Video: Human Rights Heroes from Tibet, Russia, Cuba, and the United States

NEW YORK (June 26, 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.

Palden Gyatso, Tibetan dissident: “The only reason I could get out of prison after thirty-three years was not because the Chinese government released me. The reason why I could get out of prison was because many NGOs and human rights organizations had been working on my behalf since 1983. Thanks to the work of these human rights organizations, I was released in 1992.”

Vladimir Bukovsky, former Soviet dissident: “In China, in Cuba, in North Korea, and in Vietnam people are still living the very same nightmare in which we lived, expecting every moment to be dragged to their version of gulag or praying for their friends and relatives who are already there. For other nations which have just emerged from their totalitarian past this past is still the present because they still live in the shadow of it.”

L. Craig Johnstone, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees: “I would say that mine is the most depressing of jobs. On the other hand, mine is the most rewarding and the most fulfilling. If you look at the vocabulary of my job, it is slaughter, starvation, mutilation, malnutrition, rape, brutality, persecution. This defines the group of people that end up being in my charges, or the charges of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.”

Armando Valladares, Cuban dissident: “Man is nature's marvelous being. To destroy him, to torture him for his ideas must be more than a violation of human rights, but a crime against all of humanity.”

Jack Healey , human rights activist and pioneer: “Recently I think in the last number of years we have lost some momentum in the human rights movement movement— I do believe that, and we have to get that momentum back.”

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