Secretary of State Tony Blinken signaled on Wednesday that he wouldn’t stay in his role if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the 2024 presidential election.
“As to my own future, all I’m looking at right now is the balance of this administration and January. And I can tell you from having spent some time over the last week on … break with my kids, I will relish having a lot more time with them,” he said at a news conference.
Read More
On March 30, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken unveiled the annual State Department report on human rights abuses. While doing so, he formally announced the disbanding of the Commission on Unalienable Rights. This was unfortunate as the Commission had become an important tool for advancing and defending human rights through U.S. foreign policy.
Established by former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in July 2019, and chaired by former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See and Harvard Law School professor Mary Ann Glendon, the Commission was created as an advisory group for the Secretary. The Commission’s Charter stated that its task was “not to discover new principles, but to furnish advice to the Secretary for the promotion of individual liberty, human equality, and democracy through U.S. foreign policy.” The Charter also specified the Commission’s advice must be “grounded in our nation’s founding principles and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
Read More