Question for Democracies in the international community of nations: Will you speak out tomorrow?

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” - Haile Selassie I, Address in Addis Ababa (1963)

Dictatorships in China, Russia, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, that systematically violate human rights, and undermine international human rights standards will be elected to the UN Human Rights Council tomorrow. Will democracies speak out at the United Nations General Assembly during the vote on October 13th against their election? 

 

Setting the record straight on human trafficking in Cuba and Saudi Arabia

Cuba downgraded status in this year’s #TIPReport because Cuban regime fails to provide trafficking victims the justice and protection they deserve.- Kimberly Breier, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs

On July 27, 2015 the Obama administration continued its drive to normalize diplomatic relations with the Castro regime by whitewashing the dictatorship's record on human trafficking. The State Department upgraded Cuba's status after 12 years from Tier 3 to Tier 2 in its Trafficking in Persons Report, but there had been no improvement. Melysa Sperber, director of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) back in 2015 expressed both her surprise and concern that these were "blatantly political decisions" by the Kerry State Department that would "have a really detrimental impact on both the integrity of the report and progress in the global fight to end modern slavery."

Four years later on June 20, 2019, the State Department's 2019 Trafficking in Persons report is finally setting the record straight. Both Cuba and Saudi Arabia have been placed on Tier 3, the blacklist for human trafficking. They should have both been on this list for some time, and Cuba had been for many years because of its dismal record. The Pompeo State Department has restored the integrity of the report, demonstrating their commitment to end modern slavery.

2019 Trafficking in Persons Report: Cuba

June 20, 2019

CUBA: Tier 3

The Government of Cuba does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore Cuba was downgraded to Tier 3. Despite the lack of significant efforts, the government took some steps to address trafficking, including prosecuting sex traffickers and one labor trafficker and imprisoning sex tourists engaged in child sex trafficking. However, the government did not take action to address forced labor in the foreign medical mission program, despite persistent allegations Cuban officials threatened and coerced some participants to remain in the program. The government did not criminalize all forms of forced labor or sex trafficking of children ages 16 and 17. The government lacked procedures to proactively identify forced labor victims, lacked a comprehensive package of services to include housing and physical protection, and detained or charged potential sex trafficking victims for unlawful acts their traffickers coerced them to commit.

PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS

Implement policies to prohibit force, fraud, or coercion by foreign labor recruiters and state-owned or controlled enterprises, including foreign medical missions in recruiting and retaining employees. • Draft and enact a comprehensive anti-trafficking law that prohibits and prescribes significant prison terms for all forms of human trafficking, including forced labor, sex trafficking of children ages 16 and 17, and the full range of trafficking “acts” (recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving persons).
• Vigorously investigate and prosecute both sex trafficking and forced labor offenses.
• Implement formal policies and procedures on the identification of all trafficking victims and their referral to appropriate services, and train officials, including first responders, in their use.
• Proactively identify trafficking victims, including among vulnerable populations.
• Adopt policies and programs that provide trafficking-specific, specialized assistance for male and female trafficking victims.
• Ensure participants in the foreign medical missions program retain control of their passports.
• Screen individuals charged or detained for prostitution-related offenses for sex trafficking and refer victims to care providers.
• Educate all Cuban workers about trafficking indicators and where to report trafficking-related violations.
• Establish a permanent inter-ministerial anti-trafficking committee and implement the 2017-2020 national anti-trafficking action plan in partnership with international organizations. • Provide specialized training on trafficking indicators for hotline staff and interpretation for non-Spanish speakers.

Read the full report on Cuba online here. 

The Obama Legacy: Lowering standards and betraying human rights in Cuba

Cartoon by Rob Rogers - Cuba Libre

There is a fundamental error by analysts that look at the Castro regime solely through the prism of U.S. - Cuba relations defined by economic sanctions without looking at the larger regional and international context.  This is especially the case with regards to human rights and the so-called "principle" of consistency in the light of perceived double standards. It seems that all who argue against double standards inevitably advocate lowering standards to the lowest common denominator never raising them.

