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Secretary Rubio and First Lady Melania Trump Host the 19th Annual International Women of Courage Awards, April 1, 2025
April 1, 2025 · U.S. Department of State · 0:39:55
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered remarks at the 19th annual International Women of Courage Award Ceremony at the Department of State on April 1, 2025, alongside First Lady Melania Trump, according to the State Department broadcast, which carries the full ceremony. The Department’s own program lists the 2025 awardees honored at the ceremony, drawn from Israel, Burkina Faso, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Romania, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, and Yemen.
Why it matters
The Women of Courage ceremony is one of the State Department’s longest-running public honors, and Rubio hosting it with the First Lady in the administration’s first spring kept the program — and its human-rights framing — visibly intact under the new leadership.
Sources: U.S. Department of State, official upload (embedded above). Remarks as delivered; full transcript at state.gov.
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