US Mission Geneva

THE PRESIDENT: In the Charter of this United Nations, our countries pledged to work for “the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.” In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we recognized the inherent dignity and rights of every individual, including the right to a decent standard of living.

The Obama Administration has dramatically changed our course at the United Nations. The President’s new era of engagement has led to concrete results at the UN that advance U.S. foreign policy objectives and American security.

WIPO’s ongoing strategic re-alignment (SRP) process has worked to reform the Organization’s programs, resources and structures with a new set of strategic goals. These have enabled WIPO to respond more effectively to the rapidly evolving technological, cultural and geo-economic environment, as well as to respond to the urgent global challenges of today, which IP can have a role in addressing.

The United States provided a status report in this dispute on September 7, 2010, in accordance with Article 21.6 of the DSU.

The flooding in Pakistan, arguably the worst humanitarian disaster in the country’s history, has left millions without safe drinking water and the threat of widespread waterborne disease outbreaks mounts. In response, countless private citizens in the U.S. and from around the world, and private U.S. organizations have contributed generously to the Pakistan Relief Fund. Their contributions have been matched by Proctor and Gamble (P&G) and the U.S. Government, resulting in a $2 million effort to provide water purification kits to Pakistani flood victims. These kits include buckets and filtering cloths, which will generate 280 million liters of clean drinking water for 1.5 million people in desperate need.

We would first like to recognize the excellent work of the Secretariat and the Government of Honduras in compiling the reports before us. They thoroughly detail Honduras’ key trade policy objectives and developments since its last review in 2003, and they give us a more complete picture of Honduras’ policies affecting trade.

Brimmer: ” I’d like to start off with just a couple of words about the Administration’s overall approach to the UN General Assembly and to our second General Assembly. Now, as you recall last year, President Obama made clear his intent to lead the United States back to the multilateral table, and that intent was defined as the era of engagement. In a sense over the past year, it has matured into an era of action driven by U.S. priorities, framed by U.S. values, and guided by the tireless leadership of the President, the Secretary, and my good friend Susan Rice up in New York.”

Discussion focuses on Ending Violence and Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons

We begin by commending the many countries that have engaged with the HRC special procedures this year for working with the international community to address human rights and domestic political challenges in their countries.