On February 21, 2017, activists will convene to discuss global human rights issues at the 9th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, in Geneva, Switzerland. The event is held in conjunction with the UN Human Rights Council’s annual session, which will meet later that week. Jose Luis Gascon, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will be the first Filipino speaker featured at the Summit since its inception in 2009. Gascon will testify about the decline of human rights in the Philippines due to the country’s recent “war on drugs” initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte. The war has resulted in an estimated 4,800 extrajudicial killings “by police and unidentified gunmen since he took office.” In November 2015, Gascon was an opening speaker at the World Movement for Democracy’s Seoul Assembly, which you can watch here.

Other speakers at the event include: Svitlana Zalishchuk, Ukrainian Parliamentarian and former journalist; Antonietta Ledezma, activist and daughter of the imprisoned Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma; Rosa Maria Paya a Cuban pro-democracy human rights activist and the President of the WMD participant network JuventudLAC, as well several other prominent activists. Zalishchuk is a Steering Committee member of the World Movement for Democracy. Registration for the event is free and available online.