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Almost half of the U.S. Mission’s lawn has been converted to a Prairie seeded with indigenous plants. Just over a year ago, the U.S. Mission joined Geneva’s Garden Charter and tilled our lawn, formerly a monoculture of grass, to be re-planted with a special mixture of indigenous wild grass and plant species prepared by the Canton of Geneva’s conservation office (The seed mix is called Prairie Fleurie / Melange de Genève). This spring our gardens are bursting with life and color to the delight of U.S. Mission staff and visitors! The new gardens are easier to care for, better for biodiversity, and require no water.                                                   

USUN PRESS RELEASE
May 17, 2012

Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, May 17, 2012

On International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, we celebrate human diversity and rededicate ourselves to a basic but essential truth — that human rights are universal and must be protected. To our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender friends and relatives around the world: the United States stands with you in your struggle against discrimination. We will continue to do everything we can, in every arena possible, to promote communities and societies in which all people can live safely and love without fear.

Since 2009, the Obama Administration has taken unprecedented steps at the United Nations to fight discrimination and eliminate barriers to equality for LGBT individuals. Months ago, President Obama outlined a formal policy of international engagement to ensure that our dedication to LGBT human rights does not stop at our national borders, reflecting his belief that “no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.”

We are proud to lead by example, but the quest for human equality and dignity is not simply an American challenge. Today, we call on all nations and all peoples to join us in ensuring that human rights are universally protected.

More small children are surviving longer. In Afghanistan, improvements have increased the numbers of mothers who survive childbirth and babies who survive infancy.

Washington
May 17, 2012

During her December 2011 visit to Burma, Secretary Clinton met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Rangoon.

By MacKenzie C. Babb | Staff Writer
17 May 2012

 Remarks at the Tree Dedication in Honor of Raoul Wallenberg

by William J. Burns
Deputy Secretary of State
Stockholm, Sweden
May 14, 2012

Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for that kind introduction. It is truly an honor for me to be here today, on this 100th anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg’s birth, to dedicate this tree and to be in the company of Mr. Wallenberg’s sister, Nina Lagergren, and Kate Wacz, one of the many to whom Wallenberg gave the gift of life. I am also honored to join the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, Per Westerberg, Ambassador Jan Eliasson, and State Secretary Belfrage.

During World War II, Raoul Wallenberg could have chosen to live a life of comfort and safety with his loving family. Instead, he risked his life to save the lives of others. Raoul Wallenberg paid dearly for his brave choice and his actions speak to the core of our common humanity. As Americans, we are deeply grateful that Wallenberg said ‘yes’ when the United States War Refugee Board approached him on the idea of traveling to Budapest to try and save the largest remaining concentration of Jews in Europe. Amid so many missteps in responding to the Holocaust, encouraging Wallenberg to go to Hungary was one of the things we did right.

We return, decades later, to Wallenberg because his actions show timeless courage and a powerful and continuing relevance to the world we face today. They embody the democratic values that the United States and Sweden share. They embody the courage of the individual, of the dissenter, of the independent moral conscience in a world full of wrongs, of the hero who sees injustice and takes action. Wallenberg gave his life for his commitment to those values.

Wallenberg was a son of Sweden, but also a friend of America. We are honored to consider him one of our own – adding one more to the many ties that bind our nations together. The United States and Sweden work together with a shared mission of advancing human dignity and protecting universal rights around the world. Together, we supported the countries of Central and Eastern Europe as they made the impressive journey to become stable and prosperous members of the EU and NATO. Together we are supporting the people of the Middle East who are working to leave behind a history of oppression to create a future of economic hope, political freedom and human dignity.

Raoul Wallenberg’s life-giving legacy reminds us of a question that we should all be asking, amidst the daily business and the pull of our national interests: How do we ensure that every individual – regardless of race or religion – is able to live a life of freedom, a life with dignity and respect? How do we prevent the sins of history and our past failures to stop mass killings of civilians, from being repeated? How do we pass on to the next generation a sense of the importance of not being indifferent?

In seeking answers, we are fortunate to have as tireless a partner and as steadfast a friend as Sweden.

It is striking that, while he trained as an architect, Wallenberg left no building behind. Instead he left behind a legacy much more enduring than any physical structure or any physical monument. Today, the granddaughters and grandsons of those whom Wallenberg saved are building a better world as doctors and scientists, mothers and fathers, farmers, teachers, and legislators.

Among them is the late Tom Lantos, who championed human rights around the world from inside the United States Congress, and his grandson, Tomicah Tillemann, who is Secretary Clinton’s Senior Advisor for Civil Society.

