The Panel began with a brief introduction by Pavol Demes of himself and the panel members. Each participant was then given approximately 15 minutes to describe themselves and the situation in their respected countries.

Vera Stremkovskaya

Vera Stremkovskaya is a lawyer, president of the Civil Rights Committee since 1999, artist, poet and has had several books published.

Stremkovskaya began by describing her home country of Belarus as a harsh dictatorship. She described the political history of her country since the fall of the USSR in 1991. In 1994 a constitution was formed, which was abolished when the present leader Luskeshenkev became elected to the presidency. The government system changed into a dictatorship with Luskeshenkev at the helm. Ever since his reign, prominent political figures were starting to disappear. Some were found dead and others are still are still missing and there has been no formal investigation to their whereabouts.

Stremkovskaya then goes into the present state of Belarus. She mentions that right before she left for the conference, the KGB- whom she says are even more militant and ruthless than they were under the USSR- have been arresting more opposition leaders. There is no independent media in Belarus, in fact there is only one channel that shows only propaganda. Journalists were arrested for writing against the government. There is also no freedom of religion, which adds to the suppressive atmosphere of the country.

There are also instances of Stremkovskaya’s life in danger in her own country. She has been harshly fined and prosecuted for her questioning of an investigation when she was defending a very popular opposition member, when she simply asked where her client’s cognac bottles were when he was searched.

Stremkovskaya concluded by reiterating the horrors of her country and what can be done to help. She describes the continuous torture of the citizens, including children as young as 14. She appealed to the international community for continued moral support for human rights and democracy in Belarus. More publicity is needed for the cause of bringing democracy into Belarus through the Internet or any other means necessary to getting the word out.

Christine Loh

Christine Loh is a lawyer based in Hong Kong, who was formerly in the business world as part of a strategic management team. She is the founder of a non-profit think tank that is the first of its kind in China.

Christine Loh poses a quandary of China and Hong Kong’s state by looking at the paradoxical system of an open business and economic environment in a closed government system. Loh, herself, cannot answer the question and even posed the question to some of her Chinese colleagues attending the conference earlier. She had come to the conclusion that China is in a grey area when it came to civic exchange. She mentions how people visiting Hong Kong think that it is a democracy because of the thriving economy, strong rule of law and high levels of education. In a way this has led to a non-chalant attitude of participating in government activism. There have been some explorations into the connection of people and politics by parent/teacher meetings. Unfortunately, there were few participants in this matter.

Loh attests that much of Hong Kong’s lack of desire for democracy is in the attitude of the people. The people of Hong Kong are more concerned with economics than anything else. She attests this by comparing the status of lawyers, which is prominent, to the very prominent status of economists. In essence, it is money that replaces political ideals.

The needs of Hong Kong’s civil society are still at a basic level, as they are being advised on fundamental matters such as the organization of meetings, dialogues, conflict resolution and eliminating assumptions. Opportunities are also needed to enhance personal and group skills to connect with others and with the rest of the world.

Ro Ding

Ro Ding is originally from Burma, but is residing in India as a political exile for promoting democracy in Burma. His father remains a political prisoner in Burma as a former member of the opposition party before the military regime.

Ro Ding started his talk with the history of his country, where in 1988 an election was promised, but did not happen. Burma imprisoned 2000 prisons, but have released approximately 1800 in order to receive concessions from international sources.

Much of what is needed in Burma is a form of national unity. An international support lobby, including a tripartite dialogue is urgently needed.

Vo Van Ai

Vo Van Ai is part of a foundation that advocates Democracy in Vietnam that originated in Paris in 1976. He is a Buddhist and has written 17 books.

Vo Van Ai told a story of a man who was arrested and imprisoned for 9 years. The man was in prison for the dissemination of information on advocating democracy in Vietnam. He included simple rights that were included in an eight point transition plan. This is an example of how closed of a society Vietnam is. There is only a 1.2% of the population that has Internet access. Vo Van Ai tells of 40,000 different laws and regulations in Vietnam, for the control of citizens in the one leader state.

The atrocities of the Vietnamese government were made aware when the UN condemned the government and described the regime, as one that is totally the opposite of a democratic government.

The presenter presented some proposals, starting with the release of political prisoners. The Vietnamese government, has so far denied that they have held anybody captive for political reasons. Vo Van Ai, calls for the help of the UNHCR and states that Vietnam needs specific mechanisms for democracy.

Oswaldo Paya

Oswaldo Paya is the man who started the Valera Project in Cuba. His story was told through videotape during the lunch hour. He is the man responsible for bringing a glimmer of hope for democracy into the world’s oldest Stalinist country- Cuba.

