The Women’s Situation Room (WSR), a women’s peace building mechanism that mitigates conflict before, during and after elections in Africa has been replicated in Ghana. It is a non-partisan and neutral process that mobilises women in collaboration with the youth to engage stakeholders to support the women’s call for peaceful elections as a peace and security measure in accordance with UNSCR Resolution 1325.

The United States will continue its assertive support for fundamental rights and will hold this UN body to the highest standards -- standards rooted in the bedrock values of our nation and the belief that international peace, security, and prosperity are strengthened when human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected and protected.

During the past eight years, the United States has made some serious strides with respect to the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons at every level of our federal system: the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the Obergefell Supreme Court decision, and the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Act are all good examples. 

We’ll get a view of our presidential election from journalists and academics from Ukraine and Georgia and from a journalism professor here in the U.S. We’ll talk about media independence and bias; how Mr. Trump and Secretary Clinton are viewed in eastern Europe; how the debate about Russian president Vladimir Putin is playing in Georgia and Ukraine and elsewhere.

With its future increasingly intertwined with ASEAN, the United States must maintain the momentum of its rebalance towards the Asia-Pacific, focusing on three pillars: comprehensive and inclusive security networks, economic integration and connectivity, and soft power and people-to-people ties.

On October 14, the U.S. departments of the Treasury and Commerce also released a sixth set of regulatory amendments to the Cuba sanctions program. These amendments make it easier to engage in authorized travel and business with Cuba [...] “I believe in the Cuban people. This is not just a policy of normalizing relations with the Cuban government. The United States of America is normalizing relations with the Cuban people,” the president said.

While the days of its worst behavior are long behind it, the United States does have a well-documented history of interfering and sometimes interrupting the workings of democracies elsewhere. It has occupied and intervened militarily in a whole swath of countries in the Caribbean and Latin America and fomented coups against democratically elected populists.