Paying lip service to human rights in China

Double standards as a code phrase for lowering standards
United States foreign policy in Saudi Arabia and China have, in the name of realpolitik, not been principled on the human rights front and led to outcomes disastrous for the United States. At the same time one must recognize that narrow and powerful interests have benefited financially from these arrangements. The argument advanced by those seeking to repeat the regrettable approach used in Saudi Arabia and China with Cuban foreign policy is one of consistency that results in ending a principled human rights policy in Cuba bringing it into line with other disastrous policies that have not served the just interests of the United States. To suggest that foreign policies in Saudi Arabia and China advance human rights at the expense of narrow economic interests is to be ignored or ridiculed. Meanwhile the President visits Vietnam and opens up weapon sales to the communist dictatorship while claiming to promote human rights there.

Both help to propagate a radical brand of Islam worldwide

The Castro Regime's War on Human Rights
In the larger international context historically providing the Castro regime a free pass in its outlaw behavior has negatively effected not only countries in the Americas and Africa, but also led to more international terrorism and the decline of international human rights standards.

Cuban governments prior to the Castro regime played an important role in advancing human rights regionally and internationally punching above their weight. Sadly the Castro regime has been successful in undermining this positive legacy.

This is not an accident but to be expected for a totalitarian dictatorship that has sought to duplicate its political model around the world and has been successful in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.

The decline of regional human rights instruments in the Americas is the result of the expansion of Cuban influence in the region during the Obama administration. Welcoming the Castro regime back into the Organization of American States in 2009 did not have the desired effect.

Human rights across the world have been in decline for the past decade. The policy of normalizing relations with the Castro regime in Cuba has been a contributing factor.

White House in Cuba betrayed human rights everywhere 
President Obama's failure on human rights is having serious consequences that will be felt for decades to come. The claim made by the White House that human rights are a priority in its Cuba policy are not backed up by its actions: freeing Cuban spy guilty of murder conspiracy that claimed four lives, snubbing dissidents, watering down reports to place regime in more positive light, visiting the dictatorship and legitimizing it.

Human rights activist Aaron Rhodes, writing in the Huffington Post, describes the failure in harsher terms focusing on the President's speech, which was foolishly praised by some in the Cuban American community at the time:

Obama missed an opportunity to explain and defend that idea of human rights, which animated America’s founders, and which they bequeathed to Americans and to people all over the world in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. Instead, Obama “personally” embraced an interpretation of human rights at variance with the philosophy of the U.S. Constitution. What is more, Cuba has arguably done more than any other nation to subvert respect for authentic human rights in the United Nations. With his response, Obama indirectly but clearly endorsed that program. If his words indeed reflect the U.S. approach to human rights, it is bad news for those who defend human rights as natural rights to basic freedoms, and who look to America for support and as an example of the success of freedom.

Cuba has consistently defended the world’s worst human rights abusers, like North Korea, from criticism in international forums, claiming that such criticism is “political” and “biased.” In fact, Cuba is the most vocal member of the United Nations seeking to blunt the UN’s already blunt instruments for investigating grave human rights violations and putting pressure on governments to reform, favoring anodyne, “thematic” issues instead. Cuba has been a leader in proposing bogus human rights mandates in the UN Human Rights Council, like the “Independent Expert” on the “Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order,” which is nothing but a platform for ideological attacks on free societies and free enterprise — in the name of “human rights.”

Thanks in large part to Cuba, the international human rights system has become hopelessly clogged up with such institutions.

Just after the President's visit to Cuba I gave an analysis of the speech and found it a disappointment and that former President Carter in 2002 had made a more compelling case for human rights in Cuba. Rhodes in his essay describes the depth of Obama's betrayal of human rights

Obama’s betrayal of the idea of natural rights was also a betrayal of Cuban human rights campaigners, and indeed people around the world living under dictators who exploit the conflation of human rights and welfare rights in order to defend oppression.

Rhodes left out an even more problematic part of President Obama's speech to the Cuban people. The President equated the ideals of the American rebellion that ended British rule and established the United States with the ideals of the Castro revolution that lied itself into power, claiming to be democratic, only to install a communist tyranny that 57 years later remains in power through terror and repression. Despite President Obama's claim, they are profoundly different and to equate the two not only confusing but offensive.

This trend did not begin on the Obama Administration's watch but has reached a new low that bodes ill for the future.

