadership that inspired the iconic show.
Honoring a Lifetime of Leadership: At the CGI 2024 Annual Meeting, President Joe Biden received the Clinton Global Citizen Award for his “uncommon decency and goodness.” Chosen by President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and Chelsea, the award recognizes individuals who embody global citizenship through their vision and leadership.
Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 10,000 organizations have launched more than 4,000 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs – that are making a difference in the lives of more than 500 million people in 180 countries.
Read the full annual Impact Report – including highlights from Foundation programs and initiatives around the world – at clintonfoundation.org/2024impactreport.
It is a testament to the respect and appreciation for New York’s AAPI community that elected officials from federal, state down to the most local government turned out to the Flushing, Queens, Lunar New Year parade to celebrate the Year of the Snake. Among them: US Senator Chuck Schumer, Congresswoman Grace Meng, Governor Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, state legislators, borough presidents, NYC councilmembers.
They spoke of how immigrants and diversity have contributed to the community, the state’s and the nation’s prosperity, applauded the success of the Flushing, Queens Asian community, and stood up for immigrants. They also applauded the significant achievement, after 20 years of prodding, that New York State made the Lunar New Year a state holiday – something that now Congresswoman Grace Meng began.
The whole celebratory tone of the parade – and the state’s support for diversity – is in contrast with the measures by Trump and his Project 2025 handlers to eliminate DEI (diversity,m equity, inclusion) from federal programs; the Defense Department under the White Nationalist Hegseth, has dispensed with celebrations of acknowledgements of everything from Black History Month and MLK Day, to Pride, and Trump went so far as to blame the recent Washington DC airline crash – the first fatal air crash in 16 years – on DEI policies. Trump blames everything else on immigration.
Peter Tu, executive director of the Flushing Chinese Business Association which organizes the parade/event, declared, “We are New York. We are America. We are as American as everyone else” and later added, “I’m an American. I love this country.”
Governor Kathy Hochul praised the community’s resilience after the coronavirus pandemic. “You fought back. We celebrate you” and pointed to the victory of a state-wide holiday for the Lunar New Year, which has wider impact than among the AAPI community, but provides “an opportunity for everyone to learn about this diverse community. They can’t take that away.”
Attorney General Letitia James committed to fighting to protect birthright citizenship, as enshrined in the Constitution. “We will defend immigrants. The Attorney General is on your side.
Queens Boro President Donovan Richards, Jr. said, “We have a lot to protect: immigrant rights, civil rights, human rights, LGBTQ rights. We will uphold our values, our Queens values, even as we battle the white house. We are the most diverse county in the United States. We will defend that.”
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, the former Majority Leader and now Minority leader, pointed to how powerful the AAPI community is , and pointing to his red hat and red socks, he joked “I am red from head to toe.”
But turning serious, Schumer said, “I believe strongly in this community, your future, the ladders for your children – the SAT is a ladder up for those without much money who want a better life. … You are our future. Your values – hard work, education, family, children climbing up the ladder, respect for elders, safe streets.”
He noted that with help of Congresswoman Grace Meng, the Congress passed the Asian Anti-Hate Act. And though he is now the Minority Leader, “I still have clout” and met with President Xi of China, and the presidents of Taiwan and Korea. “We need to work together, to have a strong relationship, for peace.”
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz praised the NYPD for keeping the borough safe – safe for parades, safe for parents. This parade, she said, celebrates the people who came before, while assimilating into America.
John Liu, the first Asian elected to City Council, now a state senator, noted that the statewide designation of Lunar New Year holiday “is part of the progress our community is making.”
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander noted that New York City has the largest Asian, and the largest Chinese population outside China. The Asian community, along with the Jewish, Dominican, Black and all the different heritages, “make out city a great city, the best for immigrants. We must protect all. All New Yorkers deserve to live in safety.”
This is the year of the Snake – the 6th of the 12 animal signs in the lunar calendar. The snake symbolizes renal and change, and the qualities of wisdom, calmness, determination, adaptability, mystery and transformation.
The celebration of the Lunar New Year dates back thousands of years, founded in the agricultural cycle and marking the period of time when farmers could take a rest from their work in the fields to be with their families.
In her proclamation to the FCBA, Governor Hochul noted “New York State is home to many Asian American Pacific Islander communities and we join in commemorating their most significant holiday rooted in ancient history and tradition as we welcome the arrival of Lunar New Year 4723 and share in festivities and celebrations to mark this joyous occasion.
“Our AAPI communities contribute significantly to American society and we recognize it is important that their ancestral heritage is passed down to younger generations; in 2023, I proudly signed legislation that designates lunar New Year as an official school holiday across New York State, providing a meaningful opportunity for children in the AAPI community to participate in an event that is such an inherent part of their culture, and to share with others one of the most beautiful holidays celebrated worldwide.”
Here are more highlights from the 2025 Lunar New Year Parade in Flushing, Queens:
On Human Rights Day 2024, the White House issued this fact sheet highlighting the Biden-Harris administration’s global human rights accomplishments:
Over the last four years, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken action to uphold universal human rights around the world. From protecting brave individuals defending life and liberty to securing some of the largest political prisoner releases in recent history, to holding account those who misuse technologies like commercial spyware for human rights violations and abuses, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to support human rights defenders, civil society and journalists. Three historic Summits for Democracy generated millions of dollars in commitments from the U.S., international partners, and the private sector to support civil society and investments in democratic renewal. Through our engagement in multilateral organizations, we have held countries that have violated human rights to account, advanced the status of women and girls, and safeguarded protection for LGBTQI+ human rights defenders. The United States is strongest when we protect people fighting for justice for all at home and abroad through these actions:
Protected Human Rights Defenders and Secured the Release of Political Prisoners
Advocated for the Release ofUnjustly Detained Individuals Globally. The U.S. raised international awareness of the plight of political prisoners and their families and advocated for the release of all unjustly detained individuals worldwide. Notable accomplishments included: working with international partners to secure the release of 16 unjustly detained prisoners held by the Russian government, including four Americans, in the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War and securing the release of 357 Nicaraguan political prisoners, including human rights defenders and Catholic leaders.
Empowered Journalists, Civil Society, Workers, and Reform-Minded Leaders. The Department of State protected journalists and promoted media freedom through the Journalism Protection Platform and joint efforts with UNESCO, provided direct financial support to almost 900 civil society organization (CSOs) in 86 countries through the Lifeline: Embattled CSOs Assistance Fund since 2021; promoted inclusive labor markets and protecting the rights of all workers in line with the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally, worked with partners to equip young leaders with essential skills, such as through the Community of Democracies’ Youth Democracy Network; and elevated the voices of Indigenous youth into global civic conversations by establishing the Indigenous Youth Leadership Coalition.
Supported Local Human Rights Defenders and Organizations through USAID’s Powered by the People (PxP) Award. In 2024, USAID channeled over $2.5 million to human rights defenders, and organizations protecting and promoting human rights across 28 countries. This included providing rapid relocation, emergency legal assistance, digital security, psychosocial support, and a global help desk.
