Concern Worldwide Honors U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
for Humanitarian Leadership with Inaugural Award in Dublin
NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
International humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide presented
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton today with its inaugural Fr. Aengus Finucane Award
for Services to Humanity.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121207/DC26085)
Secretary Clinton was in Dublin
December 6 and 7 as part of her last
official visit to Ireland to
participate in the ministerial meeting of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE). The Secretary also met with Irish officials to discuss
areas of cooperation in promoting peace, human rights, and economic
growth, and delivered a major speech on U.S. achievements in
support of human rights globally. After that speech at Dublin City University, Concern Worldwide CEO
Tom Arnold presented the Secretary
with the award.
"There is no one more deserving or fitting for the first Fr.
Aengus Finucane Award than Secretary Clinton," said Mr. Arnold. "In
her time as Secretary of State, she has put development at the
heart of U.S. foreign policy and led the world in the fight against
under-nutrition, especially during the critical 1,000-day window
from pregnancy to a child's second birthday—an effort that will
improve the lives of tens of millions of women and children."
In its first year, the Fr. Aengus Finucane Award for Services to
Humanity recognizes outstanding humanitarian leadership in memory
of the life and work of Fr. Aengus Finucane, who was part of
Concern's very first mission in response to the famine in Biafra in
1968 and went on to serve as Chief Executive from 1981 to 1997. He
then moved to the United States to
found Concern Worldwide U.S., where he served as Honorary President
until his passing in October 2009.
Before receiving the award, Secretary Clinton spoke about human
rights and the continued struggle for gender equality. "We are on
the right side of history in this struggle, but there will be many
sacrifices and losses until we finally reach a point where
daughters are valued as sons, where girls are as educated as boys,
where women are encouraged and permitted to make their
contributions to their families, to their societies just as the men
are," she said.
"The whole purpose of Fr. Aengus' life was to improve the lives
of others," said Mr. Arnold. "He passionately believed that we
could never break the cycle of poverty and hunger if we did not
invest in women and girls and fight to give them equal
opportunities. This is exactly what Secretary Clinton stands for
and therefore it is very appropriate that Secretary Clinton is the
first recipient of this honor."
About Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide is an
international, non-governmental humanitarian organization dedicated
to reducing extreme poverty, with more than 3,200 personnel working
in 25 of the world's poorest countries in Africa, Asia,
and the Caribbean. Concern
Worldwide targets the root causes of extreme poverty through
programs in health, education, livelihoods and microfinance, HIV
and AIDS, and emergency response, directly reaching more than 8.5
million people. For more information, please visit concernusa.org
or follow us on Twitter and
Facebook.
PRESS CONTACT:
Crystal Wells
Communications Officer
212.557.8000 (o)/617.913.0794 (m)
crystal.wells@concern.net
SOURCE Concern Worldwide US