Human Rights Champions Gather at UN to Spotlight Situations in China, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Venezuela & more

 UN opening session sponsored by U.S., Canada & Czech Republic 

GENEVA, February 22, 2016 -- Covered by major media from around the world, the UN human rights headquarters in Geneva was the site today of a rare gathering of courageous dissidents from Iran, China, Russia, North Korea, and Eritrea, together with family members of famous political prisoners in Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, united for the 8th annual Geneva Summit of Human Rights and Democracy, organized by 25 non-governmental organizations, including UN Watch and Human Rights Foundation.

Day 2: Live Streamed

Today's opening UN session was co-sponsored by the U.S. Canada, and the Czech Republic.

Click here for key quotes from today's speakers

The two-day Geneva Summit, whose main public session takes place tomorrow, features presentations by noted right activists, former political prisoners and victims from human rights hotspots, with the aim of placing key issues on the global agenda days before UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the world's foreign ministers gather to open the 10th anniversary session of the UN Human Rights Council. World political figures and diplomats are also participating. Today's keynote address was delivered by Maria Leissner, Secretary-General of the Community of Democracies. Tomorrow the summit will hear from Anne Brasseur, the outgoing president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Program & Media Interviews

For journalists, this week's Geneva Summit provides a one-stop opportunity to hear from and interview frontline human rights advocates, many of whom have personally suffered imprisonment and torture.

The speakers’ compelling and vivid testimonies today have called on UNHRC delegates not to allow politics to override the cries of human rights victims.

Speakers today and tomorrow include:


Antonietta Ledezma, daughter of Caracas mayor and political prisoner Antonio Ledezma
·   Svitlana Zalishchuk, Ukrainian MP and key figure in 2013 EuroMaidan movement
·  Yang Jianli, Former Chinese political prisoner, survivor of Tiananmen Square massacre
·  Vian Dakhil, Iraq's only female Yazidi MP and champion of ISIS victims
·  Jan Ilhan Kizilhan, German psychologist who treats female ISIS victims
·  Ensaf Haidar, Wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi (winner of 2015 Geneva Summit Courage Award)
·  Anastasia Lin, Miss World Canada 2015, advocate for human rights in China
·  Jigme Golog, Tibetan monk and filmmaker recently released from jail
·  Darya Safai, Campaigner for Iranian women's rights
·  Orhan Kemal Cengiz, Turkish human rights lawyer & columnist
·  Daniel Mekonnen, Exiled Eritrean human rights lawyer and scholar
·  Lee Young-guk, Bodyguard to former North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Il who fled to South Korea
·  Rosa Maria Paya, Cuban human rights activist and daughter of late dissident Oswaldo Paya
·  Polina Nemirovskaia, Russian human rights activist
·  Joan Hoey, Editor of The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index
·  Lord David Trimble, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former First Minister of Northern Ireland
·  Christopher Walker, VP, National Endowment for Democracy
·  Irwin Cotler, Former Canadian Minister of Justice and lawyer for political prisoners


Now in its eighth year, the annual conferences of the Geneva Summit have enjoyed widespread coverage by CNN, Le Monde, and other major media.

- All sessions will be available via live webcast at www.genevasummit.org

KEY LINKS:
Program
Twitter | Hashtag: #GS16
Facebook
Photos (high resolution) 
Facebook Photos (quick uploads)
Blog Post Summaries of the Speeches
Webcast: Live on Feb. 23rd from 9:15 am to 5:30 pm CET at www.genevasummit.org
Videos (to be posted after the panels)
Media Coverage of the Geneva Summit 

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

Register here to attend the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. Not able to attend in Geneva? then watch it on live-stream.

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

Legitimizing Tyranny: The Price of Hypocrisy at the UN

Human rights defenders protesting election of abusers to HRC / AP

How abusers trumpet their HRC election to silence dissent

By U.N. Watch

On November 12, the UN General Assembly elected 14 new members for the Human Rights Council. Among the 14 elected were 6 countries that UN Watch evaluated as unqualified for membership: Algeria, China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Vietnam. Their newfound membership of the UN’s top human rights body will be yet another occasion for these abusers to spew propaganda and silence dissidents and civil society – often the only ones who dare to tell the truth about these regimes. Since Tuesday’s election, members of the respective governments and representative of their UN Missions have commented on the election explaining that their victories were due to the international recognition of their commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights.

