“This year, five notorious dictatorships are running for reelection at the world’s top human rights body. By gaining these highly coveted seats, which they have consistently used to exercise a heckler’s veto, they seek to shield themselves from any significant exposure of their horrendous human rights records,” said HRF Chief Legal Officer Javier El-Hage. “Democratic nations should oppose the candidacy of these authoritarian states, and elect members that respect rather than trample the rights of their citizens.”
Human rights experts and renowned dissidents will evaluate this year's candidate countries at the press conference. Confirmed speakers include Saudi human rights activist and wife of Raif Badawi Ensaf Haidar; Chinese dissident and Tiananmen Square survivor Dr. Yang Jianli; Cuba Archive Truth and Memory Project executive director María Werlau; and Hillel Neuer and Javier El-Hage from UN Watch and HRF, who will jointly present a report evaluating the countries that have submitted candidacies for the upcoming election to the UNHRC.
After the press conference, the speakers will participate in a panel discussion at New York University (NYU) in an event organized jointly with the Human Rights and International Law League (THRILL) at NYU Center for Global Affairs, in Manhattan. During the panel, students will be able to ask questions to the aforementioned experts and human rights activists and gain a deeper understanding of the harsh realities in many of these countries, including racism, women’s rights, the role of the media, cracking down on dissent, and censorship.
Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies.
Read HRF and UN Watch’s joint report on this year’s candidates for the UNHRC here.
Contact: Noemi Gonzalo-Bilbao, (212) 246-8486, noemi@humanrightsfdn.wpengine.com.