Sustained Support to Human Rights Defenders in Ukraine. The U.S. continued to support human rights defenders working to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms around the world. For example, since the start of the war, USAID has helped more than 50 civil society organizations, including the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which documented possible Russian crimes against Ukrainian civilians. In recognition of this work, CCL was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
Strengthened Civilian Protection. The State Department elevated human rights considerations in security decisions and partnerships, including U.S. arms transfers and security trainings, to higher standards through efforts such as the Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG).
Expanded Human Rights Programming. In 2024, USAID provided $19.25 million 19 Missions to support human rights defenders and address human rights violations and abuses, combat digital repression and cyber threats faced by HRDs, enhance protection of environmental rights defenders, combat Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and trafficking in persons, support access to justice for victims of human rights violations, and support comprehensive programming to enable persons with disabilities to understand and realize their rights. In 2024, USAID’s Justice, Human Rights, and Security Rapid Response Award supported 20 USAID Missions nearly $7 million for rapid response activities to meet urgent crises.
Mobilized Action to Address the Misuse of Commercial Spyware
Protected Against Commercial Spyware Misuse. The Biden-Harris Administration advanced a whole-of-government approach to curb the misuse and proliferation of commercial spyware. The President’s Executive Order set standards and safeguards for the domestic government use of these commercial surveillance tools, while the novel application of visa restrictions—including dozens of new designations announced this week, financial sanctions, and trade restrictions has discouraged commercial spyware companies from targeting U.S. citizens or undermining human rights globally. The Administration has successfully internationalized this pioneering effort through the Joint Statement on Efforts to Counter the Proliferation and Misuse of Commercial Spyware, now endorsed by 22 countries with this week’s formal addition of Latvia. The U.S. has also driven global consensus through language in the Human Rights Council resolution on the Promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet, which for the first time recognizes the threat commercial spyware misuse poses to democratic values and the exercise of human rights. The United States has committed $3 million in programming for capacity building, research, and advocacy for the private sector, academia, and government partners.
Upheld Human Rights and Accountability
Expanded Tools for Accountability.
To date this year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated more than 100 individuals and entities associated with human rights abuse across more than 20 jurisdictions. These actions targeted an array of activities, including national and transnational repression, forced disappearances and hostage taking, gender-based violence, forced labor and human trafficking, and human rights abuses perpetrated by terrorist groups and criminal organizations.
The State Department publicly designated over 80 officials for their involvement in gross violations of human rights, sanctioning over 240 individuals and entities for serious human rights abuses under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program, and taking steps to impose visa restrictions on over 8,000 individuals for undermining democracy, repressing marginalized groups, transnational repression, and other activity adverse to U.S. interests, including additional actions announced today.
Fought Political Repression. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) worked to target political repression in 2024 through related actions in Georgia, Iran, Burma, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. OFAC designated an international assassination network led by a narcotrafficker operating at the behest of the Iranian government in January and, in March, the designation of a commercial spyware consortium that distributed spyware technology that was used to target Americans.
Reduced Human Trafficking and Forced Labor. OFAC focused on actions to disrupt human trafficking and forced labor throughout 2024, including actions targeting the Venezuela-based criminal organization; a Syria-based narco-trafficker also under legal prosecution for human trafficking; and a Cambodian businessman and four companies he owns for forced labor in online virtual currency investment cyber scam centers.
Administered International Justice.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) secured historic sentences in three high profile cases this year concerning human rights violations in Iraq, Ethiopia, and Croatia. In addition, the Department charged three individuals with fraud related to their alleged participation in human rights violations in Rwanda, Syria, and Bosnia.
On December 9, 2024, DOJ unsealed an indictment in the Northern District of Illinois charging two high-ranking Syrian officials under former President Bashar al-Assad with war crimes. The indictment charges the former Syrian intelligence officials with engaging in a conspiracy to commit cruel and inhuman treatment of civilian detainees, including U.S. citizens, during the course of the Syrian civil war.
On December 5, 2023, following a joint FBI-HSI investigation, DOJ indicted four persons affiliated with the Russian military for war crimes. The defendants allegedly interrogated, severely beat, and tortured a U.S. national during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia initiated the case, the first such indictment since the amendment of the War Crimes Act.
Empowered Human Rights and Defense. U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) dedicated Human Rights Office continued human rights training and education for partner forces, the implementation of civil-military dialogues including the human rights NGO community, and the integration of human rights considerations into Command exercises.
Provided Human Rights and Law of Armed Conflict Training. The Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) provided Human Rights and Law of Armed Conflict training to foreign security partner forces that receive resources and support pursuant to 10 U.S.C. Sec. 333. Over the last year, DIILS faculty conducted numerous advanced-level trainings across dozens of countries and resident courses on a variety of legal topics attended by participants from over 70 countries.
Bolstered Atrocity Prevention and Response
Issued a National Atrocity Prevention and Response Strategy. The U.S. Government takes timely and effective action to anticipate, prevent, and respond to atrocities, in coordination with partner governments, and international, civil society, and local partners. The White House-led Atrocity Prevention Task Force coordinates these efforts and the United States Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent, and Respond to Atrocities was launched in 2022 to achieve impact through concerted action in countries at risk of atrocities.
Documented Atrocity Risk. This year’s Elie Wiesel Act Report reflects several Administration priorities. As part of ongoing work to incorporate women’s rights and inclusion into atrocity prevention efforts, the report incorporates gender-based violence as a potential early warning sign of atrocities and reinforces that conflict-related sexual violence should never be considered an inevitable result of armed conflict. The report also notes U.S. leadership in training on how to address atrocity risk and critical documentation work through the Conflict Observatory program.
Engaged Multilateral Institutions to Hold Countries to Account
Re-Engaged with the UN Human Rights System. The United States rejoined the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to highlight and address pressing human rights concerns and to uphold the universal values, aspirations, and principles that have underpinned the UN system since its founding. We also issued a standing invitation to all UN thematic human rights monitors to visit the U.S. and assess our human rights record at home.
Called Attention to Concerning Human Rights Situations. U.S. leadership led to the establishment of mechanisms through the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations and abuses in situations around the world, including Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Iran, Russia, Sudan, and Ukraine.
Kept Human Rights Violators Off UN Bodies. The U.S. led successful efforts to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women and deprive Russia of a seat on the Human Rights Council.
Aided Human Rights Integration in Haiti. U.S. support for the Multinational Security mission (MSS) has been critical in responding to the crisis in Haiti. The MSS and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights established a partnership focused on integrating human rights into security operations since the deployment of the MSS to Haiti.
Addressed Threats Posed by Transnational Repression
Combatted Transnational Repression. The United States worked with multilateral partners to raise awareness, counter the threat, and promote accountability for acts of transnational repression (TNR) —by leading a working group on transnational repression under the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism, aiming to raise international awareness of the threat TNR poses, affirming our shared commitment to countering the threat, and sharing best practices and lessons learned. We delivered a statement on behalf of more than 45 countries at the 56th Session of the Human Rights Council to address the urgent and growing threat of transnational repression, and announced the Khashoggi Ban, a policy restricting those engaged in TNR from obtaining U.S. visas and traveling to the United States.
