I am honored and grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of the launch of the Amy Ostermeier Human Rights Lecture Series. I worked very closely with Amy for about five years at the State Department and was one of her lawyers. When I was asked to give remarks at today’s event, I had initially thought it would be easy to put together my reflections as I admired Amy so much. But I quickly found it was actually extremely challenging to do justice in commemorating someone as extraordinary as Amy. And so I think today the best I can do is share with you a few glimpses of why Amy was one of the most effective, respected, and beloved foreign affairs officers at the State Department.
I first met Amy when a mutual friend put us in touch in 2006 when Amy was contemplating joining the human rights office of the International Organizations Bureau of the State Department. I was one of the lawyers for that office and Amy wanted the scoop on what to expect if she joined that team. So I tried to paint for her a complete picture of what it would entail, including fighting hard in protecting human rights norms in multiple human rights fora, trying to get the US to engage with all aspects of the United Nations’ complex human rights machinery in a way that would set a standard for others to follow, coordinating U.S. government positions on complicated human rights issues among many feuding offices and interagency players, and many, many late nights and weekends.
Now most people would run the other way after hearing this unofficial job description, but Amy jumped right in. And so I had my first glimpse into how Amy was wired: Amy had a huge passion for human rights and she was willing to tackle seemingly impossible missions for a good cause. Over the years, I would find that this potent combination made her unstoppable.
Let me share with you but one example, among many, of her work that embodied this dedicated and courageous spirit. A contentious, sensitive, sometimes explosive and always recurring difficult issue in U.S. government’s diplomacy involved the issue of how to treat speech that is disrespectful of religious beliefs, speech that insults religious sensibilities, speech that some would call “blasphemous.” In both the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and at the UN General Assembly in New York, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had succeeded since 1999 in having those UN bodies adopt resolutions on the “defamation of religions,” which sought to legitimize bans, including criminal penalties, on speech disrespectful of religions. The UN debates surrounding those resolutions were extremely contentious, with Western countries leading the charge in criticizing these resolutions, noting they were inconsistent with free speech and religious freedom principles and were frequently used to justify the mistreatment of religious minorities and dissidents.
When the Obama Administration came to office, Amy energetically reached out to the new leadership tem to secure its endorsement in actively tackling this topic. Though it’s a very sensitive topic that included over a decade of high profile battles, Amy helped convince everyone that through a targeted diplomatic campaign, bridges could be built across what seemed to be an unbridgeable divide. She secured for a small team of us a green light to make this issue one of the U.S. government’s topic thematic priorities in the UN. She believed it was possible to counter religious intolerance without needing to limit the freedoms of expression or religion.
Amy and I were part of a small team of four officers who were dispatched to Cairo in May 2009 just a few weeks before President Obama delivered his historic address at Cairo University. We had lengthy discussions with Egyptian foreign ministry officials, religious groups, and civil society. We also went to Qatar for similar talks. The goal was to begin a conversation that would acknowledge issues of religious intolerance without resorting to bans on speech.
These intense negotiations continued throughout the summer. Within a few months, Western and OIC countries were able to finally build some important bridges at the UN on freedom of expression. The first stage in Amy’s mission impossible had worked. With this foundation in place, Amy then quickly shifted to tackling the very contentious defamation resolution itself. She traveled with a small team to countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe explaining the issue, building common ground for a new approach. Thanks to such superb diplomatic outreach, at the UN the votes began to shift considerably. Amy had made a global conversation happen, with significant bridges being built and a foundation laid for a shift in approach.
A few months later the OIC decided to stop running its defamation of religions resolution and instead ran a new resolution that was adopted by consensus at the United Nations Human Rights Council (known as resolution 16/18), which protected fundamental freedoms while providing states with a useful toolkit for countering religious intolerance. The mountain—the insurmountable mountain that was too sensitive, explosive, and controversial to climb—had been surmounted. This enormous achievement happened just weeks before Amy was found be seriously ill.
Unfortunately Amy passed away before she could see that the entire United Nations membership at the General Assembly would affirm this approach. And she was not there when then Secretary of State Hillary spoke passionately at the first international implementation meeting of Resolution 16/18 a months later.
But she was definitely there with her team in spirit at those important meetings where the seeds she had planted bore fruit. She had set in motion a process to solve a thorny issue while protecting human rights. And that process is continuing and indeed growing thanks to the groundwork she had laid. There is no question that everything Amy taught us lives on in the day to day hard work and diplomacy of the Department and its civil society partners on freedom of speech and religion.
Perhaps as important as the bridges Amy built with foreign countries are the bridges she built within the State Department and U.S. government. In a large bureaucracy with many competing voices, views and agendas, it is rare to have an officer who can serve as a bridge and forge strong consensus paths forward. In situations of bureaucratic disagreements, many people end up throwing fuel on the fire of disagreements. Others throw their hands up in the face of disagreements and give up. In a calm and graceful manner, Amy always led meetings in a way that built bridges and developed new and practical ways forward. Each side to an issue felt heard, its equities had been considered, and a fair procedure had been followed. She managed to get people who had been fighting to form cohesive teams to achieve human rights objectives. In addition to leading meetings masterfully, Amy somehow inspired people to just plain act better in meetings. There was something about Amy that drew out the best in others. It got to the point where everyone wanted Amy at every meeting even if she wasn’t working on the topic.
And so you can see from just a few glimpses into Amy’s time at the State Department why the White House tried—twice—to entice Amy to come work as a senior director for human rights on the President’s staff, but she chose to put her family first, each time.
Now I cannot resist sharing with you an oral footnote about our Egypt trip. Amy and I tried to visit the incredible sites in between meetings. When we stepped out of our hotel, I found the extraordinary levels of cars that didn’t follow any kind of traffic signals daunting. I said to her I don’t think I’m going to be able to cross the street here. Amy, who feared nothing, grabbed my arm and we jumped into a sea of cars, navigating our way through the streets of Cairo like she had lived there her whole life. When we went to visit the ancient tombs in Saqqara, you had to walk down steep staircases that went deep into the ground to dimly lit rooms. Amy never hesitated to explore all of them. When we passed a camel while exploring the pyramids, Amy unhesitatingly jumped on a camel. Amy I discovered always lived each moment fully, fearlessly and with great joy. And magical things seemed to always happen when you were with Amy. As we were walking through the outdoor market in Cairo, small children started to follow us chanting good things about America. I don’t think that happens every day to American tourists in the Middle East.
From these small glimpses I think you can understand why all of us at the State Department thought the world of Amy and what made her an incomparable foreign affairs officer, colleague, and friend.