By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the Obama administration will follow a foreign policy showing greater respect for human rights as it engages other nations and peoples around the world.
“The challenges of this new century require us to summon the full range of human talents to move our nation and the world forward,” Clinton said Wednesday while releasing the State Department’s 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
Recalling that President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address, had “reminded us that every generation must carry forward the belief that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness”, Clinton said: “Our foreign policy must also advance these timeless values.”
“Our commitment to human rights is driven by our faith and our moral values, and by our belief that America must first be an exemplar of our own ideals,” she said, vowing to “pursue greater respect for human rights as we engage other nations and peoples around the world.”
The India chapter of the report said the government generally respected the rights of its citizens. However, serious internal conflicts affected Jammu and Kashmir as well as some states in the north and east.