8th Annual Geneva Summit: 10th Anniversary of the United Nations Human Rights Council

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Program

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

All sessions to be held at the Geneva International Conference Center (CICG)

9:30   Opening Address: Reflections on the 10^th Anniversary
of the United nations Human Rights Council
Lord David Trimble, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, member of the British House of Lords, former First Minister of Northern Ireland
9:50     The Return of Authoritarianism
Moderator: Christopher Walker, Executive Director, International Forum for Democratic Studies, National Endowment for Democracy

• Svitlana Zalishchuk, Ukrainian MP, Steering Committee of World Movement for Democracy
• Irwin Cotler, Former Canadian Minister of Justice & MP, lawyer for political prisoners, Emeritus McGill University Professor of Law
• Yang Jianli, President of Initiatives for China, former political prisoner
• Joan Hoey, Editor of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index

11:00   Presentation of Geneva Summit 2016 Women’s Rights Award
Presenter: Anne Brasseur, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, former Minister of Education of Luxembourg
Moderator: Sohrab Ahmari, Journalist, The Wall Street Journal

• Vian Dakhil, Yazidi Member of Iraqi Parliament
• Jan Ilhan Kizilhan, German psychologist who created a clinic in northern Iraq for women victimized by ISIS

12:00 Flogged for Blogging: The Case of Raif Badawi

• Ensaf Haidar, wife of Raif Badawi, Saudi blogger currently in jail, 2015 Laureate of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, interviewed by journalist Tom Gross

12:30   Networking Lunch
14:00   Presentation of Geneva Summit 2016 Courage Award
Moderator: Javier El-Hage, General Counsel, Human Rights Foundation

• Mitzy Capriles, wife of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma who is currently in jail on politically-motivated charges

14:20   Is China Upholding Its Duties as a UN Human Rights Council Member?
Moderator: Yang Jianli, President of Initiatives for China, ex-political prisoner

• Anastasia Lin, Human rights advocate on China, 2015 Miss World Canada
• Jigme Golog, Tibetan monk, recently released from jail

15:00   Fighting Oppression, Defending Human Rights
Moderator: Irwin Cotler, Former Canadian Minister of Justice & MP, advocate for political prisoners, Emeritus McGill University Professor of Law

• Mohamed Fahmy, Al Jazeera journalist, recently released from Egyptian prison, now launching his own press freedom foundation
• Darya Safaei, Campaigns for right of Iranian women to enter sports stadiums
• Orhan Kemal Cengiz, Turkish human rights lawyer, columnist for Today’s Zaman and Özgür Düşünce

16:00   Voices for the Voiceless
Moderator: Philippe Robinet, CEO Editions Kero

• Daniel Mekonnen, Exiled Eritrean human rights lawyer and scholar
• Lee Young-guk, Former bodyguard of Kim Jong-il, arrested and tortured for trying to defect, eventually escaped to South Korea
• Rosa Maria Paya, Cuban human rights activist, daughter of late dissident Oswaldo Paya

17:15   Beyond Geneva: Advancing Human Rights in 2016
Ambassador Alfred H. Moses, Chair of UN Watch

17:30   End of Summit