Secretary Clinton at Tom Lantos Institute opening

American Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Budapest Thursday to take part in the inauguration of the Tom Lantos human rights institute. Another prominent guest was Clinton's predecessor Condoleezza Rice.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton participated at the inauguration ceremony for the Tom Lantos Institute, named after the late US congressman Tom Lantos, a Hungarian-born human rights activist and Holocaust survivor, in the Upper Chamber of Parliament in the Hungarian capital.

Speaking on human rights, the State Secretary pointed out that "as we struggle to help new democracies emerge, we cannot let any democracy anywhere backslide. The stakes are too high."

Praising the legacy of Tom Lantos, Hillary Clinton noted how the Congressman founded Congress' human rights caucus in 1983, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Lantos represented the love of freedom shared by the U.S. and his country.

At the ceremony, officials and family members from Hungary and the United States offered their tributes.