Oslo Freedom Forum

Oslo Freedom Forum
OSLO FREEDOM FORUM
Established	2009
Website	http://www.oslofreedomforum.com/
Conference commissioner	Human rights foundation

Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) is a conference about human rights first held in May 2009 in Oslo, Norway. Founded by the Human Rights Foundation. According to Thor Halvorssen (founder of the Human Rights Foundation), "the Oslo Freedom Forum is an intimate gathering where leaders who are transforming the world present effective solutions and inspiring testimonies that impact human rights and freedom. Speakers share diverse perspectives and expertise, from those individuals with first-hand experiences in the fight for human rights to those offering insight based on academic research and political and non-profit leadership".^[1]

The forum aims to bring together world leaders including former heads of state, winners of the Nobel Peace Prize and prisoners of conscience as well as a selection of authors, together with business, political, media, technology and cultural leaders from both Norway and internationally. According to the Forum website, the Oslo Freedom Forum is supported by Fritt Ord, the City of Oslo, the Thiel Foundation, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Sundt AS, the John Templeton Foundation, the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fredskorpset, Amnesty International Norway, Human Rights House Foundation, and Ny Tid. It is endorsed by several groups including the Nobel Peace Center, the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Author's Union, and the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights.^[2] It also received support from the government of Norway.^[3]

The second OFF took place in April 2010 in Oslo and the third OFF took place in May 2011. Every speech was filmed and is posted at youtube.com/oslofreedomforum. It is supported by Norway's Fritt Ord, Amnesty International, the Nobel Peace Center, the Norwegian Author's Union, University of Oslo, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Thiel Foundation and the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights.^[3] In 2011 Oslo Freedom Forum will take place from May 9 to May 11.

Forum

The OFF is produced by the Human Rights Foundation.^[4] The conference was funded with a grant from the Templeton Foundation,^[5] and also received support from the Norwegian government and the City government of Oslo.^[6] Partners for the 2009 are listed as Civita, Human Rights Action Center, International Society for Human Rights, Laogai Research Foundation, and Reporters Without Borders. In 2010 the Forum's partners include Norway's Freedom of Expression, Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, Amnesty, Civita, The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Human Rights House Foundation.^[3] In 2011 the Forum's partners included Amnesty International, Civita, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, and PLAN Norway.

The Forum's mission is to be the place where human rights defenders and social entrepreneurs from around the world can network and exchange ideas - where extraordinary human rights advocates lacking international support and recognition are given a platform to share their work with a global audience - where those with first-hand experience as survivors of human rights violations are able to share their insights with leaders who are shaping the world through journalism, business, philanthropy, and politics.^[7]

2009 Forum

Thor Halvorssen the conference’s 33-year-old founder explained to the Wall Street Journal in 2009: “We all should want freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom from torture, freedom to travel, due process and freedom to keep what belongs to you.” Unfortunately, he explains, “the human-rights establishment at the United Nations is limited to pretty words because so many member countries kill or imprison or torture their opponents.”^[8] John Fund writing in the Wall Street Journal about "Human Rights Beyond Ideology" said it "was unlike any human-rights conference I've ever attended. As at other such gatherings, racism and gender discrimination were on the minds of plenty of participants. But there was no desire to blame such problems on the U.S. or other Western nations. The emphasis was on promoting basic rights in all nations at all times." The article by Fundamentions that "Even Oslo's leftist newspaper Klassekampen (Class Struggle) overcame its initial skepticism, declaring the forum "an impressive assembly of people."^[8]

2010 Forum

Participants at the 2010 forum included Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer, North Korean dissenter Kang Chol-Hwan, former FARC hostage Clara Rojas, and Sudanese reformer Lubna al-Hussein. World leaders like Poland's Lech Walesa, Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim, and Estonia's Mart Laar presented, as did technology pioneers such as Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Other notable speakers included Russian democracy advocate and chess master Garry Kasparov, Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, abolitionist and explorer Benjamin Skinner, former Cuban political prisoner Armando Valladares, and Chechen lawyer Lidia Yusupova, hailed as the bravest woman in Europe.^[9]

