The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy is an annual human rights summit sponsored by a coalition of 20 non-governmental organizations.[1] Each year, on the eve of the United Nations Human Rights Council's main annual session, activists from around the world meet to raise international awareness of human rights situations.[2][3][4]
The first summit took place on Sunday, April 19, 2009, prior to the United Nations Durban Review Conference.[5] Speakers included, among others, Iranian activist Nazanin Afshin Jam;[6] Egyptian dissident Saad Eddin Ibrahim;[6] American human rights activist Ellen Bork;[6] Gibreil Hamid of Darfur, Sudan;[6] Soe Aung of Burma;[6] Marlon Zakeyo of Zimbabwe;[6] Cuban opposition activist and former political prisoner José Gabriel Ramón Castillo;[6] and Venezuelan activist Gonzalo Himiob Santome.[6]
The 2010 summit took place on Monday, March 8, 2010.[7] Speakers included, among others, Massouda Jalal, former Afghan Minister of Women's Affairs;[8] exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer;[8] Bob Boorstin, Google's policy director;[9] Caspian Makan, fiancé of slain Iranian icon Neda Agha Soltan;[9] Cuban dissident José Gabriel Ramón Castillo;[9] and Bo Kyi of Burma, a former political prisoner and secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.[9]
The 2011 summit took place on Tuesday, March 15, 2011.[10] Speakers included, among others, Ugandan LGBT rights activist Jacqueline Kasha;[9] Cuban dissident Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia;[9] Guang-il Jung, a North Korean labor camp escapee;[9] Turkmenistani activist Farid Tukhbatullin;[9] North Korean activist Cheong Kwang Il;[11] and Libyan dissident Mohamed Eljahmi.[12]
The 2012 summit took place on Tuesday, March 13, 2012.[13] Speakers included, among others, Chinese dissidents Yang Jianli and Ren Wanding;[14] Cuban activist Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina;[14] Zimbabwean activist Jestina Mukoko;[14] Burmese activist Zoya Phan;[14] former Egyptian political prisoner Maikel Nabil;[14] North Korean defectors Joo-il Kim and Song Ju Kim;[14] Iranian activist Ebrahim Mehtari;[14] and Syrian activist Hadeel Kouki.[14]
The 2013 summit took place on Tuesday, February 19, 2013.[15] Speakers included, among others, Pakistani women's rights activist Mukhtar Mai;[16] Moroccan writer and atheist Kacem El Ghazzali;[17] Tibetan politician Dicki Chhoyang;[18] Syrian politician Randa Kassis;[18] former Cuban political prisoner Régis Iglesias;[18] Iranian dissident Marina Nemat;[19] Pyotr Verzilov, husband of jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova;[19] and Kazakh journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov.[19]
The 2014 summit took place on Tuesday, February 25, 2014.[20] Speakers included, among others, Mauritanian anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid;[21] Tibetan MP Tenzin Dhardon Sharling;[22] Chinese political dissident Yang Jianli;[22] Canadian MP and human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler;[23] North Korean human rights activist Ahn Myong Chul;[24] Naghmeh Abedini, wife of imprisoned Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini;[citation needed] and the aunt of imprisoned Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López.[24]
The summit's Courage Award was given to Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who was the keynote speaker.[24]
The 2015 summit took place on Tuesday, February 24, 2015.[25] Speakers included, among others, Yeonmi Park, a North Korean defector and human rights activist;[26] Lim Il, a North Korean defector and former slave laborer;[26] a Nigerian teenager, identified simply as "Saa", who escaped after being abducted by Boko Haram;[27][28] Hong Kong protest leaders Alex Chow and Lester Shum;[29] Pierre Torres, a French journalist who was held hostage by ISIS for ten months;[30] Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar;[31] Moroccan politician Fouzia Elbayed;[32] and Tibetan politician Dicki Chhoyang.[33]
The summit's Courage Award was given to Raif Badawi, an imprisoned Saudi Arabian writer and activist,[34] and accepted on his behalf by Elham Manea, Professor at the University of Zurich.[35] The Women's Rights Award was given to Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and the founder of My Stealthy Freedom.[1]
The 2016 summit took place on Tuesday, February 23, 2016. Speakers included, among others, Ensaf Haidar, wife of jailed Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi; Anastasia Lin, Miss World Canada 2015 and an advocate for human rights in China; Vian Dakhil, Iraqi politician and ISIS victim's advocate; Svitlana Zalishchuk, a Ukrainian politician and key figure in the Euromaidan movement of 2013; Darya Safai, a Belgian-Iranian women's rights advocate; Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a Turkish human rights advocate; Lee Young-guk, a former bodyguard of Kim Jong-il who defected to South Korea; Polina Nemirovskaia, Russian human rights activist; David Trimble, former First Minister of Northern Ireland; and Chinese dissident Yang Jianli.[36]