Prevented and Responded to Gender-Based Violence
Preventing and Responding to Gender-Based Violence Globally. Over the last two fiscal years, the United States maintained the highest-ever level of investment—$250 million—to address gender-based violence globally. This work is guided by the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally. In the third and most recent iteration of the Strategy released in 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking decisive action to further our commitment to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally through programming, policy, and diplomatic efforts. The Strategy also made updates to address 21st century threats, such as online harassment and abuse, and the ways in which climate change exacerbates the risk of gender-based violence.
Promoted Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. President Biden issued a historic Memorandum on Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in November 2022 directing federal agencies to marshal sanctions authorities to promote justice and accountability specifically for conflict-related sexual violence. The Administration has since issued nearly two dozen sanctions against perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence around the globe. This year included a designation of five armed groups and their leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo implicated in sexual violence; two designations in Haiti, one of a former member of Parliament and one of a gang leader responsible for gender-based attacks; an action targeting a Rapid Support Forces commander in Sudan who for CRSV; and sanctions against three former government of Uzbekistan officials for sex trafficking and sexual abuse of minors at a state-run orphanage.
Supported Documentation of Sexual Violence. In June, Vice President Harris launched the Dignity in Documentation Initiative, which provides support for survivor- and civil society-led efforts to investigate and document CRSV in line with the Murad Code, named for Nobel Laureate and survivor Nadia Murad. Today, we are proud to announce additional aligned commitments to the initiative, including $8 million from the Department of State and $4 million from USAID for a total of over $22 million committed to this work.
Countered Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence. By founding and co-leading the 14-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, the Administration has advanced global policies to address online safety for women and girls by shaping a range of multilateral policy instruments tackling online harms through the G7, G20, APEC, and UN. The Administration has also invested at least $15 million in targeted funding to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
Advanced Women, Peace, and Security. The United States is committed to addressing the root causes of violence and conflict as a top national security priority. In 2023, the United States issued a U.S. Strategy and National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which is currently being implemented by the Department of Defense (DOD), USAID, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security. For example, DOD has engaged in Women, Peace, and Security-focused security cooperation activities with Allies and partners to ensure meaningful participation of women in decision making and ensure that crisis and conflict operations do not negatively impact the protection of civilians or their equitable access to relief and recovery resources.
Defended the Rights of Women and Girls. In October 2022 and February 2023, Secretary Blinken announced a new visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“3C”) to restrict the issuance of visas for current or former Taliban members, members of non-state security groups, and other individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, repressing women and girls in Afghanistan through restrictive policies and violence. In December 2023, the U.S. designated two individuals under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program for repressing women and girls in Afghanistan, including restricting their access to secondary education. The U.S. remains unwavering in our commitment to support the Afghan people, especially Afghan women and girls, in their struggle for an inclusive, stable, peaceful Afghanistan.
Combatted Hate-fueled Violence
Launched Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism. The U.S. led “Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism,” represent a set of international best practices for effective public policy against antisemitism. This landmark global effort has been endorsed by 42 countries and multilateral organizations since its introduction in Buenos Aires in July 2024. The United States continues to demonstrate global leadership through ongoing efforts to expand endorsements and deepen adherence.
Protected LGBTQI+ persons in Uganda. In December 2023, As directed by President Biden, the United States released a fact sheet outlining actions taken to address threats posed by democratic backsliding in Uganda, promote accountability for human rights abuses, and curtail direct assistance to the government.
Expanded International Disability Rights. The President reestablished the role of Special Advisor on International Disability Rights at the Department of State and actively supported the first-ever G7 Ministerial on Inclusion and Disability in Italy in October of this year, where global leaders discussed disability rights issues related to independent living, artificial intelligence (AI), humanitarian response and emergency management, and sports.
Supported and Sustained Democracy
Inaugurated the Summit for Democracy. President Biden launched the historic Summit for Democracy in 2021 to strengthen democratic institutions, protect human rights, and accelerate the fight against corruption, both at home and abroad. Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States has taken concrete steps to advance previous commitments and initiatives launched over the past three years in the areas of advancing technology for democracy, media freedom, countering the misuse of technology, and improving financial transparency, gender equity and equality, and rule of law.
Fought Anti-Corruption Globally. The Biden-Harris Administration established countering corruption as a “core U.S. national security interest,” and issued the first-ever United States Strategy on Countering Corruption. Since then, the United States has taken action at home and around the world to curb illicit finance, hold corrupt actors accountable, forge multilateral partnerships, and equip frontline leaders to take on transnational corruption.
Surged Support to Countries experiencing Democratic Openings. In 2024, USAID’s Partnership for Democratic Development (PDD) advanced gender issues and women’s rights across its funded portfolio of programs to improve women’s engagement with and access to municipal services.
Elevated Technology and Democracy: The Biden-Harris Administration set high standards for the government use of surveillance technologies, including AI and commercial spyware; expanded support for internet freedom technologies and cybersecurity that is essential to human rights defenders; and has used accountability measures, export controls, and voluntary commitments to enlist the private sector to combat authoritarian use of technology. Through the Declaration for the Future of the Internet, endorsed by over sixties countries, and as chair of the Freedom Online Coalition, the Administration strengthened the global commitment to a free and open internet.
Underscored that respect for human rights is the foundation of safe, secure, and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, the United States signed the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on AI and Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law.
The U.S. government launched the Export Control and Human Rights Initiative under which 26 countries have subscribed to a Code of Conduct by which subscribing states commit to apply export controls to prevent the proliferation of goods, software, and technologies that enable serious human rights abuses.
The Administration implemented more than $12 million for programs utilizing AI as a tool to advance democracy, promote human rights and labor rights, and foster justice and accountability.
In March, President Biden issued an Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence in part to ensure that technology is developed, deployed, and governed consistent with universal human rights, the rule of law, and appropriate legal authorization, safeguards, and oversight, such that it supports, and does not undermine, democracy, civil rights and civil liberties, and public safety.
Supported Public Interest Media. In 2024, USAID gave a grant to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) for core operation support to 16 public interest media outlets to investigate corruption and violations of human rights in Asia and the Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean, including media outlets operating in exile. This support allows organizations to continue their operations and sustain content production to ensure continued access to high-quality journalism. Since 2022, IFPIM has made 45 grants in 22 countries and territories that cumulatively represent more than $15 million in direct funding and support.
Advanced Responsible Business Practices. Earlier this year, the Biden Administration released the United States’ second National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct, which compiled commitments to promote business practices and supply chains around that world that respect human rights, good governance, and labor standards. The National Action Plan has:
Brought stakeholder voices to the table through a new Federal Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct, which held its first public meeting on November 14 and will provide ongoing recommendations and consultation to strengthen the U.S. approach to business and human rights.
Supported businesses to advance human and labor rights due diligence by providing new guidance and resources, including a Labor Rights InfoHub.
Promoted access to remedy and protected stakeholders from retaliation in U.S.-supported development finance projects.