The Economist called the 2010 Forum "a spectacular human-rights festival" and described it as "on its way to becoming a human-rights equivalent of the Davos economic forum." Standpoint magazine says that the Oslo Freedom Forum "provides an intimate space for dissidents and human rights defenders from around the world to meet each other, to talk to internet entrepreneurs, academics, politicians, journalists and to draw inspiration and encouragement."^[10] Elsewhere coverage and mentions of the 2010 Forum can be found at CNN, Al Jazeera, Forbes, The Huffington Post, The Associated Press, The National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason Magazine, Foreign Policy, Front Page Africa, Standpoint Magazine, Aftenposten, Real Clear Politics, Radio Free Europe, TEDFellows, Current TV, Illume, and SBS Dateline.^[11]

2011 Forum

The third OFF took place in May 2011 in Oslo. Supporters included the City of Oslo, Color Line AS, the Thiel Foundation, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fritt Ord, the Nobel Peace Center, Helly Hansen, and Voss Water.^[12]

Speakers at the 2011 conference included Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, Ghanaian economist George Ayittey, former president of Colombia Belisario Betancur, North Korea expert and journalist Barbara Demick, Egyptian analyst Mona Eltahawy, American neuroscientist James Fallon, Chinese dissident Yang Jianli, Harvard political theorist Steven Levitsky, Canadian free speech champion John Ralston Saul, Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Jody Williams, and Bahraini rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja.^[13] Bahraini activist Ali Abdulemam was invited to speak and had confirmed his attendance in the forum, but went missing in Bahrain a month beforehand and was unable to participate.^[14][15] Egyptian internet activist and Tahrir Square protest organizer Wael Ghonim gave his presentation live from Cairo via satellite.^[16]

According to the Economist, the 2011 OFF was “a glittering gathering of veterans of human-rights struggles.”^[17] Peter Thiel (of Facebook, Paypal, and Linkedin) praised the Oslo Freedom Forum “because [its] focus on dissidents engages the intellectual debate as well as the moral cause.”^[18] Sohrab Ahmari, writing in the Weekly Standard, said that “unlike so many other such gatherings, the goal here in Oslo has not been to deploy human rights against free societies. Sure, a few of the speakers have aired grievances – legitimate and otherwise – against the democratic West. But the vast majority of the activists, journalists, and thought leaders I have met focus their efforts where they are needed most: those unhappy corners of the world – like my own native Iran – where birth condemns men and women to living under repressive regimes.”^[19]

The 2011 conference was streamed live in its entirety online and broadcasted live in part on Norway’s TV2. The event and its speakers were featured in a range of global publications including The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, El Pais, The National Review, The Weekly Standard, Verdens Gang, Finansavisen, Aftenposten, El Clarín, Svenska Dagbladet, Die Presse, and O Estado de São Paulo.^[11] All videos are available at www.youtube.com/oslofreedomforum.

Participants

Participants 2009 Among those present at the 2009 conference were: Kjell Magne Bondevik (former Norwegian Prime Minister) Sarah, Duchess of York Vytautas Landsbergis (former Latvian President) Kristin Clemet (former education minister) Mutabar Tadjibayeva (former Uzbeki political prisoner) Aliaksandr Bialiatski (Belarussian democracy activist) Palden Gyatso (former Buddhist prisoner of conscience) Arne L. Lynngård (president of the Rafto Foundation) Park Sang Hak (North Korean democracy activist) Magne Ove Varsi (indigenous rights leader) Vo Van Ai (Vietnamese human rights activist) Sarah Bronfman (Heiress to the Seagram's fortune) Jacqueline Moudeina (head of the Chadian Human Rights Commission) Peder Lunde (Norwegian Olympic medallist) Vladimir Bukovsky (former Soviet dissident) Harry Wu (Chinese dissident) Leyla Zana (former Turkish political prisoner) Victor Hugo Cardenas (former vice-president of Bolivia) Emil Constantinescu (former president of Romania) Jung Chang (author, Wild Swans) Jack Healey (former Executive Director, Amnesty International) L. Craig Johnstone (Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations) Greg Mortenson (co-author, Three Cups of Tea) After the conference, each contribution was published on the internet. Due to illness, Vaclav Havel and Elie Wiesel each participated through a video segment recorded for the Oslo Freedom Forum. Additionally, Ramón José Velásquez, 94-year old former president of Venezuela, participated by video.

