Poster depicting several of the human rights activists speaking at the Summit (Credit: Geneva Summit for Human Rights & Democracy)1
“Unite Against Tyranny, Rise For Freedom” – Geneva Summit for Human Rights & Democracy
Freedom is “hope”. It is “peace”, “humanity”, and a “moral obligation”. It is “what makes us a person”. It is a “universal human yearning” which will “always prevail”, but in order to reach it, we must work “together”.2
On Wednesday, the 18th of February, Geneva hosted human rights activists from Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Iran, China, Afghanistan, Syria, Hong Kong, Belarus, North Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, Sudan, Russia, Cuba, and Uganda, who described their experiences with the lack of freedom and repression, they felt within their own countries.
This summit was organised by the UN Watch and highlighted the often unseen truth of many livelihoods. From bounties placed on the heads of 19-year-olds to assassination attempts, imprisonment and physical violence, these individuals have been through so much to simply have their voices, and those of their country, heard. Freedom and liberty of speech are often taken for granted, and it is is only by hearing the experiences of others, that we can truly see how those basic human rights are not met for so many. Therefore, if you have the chance to raise your voice, and fight for what you believe in, take it and use it, since until it is taken away from you, you never truly understand how important it is.
Whilst I could offer you a summary of this event, as if it were an essay in an English class, or a text on a paper, it would do it no justice. What was described aren’t just stories, they are people’s lives. Nothing I could write could recount anything that was said more powerfully, therefore I am offering you the words that were truly said at this summit, so that you can be there as much as I was:
(Speeches linked by clicking on the speakers name)
“Imagine living with one of your relatives in prison. Every morning, you wake up and check the news, hoping not to see your loved one’s name in a list of the dead. This is the daily life of Belarusian families.”
“I remember one woman who told me how she stood in a detention center corridor and heard men screaming while police laughed. She said the sound will never leave her. This is not politics. This is cruelty.”
“Silence gives permission.”
“Do not trade principles for convenience”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya – Belarus
“It’s bewildering to hear people talk about sovereignty of a dictator and not defending the sovereignty of the people that voted”
“For years we have been fighting for an idea that for some, is theoretical, for us is vital. We have been fighting for freedom. And we understand what freedom is not from theory, not from poetry, not from music. We learn what freedom is. I myself did when I was in a solitary confinement cell for four years and condemned to confinement for seven years and I understood that freedom is not one thing. Freedom is the sum of many things. Freedom is the possibility to do what I’m doing today that I cannot do in my country: to speak.”
“Democracy requires one undisputed foundation: A free and fair general election.”
Leopoldo López – Venezuela
“This is what repression looks like in Zimbabwe today. In the past, it was violence on the streets, abductions, and forced disappearances. Now it is violence committed using the legal system, I call it,“lawfare.” As a journalist of 25 years, I have reported on Zimbabwe’s democratic regression into a sophisticated authoritarian state. It was not always like this.”
“The state charged me and denied bail three times – in total violation of our constitution.”
“The world can pretend that Zimbabwe is democratizing. But that is a lie. The worst is yet to come.”
Blessed Mhlanga – Zimbabwe
“Stand with freedom fighters — not with their perpetrators. Stand with the families of the 40,000 killed. Stand with the political prisoners who are about to be executed. Stand with the Iranian people to end our terrorist regime.”
“Stop cutting your hair – cut ties with our killers”
“Courage is not shown by the one who speaks loudest, but by the one who no longer stays silent.”
“Courage is not a natural state. It is not something you wake up with. It is added afterwards – once fear has finished writing the script and placed the final full stop.”
“I have not seen my father in seven years. He was not there to walk me down the aisle. I stand before you today, 5 months pregnant, pleading for his release — knowing the grim reality that many prisoners of the Chinese government never see their families again.”
“Zion Church became a target because its leadership refused the government’s demands to install 23 facial recognition cameras inside its sanctuary. Yet even repression cannot extinguish faith.”
“Our work and prayers are not in vain.”.
Grace Jin Drexel – China
“The sound echoes through the streets. Thousands of voices rising together. Then suddenly, a sharp bang. Then another. The sky fills with smoke. Tear gas. Your eyes burn. Your throat closes. You taste chemicals in the air. Your chest tightens. Instinct takes over. Run. Everyone’s running, but no one knows where to run. You hear coughing. Screaming. Someone shouts for water. Someone falls. A young girl is crying, her hands shaking as she tries to pull on a mask. Rubber bullets crack through the air. The sound is sharp, unnatural, terrifying. This is not a theatre performance. This was my home. This was Hong Kong in 2019”
“Overnight, protest became a crime. Speech became a crime. Thought became a crime. I had a choice to make. Stay silent. Stay and risk going to prison. Or leave. I chose exile. At least outside of Hong Kong I would still have a voice.”
“Today, nearly a thousand political prisoners remain behind bars in Hong Kong. The Chinese Communist Party wants you to forget them. They want you to issue another bland statement, shake a hand, sign a trade deal, and move on. In just five years China has destroyed Hong Kong.“
Chloe Cheung – Hong Kong
“International law is supposed to protect people like us. It should not be a shield for regimes to attack their own people. Diplomacy and international law are not useless, but their rules have not been effective in confronting criminal authoritarian regimes.”
“Today, I am forced into exile like many others. So I understand something very clearly: you are never truly free until your country is free. The threats against you are permanent, but you keep fighting for those who cannot do it.”
“No one is left behind.”
Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli – Venezuela
“Imagine the place you love. Your hometown, your childhood street, the place where your memories live. Now imagine waking up to learn that half the people you know are gone.That is what has happened in El Fasher.”
“Tonight, I am not speaking as a professional. I am speaking as a Sudanese person who has watched his country bleed, who has seen entire communities disappear, and who refuses to let silence become another weapon.“
“Let us be the generation that refuses to look away. Let us be the people who chose courage over comfort. Let us be the reason Sudan knows it has not been forgotten.”
Mutasim Ali – Sudan
“Although I have found freedom now, the weight of my freedom feels heavy on my shoulders.”
“My homeland is a place where civilians’ right to life and famine is trampled on, and even the notion of freedom is forbidden. It is a place where only the dictator’s power is worshipped like god while all freedom including speech, mobility and access to information are oppressed. Where civilians’ hard work and sacrifice flows into the ruling class’s luxury and indulgence, and missile tests are prioritised over the people’s hunger. This is the reality of North Korea.”
Kim Yumi – North Korea
If you would like to watch or read any of the speeches from the summit, follow the link below:
Bibliography:
1Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, ” 18th Geneva summit for human rights and democracy”, https://genevasummit.org/, 11th March 2026
2Citations from Opening Video of the summit: Geneva Summit for Human Rights & Democracy, “Opening video”, https://genevasummit.org/?playlist=3b60028&video=2104268, 11th March 2026