Combatted Industry Labor Abuses. In June 2022, President Biden signed the historic National Security Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses (NSM-11), directing agencies to put their authorities to work to tackle the problem of IUU fishing and associated labor abuses in the seafood supply chain. IUU fishing can take many forms, ranging from the small-scale misreporting of catch, to large-scale, coordinated efforts by transnational crime syndicates that may also involve forced labor and other human rights abuses.
Earlier this month, the Biden-Harris Administration released the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. Take that you pro-Palestinian progressives who thought “I’ll show them!” and voted a hate-mongering racist xenophobe into office, who will give Israel carte blanche to attack Gaza and take over the West Bank and abandon any thought of a two-state solution against the Biden Administration which was pressuring Israel to provide humanitarian aid and negotiate a ceasefire and to negotiate a two-state solution. And how clever are the American Jews who said, “I’ll show them!” and voted for Trump, who is installing into power every White Christo Nationalist Fascist, against Kamala Harris whose husband, Doug Emhoff, led the administration to create a task force dedicated to addressing anti-Semitism and steadfastly has protected Israel in the United Nations and international arena. This fact sheet is provided by the White House. — Karen Rubin, [email protected]
The Strategy contains more than 100 Executive Branch Actions and more than 100 Calls to Action to every sector of society to prevent and address such violent attacks and to ensure that Muslim and Arab Americans enjoy the liberties and opportunities that are the bedrock of our country.
“With this initiative, we are creating a path for progress, in partnership with all levels of government, civil society, and the private sector, both now and over the long term.”
The Strategy was developed through a whole-of-government collaboration with a broad range of civil society partners to describe and address the bias, discrimination, and threats Muslim and Arab Americans have long faced. Over the past year, this initiative has become even more important as threats against American Muslim and Arab communities have spiked. In October 2023, six-year old Wadee Alfayoumi, an American Muslim boy of Palestinian descent, was viciously killed in his home in Illinois and over the last year there have been other grievous attacks on Muslim and Arab Americans.
In December 2022, when President Biden established an interagency group to increase and better coordinate efforts to counter Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination, work began on this Strategy. In 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration released the first-ever National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism and announced the development of the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. This latest strategy has four priorities:
Increase awareness of hatred against Muslims and Arabs and broaden recognition of these communities’ heritages. Muslims and Arab Americans have helped build our country since its founding, but they have also routinely experienced hate, discrimination, and bias due to baseless stereotypes, fearmongering, and prejudice. While individuals have sometimes been targeted because they are thought to be Muslim, it is also crucial to recognize that Arabs are routinely targeted simply for being who they are. Through new data collection and innovative educational efforts, the Administration is increasing awareness of these forms of hate as well of the proud heritages of Muslim and Arab Americans.
Improve safety and security for Muslims and Arabs. Everyone deserves to live their lives without fear of violence, harassment, or discrimination. The Strategy addresses the targeting of Muslim and Arab communities, including through unprecedented investments in strengthening the security of nonprofits and increased efforts to ensure easier access to those funds; correction of discriminatory travel restrictions; and new tools to address transnational repression, doxing, swatting, and hoax threats. It also seeks to reduce trust deficits between government and community members such as by sharing successful practices of engaging Muslim and Arab Americans in the reporting of hate crimes. The Strategy recognizes our utmost duty to protect the nation from terrorist threats and attacks while safeguarding everyone’s civil rights and civil liberties.
Tackle discrimination against Muslims and Arabs and appropriately accommodate their religious practices. Muslim and Arab Americans have long faced discrimination in settings such as education, employment, public accommodations, land use, housing, health care, and access to financial services. More agencies are making it clear that discrimination against Muslim and Arab Americans in federally funded activities is illegal, and the Administration has instituted new practices to accommodate religion and produced a wide range of resources and trainings on nondiscrimination and religious freedom.
Continue to build cross-community solidarity and collective action to counter hate. Threats to one community must be treated as threats to all. Increasing cross-community collaboration continues to be a key part of Administration efforts to protect the safety of all Americans, including through new partnerships that build solidarity among communities of diverse faiths and beliefs.
“We urge our state, local, and international counterparts, as well as the nongovernmental sector, to pursue similar initiatives that seek to build greater unity by recognizing our common humanity, affirming our shared values and history, and embracing equal justice, liberty, and security for all.”
In his keynote address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance Ceremony, President Biden spoke out against antisemitism, saying that the hate that culminated in the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews – one third of the population of Jews in the world – were extinguished by Nazi Germany, did not begin with Hitler and did not end with World War II. Here is a transcript of his remarks.
In his keynote address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance Ceremony, President Biden spoke out against antisemitism, saying that the hate that culminated in the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews – one third of the population of Jews in the world – were extinguished by Nazi Germany, did not begin with Hitler and did not end with World War II. Here is a transcript of his remarks.(c) Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.comvia MSNBC
During these sacred Days of Remembrance, we grieve. We give voice to the 6 million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War Two. We honor the memory of victims, the pain of survivors, the bravery of heroes who stood up to Hitler’s unspeakable evil. And we recommit to heading and heeding the lessons that [of] one of the darkest chapters in human history, to revitalize and realize the responsibility of “never again.”
Never again, simply translated for me, means “never forget.” Never forget. Never forgetting means we must keep telling the story. We must keep teaching the truth. We must keep teaching our children and our grandchildren.
And the truth is we are at risk of people not knowing the truth.
That’s why, growing up, my dad taught me and my siblings about the horrors of the Shoah at our family dinner table. That’s why I visited Yad Vashem with my family as a senator, as vice president, and as president. And that’s why I took my grandchildren to Dachau, so they could see and bear witness to the perils of indifference, the complicity of silence in the face of evil that they knew was happening.
Germany, 1933. Hitler and his Nazi party rise to power by rekindling one of the world’s oldest forms of prejudice and hate: antisemitism. His rule didn’t begin with mass murder. It started slowly across economic, political, social, and cultural life: propaganda demonizing Jews; boycotts of Jewish businesses; synagogues defaced with swastikas; harassment of Jews in the street and in the schools; antisemitic demonstrations, pogroms, organized riots.
With the indifference of the world, Hitler knew he could expand his reign of terror by eliminating Jews from Germany, to annihilate Jews across Europe through genocide the Nazi’s called the “Final Solution” — concentration camps, gas chambers, mass shootings.
By the time the war ended, 6 million Jews — one out of every three Jews in the entire world — were murdered.
This ancient hatred of Jews didn’t begin with the Holocaust; it didn’t end with the Holocaust, either, or after — or even after our victory in World War Two. This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world, and it requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.
That hatred was brought to life on October 7th in 2023. On a sacred Jewish holiday, the terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Driven by ancient desire to wipeout the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1,200 innocent people — babies, parents, grandparents — slaughtered in their kibbutz, massacred at a musical festival, brutally raped, mutilated, and sexually assaulted. Thousands more carrying wounds, bullets, and shrapnel from the memory of that terrible day they endured. Hundreds taken hostage, including survivors of the Shoah.
Now, here we are, not 75 years later but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting. They’re already forgetting that Hamas unleased this terror, that it was Hamas that brutalized Israelis, that it was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget. (Applause.)