China
“The Chinese government attaches great importance to the promotion and protection of human rights. It has made remarkable achievements and has vigorously developed international cooperation in the field of human rights …China is fully qualified to be elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council. China’s election to the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday also serves as the international community’s acknowledgment of China’s significant achievements in the field of human rights.”
Wang Min, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, 13 November 2013 (Source)

Cuba
“Cuba’s selection is nothing less than a recognition of its consistent stance of rejecting double standards and the persistent efforts by Western powers to use the Council for political ends, to manipulate the issue of human rights in service of its interests and to convert this body into an inquisitor tribunal for the nations of the (global) South who don’t submit to their designs.”
Anayansi Rodriquez, Cuba’s UN ambassador in Geneva, 13 November 2013 (Source)

Saudi Arabia
“The Kingdom’s election to the Human Rights Council for the third time in a row is yet another confirmation of its pioneering role in the council and the service of human rights issues.”
Abdullah bin Yahya Al-Ma’alami, Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, 12 November 2013 (Source)

“This election confirms the Kingdom’s efforts in the enhancement of justice, equality and the protection and promotion of human rights at both domestic and international arenas, as well as the Kingdom’s firm positions towards issues of fair human rights in the world … This election confirms the Kingdom’s prestigious status and international respect and recognition for its roles in the promotion and protection of human rights.”
Dr Al-Aiban, President of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, 13 November 2013 (Source)

Russia
“The UN election was a ‘good result.’ We will work in order to strengthen cooperation and dialogue and create constructive working atmosphere in the council.”
Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, 12 November 2013 (Source)

Vietnam
“This determination reflects the Vietnamese Party and State’s view of human rights as a common aspiration of human being as well as their consistent policy of respecting and ensuring human rights, and enhancing international cooperation in this field … Vietnam’s election to the UNHRC with the highest vote is of great significance. It shows the international community’s acknowledgement and appreciation of Vietnam’s policies and achievements in its comprehensive renewal process, including the building of a state of law that offers a better guarantee of citizens’ rights.”
Pham Binh Minh, Foreign Minister of Vietnam, 13 November 2013 (Source)

UN Watch Coalition Urges EU & US to Oppose Regimes in Next Week's UN Human Rights Council Election

Trying to save the United Nations from itself 

UN Watch and Human Rights Foundation brought famous dissidents to testify before a UN luncheon briefing yesterday. Left to right: Chinese dissident Yang Jianli, Cuban dissident Rosa Maria Paya, Saudi dissident Ali Al-Ahmed, UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, HRF president Thor Halvorssen, and Russian dissident Masha Gessen.

GENEVA, November 5, 2013 - As the U.N. prepares to elect 14 nations next week to its highest human rights body, a coalition of non-governmental human rights groups and MPs sent an appeal yesterday to U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power and EU foreign affairs commissioner Catherine Ashton urging them to oppose the candidacies of China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Jordan, and Vietnam. The regimes were found to be "Not Qualified" under the U.N.'s own membership criteria, in a report presented yesterday at a UN briefing in New York before media, diplomats and human rights activists.

The qualifications of Maldives, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, South Sudan, Uruguay were deemed "questionable" based on problematic human right records or UN voting records. Click here for PDF of the full report. The evaluations were published by two non-governmental organizations, the Geneva-based UN Watch and Human Rights Foundation.

"China, Cuba, Russia, and Saudi Arabia systematically violate the human rights of their own citizens," said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, "and they consistently vote the wrong way on UN initiatives to protect the human rights of others."

"For the UN to elect Saudi Arabia as a world judge on human rights would be like a town fire department choosing a pyromaniac to be its chief firefighter."

With the release of the report, an international coalition of NGOs and MPs appealed to the U.S. and the EU to take action.

Regrettably, so far neither the U.S. nor the EU have said a word about hypocritical candidacies that will undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the UN human rights system. By turning a blind eye as human rights violators easily join and subvert the council, leading democracies will be complicit in the world body's moral decline.

It will be an insult to their political prisoners and many other victims -- and a defeat for the global cause of human rights -- if the UN helps gross abusers act as champions and global judges of human rights. When the U.N.'s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the hen house, the world's victims suffer.

