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GENEVA,  Oct. 28, 2014 – One day before Iran goes before a United Nations examination of its human rights record, the non-governmental organization UN Watch will convene an international forum of Iranian victims, activists and experts this Thursday, October 30th, to expose gross and systematic violations that are covered up in the regime’s written submission to the UN review session. (See excerpts below.)

The UN Watch parallel event, to take place inside the UN’s European headquarters at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, will feature leading figures on the subject of human rights in Iran:

Mohammad Mostafaei – Iranian human rights lawyer who was forced to flee the country after being persecuted by the authorities for his defense of individuals facing the death penalty. Mr. Mostafei was the first lawyer of Reyhaneh Jabbari, a 26-year-old woman who was just executed by Iran on Saturday for allegedly killing the man who was trying to rape her. Mr. Mostafaei is the founder and director of Norway’s Universal Tolerance Organization. In 2011, he was awarded PEN’s Ossietzky Prize.

Sepideh Pooraghaiee – Iranian journalist and human rights activist who was jailed for 110 days in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. Ms.  Pooraghaiee recently fled Iran, finding asylum in France, after she was threatened by the government for reporting on its crackdown against peaceful protesters. “I was in danger because I know the truth,” she says. “And it was bad for them.”

Marina Nemat – Iranian dissident, former prisoner of conscience and best-selling author, now living in Canada, who was jailed as a political prisoner in Tehran when she was only 16 years old. During her incarceration for two years in the infamous Evin Prison, she was interrogated, tortured, faced execution, and was raped by a prison guard who she was coerced to marry. Ms. Nemat was the recipient of the European Parliament’s inaugural Human Dignity Prize in 2007, and in 2014 was awarded UN Watch’s Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award.

Sohrab Ahmari – London-based editorial page writer for the Wall Street Journal. Born in Tehran, Mr. Ahmari was interrogated by Iranian security officials as a child when he accidentally brought aStar Wars video cassette to school. He holds a law degree from Northeastern University and previously served as a nonresident fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. An alumnus of Teach for America, Mr. Ahmari is co-editor of “Arab Spring Dreams,” an anthology of essays by young dissidents in the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

 ____________________

Excerpts from Iran’s Report to this Friday’s UN Review Session

● “The laws of Iran repudiate all forms of torture.”
● “Iran has tirelessly worked to advance women’s rights.”

● “In order to protect the rights of the people, the Supreme Leader has communicated the following general policies in 2014: […] the need to fulfill the legal and religious rights of women… the protection of legitimate freedoms and the protection of the nation’s fundamental rights.”

● “In all stages of prosecution, including detection, investigation and implementation of sentence – irrespective of race, religion, gender or ethnicity – fairness is of paramount importance.”

● “Consistent with article 14 of the Constitution, the Government is required to treat non-Muslims with respect and Islamic justice and equity, and to respect their human rights.
● “Alongside the recognized religious minorities, the rights of all citizens – including the followers of the Baha’i sect – are respected.”

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Testimony by Irina Dovgan before UN Human Rights Council, on behalf of UN Watch, Sept. 17, 2014

Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Irina Dovgan, I am a resident of Donbas in eastern Ukraine, the region occupied by the pro-Russian separatists. I am speaking on behalf of UN Watch.

On August 24, pro-Russian military groups took me out of my house, and falsely accused me of being a spotter for the Ukrainian artillery. In fact, I gave food, medicine and clothes for Ukrainian soldiers.

On August 25, I was taken to the city center of Donestk, wrapped in a Ukrainian flag and made to stand at the post with a sign: “I am a killer and an agent of killers.”

One of the militants told people he would shoot me in the knee, and, indeed, he aimed and shot, barely missing my kneecap.

Another lifted up my shirt and made fun of my breasts. Passersby beat me, kicked me, spit at me in the face and took pictures with me.

For a period of four days I was beaten, tortured and continuously threatened with gang rape. Between interrogations, I was lying on the cold floor without food or water. I prayed for death.

Under torture, I gave the militants the PIN codes of family credit cards, passwords, and access to bank accounts. The cards were then used in Russia to withdraw our savings in Russian rubles.

My house and my son’s apartment were plundered in retaliation for my openness and speaking out. I continue to receive terrible threats, including against the safety of my 15-year-old daughter.

