Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton honored three women for their fight against violence and injustice in Latin America at the seventh annual Hillary Rodham Clinton Awards for Advancing Women in Peace and Security ceremony Sept. 27.

“Never underestimate the power of women and girls not only to improve their own lives but to lift up families, communities and entire nations,” Clinton said. “The women we recognize today embody that truth.”

Hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, the HRC Awards in Gaston Hall annually honor three individuals who advance peace by promoting women’s role in society. 

In her opening remarks, Clinton addressed the political climate of the United States by pointing out President Donald Trump’s lack of attention towards issues such as foreign officers overseas and the intervention of foreign powers in the 2016 election.

“In the course of his duties as president he has endangered us all by putting his personal and political interests ahead of the interests of the American people,” Clinton said. “He has turned American diplomacy into a cheap extortion bracket.”

Clinton presented this year’s awards to Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile and the current United Nations high commissioner for human rights; Rosa Anaya, coordinator for Catholic Relief Services, an international humanitarian organization; and Virginia “Marta” Velásquez, founder of Movimiento de Mujeres de la Colonia López Arellano (MOMUCLAA), an advocacy group that provides legal, psychological and other support services to women and advocates for peace in their communities.

Bachelet, one of the award recipients, served as president of Chile for two four-year terms, first in 2006 and again in 2014. After the 1975 coup in Chile, Bachelet was tortured in a detention center along with her mother and later forced into exile for four years. Bachelet has dedicated her career to advancing women’s rights.

Emphasizing the importance of equality in the world is more important now than ever, according to Bachelet.

“It is well past time for universal realization for the equality of every human being,” Bachelet said.

Anaya and Velásquez were honored during the awards ceremony for promoting equality in Central American communities overrun by violent crime.

Violence against women has skyrocketed in Latin America, which, as a region, has the highest homicide rate in the world. In El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, gang violence has a particularly harsh impact on women, and in El Salvador, the death rate of women is 13.5 per 100,000, according to The Wall Street Journal. This is more than six times the women’s death rate in the United States. 

Anaya, who currently serves as the program coordinator for Segundas Oportunidades, an initiative of Catholic Relief Services in El Salvador, told the audience to look at one another and say “thank you” to establish that all people can do something to break the cycle of violence.

After fleeing to Canada at age 10, Anaya later returned home to El Salvador and began working in prisons with young men. Anaya currently works to rehabilitate young men and return them to society to break the cycle of violence in the country.

After experiencing the horrible effects of gang violence in her home country, Honduras, Velásquez founded MOMUCLAA, despite great opposition from both men and women in the community because the program was radically different in its purpose.

Working with the local police department, MOMUCLAA has pushed for change such as a new law that banned domestic violence, lobbying for access to drinking water and the construction of a walking bridge over a freeway.

The HRC Awards were established in Dec. 2011 under the U.S. National Action Plan for Women in Peace and Security. GIWPS was established that same year to advance a similar goal of creating leaders who understand the importance of promoting the role of women in peace and security issues globally. Clinton is an honorary founding chair of GIWPS.

Last year, the HRC Awards honored three women, including Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad, who also received the Nobel Peace Prize later that year. The Awards also honored Rohingya activist Wai Wai Nu and Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent.

Clinton invoked women leaders like Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist, to remind the audience of the power of women in the world.

“This week she delivered a powerful speech at the United Nations climate action summit that should be required viewing for every lawmaker,” Clinton said. 

Since policy enacted today will impact future generations, U.S. leadership should focus on advancing social change and empowering women, Clinton said.

“This is ultimately about much more than Donald Trump, it is about us,” Clinton said. “It is about who we are as a nation. History is being written and the world and our children are watching.”