Yesterday's press briefing by UN Watch and Human Rights Foundation featured courageous champions of human rights pleading against the election of their oppressors:

• Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese civil rights activist who famously escaped house arrest in 2012 after being detained for organizing a lawsuit against Chinese authorities;
• Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi scholar and political analyst who was arrested as a teenager because of his family members’ political activity;
• Masha Gessen, a Russian journalist, author, and LGBT rights activist forced to flee her country with her family after a crackdown on same-sex families;
• Rosa Maria Payá, a human rights advocate from Cuba leading a campaign to launch an investigation into the death of her father, the late democracy leader Oswaldo Payá; and
• Yang Jianli, a Chinese scholar, pro-democracy advocate, and former political prisoner, who presented a petition against China’s bid for a seat on the UNHRC.

Human Rights Foundation president Thor Halvorssen and UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer jointly presented their report evaluating the countries that have submitted candidacies for the November 12 election of new members to the UNHRC. Click here for PDF of the full report.

Original link

The Complete Archive of the San Francisco Freedom Forum Online

First Session

Watch live streaming video from sfff at livestream.com

Second Session

Watch live streaming video from sfff at livestream.com

Third Session

sfff on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

The Human Rights Foundation Inaugurates The Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent

"Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance." - Václav Havel

Inaugural Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent Awarded to Ai Weiwei, Manal al-Sharif, and Aung San Suu Kyi

The inaugural Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent was awarded to Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Saudi women’s rights advocate Manal al-Sharif, and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The three laureates were honored at the Havel Prize ceremony at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Oslo, Norway on May 9.

An initiative of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF), the Havel Prize for Creative Dissent was founded with the support of Dagmar Havlová, Václav Havel’s widow.

“This is a magnificent way to honor the memory of Václav Havel—by recognizing those who, with bravery and ingenuity, unmask the lie of dictatorship by living in truth,” said Havlová, a member of the prize committee.

Ai Weiwei, China’s most famous artist, has become one of the Chinese government’s most prominent and innovative critics. Unwilling to accept a political system that violates human rights, he continues to express himself across numerous media—despite being detained, fined, harassed, and constantly under surveillance.


Manal al-Sharif at Oslo Freedom Forum 2012

Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi mother and computer-security professional, last year posted a YouTube video of herself defying her country’s draconian ban on women driving. She was arrested and, after a groundswell of protest, released. Her ongoing advocacy has breathed life into a new movement for individual rights.

Aung San Suu Kyi, one of Václav Havel's heroes, has over three decades built a unique international profile to help lead the fight for democracy in Burma. Recently released from house arrest and allowed to campaign, she was elected to Burma's parliament and is leading a nationwide push against the dictatorship.

These three Havel Prize laureates received an artist’s representation of the “Goddess of Democracy,” the iconic statue erected by Chinese student leaders during the Tiananmen Square protests of June, 1989. Each sculpture embodies the spirit and literal reality of creative dissent at its finest, representing the struggle of truth and beauty against brute power. The Havel Prize laureates also shared a prize of 350,000 Norwegian Kroner.

The Havel Prize is funded jointly by grants from the Brin Wojcicki Foundation and the Thiel Foundation. The Brin Wojcicki Foundation was established by Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and his wife Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of 23andMe, a leading personal genetics company. The Thiel Foundation, established and funded by Peter Thiel, defends and promotes freedom in all its dimensions: political, personal, and economic.

The Havel Prize ceremony was live-streamed at www.oslofreedomforum.com on Wednesday, May 9. The event took place at Oslo’s Christiania Theater and registration was open to the public.

For inquiries, please contact secretariat@havelprize.org

Declaration of Dissidents for Universal Human Rights

On September 23, 2011 in the later afternoon Ambassador Alfred H. Moses gave concluding remarks for the Summit highlighting speakers and ideas over the two days of the We Have a Dream: Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution. He concluded by announcing the declaration below.


September 26, 2011

We, former prisoners of conscience, dissidents, victims of torture, persecution, and repression, fighters for freedom, democracy and the dignity of all human beings, gathered here at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, on 22 September 2011, do hereby declare:

Seventy years ago this week, in the face of Nazi tyranny, nations gathered in London to proclaim the Four Freedoms of the Atlantic Charter that are the birthright of all human beings and the hallmarks of democratic society: Freedom of speech and of belief, freedom from fear and from want. These four freedoms form the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Two decades ago, the Soviet Union, the other great tyranny of the twentieth century, collapsed amidst the cry for freedom that first resonated through its satellite states. Today, across the Middle East, we are witnessing that same cry echoing from Cairo to Tripoli to Damascus, as old regimes are swept aside or cling to power through ever more brutal means.

