Press Release: "Google to address rights summit on Web freedom"
GENEVA, Feb. 25, 2010 - Google is sending one of its senior executives to address a March gathering of political dissidents for internet freedom, according to an announcement today by 25 activist groups organizing the 2nd Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy.
Bob Boorstin, Google’s Washington-based Director of Corporate and Policy Communication, will address the Geneva conference’s March 9th panel on “Internet Freedom, Human Rights and Censorship,” to be moderated by Darius Rochebin, the popular Swiss TV news anchorman.
Boorstin, a former reporter for the New York Times, previously served in Washington as President Clinton’s national security speechwriter and as an advisor to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
Google’s decision to address the conference preceded Wednesday’s Italian court decision concerning Google executives and privacy laws.
Internet freedom will be a central theme of this year’s Geneva Summit, taking place at the city’s International Conference Center on March 8-9, 2010. Former political prisoners Ahmad Batebi of Iran and Yang Jianli of China are leading an effort by the conference’s dissidents to draft a declaration on Internet freedom calling for government transparency, access to infrastructure and freedom from censorship.
Presenters include a Dutch internet activist who helped activists in Iran upload news of the government crackdown, and a social media guru who will teach activists how to bolster their online impact.
The Geneva Summit is organized by a global civil society coalition of 25 human rights groups, including Burmese, Tibetan and Zimbabwean organizations (see list below), with support from the Canton of Geneva. The two-day schedule features more than 20 action-oriented presentations and skills-building workshops, exploring a variety of topics, with the objective of advancing the struggle of dissidents against state repression, internet freedom, and reform of the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council.
Keynote speakers include former political prisoners Rebiya Kadeer, champion of China’s Uighur minority and Nobel Peace Prize nominee; Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, Cuban dissident; Bo Kyi, Burmese dissident, winner of the 2008 Human Rights Watch Award; Donghyuk Shin, survivor of North Korean prison camps; and Phuntsok Nyidron, the Buddhist nun from Tibet who served 15 years in jail for recording songs of freedom.
The Geneva Summit will also feature eminent governmental and intergovernmental advocates for human rights, including Massouda Jalal, the former Afghan Minister of Women Affairs and first female presidential candidate; Italian MP Matteo Mecacci, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Rapporteur for democracy and human rights; and Jan Pronk, the former Special Representative in Sudan of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Last year’s summit, covered by CNN, AP, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal, brought together former political prisoners Saad Eddin Ibrahim of Egypt, Ahmad Batebi of Iran, José Gabriel Ramón Castillo of Cuba and Soe Aung of Burma, along with many other well-known rights activists and scholars. (click for videos.)
Admission to the March 8-9, 2010 conference is free, and the public and media are invited to attend. For accreditation, program and schedule information, please visit http://www.genevasummit.org.
Media Contact
To arrange interviews or for more information, contact: Arielle Herzog, Coordinator
Tel: +41.79.313.5491 (Geneva, Switzerland)
Email: secretariat@genevasummit.org
Global Civil Society Coalition
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma
Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de América Latina (CADAL)
Darfur Peace and Development Center
Directorio Democratico Cubano
Fondation Genereuse Development
Freedom House
Freedom Now
Genocide Watch
Global Zimbabwe Forum
Human Rights Activists in Iran
Human Rights Without Frontiers Int’l
IBUKA
Ingénieurs du monde
Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children
International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY)
International Campaign to End Genocide
International Association of Genocide Scholars
Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme
LiNK
Respekt Institut
Stop Child Executions
Tibetan Women's Association
UN Watch
Zimbabwe Advocacy Office
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