Washington — Despite the challenges of promoting human rights and democracy around the world and overcoming cultural differences that can present obstacles to that effort, the importance of democratic values and universal human rights is "absolutely paramount" to U.S. foreign policy, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told students at Syracuse University in New York.
Speaking April 23 at the university's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Clinton said she sometimes feels that U.S. officials are criticized for "not being as vocal or strident as some in the advocacy community would like on some of these issues." But in her diplomatic work, she said, "I'm trying to save lives and I'm trying to change attitudes," and "trying to do that simultaneously is sometimes quite challenging."
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