The Foreign Service Journal, June 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2015 21 we’re working on an issue of human rights with a particular focus on a global community at risk. Embedded within DRL, I’ll be working to ensure that respect for the human rights of LGBT persons is a key priority integrated into strategies across bureaus at State, and within the government as a whole. I mentioned in my remarks with Secretary of State John Kerry at the end of February that though this position is new, the core work is not—there’s an exception- ally talented group within DRL and the department as a whole who have been working hard on these issues since President Barack Obama and then-Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton identified them as a foreign policy priority in 2011. I’m honored to now be working with that team. SD: Who will you work with inside State and among other U.S. government, nongovernmental and international entities? RB: Our network and range of partners will be broad and inclusive. Inside State, that means coordination and effec- tive communication with both the regional and functional bureaus to ensure that the Secretary’s priority on this issue is being approached in a consistent and meaningful manner. More broadly in government, it means close coordination with our USAID colleagues and with the other agencies working in international policy and programming. It also will require an open and robust dialogue with leaders in U.S. civil society and international organizations, like the United Nations, European Union and Organization of American States, among others. SD: Who will be your counterparts overseas? RB: In addition to our government-to-government contacts, I will be placing a key priority on engagement with foreign civil society organizations and with leading business interests. We must be attentive to the needs and opinions of local civil society organizations, since they are doing the most difficult work, under some of the most difficult circumstances. They are also the organizations, not unlike those here in the United States, that We are not working on an issue of special rights— we’re working on an issue of human rights with a particular focus on a global community at risk. Consul General Randy Berry hands over Consulate General Amsterdam’s first L2 visa issued to a same-sex spouse, Mr. Johannes Conradie, in August 2013. KARAHALL/CONSULATEGENERALAMSTERDAM