But there is hope for the future. Globalization and the revolution in information technology are helping to break down the former barriers of geography and official censorship. People fighting for human rights in disparate places around the world can talk to one another, learn from one another, and shine the light of public scrutiny on the dark corners of the world. Free nations can work in concert to combat human rights abuses, as the United States did last spring when we joined with the Philippines and more than 20 other Asian and Pacific nations to develop a regional action plan to combat trafficking in persons and protect trafficking victims. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
More people live in freedom today than at any other time in history.
Heroes like Lech Walesa in Poland, Vaclav Havel in the Czech Republic, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, and Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma are powerful reminders of how precious our human rights are and how high the cost is to sustain them. I call upon the people of the United States to celebrate these observances with appropriate activities, ceremonies, and programs that demonstrate our national commitment to the Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and promotion and protection of human rights for all people.