And as Jews around the world still cope with the atrocities and trauma of that day and its aftermath, we’ve seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world: vicious propaganda on social media, Jews forced to keep their — hide their kippahs under baseball hats, tuck their Jewish stars into their shirts.
On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class.
Antisemitism — antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world’s only Jewish State.
Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7th, including Hamas’s appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews.
It’s absolutely despicable, and it must stop.
Silence — (applause) — silence and denial can hide much, but it can erase nothing. Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be muri- — buried, no matter how hard people try.
In my view, a major lesson of the Holocaust is, as mentioned earlier, it’s not — was not inevitable. We know hate never goes away; it only hides. And given a little oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks.
But we also know what stops hate. One thing: all of us.
The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks described antisemitism as a virus that has survived and mutated over time. Together, we cannot continue to let that happen.
We have to remember our basic principles as a nation. We have an obligation — we have an obligation to learn the lessons of history so we don’t surrender our future to the horrors of the past. We must give hate no safe harbor against anyone — anyone.
From the very founding — our very founding, Jewish Americans, who represent only about 2 percent of the U.S. population, have helped lead the cause of freedom for everyone in our nation. From that experience, we know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority and the very foundation of our democracy.
So, in moments like this, we have to put these principles that we’re talking about into action.
I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world. In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard.
I understand. That’s America.
But there is no place on any campus in America — any place in America — for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind — (applause) — whether against Jews or anyone else.
Violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law. And we are not a lawless country. We’re a civil society. We uphold the rule of law.
And no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves. (Applause.)
To the Jewish community, I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt, and your pain.
Let me reassure you, as your President, you are not alone. You belong. You always have, and you always will.
And my commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree. (Applause.)
My administration is working around the clock to free remaining hostages, just as we have freed hostages already, and we will not rest until we bring them all home. (Applause.)
My administration, with our Second Gentleman’s leadership, has launched our nation’s first National Sec- — Strategy to Counter Antisemitism that’s mobilizing the full force of the federal government to protect Jewish communities.
But — but we know this is not the work of government alone or Jews alone. That’s why I’m calling on all Americans to stand united against antisemitism and hate in all its forms.
My dear friend, and he became a friend, the late Elie Wiesel, said, quote, “One person of integrity can make a difference.” We have to remember that now more than ever.
Here in Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol, among the towering statues of history, is a bronze bust of Raoul Wallenberg. Born in Sweden as a Lutheran, he was a businessman and a diplomat. While stationed in Hungary during World War Two, he used diplomatic cover to hide and rescue about 100,000 Jews over a six-month period.
Among them was a 16-year-old Jewish boy who escaped a Nazi labor camp. After the war ended, that boy received a scholarship from the Hillel Foundation to study in America. He came to New York City penniless but determined to turn his pain into purpose, along with his wife, also a Holocaust survivor. He became a renowned economist and foreign policy thinker, eventually making his way to this very Capitol on the staff of a first-term senator.
That Jewish refugee was Tom Lantos, and that senator was me.
Tom and his wife, Annette, and their family became dear friends to me and my family. Tom would go on to become the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, where he became a leading voice on civil rights and human rights around the world.
Tom never met Raoul, who was taken prisoner by the Soviets, never to be heard from again. But through Tom’s efforts, Raoul’s bust is here in the Capitol.
He was also given honorary U.S. citizenship — only the second person ever, after Winston Churchill.
And the Holocaust Museum here in Washington is located on a roal- — a road in Raoul’s name.
The story of the power of a single person to put aside our differences, to see our common humanity, to stand up to hate. And it’s an ancient story of resilience from immense pain, persecution to find hope, purpose, and meaning in life we try to live and share with one another. That story endures.
Let me close with this. I know these Days of Remembrance fall on difficult times. But we all do well to remember these days also fall during the month we celebrate Jewish American heritage — a heritage that stretches from our earliest days to enrich every single part of American life today.
Great American — great Jewish American named Tom Lantos used the phrase, “The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we can never rest.”
My fellow Americans, we must — we must be those guardians. We must never rest. We must rise against hate, meet across the divide, see our common humanity.
And God bless the victims and survivors of the Shoah.
May the resilient hearts, the courageous spirit, and the eternal flame of faith of the Jewish people forever shine their light on America and around the world, pray God.
The Clinton Global Initiative taking place in New York City September 18-19, is aimed at bringing together organizations across government, business, and civil society; established and emerging leaders; activists and advocates; and community workers and doers who are on the front lines of our most pressing global challenges, and facilitate collaborations and actions that have real impact on people’s lives around the world.
Launched by President Clinton in 2005, CGI has built a community of doers who are taking action to make a tangible difference in people’s lives around the world.
CGI works with partners to develop Commitments to Action, which are new, specific, and measurable solutions. Since 2005, more than 3,900 Commitments to Action have been launched through CGI. At the 2022 meeting, members of the CGI community launched more than 140 Commitments to Action that are now improving access to health care, advancing sustainability, creating employment opportunities, supporting refugee resettlement, and more.
President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton, in a letter to the CGI community, said this year’s meeting would focus on how to “keep going” – in spite of the difficulties that arise – to build a stronger future for all.
“We all have the power to make a difference, and therefore the responsibility at least to try. This fundamental belief is what led us to call the CGI community back together in 2022. The response was remarkable: more than 2,000 leaders attended our September meeting in New York City, where more than 650 partnering organizations came together to launch more than 140 Commitments to Action – new, specific, measurable projects. All told, the CGI community has now made more than 3,900 Commitments.
“Throughout 2023, we’ve built on that momentum, convening leaders, innovators and dreamers across geographies and areas of focus to forge new partnerships and drive further action, all to achieve more durable, meaningful and yes, measurable impact. In the spring alone, we hosted events on five continents to get input from the CGI network and bring more partners into the fold—and we heard from you over and over again how important it is to reconvene CGI again this September.
“That’s why, on September 18-19, we will gather again in New York City. This year’s meeting will focus on what it takes to keep going—to maintain and advance progress, in spite of the difficulties that arise, and increase our capacity to cross the divides and make common cause with one another wherever possible to build a stronger future for all.
“At CGI’s annual meeting, we’ll hear from those who are tackling some of today’s most pressing issues, including climate change, health inequities, food insecurity, economic inequality, threats to democracy around the world, and record-breaking refugee displacement. We will examine ways to channel energy and investment to scale solutions that are already improving people’s lives, and explore how tools like AI can be responsibly harnessed for good. As always, the focus will be on what we can do, not what we can’t—and will highlight how even seemingly small actions, when taken together, can turn the tide on even our most stubborn challenges.”
