2009: Geneva Summit for Democracy, Tolerance and Human Rights

In April 2009, international organizations' leaders will meet at the UN Durban Review Conference (DRC).
In parallel to this encounter, civil society organizations are organizing several conferences. They will be presented in separates posts. Here is the information on one of them: Geneva Summit for Democracy, Tolerance and Human Rights.

[information from the official website of the summit]

Invited Speakers include:

• Vaclav Havel
• The Dalai Lama
• Elie Wiesel
• Bo Kyi, Burmese dissident, winner of 2008 Human Rights Defender Award of Human Rights Watch
• Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister and President of the Faith Foundation
• Koffi Annan, former United Nations General Secretary
• Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Egyptian dissident
• Yoani Sanchez, Cuban blogger
• Natan Sharansky, former Soviet dissident
• Mia Farrow, film star and Darfur activist
• MP Irwin Cotler, counsel for the oppressed & former Canadian Justice Minister
• Raphael Glucksmann, Etudes Sans Frontieres, Activist for Chechnya
• Dissidents and human rights activists from many other countries of concern.

Themes will include:

• 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
• racism and genocide;
• democracy and authoritarianism;
• women’s rights;
• the state of freedom in the world;
• the universality of human rights and its opponents;
• terrorism and human rights;

Because of pressures for the DRC Outcome Document to add provisions on “defamation of religion,” discussion on the protection of freedom of speech will also be timely.