30 July 2008
World Community Renews Call to Free Prisoners of Conscience
Former prisoners of conscience speak out in event at United Nations
Washington -- The United States and 63 other U.N. member states are renewing their commitment to secure the release of prisoners of conscience the world over.
Dozens of countries imprison thousands -- perhaps tens of thousands -- prisoners of conscience, according to U.S. Ambassador Joseph Rees. “The good news is that there are fewer countries now than was the case 60 years ago, but there are still too many,” he said.
Rees is the special representative for social issues (which include human rights) and acting deputy assistant secretary at the State Department’s Bureau for International Organizations. He talked with America.gov about the recently issued U.N. Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience, which calls for a global commitment to release prisoners being detained solely because of the peaceful expression of their beliefs.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 10, 1948, declares that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of thought, conscience and religion. But 60 years later, Rees said, “There are still countries that hold prisoners who have done nothing other than to exercise their God-given and internationally recognized rights.”
There are still countries that use imprisonment as a strategy to deal with opposition to a government or its policies, Rees said. The U.N. Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience issued in June 2008 recognizes, Rees said, that “we ought to promise to make the release of such prisoners a major priority of our bilateral relationships with countries that still do this.”
PUTTING A HUMAN FACE ON THE PROBLEM
To drive home the compelling personal dynamic of prisoners of conscience, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York hosted on July 24 a panel discussion called “Courageous Voices: Speaking Out for Prisoners of Conscience.” Panelists from Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, Syria and Uzbekistan spoke to more than 120 diplomats, journalists and representatives of nongovernmental organizations about their experiences and those of family members as prisoners of conscience.
Responses to the panel discussion varied dramatically, according to Rees. The government of Cuba condemned the remarks of Bertha Antúnez Pernet, calling her brother “a common criminal” and accusing the United States of having encouraged his “crimes.”
On the other end of the spectrum was Pawel Herczynski, Poland’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. Rees said Herczynski, who attended the discussion, praised the event.
“As someone who had lived in a country that had a dictatorship, that kept prisoners of conscience, and that had emerged from that, [Herczynski] told the six witnesses that there was hope for their home countries as well,” Rees said.
The U.S. ambassador said the message of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is that even when citizens and their government disagree, the proper remedy for a government is to put out the facts and answer the questions of the people. “You don’t put them in jail for what they say or what they think,” he said.
To those cynics who question the effectiveness of the U.N. declaration, Rees had this message: “There will always be evil in the world, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to keep fighting it.”
