Brandon Silver, international human rights lawyer, 2024 Magnitsky Award laureate, and the Director of Policy & Projects at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, addressed the 18th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on February 18th, 2026.
Exiled Venezuelan human rights activist and former political prisoner
Member of Canadian Parliament, Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee
Exiled Belarusian opposition figure and chair of the Belarus Women’s Foundation
British-Australian academic, formerly held as a diplomatic hostage in Iran
Bolivian indigenous leader from the Sura Nation, member of the Bolivian Legislative Assembly
Cuban playwright and democracy activist
Swedish MP campaigning for the EU to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity
Mayor of Frankfurt, former political prisoner in Iran
Vice Chair, U.N Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
Zimbabwean opposition leader held for 595 days in pre-trial detention
Robert Boorstin, Senior Vice President at Albright Stonebridge Group and a former Director of Public Policy at Google, addresses the 2nd Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy – see below for full prepared remarks. Full remarks Chair, Bart Woord: And I mean, the search engine, I remember when I
Maryam Malekpour, sister of Saeed Malekpour, Iranian developer serving life sentence in Evin prison on spurious charges, addresses the 10th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy – see quotes below, followed by full prepared remarks. On Iran’s abduction and imprisonment of Saeed Malekpour: “Our nightmare began on October
Matteo Mecacci, Italian Member of the European Parliament, elected official of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, and former Chairperson of the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Tibet, addresses the 2nd Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy – see below for full prepared remarks. Full remarks
James Kirchik, journalist, author, and visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, addresses the 11th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy – see quotes below, followed by full prepared remarks. On the universality of human rights: “Don’t let anyone tell you that certain cultures are immune to democracy or individual