Captive Nations Week, 2000

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7330 of July 14, 2000

Captive Nations Week, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

When President Eisenhower signed the first Captive
Nations Week Proclamation in 1959, the fate of freedom
around the world was still far from certain. While the
United States and our Allies had defeated Adolf Hitler
and the Axis Powers in World War II, a partitioned
Berlin stood as a bleak symbol of a divided Europe, and
millions throughout Asia, Africa, and South America
continued to suffer under communist and authoritarian
regimes.

Today, as we embark on a new century, democracy is on
the rise across the globe. More than half the world's
people live under governments of their own choosing.
The Iron Curtain has been lifted, allowing the light of
liberty into the nations of Central and Eastern Europe.
Democratic rule has swept through the countries of
Latin America, replacing abusive military regimes with
elected civilian governments. And in Africa and Asia,
many nations have finally gained independence.

This rising tide of freedom is no accident of history;
it was achieved through the courage, determination, and
sacrifice of millions of men and women here in America
and in captive nations around the world. Whether
speaking out in the halls of the United Nations for
those silenced by oppressive regimes, standing guard
through frigid nights on the DMZ in Korea, or sharing
the fruits of liberty through the Peace Corps,
generations of Americans have made sure that our
country is an ally and source of hope for all people
yearning for freedom and dignity. Around the globe,
freedom-loving people have risked and often sacrificed
their lives to end oppression, whether uniting against
tyranny through the Solidarity movement in Poland or
defying intimidation and violence to vote in free
elections in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

The tide keeps turning toward democracy, human rights,
and free market economies. Yet there remain tyrants who
use brutality, ethnic cleansing, guns, and prisons to
silence voices of reason and tolerance within their
countries. As a Nation born of the ideals of freedom,
justice, and human dignity, America has a solemn
obligation to continue speaking out on behalf of these
still-captive nations and their people and lend them
our support. We draw strength for this task from the
knowledge that our cause is right and inspiration from
the people of former captive nations who are
flourishing today.

The Congress, by Joint Resolution approved July 17,
1959 (73 Stat. 212), has authorized and requested the
President to issue a proclamation designating the third
week in July of each year as ``Captive Nations Week.''

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim July 16
through July 22, 2000, as Captive Nations Week. I call
upon the people of the United States to observe this
week with appropriate ceremonies and activities and to
rededicate ourselves to the principles of freedom,
human rights, and self-determination for all the
peoples of the world.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord two
thousand, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.