Participants 2010 Among those present at the 2010 conference were: Kjell Magne Bondevik (former Norwegian Prime Minister) Kristin Clemet (former NorwegianMinister of Education and Research) John Peder Egenaes (secretary general, Amnesty International Norway) H.E. Manizha Bakhtari (Afghan Ambassador to Norway) Kai Eide (U.N. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Head of UNAMA) Jan Erik Helgesen (president, Venice Commission) Torstein Nybo (co-producer, Burma VJ) Åsne Seierstad (author, The Bookseller of Kabul) Therese Jebsen (executive director, Rafto Foundation) Kate Hughes (Women for Women International) Mark Belinsky (Digital Democracy) Birgitta Ohlsson (Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs) Vladimir Bukovsky (former Soviet political prisoner) Emil Constantinescu (former president of Romania) Mauro de Lorenzo (VP for Freedom and Free Enterprise, John Templeton Foundation) Michael C. Moynihan (senior editor, Reason magazine) Paula Schrifer (director of advocacy, Freedom House, James Traub (contributing writer, The NYT Magazine) Claudia Rosett (columnist, Forbes magazine) Mona Eltahawy (award-winning Egyptian journalist) Diego Arria (former President of the U.N. Security Council) Julian Assange (founder, WikiLeaks) Lubna al-Hussein (Sudanese women's rights advocate) Anwar Ibrahim (Leader of the Opposition, Malaysia) Rebiya Kadeer (President, World Uyghur Congress) Kang Chol-hwan (author, Aquariums of Pyongyang) Garry Kasparov (Russian chess grandmaster and democracy advocate) Mart Laar (former Prime Minister, Estonia) Leopoldo Lopez (opposition leader, Venezuela) Marina Nemat (former political prisoner, Iran) Clara Rojas (Colombian politician, formerly kidnapped by the FARC) Sima Samar (Chairperson of the AIHRC) Benjamin Skinner (author, A Crime So Monstrous) Mukthar Mai (Pakistani women's rights advocate) Peter Thiel (co-founder, PayPal) Samuel Kofi Woods (Minister of Public Works, Liberia) Lidia Yusupova (Chechen lawyer) Armando Valladares (former Cuban political prisoner) Lech Walesa (former Polish president; Nobel Laureate) Jared Genser (President, Freedom Now) Kasha Nabagesera (Ugandan rights activist) Gilbert Tuhabonye (Burundian genocide survivor) Pierre Claver Mbonimpa (Burundian prison reformer) Siegmar Faust (German author) Marcel Granier (Venezuelan journalist) Zuhdi Jasser (President and Founder, American Islamic Forum for Democracy) Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani (Yemeni journalist) Guadalupe Llori (Ecuadorian politician) Sophal Ear (scholar of the Cambodian genocide) Alyaksandr Kazulin (Belarusian opposition leader) Additionally, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, Vietnamese religious leader Thich Quang Do, and Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez all participated via video.