I survived thanks to the journalists who reported my story. But the longing for my home and my native land is still strong.

For my family, as well as for millions of other Ukrainians, today it is impossible to return home.

I want to believe that the world will be able to stop the aggressor who came to our land. I do not understand why Russia, directly sponsoring my torturers, was recently elected to the Human Rights Council.

I ask the United Nations to demand that Russia guarantee that I will not be persecuted for speaking the truth.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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GENEVA, August 25, 2014 –  The Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch, which spearheaded this month’s campaign by rights activists, MPs and Iraqi minority leaders for an emergency UN Human Rights Council session on Iraq, welcomed the news that a meeting will likely be held next Monday, but demanded an outcome with “concrete actions to help the desperate people on the ground.”
The announcement came today at a meeting of the 47-nation body in Geneva, one week after UN Watch launched its global appeal with a rally, press conference and diplomatic marathon featuring Iraqi Christian and Yazidi leaders.
“An urgent session on the Islamic State’s butchering of Iraq’s Christians, Yazidis and other minorities is long overdue, but it’s better late than never,” said UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer.
“Our international coalition wants to see three concrete outcomes from the UN meeting: a resolution that strongly condemns the atrocities committed by ISIS; the establishment of a commission of inquiry to document those atrocities; and a revival of the UNHRC’s mandate of a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iraq, which was wrongly canceled 10 years ago, to ensure that we have an early warning system in place over both the near and long term,” said Neuer.
“With so many lives at stake — men being slaughtered like animals, and women being terribly abused — the UN human rights council must act immediately. We must have deeds, not only words,” said Neuer.
“To date, the silence has been deafening. How can it be that for an entire summer Islamic State terrorists have been beheading children, crucifying Christians, raping and enslaving women and girls, and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes, only to face starvation and dehydration on remote mountain-tops, and yet the world’s top human rights body is out on vacation?”
During the emergency session next week, UN Watch plans to bring a young Iraqi Christian to testify before the council of the horrors suffered by her community.
 

_____________

Related:

• Urgent Appeal to UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay to Stop Genocide in Iraq 
  Signed by an international coalition of Members of Parliament and Human Rights Activists

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WATCH VIDEO OF PANELISTS: 

“We came to Geneva to ask the U.N. to send a mission to Venezuela to evaluate the cases of human rights violations that students have been subjected to.”
   — Eusebio Costa, 22-year-old student activist, President of the Student Center at the Catholic University Santa Rosa in Caracas, member of the protest camp in Las Mercedes. VIDEO.
 

MEDIA IMPACT   “Venezuelan and Cuban activists lobbied the United Nations to investigate the deaths of dozens of student protesters in Caracas and the jailing of Cuban dissidents. The two Latin American powers, led by socialist Presidents Nicolas Maduro and Raul Castro, are members of the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council…” Click for more EFE Newswire:Carromero contará la muerte de Payá en un foro de derechos humanos en Ginebra La Vanguardia:Ángel Carromero contará su caso en un foro de derechos humanos en Ginebra EL BOLETIN:Ángel Carromero, protagonista de un foro sobre derechos humanos en Ginebra ACI Prensa:  Cuba: Carromero llama a la ONU investigar muerte de Oswaldo Payá y Harold Cepero El Nuevo Herald:Carromero pide comisión por muerte de Payá The WashingtonFree Beacon: Cuban, Venezuelan Dissidents Harassed at UN Panel

Cuba and Venezuela Lash Out

After the panelists gave their testimony, representatives from the Cuban and Venezuelan government responded by screaming wild accusations of corruption at them and UN Watch.

The Venezuelan delegate said, “We have the greatest amount of oil; you [the United States] have the greatest empire and you are trying to take our resources.” In response to Ms. Lopez’s condemnation of the inhumane treatment of her jailed nephew, the Venezuelan insisted that he was “protected by all constitutional and legal rights.” VIDEO

The Cuban representative screamed accusations at the panelists and UN Watch: “This is clearly a program of the United States to undermine Cuba, and they have given these speakers money to participate,” said the furious representative, who ended his speech by loudly leading a walk-out of the North Korean, Syrian and other allied delegates who showed up at the UN Watch event. VIDEO

Subsequently, the Cuban delegation complained to the Human Rights Council that UN Watch was out of order for hosting the dissidents.