At CGI 2023, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton will be joined by leaders from across business, government, philanthropy, and civil society, including Noubar Afeyan, Founder and CEO, Flagship Pioneering; Co-Founder and Chairman, Moderna; Ajay Banga, World Bank President; Jason Buechel, CEO, Whole Foods; Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education; Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO, Airbnb; Daniels, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Directors/Writers/Producers; Philip E. Davis, Prime Minister, The Bahamas; Patrick Dempsey, Actor, Producer, Founder and Board Member of The Dempsey Center; Michael J. Fox, Founder, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research; Maura Healey, Governor, Massachusetts; Kathy Hochul, Governor, New York; Padma Lakshmi, Host/Executive Producer of Hulu’s Taste the Nation, Writer, and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador; Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, CEO, MercyCorps; David Miliband, President and CEO, International Rescue Committee; La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Wes Moore, Governor, Maryland; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization; Noel Quinn, CEO, HSBC; J.B. Pritzker, Governor, Illinois; Liev Schreiber, Co-Founder, Blue Check Ukraine; Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation; will.i.am, President & Founder, i.am Angel Foundation.
Additional featured participants include Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, Founder, President, and CEO, InterEnergy; Nicole Hockley, CEO, Sandy Hook Promise; Eugenia Kargbo, Arsht-Rock Chief Heat Officer, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Francine Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer of Cisco; Sophia Kianni, Founder and Executive Director, Climate Cardinals; Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and Author; Peter Laugharn, President and CEO, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; Sage Lenier, Founder & Executive Director, Sustainable & Just Future; Louise Emmanuelle Mabulo, Founder, The Cacao Project; Janet Murguía, President, UnidosUS; Vaishali Nigam-Sinha, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Sustainability, ReNew Energy Global PLC; ‘Aholotu Palu, Chief Executive of the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company; Amy Pope, Incoming Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM); Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Founder and CEO, Zipline; Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Founder & Chair, Council for Inclusive Capitalism and CEO, E.L. Rothschild; Paul Stormoen, CEO, OX2; Pete Upton, CEO and Chairperson, Native CDFI Network; Asha Varghese, President, Caterpillar Foundation; Gary White, Co-Founder, Water.org; Debra Whitman, Executive Vice President and Chief Public Policy Officer, AARP; Darrin Williams, CEO, Southern Bancorp.
Previously announced featured participants include José Andrés, Founder and Chief Feeding Officer, World Central Kitchen; Orlando Bloom, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador; Albert Bourla, CEO, Pfizer; Jesper Brodin, Chairman and CEO, INGKA Holding; Matt Damon, Co-Founder, Water.org; Tony Elumelu, Founder and Chair, The Tony Elumelu Foundation; Ilan Goldfajn, President, Inter-American Development Bank; Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Ashley Judd, Author and Goodwill Ambassador, UNFPA; Karlie Kloss, Entrepreneur and Founder of Kode With Klossy; Lorenzo P. Lewis, Founder, the Confess Project; Tsitsi Masiyiwa, Co-Founder and Chair of Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies; Cindy H. McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Ai-jen Poo, President, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF; Ai Weiwei, Artist; and more.
The schedule for CGI 2023, including plenary and spotlight sessions, can be found at www.clintonglobal.org/2023.
Sponsors for the CGI 2023 meeting span a broad range of supporters from business, philanthropy, and civil society. CGI is grateful for their support in building a convening that will help drive action across the major global challenges of our time. They include InterEnergy/Evergo, Domuschiev Impact, AFT, American Beverage, APCO Worldwide, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, Beatrice Snyder Foundation, Bob and Jane Harrison, Caterpillar Foundation, Christie’s, Cisco, Dream, The EKTA Foundation, The Elevate Prize Foundation, Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, Flagship Pioneering, Fondation Botnar, Global Education Foundation, Global Sae-A, JetBlue, Joyce Aboussie, The Marc Haas Foundation, The Masimo Foundation, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, MEBO International, Pernod Ricard USA, Pfizer Inc., SAP, Tarsadia Foundation, Teena Hostovich, The Nima Taghavi Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In addition, Postcode Lottery Group is serving as a partner for the CGI 2023 Meeting. For the second consecutive year, decision intelligence company Morning Consult is serving as the official data partner.
The CGI 2023 Meeting will also include the return of two programs launched in 2022 – CGI Greenhouse that directly connects entrepreneurs with partnership and scaling opportunities; and the CGI Story Studio that inspires action through stories of frontline leaders and lived experiences.
You can livestream the event by registering to participate.
As Vice President Kamala Harris has said, “the status of women is the status of democracy.” The ability of women and girls to participate safely, freely, and equally in political life and in society is a defining feature of democracy, but this hard-won progress is increasingly fragile. Wherever women and girls are under threat, so, too, is democracy, peace, and stability—from Iran, where women are courageously demanding respect for their human rights and fundamental freedoms in the face of oppression; to Ukraine, where we are once more seeing rape used as a weapon in Russia’s brutal and unjust war; to Afghanistan, where the Taliban bars women and girls from attending school and fully participating in society.
As we face unprecedented global challenges, we must harness the full potential, participation, and leadership of women and girls. In hosting the second Summit for Democracy, the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to advancing women’s political and civic participation and leadership and ensuring that they are at every table where decisions are being made. Research shows that the status of women and the stability of nations are inextricably linked, and that societies that foster gender discrimination and allow oppressive gender norms to flourish are more likely to be unstable.
At the second Summit for Democracy, the Biden-Harris Administration highlighted key actions and progress made during the intervening Year of Action.
Accelerating Women’s and Girls’ Civic and Political Leadership under the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal. At the first Summit, President Biden established the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, a landmark set of policy and foreign assistance initiatives that increase the Administration’s ongoing work to bolster democracy and defend human rights globally. Today, we are building on those efforts by:
Expanding the Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Civic and Political Leadership Initiative, including in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Announced at the first Summit for Democracy, this USAID-led initiative works to dismantle barriers to the political empowerment of women and girls by building the pipeline of women leaders and facilitating their safe and meaningful participation in political, peacebuilding and transition processes. This initiative will expand efforts to prevent and mitigate violence against women in politics and public life. USAID is providing more than $15 million to this initiative and is beginning program implementation in eight focus countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Kyrgyz Republic, and Yemen.
Establishing the Network for Gender Inclusive Democracy: USAID is launching a Network for Gender Inclusive Democracy (Network) to provide strategic direction and a platform for bilateral donors, intergovernmental institutions, civil society and academic partners to align their multilateral and country-level efforts in support of women’s political and civic participation and leadership. The Network will facilitate coordination, knowledge-sharing, and policy advocacy and carry forward the work of the Cohort on Gender Equality as a Prerequisite for Democracy, including the policy recommendations and roadmap developed during the Year of Action.
Investing in SHE PERSISTS (Supporting Her Empowerment: Political Engagement, Rights, Safety, and Inclusion Strategies to Succeed). The State Department will invest $2 million over this year in support of SHE PERSISTS, an initiative announced at the first Summit for Democracy that bolsters women’s political participation and empowerment to build and sustain good governance and lasting democracy globally. This multi-year program provides funding for technical assistance to advance women’s safety, political participation and empowerment, and initiatives for inclusive democracy, with a focus on diverse groups and marginalized populations.