The summit's Courage Award was given to jailed Venezuelan opposition leaders Antonio Ledezma and Leopoldo López. Relatives of the two men accepted the award on their behalf.[36] The 2016 Womenn's Rights award went to Vian Dakhil, the only female Yazidi member of Iraqi Parliament, and Jan Ilhan Kizilhan, a German-born psychologist who founded a clinic in Iraq for women victims of the Islamic State.[37]
The 2017 summit took place on Tuesday, February 21, 2017. Speakers included Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch; Irwin Cotler, chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; Jakub Klepal, executive director of Forum 2000; Can Dündar, exiled Turkish journalist; Zhanna Nemtsova, Russian journalist and activist; Anastasia Zotova, Russian activist and wife of Ildar Dadin; Antonietta Ledezma, daughter of imprisoned Venezuelan politician Antonio Ledezma; Chito Gascon, Filipino activist; Taghi Rahmani, Iranian journalist and husband of Narges Mohammadi; Alfred H. Moses, chair of UN Watch; El Sexto, Cuban graffiti artist and activist; Nyima Lhamo, exiled Tibetan activist and niece of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche; Biram Dah Abeid, Mauritanian anti-slavery activist; Astrid Thors, Finnish politician; Mohamed Nasheed, Maldivian activist; Medard Mulangala, DRC opposition leader; James Jones, documentary filmmaker; Kim Kwang-jin, North Korean defector; and Đặng Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese human rights activist.[38]
The 2017 Women's Rights Award was given to "Shirin", a Yazidi woman who escaped sexual slavery in the Islamic State, and author of I Remain a Daughter of the Light (Ich bleibe eine Tocher des Lichts), recently published in Germany.[38][39] The 2017 Courage Award was given to Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives and the country's leading human rights activist.[40]
The 2018 summit took place on Tuesday, February 20, 2018. Speakers included Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch; Luis Almagro, Uruguayan politician and Secretary General of the Organization of American States; Bolivian attorney and Human Rights Foundation associate Javier El-Hage; Turkish novelist Aslı Erdoğan; Cuban psychologist, journalist, and activist Guillermo Fariñas; Zimbabwean pastor and dissident Evan Mawarire; Effy Nguyen, son of Vietnamese activist and political prisoner Nguyen Trung Ton; Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui; Chinese dissident Yang Jianli; Hong Kong bookshop owner Lam Wing-kee; Tibetan monk and activist Golog Jigme; British journalist Jonny Gould; Farida Abbas Khalaf, Yazidi author of The Girl Who Beat ISIS; Ruth Dreifuss, first female president of Switzerland; Congolese human rights activist Julienne Lusenge; María-Alejandra Aristeguieta Álvarez, coordinator of Iniciativa Por Venezuela; Canadian former MP Irwin Cotler; Venezuelan politician and former political prisoner Antonio Ledezma; Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States; Ugandan LGBT rights activist Kasha Jacqueline; Iranian-Canadian activist Maryam Nayeb Yazdi; Iranian journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari; Maryam Malekpour, sister of Iranian political prisoner Saeed Malekpour; Fred and Cindy Warmbier, parents of the late Otto Warmbier, an American student who died after being tortured in North Korea; Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae; Russian dissident Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza; Congolese women's rights advocate Julienne Lusenge and American attorney and diplomat Alfred H. Moses.[41]
The 2018 Courage Award was given to Russian dissident Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza.[42] The 2018 Women's Rights Award was given to Congolese women's rights advocate Julienne Lusenge.[43]
The 2019 summit took place on Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Speakers included Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch; Syrian journalist Abdalaziz Alhamza; American attorney and diplomat Alfred H. Moses; Human Rights Foundation associate Centa Rek; Tibetan filmmaker and activist Dhondup Wangchen; Venezuelan diplomat Diego Arria; Saudi-Canadian activist Ensaf Haidar, wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi; Nicaraguan opposition leader Felix Maradiaga; Moroccan politician Hakima El Haite; American journalist James Kirchick; human rights lawyer Juan Carlos Gutiérrez; exiled Burundian poet and activist Ketty Nivyabandi; Canadian MP Michael Levitt; Vietnamese human rights lawyer Nguyễn Văn Đài; Somali activist Nimco Ali; Kurdish journalist and activist Nurcan Baysal; Swedish journalist and editor Paulina Neuding; Richard Ratcliffe, husband of British-Iranian activist Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe; Vicente de Lima II, brother of jailed Filipino lawyer Leila de Lima; and Chinese dissident Yang Jianli.[44]
The 2019 Courage Award was given to Tibetan filmmaker and activist Dhondup Wangchen, who "exposed life under Chinese rule through a groundbreaking documentary, Leaving Fear Behind."[45][46] The 2019 Women's Right's Award went to Somali activist Nimco Ali for her campaign to end female genital mutilation.[47][48]
Partners include the following organizations:[49]