Video: Human Rights Defenders from North Korea to Uzbekistan, from China to Bolivia

NEW YORK (August 2, 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.

Harry Wu, Chinese Laogai survivor: “Today I'd like to introduce a word. The word is classicide. Do you remember about the Soviet Union’s and China’s so-called communism revolution? [...] I was there. I was classified as a bourgeois class member and many of us were abolished – eliminated.”

Vytautas Landsbergis, former head of state, Lithuania: “Everything is challenged today by widely spread relativism [...] Democracies united by the European Union and certain eastern non-democracies go together announcing the common space of freedom, justice, and human rights [...] Written on paper it looks beautiful [...] Unfortunately, human rights are tested by abuses, not signatures on paper.”

Park Sang-Hak. North Korean defector: “In this country, one can die from uttering one wrong word; people starve to death; one cannot go anywhere without a public pass. In this country, there are modern-day Auschwitz concentration camps; no religion exists [...] millions starve to death while the dictator spends close to a billion dollars for his father’s memorial; there is neither radio nor internet. In this country [...] there is the biggest income gap in the world; and the monthly wage is less than a dollar for most people. This country is North Korea.”

Mutabar Tadjibayeva, Uzbek political prisoner: “So [the Uzbek government] demanded that I admit my guilt. And when I refused to do that, I was tortured, I was tormented. I really, as I said earlier, I just did not believe I would come out of that prison alive. I was certain that they would kill me; they would murder me for fighting for democracy.”

Victor Hugo Cárdenas, former Vice President, Bolivia: “The day he was inaugurated as president, three years ago, Morales promised Bolivia a government respectful of human life. He frequently says that they are part of the culture of life. Nevertheless, in three years, 60 lives have already been lost as the result of his aggressive and repressive politics of political antagonism. Evo Morales has more human lives on his shoulders than any Bolivian military dictatorship.”

Roar Hagen, Norwegian political cartoonist: “I think it is a privilege to be criticized and to criticize—even to insult and be insulted. In the more and more globalized world, [cartoons are] one of the means we have to do that. I think if the editors have the courage and are brave, they can be one of the main contributions to this interaction that we have to be a part of.”

Diego Scharifker, Venezuela student activist: “if you look at my Venezuelan ID, on the bottom, it says VENEZOLANO, Venezuelan. It doesn’t say if I’m Jewish, Catholic, Muslim or Protestant. So I ask myself naively, what does it matter if I am Jewish or if I’m not?”

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