Advancing Women’s Involvement in Peace and Security Efforts. Women’s participation in peace and security processes—as peacekeepers, leaders, and members of the defense and security sector—is essential to global security, stability and democracy. To advance women’s meaningful participation, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken the following actions:
Investing in SHE WINS (Support Her Empowerment: Women’s Inclusion for New Security): The Department of State is investing an additional $1.7 million, working with Congress and subject to the availability of funds, for the SHE WINS initiative, a nearly $10 million program that advances the leadership of local women and women-led civil society organizations to address peace and security challenges in their communities. Since the first Summit for Democracy, SHE WINS has initiated projects in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Papua New Guinea, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. To provide agile, easy-to-access funds that directly support women-led groups facing emerging crises and challenges related to Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), the State Department launched the SHE WINS Rapid Response Fund in November 2022.
Co-Chairing the Women, Peace, and Security Focal Points Network. The United States, in partnership with the government of Romania, is the 2023 Co-Chair of the UN Women-led Women, Peace, and Security Focal Points Network (WPS-FPN), a cross-regional forum coordinated by UN Women to share best practices and experiences to advance WPS globally. As co-chair, the U.S. will host the WPS-FPN Capital Level Meeting in June 2023, bringing together representatives and leaders from over 95 different countries and organizations, including members of Congress and the Administration.
Reducing Gaps for Women’s Participation in Security Forces: In consultation with the Department of State, the Department of Defense is establishing a pilot program to conduct an assessment of opportunities for women’s involvement in the security forces of select partner nations. Through this multi-year program, the Department of Defense intends to standardize the way it assesses barriers to women’s participation in partner nation security forces, in order to inform future security cooperation activities.
TheGlobal Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse (Global Partnership). A commitment from the first Summit for Democracy and launched at the 66th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the Global Partnership, which currently has 12 participating governments, brings together international organizations, civil society, and the private sector to prioritize, understand, prevent, and address the growing scourge of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, which disproportionately impacts women and LGBTQI+ political and public figures, leaders, journalists and activists.
Today, alongside the release of the Global Partnership’s 2023 Roadmap, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing key actions and investments to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and counter its chilling effects on women leaders and democratic participation, including more than $13 million in targeted funding across USAID and the Department of State. Key actions include:
Combatting technology-facilitated violence targeting women in politics and public life, including gendered disinformation.
Transform Digital Spaces Initiative (Transform). USAID is launching Transform, with planned investments of up to $6 million over three years, to prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, especially violence perpetrated against women in politics and public life. Transform’s pilot projects across three countries will integrate expertise from women-led civil society organizations working to address gender-based violence, women’s political and civic participation, and digital democracy. Transform will synthesize and share practical, comparative knowledge drawn from these pilots to inform global efforts to address this problem.
Promoting Information Integrity and Resilience Initiative (ProInfo). This week, USAID will announce the Promoting Information and Resilience Integrity (Pro-Info) Initiative, which will build on the work of the Summit for Democracy Information Integrity Cohort, and expand efforts by USAID and the U.S. Department of State to strengthen information integrity and resilience globally, with efforts to address the disproportionate targeting of women and LGBTQI+ leaders, activists, and public figures.
Capacity-building to prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence globally, including access to services for survivors. Working with Congress and subject to the availability of funds, the Department of State will continue to invest over $7 million in programs focused on documenting, mitigating, preventing and responding to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and integrating solutions that address online harassment and abuse, including support for women in public-facing roles in politics and the media, through: small grants for awareness, prevention and digital safety workshops; access to legal and psychosocial services for survivors; and programs to encourage collaboration between civil society organizations focused on gender-based violence and digital rights, to support coalitions to promote institutional change.
Expanding data and research on technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
Deepening the evidence base on gendered disinformation. Today, the State Department Global Engagement Center (GEC) is releasing a public Executive Summary of a joint research report on gendered disinformation. Conducted with Canada, the European External Action Service, Germany, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom, the groundbreaking global study finds that state and non-state actors use gendered disinformation to silence women, discourage online political discourse, and shape perceptions toward gender and the role of women in democracies, and underscore the need for more research to tackle this scourge.
Measuring technology-facilitated gender-based violence through Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). In 2023, USAID will pilot questions within the DHS Domestic Violence Module in two countries with high internet penetration rates to measure technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
Advancing U.S. policies to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Countries represented on the Global Partnership—including the United States—make a commitment to advance activities within their own countries to prioritize and address gender-based online harassment and abuse. In support of that commitment, the Administration has taken the following key actions:
Building a blueprint for action to prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence. To tackle this scourge in the U.S, President Biden established a Task Force with a mandate to identify concrete actions in a Blueprint to prevent online harassment and abuse, provide support for survivors, increase accountability, and expand research. Last month, the White House published an Executive Summary of the initial Task Force blueprint, which includes a broad range of new and expanded commitments from Federal agencies to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence across four lines of effort: Prevention, Survivor Support, Accountability, and Research.
Integrating a gender lens in the National Cybersecurity Strategy. Earlier this month, the Administration released the National Cybersecurity Strategy, which integrates a gender lens across key priorities to secure cyberspace and our digital ecosystem, including the imperative of increasing the participation of women and LGBTQI+ persons in the cybersecurity workforce; recognizing how technologies are misused to proliferate online harassment, exploitation, and abuse; and prioritizing partnerships, such as the Global Partnership, and the Freedom Online Coalition, to advance common cybersecurity interests.
Prioritizing technology-facilitated gender-based violence in the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to GBV Globally. In December 2022, the Administration released an updated U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, which bolsters U.S. commitments to prevent and address this global scourge, including a specific objective to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
On his first day in office, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. That Order emphasized the enormous human costs of systemic racism and persistent poverty, and provided a powerful and unprecedented mandate for all federal agencies to launch a whole-of-government approach to equity. Over the past two years, agencies have taken historic steps toward ensuring that federal programs are serving the American people in an equitable and just manner and supporting communities that have been locked out of opportunity. Through the implementation of landmark legislation and historic executive action, the Biden-Harris Administration is working to make real the promise of America for everyone—including rural communities, communities of color, Tribal communities, LGBTQI+ individuals, people with disabilities, women and girls, and communities impacted by persistent poverty.
Despite the meaningful progress that the Biden-Harris Administration has made, the reality is that underserved communities—many of whom have endured generations of discrimination and disinvestment—still confront unacceptable barriers to equal opportunity and the American Dream. It is imperative that we reject the narrow, cramped view of American opportunity as a zero-sum game. When any segment of society is denied the full promise of America, our entire Nation is held back. But when we lift each other up, we are all lifted up. As the President has said: “Advancing equity is not a one-year project. It’s a generational commitment.”
To strengthen the federal government’s ability to address the barriers that underserved communities continue to face, President Biden signed a new Executive Order, Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. This second Order reaffirms the Administration’s commitment to deliver equity and build an America in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.
The Executive Order:
Launches a new annual process to strengthen racial equity and support for underserved communities. Building on the initial Equity Action Plans developed under Executive Order 13985, this Executive Order directs agencies to produce an annual public Equity Action Plan that will assess and include actions to address the barriers underserved communities may face in accessing and benefitting from the agency’s policies, programs, and activities.
