Web Video: Hillary Clinton Declares "Women's Rights are Human Rights"

Sep. 08, 1995 AT 2:54 p.m. EDT

As Hillary Clinton continues her campaign to be the first female president of the United States, we look back at her speech as First Lady to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing 20 years ago.  "If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights, once and for all," Clinton declared in September 1995.  Despite pressure to soften her remarks, Clinton called out human rights violations around the globe without directly naming China. Reporting from Beijing on Washington Week, NPR's Julie McCarthy said, "Only Hillary Clinton, an American of such stature, could have pulled that off and gotten away with it."

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