“Despite news of terrorist acts, beheadings and the persecution of religious minorities,” former President Bill Clinton insisted on Thursday that “there are still a lot good things happening in parts of the world where there’s been a focus on improving human rights.”
The former two-term Democratic president appeared at the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus to accept the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, named after the late Connecticut US senator, who was a leading prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials.
Clinton shared the prize with Tostan, a Senegal-based human rights group that promotes literacy and community engagement in mostly rural areas of Africa.
Clinton praised Tostan, a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, for working on the grassroots level to improve human rights and for empowering people and communities to help themselves and change their lives with an understanding of human rights and responsibilities. Empowerment of people, he said, is the most important human right that can be provided to people.
Tostan founder Molly Melching said her group’s efforts have led to 7,375 communities in eight countries announcing their intentions to stop female genital mutilation and forced child marriage.
“It’s possible to remake the rules of society when they lead to better health and well-being,” she said.
Thursday’s event marked the 20th anniversary of the UConn research centre named after Dodd, father of former Connecticut US Sen. Chris Dodd.
