Today, 19 April 2009, Act For Democracy participated in the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy, taking place just a day before the opening of the Durban Review Conference. Amongst the panel of high level speakers were a number of dissidents from countries such as Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Egypt, denouncing human rights violations in their respective countries.
The first session called "Racism, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity: Assessing the Genocide Convention After 60 Years" Genocide Convention held speakers such as Irwin Cotler, Counsel for genocide victims and dissidents, Canadian MP, Ester Murawajo, Tutsi survivor, founder of AVEGA, and Dominique Sopo, President of SOS Racisme in France.
Ester Murawajo gave a particularly compelling testimony about survivors of the Rwanda genocide and urged the international community to act to help these survivors who have been left to themselves since 15 years and who have to live with the guilt of having survived a genocide in which most of their friends and families perished, left in total affective, economic and social poverty.
In the upcoming UN Conference against racism, how is it possible that the core issues of today - namely the tragic Darfour genocide that is being perpetrated under the international community's eyes - is not at the centre of the UN conference as it should be?
The ironic fact is that the so-called Durban review conference, that is supposed to be a conference adressing issues such as racism, is organised and instrumentalised by the racists themselves, namely the autocratic and theocratic regimes such as Lybia and Iran.
What a joke! How can we not laugh (instead of cry) at this gigantic scam?
NR
This afternoon, at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy, the participants not only shared their frustration and struggle with us, but above all raised awareness about the constant human rights' violations in countries such as Lybia, Iran,Sudan, Venezuela, some of which are part of the Human rights conventions of Geneva!
For instance, we heard the emotional testimony of Dr. Ashraf El Hagog, the palestinian doctor in Lybia, who reminded us, how, besides an unfair trial, he and the Bulgarian nurses were tortured in the Libyan prison to obtain explicit confessions. Lybia is part of the Geneva convention. Therefore, the doctor and the nurses have an enforceable right to obtain fair compensation and reparation for having been tortured and wrongfully imprisoned and for discrimination.He also told us how grateful he was that the first person who helped him was a Jew, the ex Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Solomon Passy.
Parvez Sharma, producer of the Documentary "Jihad For Love", told us how homosexuality is condemned by Islamists; how homosexuals are sent to prison without any fair trial; how in Bagdad, human life has ceased to have any importance; how offenses are growing against children.
Mohamed Sifaoui, anti-racism activist, journalist and writer, told us how the Muslim religion is being instrumentalized to serve an ideology and/ or political aim but certainly not to defend its people's rights and free will. He insisted on the Right to criticize.How it belongs to all to denounce any form of hatred against the other because of his differences (real or allegedly); Democracy and its values shall be for all (North, South, Asia, Africa, Middle East....). Any ideological propaganda has to be fought as manipulation under the Islamic law will conduct ineluctably to barbarism.
Tomorrow, Durban II will begin. After today's testimonies, no one can pretend they don't know what to expect in terms of human rights' violation and who are the real violators of these...The violators such as Lybia or Iran won't be able to hide behind a scapegoat such as Israel as they did the first time.
Now, it is time to engage and speak up for Human Rights, it is time to protect our future and follow the path of extraordinary people such as Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rene Cassin, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel...
For instance, we heard the emotional testimony of Dr. Ashraf El Hagog, the palestinian doctor in Lybia, who reminded us, how, besides an unfair trial, he and the Bulgarian nurses were tortured in the Libyan prison to obtain explicit confessions. Lybia is part of the Geneva convention. Therefore, the doctor and the nurses have an enforceable right to obtain fair compensation and reparation for having been tortured and wrongfully imprisoned and for discrimination.He also told us how grateful he was that the first person who helped him was a Jew, the ex Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Solomon Passy.
Parvez Sharma, producer of the Documentary "Jihad For Love", told us how homosexuality is condemned by Islamists; how homosexuals are sent to prison without any fair trial; how in Bagdad, human life has ceased to have any importance; how offenses are growing against children.
Mohamed Sifaoui, anti-racism activist, journalist and writer, told us how the Muslim religion is being instrumentalized to serve an ideology and/ or political aim but certainly not to defend its people's rights and free will. He insisted on the Right to criticize.How it belongs to all to denounce any form of hatred against the other because of his differences (real or allegedly); Democracy and its values shall be for all (North, South, Asia, Africa, Middle East....). Any ideological propaganda has to be fought as manipulation under the Islamic law will conduct ineluctably to barbarism.
Tomorrow, Durban II will begin. After today's testimonies, no one can pretend they don't know what to expect in terms of human rights' violation and who are the real violators of these...The violators such as Lybia or Iran won't be able to hide behind a scapegoat such as Israel as they did the first time.
Now, it is time to engage and speak up for Human Rights, it is time to protect our future and follow the path of extraordinary people such as Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rene Cassin, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel...
IMA
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