Thus it is fitting that so many of the lives he saved, and the generations that followed, are being devoted to public service, promoting freedom, and defending those too powerless to defend themselves. To quote an old hymn, these deeds will his memorial be.

Today, in dedicating this Horse Chestnut tree, we remember Raoul Wallenberg, we show our gratitude, and we reaffirm our commitment to the legacy of humanitarian work that continues in this name. And we reaffirm, together once again, the importance of not being indifferent. Thank you.

By Phillip Kurata,
IIP Staff Writer
Washington,
May 15, 2012

In the past, U.S. government agencies deployed to conflict areas tended to operate independently of each other, stepping on each other’s toes and bloating budgets, Rick Barton said.

In a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) May 11, Barton noted that in Iraq, for example, 62 different U.S. government agencies were at work there, doing a multitude of tasks, such as security, development, democracy-building, human rights, health, education, among others.

“We see the need for some fundamental changes,” Barton said in an article posted on the USIP website. “As we all know, the bureaucracy can move like an elephant. Our goal is to work in a more nimble, speedy fashion.”

Barton said the new bureau will work to break down traditional institutional barriers between groups and coordinate their activities so that they no longer act in isolation.

The principle of inclusion extends beyond the U.S. government to include international organizations, other governments, humanitarian groups, and local people affected by conflict.

“Everybody talks about it [local ownership],” Barton said in April. “It’s got to be much, much earlier and it’s got to be much more sincere.”

Barton said in its first year, the new bureau is aiming to have an impact in several places of “real significance to the United States,” such as Syria, Kenya, Central America and Burma.

“We know in these places that they need everything, but I’m skeptical of the state-building, nation-building model. I believe that what we have to do is give people the opportunity to make it on their own. We have to be catalytic,” he said.

The Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations was formed as a result of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review of 2010. The review concluded that crises have multiple facets, such as military, humanitarian, economic and public health, and a mechanism was needed to deal with their complexity.

A Syrian boy talks with U.N. observers during their visit to Hama. The United States says attacks against the observers are "deplorable."

By Stephen Kaufman,
IIP Staff Writer
Washington,
May 15, 2012

“We consider it pretty ridiculous to try to have voting in the middle of the kind of violence and lack of harmony and unity that we see in Syria right now. So we don’t put a lot of stock in these elections,” Nuland told reporters May 15.

According to United Nations estimates, at least 9,000 people have died since pro-democracy protests began against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in March 2011.

The United States is “deeply concerned about the escalating violence on the ground, the country’s deepening sectarianism,” Nuland said, as well as the Assad regime’s failure to allow the political transition outlined in U.N. Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan. The plan calls for a “Syrian-led political process to address the aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people,” as well as an end to violence, the release of political prisoners, freedom to demonstrate peacefully, and free access throughout the country for humanitarian aid and journalists.

The Assad regime has failed to live up to any parts of Annan’s plan, and “not only is the regime still firing on its own people, not only has it not pulled back its heavy weapons, but this has created a climate where violence by other spoilers is increasingly common,” Nuland said, referring to recent attacks targeting Syrian security forces.

Nuland said the opposition Syrian National Council has distanced itself from the violent attacks and explosions that occurred outside of Damascus and elsewhere, and other groups have claimed responsibility for the violence.

But she said for a long time there has been a concern that “the longer Assad perpetrated violence himself, allowed and fostered a climate of violence, the more folks who don’t have the best interests of Syrians at heart would exploit that situation. And we’re seeing more of that.”

She also called the targeting of U.N. observers in the country “deplorable.”

The observers “are there in an unarmed capacity to try to bring about a commitment by the Assad regime and by all actors in Syria to, first and foremost, to cease fire. To fire on them is to undo the future for Syrians,” Nuland said.

There are currently around 250 U.N. monitors inside Syria. Nuland said that in areas where they are able to be present, “we see violence stop, we see peaceful demonstrations begin again, we see people able to gather and talk about a transition.”

“But whenever monitors have to leave, the violence resumes. So we remain concerned that we continue to have a regime that has not lived up to its commitments,” Nuland said.

To put pressure on the Assad regime to end the violence and allow a peaceful transition, the United States, the Arab League and the European Union have enacted sanctions that have had a “profound” effect on the Syrian economy, forcing Assad to “run through more than half of his reserves,” and forced the value of the Syrian currency to plummet, she said.

The United States hopes the sanctions will “affect the thinking” of those in the Syrian political and business classes who are still supporting Assad, and who “have to see that there’s no future for them, for their families, for their country, if they stick with this guy and those in the military who continue to obey orders to fire,” Nuland said.