UN WATCH IMPACT

•   Before the panel even took place, it raised the ire of the head of the Venezuelan parliament, who was one of several top Caracas officials to lash out at the prospect of Venezuelan dissidents at the United Nations Human Rights Council, where the government’s violent repression of protests would come under intense scrutiny.

•   Venezuela and Cuba both tried to intimidate and discredit the speakers and UN Watch by sending representatives to the event and accusing all involved of being liars and accepting US government bribes.

•  The event won the support of key officials including US Ambassador Keith Harper, who praised UN Watch and the panelists for speaking truth to power.

•   In response to the UN rights chief’s criticism, the Venezuelan government called the statement “deplorable” and accused the Office of joining “the infamous international smear campaign” against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

•   María Corina Machado (right), a leading Venezuelan opposition figure with 2 million Twitter followers, sent a video message expressing solidarity. Video here

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• New Video: What Happened to the UN?
• Ban Ki-moon names Jordan’s Prince Zeid as next UN rights chief
• Iranian torture victim receives UN Watch’s Human Rights Award, blasts Tehran regime

New Video: What Happened to the UN?

The following new video tells the story of what happened to the United Nations—and how UN Watch battled over the past 12 months to defend the true principles of human rights at the world body.
 

 Click here to watch new video

                                                                      ______________
Ban Ki-moon names Jordan’s Prince Zeid as next UN rights chief

Princess and Prince Zeid

With the approval of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has picked Jordan’s UN ambassador, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, to replace the controversial Navi Pillay as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The nomination is expected to be rubber-stamped by the 193-nation UN General Assembly, with the Prince to take over the UN rights office in Geneva by September.
“Awesome achievement for Jordan and great recognition of the Kingdom’s efforts,” said Andrew Harper, the UNHCR representative in Jordan.
Also welcoming the appointment were France, Canada, Jordan,Israel, and numerous officials of Human Rights Watch. However, some activists raised Jordan’s poor human rights record.
Prince Zeid has earned respect for his work to promote the international criminal court, and for challenging sexual harassment by UN peacekeepers. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Cambridge University, he worked for the UN peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslavia.
______________
Iranian dissident receives UN Watch’s 2014 Human Rights Award, urges world to defend victims of Boko Haram and Iranian regime

Celia Michonik, UN Watch Chair of International Outreach, presented the Morris Abram Human Rights Award to Iranian dissident Marina Nemat. The award was strongly praised by The National Review, and reported in the Tribune de Genève and the Ecumenical News.

UN Watch awarded its prestigious annual human rights prize to Iranian dissident and best-selling author Marina Nemat, who was jailed and tortured as a political prisoner in Tehran when she was only 16 years old.
Click here for video of her remarks.
The prize ceremony took place at UN Watch’s 2014 Annual Gala, held on May 22nd in Geneva. Also honored was Canadian Cabinet Minister Jason Kenney, the keynote speaker, whose remarks appeared in our last issue here.
UN Watch this year chose to honor Marina Nemat to recognize “her brave and outstanding work in bearing witness to the horrific crimes perpetrated against her by a regime that continues to assault, jail, torture, rape and execute human rights defenders, religious, ethnic and sexual minorities, and thousands of other innocent men, women and children,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.
Marina’s clear and compelling testimonies, published in best-selling books and delivered before the United Nations and numerous other global audiences, have helped stir the conscience of mankind to demand fundamental human rights for the voiceless victims of Iran, whose plight has only worsened in inverse proportion to the charm offensive of its rulers.
Nemat received the Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award, named after the civil rights advocate, diplomat and UN delegate who founded the watchdog NGO in 1993.
In recent years, UN Watch has arranged for Nemat to address key human rights fora in Geneva. New York, and Vienna, including testifying before the UN Human Rights Council.
Previous winners of the prestigious prize include Russian dissident and world chess champion Garry Kasparov, Dr. Massouda Jalal, the first woman in Afghanistan to run for president and to serve as Minister for Women’s Affairs, and Esther Mujawayo, an activist for victims of the genocide in Rwanda.

