Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy at 10 years: Looking forward

"The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it." - Albert Einstein

The 10th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy convenes in Switzerland tomorrow on February 20, 2018 at 9:00am and is open to the public. The opening address will be given by Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), who has revived the relevance of the OAS by calling attention to the unfolding crisis in Venezuela and taking leadership in pursuing solutions.

There is still much more to do.

Over the past decade human rights have been in decline worldwide and democracy in recession. Long time democracies, such as Venezuela, and Turkey have slid into dictatorship. Communist China is ascendant offering an alternative development path without freedom.

In 2013 I was thinking of the failures of states and the Human Rights Council to defend and protect human rights. Now with the Oxfam scandal realize that even NGOs can also fail abysmally.
 When even Amnesty International gets caught up in scandal, shoddy dealings and violating its own commitment to freedom of expression. One looks around at the crisis of institutions: international organizations, government, civil society, and religious institutions all with scandal and challenges.

Andrew MacLeod, who was chief of operations at the United Nation’s Emergency Coordination Center, estimated in The Times on February 14, 2018 that UN staff in the past decade carried out 60,000 rapes "with 3,300 pedophiles working in the organization and its agencies." The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is in the midst of a scandal with former UNICEF consultant Peter Newell who was jailed for raping a 13 year old boy.

The international human rights consensus has been shattered while contradictions have emerged that threaten its very foundations.

Restoring the dynamic tension to the human rights conversation

In 1961 Amnesty International was founded by Peter Benenson and consisted of a board of trustees that included all the major British political parties: Labour, Conservative, Liberal and religions: Roman Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Jewish and Humanist.  

If human rights are to regain their relevance and end its worldwide decline then all parties (and this includes religions) must be invited to the table and not censored beforehand because it does not serve a particular political agenda. Furthermore the right to life, enshrined in both Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Article 1 of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man should apply to all, at all stages of life. Competing rights claims need to be weighed and measured carefully, but recognizing the transcendent importance of the person. 

Finally, human rights defenders instead of focusing on what divides us by race, sex, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and religion should seek to recognize our common humanity with a focus on the dignity of the person. Identity politics is a dangerous and divisive dead end.

The change for the better begins with each one of us and the challenge to be better and to do better. This also means a return to first principles and a rejection of identity politics. Everyone must be welcome to the conversation regardless of background and ideas and arguments should rule the day.  

It is time for self-examination and a reawakening to the consensus achieved 70 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy is a space where this conversation is taking place and can lead to important and positive changes over the next decade and beyond.

IYDU statement on the attack at the Istanbul Atatürk Airport

Young conservatives in solidarity with the people of Turkey

We are sickened by yet another attack on Turkey and the NATO alliance. Turkey has become a battleground in the fight against ISIS and radical Islam. As of this afternoon there are 41 dead and over 200 injured from the disgusting suicide bombings that took place yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these innocent victims.

Former President of the United States Ronald Reagan stated in his first inaugural address, "As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever."

Those words are just as true today for all freedom loving people as they were in 1981. We stand with the people of Turkey and call for an united effort to defeat the disease of radical terrorism. These continued violent attacks cannot be tolerated.

In freedom,

Jason F. Emert, Esq.
Chairman
International Young Democrat Union
jason.emert@iydu-network.org
@jasonemert

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 

Armenian Genocide: 100 Years of Remembrance

 "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."- Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

 One hundred years ago today, the rounding up of Christians for the slaughter that became known as the Armenian Genocide began. An estimated one and a half million were killed between 1915 and 1923. In Hollywood, California over 130,00 marched in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of this crime. Today in the Middle East, mass slaughter and ethnic cleansing are underway again.

A century ago the world remained silent before this slaughter of Christians. The failure of the international community to condemn this crime encouraged others to repeat the crime on a greater scale afterwards.  On August 22, 1939, Adolf Hitler in a speech to his Wehrmacht commanders at his Obersalzberg home cited the events in Armenia to rationalize committing a new genocide that targeted the Jewish people:

"I have given the order – and will have everyone shot who utters but one word of criticism – that the aim of this war does not consist in reaching certain designated [geographical] lines, but in the enemies' physical elimination. Thus, for the time being only in the east, I put ready my Death's Head units, with the order to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish race or language. Only thus will we gain the living space that we need. Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?"

One hundred years later the world is talking about the extermination of the Armenians, but the Turkish government remains in denial. Below is an award-winning documentary made for German public TV called, "Aghet" concerning the Armenian genocide.

Leaders of Hong Kong Democracy Protests to Headline Geneva Human Rights Summit on Eve of UNHRC Session

Summit live streamed from Geneva. Register here.
 

