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Also testifying: Wife of jailed Iranian pastor Saeed Abedini & Syrian rights activist Moayad Iskafe

Escaped North Korean Prison Guard to Address Geneva Rights Summit Ahead of UNHRC Debate on Damning Report



GENEVA, Feb. 17 – Today's unprecedented call by UN investigators for North Korea's leaders to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court will receive a boost when one of the regime's most famous defectors -- a former guard at one of the regime's horrific prison camps -- will testify in Geneva next week, ahead of the critical debate by the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council.
Ahn Myeong Chul, now a human rights activist in South Korea, will join famous dissidents from around the world on February 25, 2014, at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, the sixth annual civil society forum held on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council. Born in North Hamgyong Province in North Korea, Ahn was selected at aged 18 to become a guard at a political prison camp. After heavy brain-washing, he worked for eight years in four different camps -- "total control zones" from which no one can leave, and where women, children, and the elderly are used as slave laborers. Ahn escaped and defected to South Korea before being incarcerated as a political prisoner himself. Today he works to dismantle the prison camps and bring justice to all former and current prisoners.

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Naghmeh Abedini Ahn will continue his fight at the 6th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy days before foreign ministers gather across the street to open the annual session of the UN Human Rights Council, which will decide on what action to take on today's report calling for accountability on North Korea. Joining Ahn at next week's Geneva Summit will be Naghmeh Abedini, currently living a nightmare as the wife of imprisoned Iranian-American Christian Pastor, Saeed Abedini, who is serving an 8-year sentence in Iran's brutal Evin prison for "compromising national security"; and Moayad Iskafe, a Syrian reporter and activist who led a network of local journalists to break Assad’s media siege, and fights child marriage and other repressive measures enforced by Islamic militants in Syria. Additional speakers will include Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal activist who was jailed by China for challenging forced abortions, and then made a dramatic escape; Dalia Ziada, leading dissident and women’s rights activist in Egypt; Rakhshinda Perveen, women’s rights activist in Pakistan; Tenzin Dhardon Sharling, the youngest Member of Tibet's Parliament in Exile; and James Kirchick, the U.S. journalist who famously hijacked a Russia Today interview to protest anti-gay laws.  Organized by Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch, together with 20 other human rights NGOs, the assembly will draw attention to some of the world’s most urgent human rights situations with the aim of influencing UNHRC delegates. For journalists, the global conference provides a one-stop opportunity to hear from and interview frontline human rights advocates, many of whom have personally suffered imprisonment and torture. The speakers’ compelling and vivid testimonies will press UNHRC delegates not to allow politics to override the cries of human rights victims.   The annual gatherings have enjoyed widespread coverage by major wire services and newspapers, as well as television and radio news outlets. Videos of past speaker testimonies are available at www.genevasummit.org. Admission to this year’s February 25, 2014 summit is free to the public and media, but registration is mandatory. For registration, program and schedule information, visit www.genevasummit.org.


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UN Watch -- Bio and Archives

UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).


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