Inspired by the courage and idealism shown by ordinary women and men fighting for basic freedoms across the world; enraged by the continuing evils perpetrated by authoritarian states, including genocide, torture, state-sanctioned violence, rape and starvation as an instrument of political repression, the imprisonment of thousands of men and women of conscience, the silencing of dissenting voices, the xenophobic persecution of minorities, the denial of freedom of thought, belief and worship; we, survivors of repression in our own countries of origin, recognize that human beings can be trampled, but their spirit can never be crushed.

At this decisive moment in the struggle for universal human rights, we celebrate the defeat of Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi and of other brutal regimes in the surrounding region.

To the remaining tyrants and dictators around the globe, who have systematically violated the rights of their peoples, we give notice: Your time has passed. No more will the world suffer your specious arguments to justify policies and practices of abuse and repression in the name of claimed exceptions to the universality of basic human rights. Belonging to diverse faiths and cultures, and originating from all regions of the world, we, the authors of this Declaration, unequivocally reject such dishonest apologetics, which suit the interests of the despots, and not the interests, or ideas, of their peoples.

We assert that the writ of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December 1948 by the General Assembly, continues to run through all societies, and for all times. The talk of tyrants is refuted by the cries of prisoners—who, from the dungeons of Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Tibet, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, and elsewhere—demand justice and freedom on the basis of these universal laws and eternal truths.

Therefore, in renewing the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call on the United Nations to make the dream of the four freedoms a reality. We urge the United Nations General Assembly to pursue a new agenda for human rights, and call for the Member States to:

· Remove tyrannical governments from special positions of power in the United Nations human rights system. Welcoming the United Nations suspension this year of the Gaddafi regime from the Human Rights Council, and the successful campaigns to prevent the election of Iran and Syria to that body, we call on the United Nations to continue on the path of reform, including by:

o Suspending China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council; o Removing Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women; and o Expelling Saudi Arabia from the Executive Board of UN Women

o Adopt the annexed resolutions on compelling situations of human rights that have hitherto been neglected or ignored at the United Nations;

o Champion the cause of civil society by speaking out against the persecution of human rights defenders and dissidents, and for the freedom of non-governmental organizations to advocate for an end to repressive laws and practices;

o Guarantee the freedoms of speech, the press, and assembly, being the lifeblood of democracy

o Condemn the ongoing censorship, harassment and imprisonment of Internet fighters for freedom and democracy;

o Demand equality, tolerance and freedom for minorities everywhere;

o Defend women who are victims of state-sanctioned subjugation; and

o Protect children from ideologies of hatred and intolerance that promote contempt for fundamental human rights.

Signed on this 22^nd day of September, 2011, at the opening of the 66^th session of the United Nations General Assembly, for the We Have A Dream: Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution.

Yang Jianli, Former Chinese political prisoner, founder of Initiatives for China
Ahmad Batebi, Former Iranian political prisoner
Fidel Suarez Cruz, Cuban dissident and former prisoner
John Dau, Survivor of war in Sudan and founder of John Dau Foundation
Rebiya Kadeer, Uyghur dissident and former political prisoner in China
Grace Kwinjeh, Zimbabwean dissident and torture victim
Berta Antunez, Women’s rights activist in Cuba with Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White)
Adeeb Yousif, Darfur human rights activist
Jacqueline Kasha, Ugandan activist for LGBT rights, recipient of Martin Ennals 2011 Human Rights Defenders Prize
Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, Iranian human rights ctivist

Witnessed by:

Prof. Irwin Cotler, Canadian MP, former Minister of Justice & Attorney General, McGill U. law professor, international human rights lawyer, counsel to prisoners of conscience
David Lowe, Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs, National Endowment of Democracy
Ambassador Alfred H. Moses, Chair of UN Watch
Katrina Lantos Swett, President of Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice
Philippe Robinet, French publisher of human rights testimonies
Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch
John Suarez, Directorio
Human Rights Foundation
Viet Tan

Original Link: http://ngosummit.org/news_details.php?id=27