Also featuring: Leaders of protest movements and dissidents from Iran, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, North Korea, and more

GENEVA, Feb. 10, 2014 - The Hong Kong pro-democracy protests that have captured the world's attention will be spotlighted at the seat of the U.N. Human Rights Council, when two of its leaders -- Alex Chow and Lester Shum, president and vice-president of the Hong Kong Federation of Students -- will speak out in Geneva for the first time, joining top-name dissidents from Iran, Russia, North Korea, Turkey, Cuba, Venezuela and Ukraine, for the 7th annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, on February 24, 2015.

The acclaimed annual conference is timed to take place in Geneva days before foreign ministers gather to open the 2015 U.N. Human Rights Council session, chaired this year by Germany.

"It's a focal point for dissidents worldwide," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, which for the seventh year in a row will be organizing the annual event together with a cross-regional coalition of 20 other human rights groups.

The global gathering is acclaimed as a one-stop opportunity to hear from and meet front-line human rights advocates, many of whom have personally suffered imprisonment and torture.

"The speakers’ compelling and vivid testimonies will seek to stir the conscience of the U.N. to address critical human rights situations around the world," said Neuer.

Subjects on the program include discrimination against women, jailing of journalists, prison camps, Internet freedom, religious intolerance, and the persecution of human rights defenders.

Videos of past speaker testimonies are available at www.genevasummit.org.

Admission to this year’s February 24, 2015 summit is free and open to the public, but registration is mandatory.

For accreditation, program and schedule information, visit www.genevasummit.org. The conference will also be available via live webcast.

7th Annual Geneva Summit
Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Draft Program

9:30 Opening Speech
Speaker: Markus Loening, Chair of Human Rights Committee of Liberal International, former Human Rights Commissioner, Germany

10:00 Confronting Authoritarianism
Moderator: Jakub Klepal, Executive Director, Forum 2000
• Yavuz Baydar, Turkish journalist
• Mustafa Nayyem, Ukrainian MP, journalist, initiator of Maydan protests
• Maria Baronova, Russian human rights activist
• Tamara Suju, Venezuelan human rights lawyer
• Yeon-Mi Park, 21-year-old North Korean defector

11:15 Kidnapped by Boko Haram and ISIS
Moderator: Tom Gross, journalist
• Saa, Nigerian schoolgirl who escaped from Boko Haram
• Emmanuel Ogebe, International Human rights lawyer
• Pierre Torres, French Journalist held hostage by ISIS for 10 months

12:00 Pakistan: On Death Row for Blasphemy
Moderator: Philippe Robinet, CEO Editions Kero
Speaker: Ashiq Masih, Husband of Asia Bibi, on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy

12:30 Networking Lunch

14:00 Presentation of Geneva Summit Awards
• Women’s Rights Award to Masih Alinejad, Iranian freelance journalist
Presentation of Award: Geneva Summit partners

• Courage Award to Raif Badawi, Saudi blogger, recently condemned to 1,000 lashes
Presentation of Award: Ambassador Alfred Moses, Chair of UN Watch
To be accepted by Dr. Elham Manea, Professor at the University of Zurich
Video message by Ensaf Haidar, wife of Raif Badawi

14:45 Fighting Oppression, Defending Human Rights
Moderator: Ladan Boroumand, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for Human Rights and Democracy in Iran, member of Steering Committee of World Movement for Democracy
• Dicki Chhoyang, Central Tibetan Administration
• Ibrahem Al-Idelbi, Syrian journalist and activist (video message)
• Il Lim, North Korean defector and former slave laborer
• Maria Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader (video message), presented by Maria-Alejandra Aristeguieta, Iniciativas Por Venezuela

15:45 Can Communist Regimes Reform?
Part 1: The Case of China and the Hong Kong Protests for Democracy
Moderator: Yang Jianli, Chinese dissident, former political prisoner, survivor of Tiananmen Square massacre, president of Initiatives for China
• Alex Chow, Secretary General of Hong Kong Federation of Students
• Lester Shum, Deputy Secretary General of Hong Kong Federation of Students

Part 2: The Case of Cuba: Road to Reform?
Moderator: Amanda Alvarez, People in Need, Czech Republic
• Juan Francisco Sigler Amaya, Cuban human rights activist
• Manuel Cuesta Morua, Cuban dissident leader

17:00 Concluding Panel: The Future of Liberal Democracy
Moderator: Hillel Neuer, Executive Director, UN Watch
• Javier El-Hage, General Counsel, Human Rights Foundation
• Fouzia Elbayed, MP, Morocco, Member of Human Rights Committee of Liberal International
• Yang Jianli, Chinese dissident, former political prisoner, survivor of Tiananmen Square massacre, president of Initiatives for China
• Ladan Boroumand, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for Human Rights and Democracy in Iran, member of Steering Committee of World Movement for Democracy
• Subhas Gujadhur, Director, Universal Rights Group