Empowers Federal equity leaders. The Executive Order strengthens requirements for agencies to build and resource Agency Equity Teams and designate senior leaders accountable for implementing the President’s equity mandate. In line with the President’s commitment to advancing gender equity and equality at home and abroad and the President’s commitment to advancing environmental justice, equality for LGBTQI+ individuals, and other equity work streams, this Executive Order fosters greater collaboration and accountability, and streamlines agencies’ reporting of progress and planning in order to advance equity in support of all those who face overlapping discrimination and bias.
Strengthens community partnerships and engagement. Too often, underserved communities face significant hurdles and a legacy of exclusion in engaging with federal agencies and providing input on the very federal policies and programs that impact them. The Executive Order requires agencies to improve the quality, frequency, and accessibility of their community engagement, and to consult with impacted communities as each agency develops its Equity Action Plan, funding opportunities, budget proposals, and regulations.
Invests in underserved communities. The Executive Order directs the Office of Management and Budget to support implementation of the annual agency Equity Action Plans through the President’s budget request to Congress. The Executive Order also formalizes the President’s goal of increasing the share of federal contracting dollars awarded to small disadvantaged business (SDBs) by 50 percent by 2025, and instructs agencies to expand procurement opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses through grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and other investments and programs that flow through states and local entities.
Improves economic opportunity in rural and urban communities. The Executive Order directs agencies to spur economic growth in rural areas and advance more equitable urban development by ensuring that federal resources contribute to building wealth and opportunity in these communities through locally-led development.
Addresses emerging civil rights risks. The Executive Order instructs agencies to focus their civil rights authorities and offices on emerging threats, such as algorithmic discrimination in automated technology; improve accessibility for people with disabilities; improve language access services; and consider opportunities to bolster the capacity of their civil rights offices. It further directs agencies to ensure that their own use of artificial intelligence and automated systems also advances equity.
Promotes data equity and transparency. The Interagency Working Group on Equitable Data created by the day one Executive Order has been institutionalized at the National Science and Technology Council. This Executive Order directs the body to facilitate better collection, analysis, and use of demographic data to advance equity, and to regularly report on progress to the White House and the American public.
Since the release of their Equity Action Plans in April 2022, federal agencies continue to take ambitious action to expand federal investment in and support for underserved communities. For instance, the following are some recent actions to advance equity:
The Department of Agriculture is administering $3.1 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding to distressed USDA farm loan borrowers and is expediting assistance for those whose agricultural operations are at financial risk. The Department will also provide $2.2 billion in assistance to farmers who have experienced discrimination in USDA’s farm lending programs.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is administering $2.8 billion in competitive funding to homeless services organizations across the country for wrap-around services and housing programs for people experiencing homelessness. To combat the long history of discrimination in housing, the Department has proposed a new “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule to help overcome patterns of segregation and to hold state, localities, and public housing agencies that receive federal funds accountable for ensuring that underserved communities have equitable access to affordable housing opportunities.
The Department of Transportation issued proposed rules to modernize the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program regulations to help further level the playing field for small disadvantaged businesses, including Black and brown owned businesses. The Department also adopted a set of Disability Policy Priorities to guide efforts to ensure people with disabilities can move freely, fairly, safely, affordably, and spontaneously through every part of our transportation system and released the Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights to empower travelers to understand their rights and help the travel industry uphold those rights.
The Department of the Treasury established the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the Department on matters related to the advancement of racial equity, particularly aspects of the domestic economy that have directly and indirectly resulted in unfavorable conditions for communities of color. The Committee is addressing topics like financial inclusion, access to capital, housing stability, federal supplier diversity, and economic development. The agency also created a new Office of Tribal and Native Affairs to work across its portfolio on issues related to Tribal nations, and intends to work with Congress to ensure this office is adequately resourced to carry out its mission.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched a Science Mission Directorate Bridge Program to foster partnerships between the agency and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), community colleges, and very high research-intensive universities. The program focuses on providing students with paid research and engineering opportunities to support the transition of undergraduate students into graduate programs and/or employment with NASA and in the broader science and engineering fields; it supports capacity-building efforts at partner institutions that are historically under-resourced in the NASA research and engineering enterprise.
The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development released the 2022 U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, directing U.S. foreign policy and assistance to address the factors that increase the risks of gender-based violence and undermine access to services and safety, particularly for the most marginalized groups, and enhance the U.S. Government’s partnerships to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is engaging in robust outreach to veterans, including those who are not already in the VA system, particularly veterans in underserved communities, to ensure that they receive information on potential eligibility through the PACT Act, the largest expansion of veteran health care and benefits in decades. In addition to having hosted more than 125 PACT Act ‘Week of Action’ events across the country and Puerto Rico, VA is developing a National Rural Recruitment and Hiring Plan for health care professionals to better reach under-resourced communities; exploring efforts to increase the workforce in rural and underserved areas to provide PACT Act benefits; and spearheading targeted social media outreach and events to foster awareness of PACT Act benefits among women and minority veterans.
The Department of Defense awarded $27 million to HBCUs to conduct research in defense critical technology areas, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, cyber security, and autonomy. This investment will enhance the capacity of the HBCUs to participate more fully in the Department’s research programs and activities, while also elevating their own research rankings among other universities and improving potential access to federal research funding, philanthropic donations, and other funding sources. Additionally, the Department selected Howard University as the first HBCU to lead a University Affiliated Research Center with a five-year $90 million contract.
The Department of the Interior announced $2.7 million in funding to support Tribes’ planning activities for the installation or expansion of broadband internet, which will improve the quality of life, spur economic development and commercial activity, create opportunities for self-employment, enhance educational resources and remote learning opportunities, and meet emergency and law enforcement needs in Native American communities.
The Council on Environmental Quality and Office of Management and Budget are coordinating the Justice40 Initiative, which is transforming hundreds of federal programs to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, clean water, and other federal investments to disadvantaged communities. The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool measures burdens such as legacy pollution and projected climate risk to identify 27,251 geographically-defined disadvantaged communities across the U.S. that can benefit from the Justice40 Initiative.
The President took bold action to address our failed approach to marijuana. The criminalization of marijuana possession has upended too many lives—for conduct that is now legal in many states. While white, Black, and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people are disproportionately arrested, prosecuted and convicted for it. In October 2022, the President announced a full, unconditional, and categorical pardon for prior federal and D.C. offenses of simple possession of marijuana. This pardon lifts barriers to housing, employment, and educational opportunities for thousands of people with those prior convictions. The President also called on every state governor to follow his lead, as most marijuana prosecutions take place at the state and local level. And because this Administration is guided by science and evidence, he called on the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to expeditiously review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy also released the first-ever federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ Equity, a roadmap that federal agencies will use to ensure they are collecting the data and building the evidence they need to improve the lives of LGBTQI+ Americans.
The White House hosted the second Tribal Nations Summit of this Administration to help foster Nation-to-Nation relationships and provide Tribal leaders with an opportunity to engage directly with senior Administration officials. The President signed a new Presidential Memorandum on Uniform Standards for Tribal Consultation, establishing uniform standards to be implemented across all federal agencies regarding how Tribal consultations are conducted. In the FY23 omnibus funding law, the Administration also secured—for the first time in history— advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service, which will ensure a more predictable funding stream and improve health outcomes across Indian Country.