His contribution to the panel was a video message. The video was taped in Santiago in a place called Copper Sanctuary. He explains the area as one where there was a previous struggle for democracy. Paya speaks beside a statue of Valera, whom he has named his movement after.

Paya reiterates his stance on non-violence and liberation for the Cuban people. “We do not hate, we are not afraid” is the motto that his group goes by. Paya describes the persecution his people continue to face and the struggle of his cause. He is a prisoner in his own country, just like the rest of his countrymen. Paya invites us all to Cuba to see for ourselves, the state of Cuba.

Question and Answer Session

Q: How do we overcome the isolation of the closed society? What is the role of foreign governments, study tours, diaspora, and International Organizations?

To what degree do contacts outside help people under duress? Does having the Western contacts provide any protection?

A: Vera: I have invited foreign experts for conferences to Belarus and I have showed them the country, the court systems, government institutions, schools and others. But of course I was not allowed to show the prisons.

And yes, of course there is protection for me because of the support from Western governments. This is why I have stated that more publicity is important.

I have been awarded many Human Rights awards and even have been to the White House to meet Hilary Clinton.

Vo Van Ai: The control of the police is very hard. There are three methods of spreading information: 1) 2) Internet, email, but it is sometimes difficult because of firewalls. 3) To provide information to journalists when they visit.

Christine Loh: I cannot really relate to the others on this panel because in Hong Kong, people can come in and out. The information flow, however, is limited, but does flow through economics. Economics is used as the platform to talk about the government. It is the back door of political dialogues.

Ro Ding: It is difficult to enter and leave Burma. Only UN and Human Rights activists seem to be able to enter and leave the country. All the telephone lines are tapped and monitored. The only way friends can enter is by disguising as tourists. Burma does receive Radio Free Asia and others from Norway and the US.

Q: Role of the International Community and also the absence of a regional organization in Asia?

A: Vera: No OSE , members were kicked out.

Loh: What kind of regional organizations are you speaking of and what would it do?

Is it a body of states or just for dialogue, or what?

Vo Van Ai: If the Forum of Asian Democracy, Burma, Laos, China, Vietnam, the communist nations can get together, so should democratic groups.

Ro Ding: Burma is between the two most populated countries in the world, India and China. There is a pull from both sides, China thinks Burma is a good market and the Burmese government wants to emulate their economic system under their socialist government. India has not let go of Burma as a Chinese state and has friendly relations with the military government.

Vera: There is no support to establish a human resources mission in Belarus.

Q: No OSE in Asia is recommended, but there is no cooperation between countries of Asia?

A: Loh: This question is asked constantly. There are several reasons why this doesn’t happen: cannot raise the money, there are other free societies that care more, Asians don’t really care much about others. They know more about the west than others in Asia because of the media.

Vo Van Ai: Things are more economics oriented and not human resources.

Q: Networks exist in Asia, but for specific reasons? How does the process start in closed societies like Asia?

A: Loh: I don’t know if there is something there that can help, but most that can are in the West. There is no help mostly because of ignorance. We think that and that the US are aggressive when it comes to this, just like they are adamant about China.

Today’s Forum ended with Vera singing “We Shall Overcome,” while the participants joined in.

Day 2

This session will see more presentations of those that were not able to be discussed the day before. After the presentations, the participants will break into two groups to discuss recommendations.

Sihem Bensedrine:

Benesdrine begins with a brief history of Tunisia and the situation that presents itself today. Tunisian leader Ben Ali’s party took power in 1987 as a pseudo-democracy. It appeared as a democracy with institutions such as high levels of education, the emancipation of women, dynamic, independent NGO’s, and relative freedom of the press.

Today after 14 years, Tunisia looks like a prison. All basic human rights are violated, fundamental liberties are banned, media and civil association are controlled and people are constantly under the threat of police terror. The freedom of expression is illegal and is guaranteed to bring persecution and harassment.

The Tunisian regime does not present itself as a dictatorship. They use the excuse of fighting against religious extremism and terrorism and are promoting democracy and human rights. In order to keep the façade up, they have created false NGO’s and false free newspapers. There are actually 8,000 civil associations listed in Tunisia. The actual free newspapers are online, but the Internet is controlled by the police and they have recently arrested and detained a dissident webmaster for 9 years.

In 1998, the CNLT was created without the authorization of the government. The slogan is “We have to practice our rights and not wait for the government to license.” The group faces harassment and persecution everyday and many of the members were arrested and deprived of their basic human rights. This group can be described as acting in civil insubordination without weapons.

