ADHRRF – On February 20, 2018, the 10th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, sponsored by a coalition of 25 human rights NGOs, was held at the International Conference Center of Geneva (CICG). Persecuted people from different dictatorships shared their experiences and introduced human rights situations in dictatorships, hoping to seek human rights assistance.
Mr. Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of United Nations Watch, gave the welcome address for the Summit. He noted in his speech that the state of human rights in China is concerning. Afterward, the Chinese delegation expounded the actual truth that there’s only dictatorship and oppression but no human rights in China from the aspects of the CCP’s persecution of dissidents and human rights defenders, undermining of Hong Kong’s autonomy, dictatorship in Hong Kong, persecution of religion and so on.
Lam Wing-kee, a bookseller from Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, shared the experience that he, with four colleagues, was illegally abducted across borders and compelled to confess guilt by the Chinese authorities in 2015. He stressed that the CCP demanded the subscription list of Chinese readers from him, which breaches its constitutional law that guarantees the freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the freedom to read, for its people. He also said that this incident showed the CCP government has violated the policy of “one country, two systems” and increased its oppression of Hong Kongers.
Human rights heroes, activists and former political prisoners from Vietnam, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Venezuela and other countries also testified to their personal struggles for human rights, democracy and freedom. Among them, Antonio Ledezma, representative of Venezuela, told his story as a victim of dictatorship in Venezuela and the miserable experiences of the nationals under the autocracy. He called on the United Nations, the European Union and other organizations to focus on the situation in Venezuela and said, “Those who don’t do anything when the murder is committed are also guilty.”
After the session, a Christian, who has fled to Switzerland because of the CCP’s persecution, described the situation about the persecution of Christians in China in an interview. She said that, in China, the CCP is still violating human rights in a brutal and bloody way, battering and torturing the arrested Christians. With the CCP’s persecution of religious faith escalating constantly, many Christians have been driven from their homes, and some have even been forced to flee overseas for asylum. She hoped that more people will understand and pay attention to the current state of religion in China.
It is reported that the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy aims to provide a platform of expression for human rights activists from different countries, especially for the former prisoners of conscience, their family members, and human rights defenders in dictatorships, so that they can speak out what can not be heard in the United Nations Human Rights Council.
