Now on video, speeches from today’s Geneva Summit: Neda’s fiancee and courageous champions of human rights from around the world

Monday, March 8, 2010

9:00   Welcome by John Suarez, International Secretary of Directorio, on behalf of the Geneva Summit coalition (Video: part 1, part 2)

9:10   Welcome by the Canton of Geneva, Isabel Rochat, Conseillère d’Etat (Video: part 1, part 2)

9:20   Rising Powers, Rising Rights Compliance? Case Study of China (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9)

  • Chair: Amb. Alfred Moses, Chair of UN Watch
  • Rebiya Kadeer, Uighur rights champion, former political prisoner, Nobel Peace Prize nominee
  • Yang Jianli, Activist in 1989 Tiananmen Square protest, former political prisoner, founder of Initiatives for China
  • Phuntsok Nyidron, Buddhist nun, Tibet’s longest serving female political prisoner

11:00   Tribute to International Women’s Day (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10)
              Women and the Right to Equality 

  • Chair: Irwin Cotler, Canadian MP, former minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Professor, Human Rights Activist
  • Massouda Jalal, Afghanistan’s first female candidate for presidency, former Minister of Women’s Affairs

12:30   Lunch

13:30   Authoritarianism and Dissent: 21st Century Horizons  (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12)

15:30   Genocide and the Humanitarian Challenge: Case Study of Sudan (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11)

  • Chair: Colum de Sales Murphy, President of the Geneva School of Diplomacy
  • Simon Deng, Sudanese rights activist, former slave
  • Jan Pronk, Former Special Representative in Sudan of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
  • Amer Adam Hesabu, Darfur refugee, Chair of Darfur Community in the UK

17:00   Human Rights Advocacy: Skills-Building Workshops (concurrent):

             Defending Prisoners of Conscience and UN Mechanisms
             Jared Genser and Maran Turner, Freedom Now

             New Media for Human Rights: Activism in the Internet Age
             Yves Bennaim, New Media Consultant

             Human Rights Advocacy in the International Arena�
             Paula Schriefer, Freedom House  (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9)
 

Tuesday, March 9, 2010


9:00   Censorship and Internet Freedom (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10)

  • Darius Rochebin, News Anchorman for Television Suisse Romande
  • Robert Boorstin, Google Director of Corporate and Policy Communications
  • Alexander Ntoko, Head, Corporate Strategy Division, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

10:30   Next Generation: Young Rights Defenders and the Blogosphere (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10)

12:00   Lunch

13:30   Free and Fair Elections – Case Study: Iran (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10)

  • Chair: Stephane Bussard , UN correspondent for Le Temps
  • Caspian Makan, Human Rights Activist, Fiancé of Neda
  • David Suurland, Expert on Internet freedom, Activist for Iranian protest movement
  • Shahin Sariri, International Law Student and Director of the Foreign Relations Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran.

15:00   Freedom of Expression: Key Battlegrounds (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9)

  • Chair: Guy Mettan, Director of the Swiss Press Club, journalist, President of the Geneva Parliament
  • Pierre Fournel, Director of LICRA
  • Prof. Cole Durham, Legal scholar, member of OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief
  • Renata Arianingtyas, Program Officer for Pluralism, Tifa Foundation, Indonesia

16:30   Towards the 2011 Reform: Can the UN Human Rights Council Be Fixed? (Video: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11)

  • Chair: Frank Jordans, Associated Press reporter at the United Nations in Geneva
  • Ambassador Jean-Baptiste Mattei , Permanent Representative of France to the UN in Geneva
  • Edward Mortimer, vice-president, Salzburg Seminar, former Chief Speechwriter and Director of Communications in the Executive Office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
  • Hillel Neuer, UN Watch Executive Director, vice-president of Conference of NGOs Geneva Special Committee on Human Rights

18:30   Dissidents Announce Internet Freedom Declaration (Click here to view the video)

UN Watch