Video: Human Rights Voices from Turkey, Chad, Sweden, Chechnya, and the United States

NEW YORK (July 7, 2009)— The Oslo Freedom Forum brought together some of the world’s leading minds to honor heroic survivors of political oppression and persecution this May 18-20 in Norway. The conference showcased the testimonies and noble purpose of these men and women who risked their lives for freedom.

Leyla Zana, Kurdish rights activist: “But I did not pity myself for my pain and suffering. I condemned all alternatives other than enduring, persisting, and struggling. What remained were only my inexhaustible hopes, my love of human kind, my resistance to cruelty, my patience against pain, and my belief in freedom.”

Jacqueline Moudeina, Chadian civil rights defender: “I organized a peaceful rally and mobilized women of all kinds to denounce the presidential elections of May 2001, which were stolen [...] It was in front of the French Embassy that a grenade was thrown at me by a law-enforcement officers and accomplices of Hissene Habré [...] I live with a permanent handicap because grenade fragments remain in my body. My doctor tells me I’ll have to integrate pain into my life from now on.”

Hans Rosling, Swedish statistician: “My view is that independent of whether human rights drives economic growth or health improvement, it has a value of its own. And so does the right for cultural expression and the freedom of speech. I think too often we argue for human rights as a means to achieving something else. To me, even if I am a statistics geek, human rights has a value of its own.”

Akhmed Zakaev, Chechen leader in exile: “In the past 15 years there have been 250,000 civilian deaths in Chechnya—40,000 of them children—and 20,000 missing persons. Over 300,000 have been forced to leave Chechnya, saving themselves and their children from certain death and looking for asylum in other countries. Behind these dry statistics, ladies and gentlemen, is immense heartache and profound suffering of individual people.”

Marc Wachtenheim, Director, Cuban Development Initiative: “In [...] Cuba, scores of young people are detained simply for wearing a white bracelet like this one that is emblazoned with the word cambio or ‘change’ on it – a word that a few months ago led one presidential candidate to the White House in the United States, in Cuba can land you in jail.”

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone violence. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Armando Valladares, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Alex Gladstein, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org