Participants 2011 Among those present at the 2011 conference were: Izzeldin Abuelaish (Palestinian doctor) George Ayittey (Ghanaian economist) Shirin Ebadi (Iranian Nobel Laureate) Jan Egeland (director, Human Rights Watch Europe) Mona Eltahawy (Egyptian-American analyst) Jody Williams (Nobel laureate) John Ralston Saul (President, International PEN) Alejandro Toledo (former president of Peru) Philippa Thomas (BBC anchor) Yang Jianli (Chinese dissident) Wael Ghonim (Egyptian internet activist) Lina Ben Mhenni (Tunisian blogger) Belisario Betancur (former president of Colombia) Emil Constantinescu (former president of Romania) Barbara Demick (author, journalist, and North Korean expert) Ahmed Benchemsi (Moroccan journalist) Violet Banda (Malawian youth radio host) Philippe Douste-Blazy (former foreign minister of France) James Fallon (neuroscientist) Leymah Gbowee (Liberian activist) Ghazi Gheblawi (Libyan writer) Thomas Glave (Jamaican author, professor, activist) Uki Goñi (Argentinian journalist) Justine Hardy (British journalist and mental health expert) L. Craig Johnstone (Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations) Maryam al-Khawaja (Bahraini rights activist) Busi Kheswa (South African LGBT activist) Steven Levitsky (Harvard political scientist) Zhanna Litvina (Belarusian journalist) Vincent Manoharan (Indian Dalit rights advocate) Jacob Mchangama (Danish scholar) Fernão Lara Mesquita (Brazilian journalist) Malahat Nasibova (Azeri journalist) Amir Ahmad Nasr (Sudanese blogger) James O’Neill (Thiel Foundation, Clarium Capital) Zoya Phan (Burmese activist) Grigory Shvedov (Russian journalist) Victoria Villarruel (Argentinian lawyer) Wan Yanhai (Chinese HIV/AIDS activist) Knut Olav Amas (political editor, Norway’s Aftenposten) David Andelman (editor, World Policy Journal) Claes Arvidsson (foreign editor, Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet) Jackson Diehl (deputy editorial page editor, Washington Post) Victor Diusaba (online director, Colombia’s El Semana) Daniel Domscheit-Berg (founder, Openleaks) Michael Fleichhacker (editor, Austria’s Die Presse) John Fund (columnist, Wall Street Journal) Jared Genser (president, Freedom Now; legal counsel for Liu Xiaobo) Erik Hersman (co-founder, Ushahidi software) Hui Siu Fun (producer, Hong Kong’s Pearl and Jade TV) Garry Kasparov (Russian democracy advocate) Jamie Kirchick (writer-at-large, Radio Free Europe) Amber Lyon (CNN correspondent) Marina Nemat (Iranian author and former prisoner of conscience) Birgitta Ohlsson (minister for European affairs, Sweden) Ebele Okobi-Harris (director of business and human rights, Yahoo!) Abdel Nasser Ould Yessa (founder, Mauritania’s SOS Slaves) Jay Nordlinger (senior editor, National Review) Benedict Rogers (author and East Asia team leader, Christian Solidarity Worldwide) Reihan Salam (columnist, Daily Beast) Maria Antonia Sánchez-Vallejo (foreign editor, Spain’s El Pais) Hanne Skartveit (political editor, Norway’s Verdens Gang) Fabian Stang (mayor, City of Oslo) Paul Steiger (chairman, Committee to Protect Journalists) Andrew Stroehlein (communications director, International Crisis Group) Gilbert Tuhabonye (Burundian author, athlete, and genocide survivor) Dana Weiss (anchor, Israel’s Channel 2 News) Akhmed Zakayev (prime minister in exile, Chechnya)

References

1. ^ " Is the website of the oslo freedom forum"
2. ^ "It's the website of the oslo freedom forum"
3. ^ ^{a b c} Berg, Thomas (11 March 2010). "Ytringshelter samles i Norge" (in Norwegian). Ny Tid. http://www.nytid.no/perspektiver/artikler/20100311/samler-heltene/. Retrieved 19 June 2010. 
4. ^ http://www.oslofreedomforum.com/supporters.html
5. ^ http://www.templeton.org/funding_areas/show_profiles.asp?p=12671&b=1%7C70
6. ^ http://ocha.unog.ch/fts/pageloader.aspx?page=search-reporting_display&CQ=cq010210033453SN0YMBSeJJ&orderby=DestinationCountryName&showDetails=1
7. ^ "video about the oslo freedom forum"
8. ^ ^{a b} Fund, John (5 June 2009). "Human Rights Beyond Ideology". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124417342925888153.html. Retrieved 19 June 2010. 
9. ^ http://www.youtube.com/oslofreedomforum
10. ^ "Oslo: Signing OFF on Human Rights JONATHAN FOREMAN"
11. ^ ^{a b} "Oslo Freedom Forum"
12. ^ "Oslo Freedom Forum"
13. ^ "Youtube"
14. ^ "Oslo Freedom Forum"
15. ^ "Huffington Post"
16. ^ "Youtube"
17. ^ "Economist"
18. ^ "The Street
19. ^ "Weekly Standard"

External links

• Official site
• OsloFreedomForum's Channel on YouTube