Iranian dissident Marina Nemat, recipient of UN Watch’s 2014 Morris Abram Human Rights Award, Canadian Health Minister Rona Ambrose, Hillel Neuer, Minister Jason Kenney, recipient of UN Watch’s 2014 Moral Courage Award

REMARKS OF MARINA NEMAT TO UN WATCH GALA
Click here for video

Marina Nemat’s appeal to the human rights community
“You have heard what Boko Haram has done to Nigerian teenagers. This happened on April 14th, and it took the media three weeks to cover the story… It amazed me that in the 1980s in Iran, the government of Iran did—on a massive scale—what Boko Haram is doing right now. They took me and my friends out of our mothers’ arms at the ages of 15, 16, 17, even 13, and took us to Evin prison. They tied us to bare beds and beat us to a pulp.”
“They put many of us in front of firing squads. I was forced to marry my interrogator; it was their way of legalizing rape. This happened not only to me, but to nearly 40,000 young women. And I’m here in front of you today, 30 years later, and I beg one thing: Please acknowledge us, please speak out against such atrocity that is taking the lives and dignity of young women not only in Nigeria, but in many countries around the world including Iran.”
“Please stand in the way of the Iranian regime. It is not only the nuclear bomb that is an issue. It is an issue, don’t get me wrong. But, if we are negotiating with Iran, if the United States and other countries are negotiating with Iran, I beg of them to put human rights in the front in center.”
Marina Nemat on her partnership with UN Watch
“UN Watch has become family to me, and I think Hillel know that, and Arielle, she knows that. Thank you. You guys have given me an opportunity that no one else has managed to give: to face my torturers at the UN Human Rights Council…”
“The representatives of Iran—Hillel remembers—they were sitting only meters from us… I glanced at them a few times, and not even for a moment, not even for a moment did they look at me… That is something that will stay with me, and I dedicate this award and I dedicate those moment to my good friend Shinos Bezagi. She died at the age of 15, in October 1981, even before I was arrested. She can rest in peace knowing that I will not let it go… I have pledged to my friends and cellmates who have survived that I will stand for this till the last breath I take.”

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French resident Francois Hollande said Assad’s envoy would be expelled — but in fact Lamia Shakkour stays in Paris as rep to UNESCO human rights committee

Available for Interviews: 20-year-old woman abused by Syrian forces,
about to address today’s UN emergency session (full speech below)

GENEVA, June 1 –  Today’s UN Human Rights Council emergency session on Syria should call for a reversal of the recent election of the Assad regime to a UN human rights committee, a Geneva-based human rights organization will tell the 47-nation body this afternoon on behalf of 55 NGOs and MPs, in a speech to be delivered by 20-year-old student Hadil Kouki, a Syrian torture victim and recent exile. (SEE HER UN SPEECH BELOW)

News reports this week cited French President Hollande announcing the expulsion of Syrian ambassador Lammia Shakkour — but in fact she will stay put as Assad’s representative to the Paris-based UNESCO’s human rights committee.

“That President Bashar al-Assad was recently elected and is allowed to stay on a UN human rights committee while his regime mercilessly murders its own people is immoral, indefensible and an insult to Syria’s victims,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, which heads a campaign of 55 parliamentarians, human rights and religious groups calling for Syria’s expulsion.

“Keeping Syria on a committee charged with protecting human rights undermines the credibility of UNESCO’s mission, and Syria’s membership is a lingering stain upon the reputation of the UN as a whole,” said Neuer.

After UNESCO elected Syria to its human rights committee in November, UN Watch launched a campaign to reverse the decision. UN Watch had received notice from the British Foreign Office that it would seek to cancel Syria’s “abhorrent” membership. The US and Britain then initiated a March debate on Syria at UNESCO, which condemnded the regime, but fell short of removing it from the committee.

UN Watch Testimony to Emergency Session of UN Human Rights Council
on the Massacre in Syria, delivered by Ms. Hadil Kouki, June 1, 2012

Thank you, Madam President.

My name is Hadil Kouki, and I am a 20-year-old exile from Hasake, Syria.

On March 10, 2011, I was arrested by the regime for distributing pro-democracy leaflets at my university in Aleppo. I was thrown in jail for forty days.

In August, and again in October, I was arrested for bringing medical supplies. I was thrown back in prison for another forty days. I was tortured, and abused.

