Prime Minister Edi Rama was honoured with the Voices of Solidarity Award by the Vital Voices Global Partnership organization in the United States of America, for sheltering and caring for the Afghan refugees, by providing them housing, education, medical services, psychological and trauma support.
The award was handed over to Prime Minister Edi Rama by the former U.S. Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, also one of the founders of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international women’s leadership organization. The award is bestowed upon distinguished people and leaders for showing courage and compassion in protecting women and girls all over the world.”
Prime Minister Rama was awarded the prize at a special reception hosted for the occasion, during which a documentary was screened and a message of gratitude to PM Rama sent by the Afghan women currently sheltered in Albania.
“One of the countries that did not abandon the people of Afghanistan is Albania. Its Prime Minister Edi Rama committed to take in up to 4000 refugees from Afghanistan, more than any other country in the world. Vital Voices and a coalition of women activists supported the evacuation of about 1 000 woman leaders; government ministers, doctors, civil society leaders, athletes, journalists and more. The coalition with the Albanian partners is providing housing, education, medical services, psychological and trauma support. ‘It is the right and most natural thing to do,’ Mr. Rama said in an interview with the New York Times. ‘We don’t put people in camps. They are inhuman.” PM Rama was quoted as saying in the documentary.
In her remarks, Mrs. Hillary Clinton said:
“Good evening! What an extraordinary and inspiring evening of solidarity. I think back all those many years ago when we started the Vital Voices with the hope that it could become the global network that it is today and it is so incredibly gratifying to hear the stories of people that are being honoured today: Billy, Roberto, James and Dan. I would like to thank each and every one of you for all that you are doing and the leadership that you are providing as we continue to make sure that every single voice of every woman and every girl counts.
In the last months, we have had the extraordinary experience of seeing the return to Afghanistan of a group of men, who want to turn the clock back on women and women’s rights and roles. I would wish they were the only people in the world today, who want to turn the clock back. Unfortunately, there are too many, who are not only obstacles to progress, but even worse, they are instruments trying to undo the progress that has been made. This is why we need leaders and activists more than ever, and particularly – if I can keep with the theme of tonight – men, good men James, good men who stand up, speak out and support the rights and roles of women. So, I take particular honour and pleasure to introduce someone I admire, who I have had the privilege of knowing, whose career I have watched with great interest and admiration, whose leadership is emblematic of a shared mission to elevate women and girls. Some international leaders were not willing to do very much. Even when asked, if they answered affirmatively at all, it was with very minor commitments. There were however, a handful, and sadly it is that, a handful of leaders, who stepped forward in a time of great need. And on top of that list is Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Prime Minister Rama understood almost instinctually how important it was to reach out to say “yes”. So, along with the Vital Voices, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, and Women for Women and Nina’s List and many others, Prime Minister Rama opened Albania’s doors to people from Afghanistan, predominantly women in need, and because of his leadership and the efforts of the Albanian government, more than 1 000 Afghan evacuees are safe in Albania.
When I called to thank the Prime Minister for that extraordinary commitment, he was very matter of fact: “Well, what else should we be doing?” I wish there were more leaders who had that kind of approach. But this is not the only reason that he is being recognized tonight. After his re-election in September, Prime Minister Rama broke his historical precedent by appointing the highest number of women in the Albanian government ever in Albania’s history. Over 70 percent of his cabinet ministers are women and some of them are here this evening – equal partners in helping to shape the nation that they serve. And he continues to put gender equality at the centre of his government’s agenda and to speak out against the gender-based violence and to strengthen Albanian women’s economic participation. At a time when across our globe women’s rights and security are under siege, Prime Minister Rama’s commitment to advancing prosperity, opportunity and dignity in Albania and for Afghans and others should inspire all of us to action. So, on behalf of Vital Voices, it is my great honour to present the 2021 Vital Voices Trailblazer Award to Prime Minister Edi Rama.
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Prime Minister Rama expressed gratitude for the extraordinary award and said that the act of solidarity with the Afghan people is an obligation to the younger generations:
Before I say what I have to say, I want to tell you that according to the Vital Voice in my family, my wife Linda, modesty is not my strength. So, when you hear me saying that I am not only humble, but also somehow embarrassed to receive this incredible recognition, I really mean it, because it seems to me that this is a very alarming sign of the world we live in and craving for common sense.