The terror has somewhat declined, but new and different forms of violations appear. Without regional and international support, there would be no fight in the future. Our weapons are these networks. The key is the promotion of civil society and the support of civil society networks in the world.

Christine Lee : Citizen Alliance of NK

The speaker describes the state of North Korea in terms of it being a closed society which violates human rights. North Korea is a totalitarian state and is known for their horrendous human rights violations. There are also a large number of people defecting from the country. The defectors also do not have much support in their new countries. This is one of the agenda’s of Christine’s group, which was founded to support defectors to adjust to the new environment.

The US state department wrote a report on North Korea and has found cases of extra-judicial killings and a large number of political prisoners. The prisons are like death camps. On a rating of freedom of press levels in countries, North Korea was rated 139 out of 139. There is no freedom of press and there is no outside broadcasts streaming into the country. For example, CNN is only available in one hotel that is catered to foreigners.

There is a restriction of movement for North Koreans, but there are many defectors. Most of the defectors are not political refugees, but are refuges because of deprivation. Deprivation of food and human rights are among the top list of reasons why the refugees flee. Those that do defect also face many difficulties because of being brainwashed for so many years. Supporting these defectors is a good start to aiding the cause.

Appealing to Human Right’s bodies is very important to keep the pressure on the North Korean regime. International Law is there to create norms that clearly states human rights violations as against the law. North Korea has signed the covenant to follow International Law. Pressure, however, must be given in order for compliance and they need to be reminded that this pressure can be applied.

Cuba

6 basic recommendations based on the experience for Cuba.

1. To foster the independence movement inside.
2. International support is needed and the reports of Cuban conditions need to be broadcast globally. The use of the three democracies, social democracy, etc. is needed.
3. The wireless opening. With cellular and computer technology there is no closed society. The cost of telephones and computers are too expensive. We have three web pages which receive lots of hits.
4. Creative use of the media. Word of mouth is the most effective, but must be developed. Radio from Miami is the only way to receive information.
5. Coalition building. Must coordinate with others. Chile was successful because of the coalition.
6. To have a flagship. This is to ensure that people can rally around a cause.

Orlando Gutierrez from Cuba

Democracy Resistance Movement in Cuba

The democratic movement in Cuba has gone through several stages with the first in 1980, where the goal was to make people aware of the human rights violations in Cuba. The Pope’s visit in 1998 made a big impression, where he stated that the people, “had to defeat their own fear.” This stage saw the ideals of democracy spread through from small organizations.

The presenter then described the Valero project that was presented to the whole audience at the luncheon on the previous day by video. He stressed how the movement was peaceful and that it used cracks in the Cuban society and legislative to meet its goals. The goal is not to oust Castro, but to change the culture to one that follows basic democratic rights.

He concluded by saying that Cuba has hope as long as there is international support and solidarity. Everybody, however, must help each other.

Chairman of the Human Rights Committee in Uzbekistan

The presenter from Uzbekistan described the situation in his country and his organization, which was formed in 1992, but was not registered with the government. So far 7 of the members were jailed, 6 of them arrested within the last five months. Uzbekistan was formerly under the Soviet Union. When the country was liberated, the former communist leaders took charge with their iron fists. They are using the excuse of terrorism to arrest political activists and those with different views.

There are approximately 30,000 jailed for political opinions and the government continues to practice torture to oppress the people. The Uzbekistan government was under criticism by the UN in Geneva on May 3^rd, but despite this, there continues to be hundreds of prisoners coming back in coffins.

Many of the organizations that opposed the government were formed since the 1990’s, but the government has been able to suppress these groups. Fortunately, the human rights organization has not been suppressed. There are no other alternatives but for Uzbekistan to turn into a democracy. The fact that many International organizations have set up offices in the country has been very encouraging. The dictatorship will not last, but the process must be quickened. Group sessions discussed the following issues:

1. How to overcome the isolation of civil societies in closed societies
2. What are the roles of exchange and educational programs.
3. Role of the diaspora.
4. Role of foreign governments, NGO’s in closed societies.
5. Role of International and regional organizations.

Recommendations

1. The International Community & Foreign governments should demand that closed societies respect human rights; and they should not allow strategic considerations, even the fight against terrorism, to weaken its advocacy and defense of democratic freedoms.
2. The International Community and foreign governments should pressure autocratic regimes to enter into dialogue with their respective oppositions.
3. International and Multilateral organizations should maintain universal democratic standards of membership, and those states that do not meet these standards should be denied membership in these international institutions.
4. Multilateral, international and donor governments should not provide foreign assistance to anti-democratic regimes. Such assistance should be given to NGO’s. NGO’s should be able to verify that such assistance, including humanitarian roles, reaches the people in need.