May 15, 2024 — list of speakers for the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy

2025 program Coming soon:

Geneva Summit for
human rights and democracy

February 18, 2025, Geneva, Switzerland

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16th Geneva Summit:

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PRogram

Morning Session

10:00 WELCOME 

Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of United Nations Watch, on behalf of the 25 NGO co-sponsors of the Geneva Summit

10:10 OPENING ADDRESS 

Evgenia Kara-Murza, Human rights activist, wife of jailed Russian prisoner of conscience and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza

10:20 TYRANNY, OPPRESSION AND ATROCITIES IN CHINA 

Moderator: Yang Jianli, president of Initiatives for China, former political prisoner
● Peter Yang, Son of Guo Feixiong, imprisoned Chinese “barefoot lawyer” and civil rights activist
● Dr. Gyal Lo, Academic expert on China’s mass use of boarding schools to eradicate Tibetan identity and culture
● Frances Hui, First Hong Kong activist granted political asylum in the US, Policy and Advocacy coordinator for the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation
● Kalbinur Sidik, Uyghur activist, witness to Chinese reeducation camp atrocities, survivor of forced sterilization

11:10 THE TRAGEDY OF ZIMBABWE 

Fadzayi Mahere, Constitutional lawyer and opposition spokesperson arrested repeatedly in Zimbabwe

11:20 ESCAPING THE TALIBAN 

Nila Ibrahimi, 16-year-old Hazara activist who narrowly escaped the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

11:30 2023 International Women’s Rights Award

Shima Babaei, Activist imprisoned for removing hijab, daughter of forcibly disappeared dissident Ebrahim Babaei
 
11:45 THE IRANIAN STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM: A CALL FOR GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
Special Session on Iran: Supporting the Iranian People in Parliaments Worldwide
Moderator: Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of United Nations Watch
● Hadrien Ghomi, French MP outspoken for victims of repression in Iran 
● Alireza Akhondi, Swedish MP campaigning to designate IRGC as terrorist entity
● Ali Ehsassi, Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee, Canadian Parliament
● Dr. Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg, Mayor of Frankfurt and former political prisoner in Iran

Afternoon Session

14:30 THE UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS

Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress

14:40 North Korea: Escape FROM STARVATION AND OPPRESSION

Songmi Han, North Korean escapee and survivor of extreme poverty, oppression, and abandonment

14:50 DIARY OF AN INVASION: EYEWITNESS TO RUSSIA’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Andrey Kurkov, Renowned Ukrainian novelist, author of “Diary of an Invasion” on Russia’s war

15:00  THE TERRIBLE COST OF RESISTING PUTIN

Anastasia Shevchenko, First dissident convicted under Russia’s “undesirable organizations” law, profiled in Oscar-shortlisted film “Anastasia”

15:10 FIGHTING FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Marie-Claire Kakpotia, Survivor and activist fighting to end Female Genital Mutilation

15:20 ERDOGAN, JOURNALISM & THE ELECTIONS IN TURKEY

Nevsin Mengu, Turkish journalist dropped from CNN Türk after she criticized President Erdogan

Interviewer: Melissa Mahtani, journalist, former CNN producer

15:40 THE HIDDEN ISLAND: THE LIFE OF CUBANS UNDER DICTATORSHIP

Abraham Jiménez Enoa, Prominent Cuban journalist forced into exile, grandson of the bodyguard to Fidel Castro and Che Guevara

15:50 VENEZUELA: BUILDING UNITY TO CHALLENGE OPPRESSION

Hasler Iglesias, Venezuelan youth leader, went into hiding to escape arrest by Maduro regime

16:00 THE 2023 COURAGE AWARD

Félix Maradiaga, Nicaraguan opposition leader and former political prisoner, targeted by the government on false criminal charges
Presenter: Javier El-Hage, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Human Rights Foundation
Interview with Félix Maradiaga and Berta Valle, Nicaraguan journalist and wife of Félix Maradiaga

Interviewer: Melissa Mahtani, journalist, former CNN producer

17:00 END OF #GENEVASUMMIT2023

speakers

Learn more about the incredible speakers and moderators who will highlight urgent rights issues from around the world.
Hong Kong

Sebastien Lai

Democracy activist and son of imprisoned pro-democracy media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai
Iran

Mahan Mehrabi

Sister of Iranian political prisoners Mahmoud and Maryam Mehrabi
Russia

Garry Kasparov

Human rights activist, promoter of democracy, and former World Chess Champion
Tibet

Namkyi

Exiled Tibetan activist and former political prisoner
Iran

Maryam Diyor

Mother of Abolfazl Amir-Ataei who was murdered at the age of 16 by the Islamic regime while participating in the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests
Sudan

Niemat Ahmadi

Sudanese women’s rights defender and survivor of the Darfur Genocide

Uyghur persecution

Rahima Mahmut

Uyghur human rights activist, translator, and singer
Afghanistan

Massouda Jalal

Former Afghan Minister of Women’s Affairs and the first woman to run for President of Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Husna Jalal

Exiled Afghan women’s rights activist and the daughter of Massouda Jalal
Vietnam

Van Trang Nguyen

Vietnamese democracy activist and victim of transnational repression
China

Times Wang

Human rights lawyer and the son of Chinese political prisoner Wang Bingzhang
Iran

Nazanin Afshin-Jam

Iranian-born Canadian human rights advocate and co-founder of Stop Child Executions
Political Prisoners

Irwin Cotler

International Chair of Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, former Minister of Justice & Attorney General of Canada

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