Prior to the Secretary Clinton’s arrival, her shadow, her beautiful shadow, by the way – Huma Abedin, met me and said: “You are a hero.” Of course, it is nice to hear such a word from such a wonderful woman, but I am not a hero. It is not in any way heroic to not turn the back to people that are risking to die. And talking about heroes, I want to just adjust the frame of the discussion or of what I am talking about by telling you that heroes were other people. Heroes were the Albanians who had everything to lose during World War II and they saved Jews, making Albania the only country in Europe that had more Jews after the World War II than before it and putting Albania as the righteous among nations by practically saving 3750 Jews and by closing the chapter of the war with no single Jew handed over to the Nazis. And there were many heroes among them. But one of them, his name was Mustafa Rezniku, who is also recognized by the state of Israel as righteous among nations. He saved 42 Jewish families, but his activity in hiding Jews in different villages around his own house, was somehow signalled and when the Nazis went to him and asked him to hand over the Jews, he gave up his two sons, who ended up in Mauthausen. And he didn’t give up the Jews!
There are actually many stories like this, but all this originates much earlier when Albanians wrote their first constitution. And the key paragraph of our earliest constitution stipulates: “The house of the Albanian belongs to God and the guest.” But the meaning of the word “guest” in Albanian in that very paragraph means not only the one you invite, but also the one that shows up and knocks on your door and that knock on the door is your obligation towards God to open the door and to help. So, when we were attending a gathering of NATO members in June with talks focusing on withdrawal from Afghanistan, I just mentioned the need to address also the issue of “the traitors”. “The traitors” as our very bitter history of dictatorship has told us are those who once a regime is installed they are seen as collaborators of the enemy and “the traitors” in this case were all the people of Afghanistan, women and men who were there for us, who worked with us, and provided so many services to the NATO countries. “The traitors” were also those who were on the frontline of change, because they believed in what we told them, that we were there to make Afghanistan a different country. They believed us, they came out and they stood for that and all of a sudden, after 20 years, we left. Of course it was not up to me and as I always say being the Prime Minister of Albania in NATO is quite an easy job, because you don’t have to make the decisions. But, still it seemed to me very bizarre that nobody was thinking about these people. And then in August, just when things started to get rough, someone came to me in Albania and said: “Secretary Clinton needs your help.” “How comes?” – I replied. “This is something I have never dreamed about.” And then he said: “No, I am serious.” And he – it was a “he” by the way – he told me about the Vital Voice and all these things and I said: “OK, let’s do it.” “How?” – he asked.
“Let’s do it. Let’s evacuate these women.”
He said: “Do you want Secretary Clinton to call you.”
I said: “No. Let’s just do it. And if she remembers about it, let her call me.” Because it is very American, by the way … to be great in seducing you and then to say: “Who are you?”
But it was not the case, by the way, and she called me. Once all these women on the list were saved and settled in Albania, she called me, and of course this was a great honour, because you have to know that if you are named Clinton in Albania or among Albanians, this is something very special, because it is related to the liberation of half of our nation, Kosovo. And by the way, Kosovo is the only country on earth, where there are many boys today named Clinton. And Clinton is their first name, not the family name. And there are even boys named Bill Clinton. It is their first name, like Bill Clinton Rama, so to say, and all these boys that today are adults were actually newborns when thanks to President Clinton, the First Lady, and the then government of the United States of America, that population was liberated from a regime that sought to clean them completely ethnically.
So, the bottom line is that we did it and I think that as a NATO member country we had to do it too. We are a small country and we can’t change the destiny of any war and we go to any war by default if the United States decides, but if we are not there when it is about saving people, by not doing any heroic act like the old men and women did during the World War II, why we have to be NATO members and for what we are worth in this world?!
And on the other hand, we were the Afghans 30 years ago, when we had to escape a very brutal regime, not an Islamic fundamentalist one, but they were atheist fundamentalists. Albania was the only country in the world with its constitution stipulating that Albania was an atheist republic and just like the Taliban they blew up not the Buddha statues, but 2453 churches and mosques, and they burned on the streets 300 000 religious artworks and religious books. We were the North Korea of Europe and we were the Afghans fleeing the country on board of boats. When I had to announce the decision on accepting Afghan evacuees, I posted a picture showing many Afghans on board of this crazy plane that left Kabul and Albanians on boats 30 years ago; same picture, same people, but different nationalities and different means of transportation. And I am very proud to tell you that no Albanian political parties said “no” to welcome these people and the public opinion was very much for it. I think we also had to do it because this is also what we owe to our children. They need to know that there is a time to get and there is a time to give away in this life. We were once the ones who got something, and we are now the ones to give.
As for the women in government, this is very simple and I don’t want to be praised for that. I did it somehow by following the advice of the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher. She once said: “if you want something to be said, ask a man, if you want something to be done, ask a woman.” Now, the matter of fact is that she didn’t pick any woman for her government. And this most probably was because she herself was there for every other woman, but I couldn’t afford it, and therefore I had to pick a lot of women to do the job basically and not because I am special in that. I just knew by my experience that if you want something to be said, men are ready and they can say and talk endlessly. If you want something to be done, don’t waste your time with men. This is my humble advice.