The massacre in El-Houleh was clearly an act of the Assad regime. The village where some 130 people were brutally murdered has been known from the beginning of the revolution as one of the most vibrant centers in the struggle for a free and democratic Syria.

I personally knew some of the people who were murdered. Fatima, only 25 years old, was my friend at Aleppo university, where she was studying history. She and her two infant daughters were found decapitated in their house in El-Houleh. Her son’s body was found with his arms and legs cut off.

Fatima’s husband Mohamed was killed by Assad’s forces two months earlier, when he tried to shield peaceful demonstrators from deadly bullets. This is further proof that the people of El-Houleh were massacred for their opposition to the Assad regime.

Madam President, I ask:

Can the people behind such atrocities really be trusted to carry out the Annan Plan to end violence?

How is it that at least three of the governments which shield Assad, and aid his mass murder, are allowed to sit here on this council of human rights?

Why did the United Nations recently elected Syria to UNESCO’s human rights committee? What kind of signal does this send? When will this council demand that Assad be removed?

Madam President, I wish to thank those friendly governments that have provided vital aid to me and many other victims. But as we speak, my people are being killed. The time to act is now.

Thank you, Madam President.

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GENEVA – North Korea today began chairing the summer plenary of the UN-backed Conference on Disarmament, eliciting a boycott by the Canadian government and a sharp protest by 28 non-governmental organizations. Menawhile, Burma, Iran, Nigeria and Norway offered varying degress of congratulations to the North Korean chair. For more on today’s plenary, click here.

• See below for this week’s joint appeal by 28 human rights NGOs
• Remarks by N. Korean defector Kim Joo-il at UN press conference: Transcript  Audio
• NGO protest in front of CD headquarters in Geneva: Photos  YouTube Video
• Photos of today’s CD plenary chaired by North Korea

“Allowing an international outlaw to oversee international arms control efforts is just plain wrong,” advocacy group U.N. Watch’s director Hillel Neuer said today. “North Korea is a ruthless regime that menaces its neighbors and starves its own people, and should not be granted the propaganda coup of heading a world body dedicated to peace.”

Canada is boycotting the conference until North Korea’s presidency expires in September.

Former North Korean army captain Kim Joo-il, a defector now living in Britain, told a Geneva press conference organized by UN Watch this week that the regime is using its presidency “as propaganda for manipulating its residents,” to “perpetuate idolatry” of dictator Kim Jong-il and the “slavery” of North Koreans.

“Even if the presidency of North Korea of the Conference on Disarmament remains only for one hour — not even a week or a month — it is symbolic. The support of the international community is going to push North Korean residents even more into the hell that they are already living in right now,” he said.

______________________

Joint Statement of NGOs Against North Korea’s
Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament

The undersigned coalition of human rights and non-governmental organizations strongly protest North Korea’s presidency of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), for the reasons described below.  We call on all CD Member States to register their protest, as Canada has already done.  We also call on North Korea to hand over its presidency to a more suitable country.

1. North Korea is a Gross Violator of Disarmament Principles and Flouts UN Security Council Decisions

The North Korean regime has no credibility on disarmament. Few if any countries pose a greater nuclear threat to the world than North Korea. The rogue regime, led by the unstable dictator Kim Jong-il, possesses an estimated dozen nuclear weapons combined with a record of hostile actions and threats to its neighbors and the world at large.  Moreover, as reported by a UN panel last year, North Korea has defied UN sanctions and used front companies to export nuclear and missile technology to the repressive regimes in Iran, Syria and Burma.

Just last week, the IAEA found that North Korea’s nuclear program remains a matter of “serious concern,” noting reports about the construction of a new uranium enrichment facility and a light water reactor.

Even for a short period, the symbolism of an international outlaw heading “the undisputed home of international arms control efforts”—as the CD was recently described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon—is terribly wrong.

We further note:

• On July 15, 2006, ten days after North Korea test launched a series of missiles, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1695 requiring all UN member states to “prevent the transfer of missile and missile-related items, materials, goods and technology to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s missile or weapons of mass destruction programs, as well as procurement of such items and technology from that country.” The resolution further cited North Korea for having “endangered civil aviation and shipping through its failure to provide adequate advance notice.”