18:00 End of Summit

Armenian Genocide: 99 Years of Remembrance

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."- Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

Cengiz Aktar is Senior Scholar at Istanbul Policy Center and today in Al Jazeera reported that  April 24, 1915 was the day when the decision to eliminate Armenians from Anatolia began to be implemented by the Ottoman government of Young Turks. This would eventually become known as the Armenian Genocide. The failure of the international community to condemn this crime encouraged others to repeat the crime on a greater scale afterwards.  On August 22, 1939, Adolf Hitler in a speech to his Wehrmacht commanders at his Obersalzberg home cited the events in Armenia to rationalize committing a new genocide:

"I have given the order – and will have everyone shot who utters but one word of criticism – that the aim of this war does not consist in reaching certain designated [geographical] lines, but in the enemies' physical elimination. Thus, for the time being only in the east, I put ready my Death's Head units, with the order to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish race or language. Only thus will we gain the living space that we need. Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?"

Ninety nine years later the world is talking about the extermination of the Armenians and other victims of man's inhumanity to man. Below is "The River Ran Red," the 2009 documentary by Michael Hagopian on the Armenian genocide.

Human Rights defender Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas in December of 2002 observed that "The cause of human rights is a single cause, just as the people of the world are a single people. The talk today is of globalization, but we must state that unless there is global solidarity, not only human rights but also the right to remain human will be jeopardized."In the same address he continued stating that "If there is no solidarity between people we will be unable to preserve a fair world in which it is possible to continue living as human beings. I therefore humbly believe that rather than new models, both for societies and for relations between countries, what we need is a new spirit." 

Let us hope that emerging international solidarity and remembrance of these past crimes will prevent new crimes in the future. 

Standing up for Dignity: Power of Creative Nonviolence on Display in Turkey

Individuals standing up to overwhelming force with silence and dignity in Turkey

A man’s single act of nonviolent defiance has turned into a growing group of people’s silent struggle for the right to protest in Taksim Square. His name Erdem Gündüz, a dancer and a performance artist. Around the world the hashtag #duranadam began trending.

Erdem began standing after police conducted a bag search six hours ago, and he was still standing in the same place staring at the flag of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which is hung on the Atatürk Culture Center (AKM) when he was detained by the police. He was shortly released afterwards and this is what he had to say: 

"Maybe the media and people will learn something from this silent standing, this resistance," Gunduz said in an interview with Hurriyet TV. "Maybe they will feel some empathy. I am just an ordinary citizen of this country. We want our voices to be heard."Gunduz said he was protesting in solidarity with demonstrators who were evicted at the weekend from Gezi Park adjoining Taksim, an intervention by police that triggered some of the most violent clashes to date.

About 300 others that had joined him in the silent protest of which 10 were also detained. There whereabouts remain at this moment unknown.  Taksim square has been ground zero in the struggle between the police and protesters over the past three weeks.

 

There are other people standing up in Turkey, we now have a "standing woman" in Ankara silently protesting where the police shot and killed Ethem Sarisuluk, a young man of 26 years of age. Now the hashtag #durankadın has also appeared.

Tonight in Turkey we have witnessed the power of nonviolence to resist brute force and to bring people together in defense of human dignity.

Lets remain vigilant and continue to support the nonviolent demonstrators in Turkey and their just demands by signing this petition from Amnesty International an end to the abuse and an accounting of the extent of the injuries suffered.

Non-violent Resistance: A different kind of armed struggle

"I say nonviolent struggle is armed struggle. And we have to take back that term from those advocates of violence who seek to justify with pretty words that kind of combat. Only with this type of struggle one fights with psychological weapons, social weapons, economic weapons and political weapons. And that this is ultimately more powerful against oppression, injustice and tyranny then violence." - Gene Sharp, 1990 at the National Conference on Nonviolent Sanctions and Defense in Boston



On Friday received a request from a friend in Turkey: "Please follow what's happening in Taksim, and use your channels to mobilize news and what have you. You are good at it and we need you." Watching the news unfold and the nonviolent protesters met with brutal force from the government and elements of the protesters, according to the press accounts, responding with violence to violence has led to this essay and the posting of this video.

There is a prejudice to view nonviolent resistance as either naive or successful due to exceptional circumstances but history has demonstrated otherwise. Gene Sharp, an expert on nonviolent, who works out of a think tank called the Albert Einstein Institute has spent an entire career documenting the power and reality of nonviolent resistance over the course of history and instances now in the present. Most of the books and articles are available for free download in a number of different languages.

