May 15, 2024 — list of speakers for the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy
2026 program
Geneva Summit for
human rights and democracy
February 18, 2026, Geneva, Switzerland
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Watch past speeches and get a sense of what to expect from the Geneva Summit.
PRogram
Morning Session
10:00 WELCOME
Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of United Nations Watch, on behalf of 30 co-sponsoring NGOs
10:10 HONG KONG’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM IS NOT OVER
10:20 THE PRICE OF EXPOSING CORRUPTION IN VIETNAM
10:30 SILENCED FOR REPORTING: ZIMBABWE’S WAR ON THE PRESS
10:40 ESCAPING NORTH KOREA TO FREEDOM
10:50 EMPTY CHAIR: KIDNAPPED AT AGE SIX, THE STORY OF THE 11TH PANCHEN LAMA
10:55 VENEZUELA: THE TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY
11:05 SUDAN ATROCITIES: SEEKING ACCOUNTABILITY
11:15 2026 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS AWARD
Afternoon Session
14:30 KEYNOTE: THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY IN BELARUS
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, President-elect of Belarus, forced into exile by Lukashenko after 2020 rigged election
14:45 VENEZUELA’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
14:55 MINORITIES UNDER FIRE IN SYRIA
Aram Aqil, Kurdish minority rights activist, former ISIS hostage
15:05 EMPTY CHAIR: RUSSIAN POLITICAL PRISONER MIKHAIL KRIGER
15:10 BEIJING’S WAR ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
15:20 ART AND RESISTANCE: STANDING UP TO CUBA’S DICTATORSHIP
Yúnior García Aguilera, Cuban playwright and democracy activist
15:30 DEFYING THE KREMLIN’S PROPAGANDA MACHINE
15:40 UGANDA IN CRISIS: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN HIDING (VIA VIDEO)
Bobi Wine, Presidential candidate in Uganda’s January 2026 elections
15:50 PANEL: COMBATING TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
16:00 2026 COURAGE AWARD
Presented by Alice Teodorescu Måwe, MEP
The Heroes of Iran
16:25 CALL TO ACTION
Brandon Silver, Director of Policy and Projects, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
16:30 END OF #GENEVASUMMIT2026
speakers
Learn more about the incredible speakers and moderators who will highlight urgent rights issues from around the world.
Leopoldo López
Venezuelan dissident, former political prisoner, co-founder of the World Liberty Congress
Marina Ovsyannikova
Journalist who famously interrupted live Russian TV news broadcast with a sign protesting Putin’s war on Ukraine
Mutasim Ali
Sudanese human rights advocate, Legal Advisor at Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Marzieh Hamidi
Afghan-Iranian Taekwondo athlete, advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan
Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli
Venezuelan opposition advisor, wanted for arrest on politically motivated charges, who took refuge for over 400 days inside Argentine embassy in Caracas
Masih Alinejad
Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist, repeated target of attempted assassinations
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
President-elect of Belarus, forced into exile by Lukashenko after 2020 rigged election
