President Obama announced February 23 that Secretary of State Clinton will visit Geneva February 28.
The U.S. Mission will use this page to post updates on that visit as we receive them.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Travel to Geneva
February 24, 2011
Press Statement
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Geneva February 27 to 28.
While in Geneva, she will hold consultations with her counterparts on the situation in Libya, and events and trends in the broader Middle East. She will also address the high-level segment of the 16th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
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Excerpt from President Obama’s February 23 Speech on Libya Announcing the Visit
I’ve also asked my administration to prepare the full range of options that we have to respond to this crisis. This includes those actions we may take and those we will coordinate with our allies and partners, or those that we’ll carry out through multilateral institutions.
Like all governments, the Libyan government has a responsibility to refrain from violence, to allow humanitarian assistance to reach those in need, and to respect the rights of its people. It must be held accountable for its failure to meet those responsibilities, and face the cost of continued violations of human rights.
This is not simply a concern of the United States. The entire world is watching, and we will coordinate our assistance and accountability measures with the international community. To that end, Secretary Clinton and I have asked Bill Burns, our Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, to make several stops in Europe and the region to intensify our consultations with allies and partners about the situation in Libya.
I’ve also asked Secretary Clinton to travel to Geneva on Monday, where a number of foreign ministers will convene for a session of the Human Rights Council. There she’ll hold consultations with her counterparts on events throughout the region and continue to ensure that we join with the international community to speak with one voice to the government and the people of Libya.
And even as we are focused on the urgent situation in Libya, let me just say that our efforts continue to address the events taking place elsewhere, including how the international community can most effectively support the peaceful transition to democracy in both Tunisia and in Egypt.
So let me be clear. The change that is taking place across the region is being driven by the people of the region. This change doesn’t represent the work of the United States or any foreign power. It represents the aspirations of people who are seeking a better life.