High pressure hoses turned on nonviolent demonstrators in Turkey

 Its not only Gene Sharp who has discovered the historical track record of nonviolent resistance. University Academics Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth in their 2008 study "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic on Nonviolent Conflict" compared the outcomes of 323 nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006. They found that major nonviolent campaigns have achieved success 53 percent of the time, compared with just under half that at 26 percent for violent resistance campaigns. Finally there study also suggests “that nonviolent campaigns are more likely than violent campaigns to succeed in the face of brutal repression.” This also depends on the nonviolent opposition movement having a strategic vision and maintaining its non-violent posture even under the worse repression.

The author of this blog back in June 14-15, 1996 spent two days in a training led by Gene Sharp in Miami, Florida at Florida International University that was sponsored by Brothers to the Rescue. Sharp gave a presentation on how to face dictatorship's realistically. It was a life changing experience.

The video above is the Spanish version of the documentary How to Start a Revolution: Meet the most important man you've never heard of and you can purchase a copy the English version on Amazon or on their website: http://howtostartarevolutionfilm.com/

Dear friends in Turkey who at this hour are engaged in a struggle for the future of their country please consider nonviolent resistance and its track record and recall what is now taking place in Libya and in Syria both products of a nonviolent resistance that succumbed and turned violent in response to regime violence.  The stakes are high: the future of your country not only for you but also for your children and their children. This is not a time for improvisation but for strategic thinking and sound tactics to dislodge an entrenched adversary who is threatening your democracy.

Demonstrators on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday

It is worthwhile to take a closer look at the writings of Gene Sharp and his observation that: "If you fight with violence, you are fighting with your enemy’s best weapon and you may be a brave but dead hero."

In the meantime, in solidarity, will continue to follow what is happening and mobilize people of good will to support the just aspirations of the people of Turkey.

Democracy is under attack in Turkey

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Wiesel  

All eyes on Turkey. Nonviolent activists have been brutalized and violence is escalating. Solidarity requires that we be vigilant and denounce the abuses taking place. Amnesty International released a statement yesterday. Protests are still underway today, and press reports indicate that nonviolent discipline is not being maintained by some of the demonstrators, but this may also be misinformation.

Turkey is a beautiful country with a great people and history. Concerned about the well being of friends who live there and are caught up in the middle of this. Please remember the best way to resist government brutality is with creative nonviolent resistance and strategic planning. Succumbing to responding with violence to violence dramatically reduces the chances of a successful outcome for those challenging the government.

Below are images from the protests in Turkey today:


Government using violence to put down nonviolent demonstrators yesterday:



Al Jazeera's take on whats going on and how it is spreading:

Turkish government attacks nonviolent protesters in Taksim Square

Update: Nonviolent protesters in Taksim Square attacked with high pressure hoses

Turkey must halt brutal police repression and investigate abuses at Istanbul protest

© Eren Aytuğ / NarPhotos

by Amnesty International
 
The Turkish authorities must order police to stop using excessive force against peaceful protesters in Istanbul and immediately investigate alleged abuses, said Amnesty International after more than a hundred people were injured during an ongoing peaceful demonstration in a city centre park. On 30 and 31 May, police officers used water cannon and tear gas to disperse a peaceful protest against the destruction of Gezi Park in central Istanbul.

More than a hundred protesters are reported to have been injured during police interventions. Some suffered head injuries and at least two people had to receive emergency surgery.

Amnesty International activists who were observing the protest were also hit with truncheons and tear gassed.

“The use of violence by police on this scale appears designed to deny the right to peaceful protest altogether and to discourage others from taking part” said John Dalhuisen, Director of Europe and Central Asia Programme at Amnesty International.

“The use of tear gas against peaceful protestors and in confined spaces where it may constitute a serious danger to health is unacceptable, breaches international human rights standards and must be stopped immediately.”

“The Turkish authorities must order police to halt any excessive use of force and urgently investigate all reports of abuse. They have a duty to ensure that people can exercise their right to free expression and assembly.”

On Friday afternoon, riot police were preventing access to Gezi Park but an estimated 4,000 people were continuing their protest in the area. Police reportedly continued their use of water cannon to repress the protest. A further protest has been called for 7pm local time on Friday evening.

“Any decision to forcefully disperse a peaceful protest should be taken only as a last resort, and police intervention should always be measured,” said John Dalhuisen.

Protests against the closure of Gezi Park began on 28 May with a few hundred activists taking part initially.

The park is facing demolition to make way for the construction of a shopping centre as part of a large scale regeneration of the area.

Excessive force is routinely used by law enforcement officials to disperse protests in Turkey.

Four weeks ago, police in Istanbul used excessive force to disperse a May Day demonstration.