• On October 7, 2006, three years after it withdrew from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. In response, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1718, finding North Korea’s actions to constitute “a clear threat to international peace and security,” barring a range of military goods from entering or leaving North Korea, and imposing an asset freeze and travel ban on persons related to the nuclear-weapon program.

• In April 2009, North Korea violated this resolution with another rocket launch. The President of the Security Council issued a statement condemning North Korea, and demanded that it cease conducting further launches.

• In May 2009, North Korea conducted another nuclear test, detonating a bomb comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1874, finding that North Korea’s clear threat to international peace and security “continues to exist,” and sharpening the import-export ban of weapons to North Korea by calling on all states to inspect, seize and dispose of military items and deny fuel or supplies to vessels carrying them.

• Two months ago, U.S. Navy warships intercepted a North Korean vessel carrying missiles to Burma and turned it around.

North Korea has allowed millions of its own people to literally starve to death in order to pursue its illicit nuclear-weapons arsenal. North Korea is currently facing another famine. Yet history shows that aid may not even help. An estimated two million people were killed by famine in the 1990s, while Kim Jong-il and his regime kept foreign aid for themselves.

2. North Korea is a Gross Violator of Human Rights

As one of the world’s worst violators of human rights, North Korea should not be granted the symbolic legitimacy of chairing a world body dedicated to peace.

The United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council have repeatedly condemned North Korea for its massive violations of human rights. Resolution 65/225 (2010), the UNGA’s most recent condemnation of North Korea, found, inter alia, the following gross violations:

• Systematic, widespread and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights;
• Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention;
• The absence of due process and the rule of law,  including fair trial guarantees and an independent judiciary;
• The imposition of the death penalty for political and religious reasons;
• Collective punishments;
• The existence of a large number of prison camps and the extensive use of forced labour;
• All-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, the right to privacy and equal access to information, by such means as the persecution of individuals exercising their freedom of opinion and expression, and their families, and on the right of everyone to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives, of his or her country;
• The violations of economic, social and cultural rights, which have led to severe malnutrition, widespread health problems and other hardship for the population in North Korea, in particular for persons in exposed groups such as women, children and the elderly;
• Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, in particular the trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution or forced marriage and the subjection of women to human smuggling, forced abortions, gender-based discrimination, including in the economic sphere, and gender-based violence; and
• Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, in particular the continued lack of access to basic economic, social and cultural rights for many children.

Hillel Neuer
UN Watch

Tae-Jin Kim
Free the North Korean Gulag

Kim Joo-il
North Korean Residents Society

Yang Jianli, Initiatives for China  – Former prisoner of conscience and survivor of Tiananmen Square massacre

Yang Kuanxing, Yibao – Chinese writer, original signatory to Charter 08, the manifesto calling for political reform in ChinaYang

Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour
International Quranic Center

Jeff King
International Christian Concern, USA

Abdurashid Abdulle Abikar
Center for Youth and Democracy, Somalia

Amina Bouayach
Moroccan Organisation For Human Rights (OMDH)

Atle Sommerfeldt
Norwegian Church Aid

Ulrich Delius
Asia Desk, Society for Threatened Peoples, Germany

Ali Abdullahi Egal (Ali Bashi)
Fanole Human Rights & Development Organization, Kenya & Somalia

Harris Schoenberg
UN Reform Advocates

Dr. Francois Ullmann
Ingenieurs du Monde

Dr. Vanee Meisinger
Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women’s Association of Thailand

Dr S.M. Thadhani
Mulchand & Parpati Thadhani Foundation

Dickson M. David Ntwiga
Solidarity House International, Kenya

1. P. Gautam
   Nepal International Consumers Union

Bhawani Shanker Kusum
Gram Bharati Samiti (GBS), Jaipur, India

Seng Xiong
International Fund for Hmong Development

Ali AlAhmed
The Gulf Institute

Ann Buwalda, Esq.
Jubilee Campaign USA

Gary Bailey
International Federation of Social Workers

Christina Fu
New Hope Foundation

Daniel Feng
Foundation for China in the 21st Century

Gibreil I. M. Hamid, President
Darfur Peace and Development Centre, Switzerland

Emina Burak
Children of the Earth

Dr. Yael Danieli
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies

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