Captive Nations Week, 2013

Vol. 78

Wednesday,

No. 142

July 24, 2013

Part VI

The President

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Proclamation 8998--Captive Nations Week, 2013

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 8998 of July 19, 2013

Captive Nations Week, 2013

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

As citizens of the oldest democracy on earth, we
believe that all people are created equal with certain
inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. Together, we have kept that most
basic promise shining bright for more than two
centuries--upholding civil rights and expanding their
reach, advancing freedom's march and widening the
circle of opportunity for all.

Our commitment to universal rights is also a foundation
for American leadership abroad. In the course of our
Nation's history, countries worldwide have pledged
themselves to a Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Corrupt dictatorships have given way to new
democracies, forcing out the stale air of authoritarian
rule with a fresh breath of freedom.

We know that work is not yet complete. Even as the
light of liberty and justice has spread across the
globe, too many people still labor in the darkness of
tyranny and oppression. In too many parts of the world,
fundamental freedoms remain unrealized, and the
protections of law extend only to a privileged few.

Captive Nations Week is an opportunity to reaffirm
America's role in advancing human rights worldwide. It
is a task that can begin here, with the example we set
and the understanding that we are stronger when all our
people are granted opportunity--no matter what they
look like, where they worship, or who they love. And it
can continue by extending a hand to those who reach for
freedom abroad. Different peoples will determine their
own paths. But we must reject the notion that those who
live in distant places do not yearn for freedom, self-
determination, dignity, and the rule of law, just as we
do.

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower first marked this
day, he noted that it should recur ``until such time as
freedom and independence shall have been achieved for
all the captive nations of the world.'' We have come a
long way since then--but despite our progress, that
time has not yet come. So let us keep striving to bring
it about--supporting those who seek the same freedoms
we enjoy as Americans, and extending the blessings of
peace and prosperity here at home and around the world.

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 of July of each year as ``Captive Nations Week.''

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim July 21
through July 27, 2013, as Captive Nations Week. I call
upon the people of the United States to reaffirm our
deep ties to all governments and people committed to
freedom, dignity, and opportunity for all.

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