At the same time, she said, there have been more troops defecting from the regime’s security forces, and more Syrians have been moving their families and assets outside of the country.

NIH statement on HIV Vaccine Awareness Day – May 18, 2012

Statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
May 14, 2012

There is a growing consensus that we can significantly curtail the HIV/AIDS pandemic by implementing scientifically proven HIV prevention strategies, such as voluntary medically supervised adult male circumcision, prevention of mother-to-child transmission and treatment as prevention. With 2.7 million new HIV infections in 2010 alone, however, it is likely that controlling and ultimately ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic will require an effective vaccine as well. This past year, there have been a number of encouraging findings on this front.

Last month, a detailed analysis of specimens from the first HIV vaccine clinical trial to show a modest protective effect yielded important clues about how the vaccine might have worked. These clues suggest directions for improving upon the original vaccine regimen to confer a broader, more potent and longer-lasting effect. The original vaccine regimen was tested among 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand in a trial co-funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH.

Meanwhile, several other NIAID-sponsored HIV vaccine clinical trials are under way. The largest of these is examining whether a prime-boost vaccine regimen can prevent HIV infection or reduce the amount of virus in the blood of those participants who become infected despite vaccination. These trials are possible because of the generous contributions of time and effort by thousands of study participants, community educators, health care workers and scientists. All those involved deserve our gratitude.

Preclinical animal model studies of HIV infection recently have uncovered valuable leads toward designing a preventive HIV vaccine. Scientists have demonstrated that a vaccine can prevent a virulent monkey version of HIV infection and have shown a correlation between this protection and the presence of specific antibodies to the virus.

In basic HIV vaccine research, scientists are discovering and studying HIV neutralizing antibodies that shield cells in the lab against infection with a wide array of HIV strains collected from infected people worldwide. Researchers are analyzing the structure and evolution of these antibodies and the manner in which they bind to HIV, and are using this information to design new molecules to elicit the antibodies through vaccination. In related experiments, injecting these antibodies directly into monkeys has been shown to prevent infection from a monkey version of HIV. Based on these findings, studies to test this concept in people are being planned.

All of these advances reinforce our confidence that one day we will succeed at creating a safe, highly effective vaccine to prevent HIV infection. To contain and ultimately halt the HIV/AIDS pandemic, even the most effective vaccine must be part of a combination of medical and behavioral HIV prevention tools. That is why NIAID continues to support research into promising HIV prevention strategies, such as vaginal and rectal microbicides, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and expanded HIV testing with linkage to care. That is also why the public health community will continue to refine and implement scientifically proven HIV prevention measures, including condom use, harm-reduction strategies for injection drug users, and, notably, treatment as prevention: giving antiretroviral therapy to HIV-infected individuals to dramatically reduce their infectiousness while protecting their health.

Vaccines historically have been the single most important tool for controlling epidemics. With an ongoing commitment to HIV vaccine research, we have the potential to radically change the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., is Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2012/05/201205155672.html?distid=ucs#ixzz1v1XXydkC

Secretary Janet Napolitano says international students and exchange visitors "bring invaluable contributions" to the United States.

Washington,
May 14, 2012

The department said the action builds on a series of administrative reforms designed to increase the department’s commitment to attracting international students.

“Attracting the best and brightest international talent to our colleges and universities and enabling them to contribute to their professional growth is an important part of our nation’s economic, scientific and technological competitiveness,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. “International students and exchange visitors bring invaluable contributions to our nation, and this helps empower the next generation of international entrepreneurs, right here in America.”

Under the OPT program, international students who graduate from colleges and universities in the United States are able to remain in the country and receive training through work experience for up to 12 months. Students who graduate from a designated STEM degree program can remain for an additional 17 months on an OPT STEM extension.

By expanding the list of designated STEM degree programs to include such fields as pharmaceutical sciences, econometrics and quantitative economics, the department said it is helping to bring the best, most qualified international students to the United States.

These reforms, the department said, reflect the Obama administration’s commitment to promote policies that embrace talented students from other countries, who come to study in U.S. colleges and universities and enrich the nation by allowing highly skilled foreign graduates to extend their post-graduate training in the United States and work in their field of study upon graduation.

A full list of expanded STEM degrees is available on the DHS website.

Earlier this year, DHS announced several measures the department will implement to streamline existing pathways for immigrant entrepreneurs to create businesses in the U.S., retain more foreign-born science and technology graduates from U.S. universities, facilitate immigration by top researchers, and help U.S. startups and other companies compete for global talent.

More information on DHS programs for study in the United States is available on the department website.