First Lady Melania Trump handed out awards at the 2017 International Women of Courage awards ceremony on Wednesday at the U.S. Department of State, where she was introduced as a campaigner for the safety and security of women and girls around the world.

“The era of allowing brutality against women and children is over,” Trump said to the large crowd of guests gathered to honor 13 women who faced horrific challenges in their lives but persisted to become activists to help others facing a similar plight.

“Each one of these heroic women has an extraordinary story of courage, which should inspire each of us to achieve more than we had ever imagined possible,” Trump said before handing out statuettes and posing for pictures with each of the women.

“Their lives remind us of the boundless capacity of the human spirit when guided by moral clarity and desire to do good,” Trump said.

Watch the live speech of Melania Trump at the International Women of Courage Awards Here:

The women honored this year were:

• Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh could not attend the ceremony because she has been held incommunicado since Oct. 2016 when she was arrested from “conducting propaganda against the state” of Vietnam for protesting about environmental hazards in the country.