Last month, the Human Rights Foundation hosted its 11th annual Oslo Freedom Forum. Over the course of this three-day conference, nearly 1,000 human rights advocates, artists, students, journalists, technologists, philanthropists, and innovators were united by a common vision of making the world more prosperous, peaceful, and free.
The impact of the Oslo Freedom Forum goes beyond the extraordinary speakers we feature on the mainstage and the diversity and enthusiasm of our participants. What makes this event a truly remarkable experience is the way in which it encourages lasting partnerships and meaningful collaborations. In the coming weeks, we’ll continue to release videos of this year’s speaker talks, audio recordings from the breakout MESH sessions, and footage of artistic performances and other conference content. We encourage you to watch and share these videos, which you can find here. We will also be releasing the audio from the Forum's plenary sessions as podcast episodes, the first of which you can listen to here.
Highlights from the 2019 Oslo Freedom Forum:
This year, more than 100 journalists from around the world came to Norway to cover the Oslo Freedom Forum. The Forum was featured in news outlets from the United States, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Cameroon, Germany, Italy, Venezuela, South Korea, and India, among others. Bloomberg andThe Guardian published interviews with North Korea’s highest-ranking defector, Ambassador Thae Yong-ho, and Forbes featured a podcast and an article highlighting the Oslo Freedom Forum’s commitment to exploring the intersection between technology and human rights. In the weeks following the Forum, Denise Ho published an op-ed in The Washington Post and appeared on CNN to discuss the most recent round of protests in Hong Kong. An episode BBC HARDtalk featured former Oslo Freedom Forum speaker Iyad el-Baghadadi and the Free Speech History podcast aired episodes with Megha Rajagopalan, Yuan Yang and Larry Diamond. The National Review's Jay Nordlinger published a series of in-depth articles about the 2019 Oslo Freedom Forum, including profiles of Ivan Gulunov, Laritza Diversent, Fabiana Rosales, Walid al-Hathloul, and Evan Mawarire. He also conducted podcasts featuring world-renowned historian Timothy Snyderand former UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. And China Uncensored published a collection of special features on Hong Kong, North Korea, and the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square. We encourage you to read some of the extensive international coverage of the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norwegian, Thai, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish media.
During the week of this year's Oslo Freedom Forum, our hashtag was trending around the world and nearly 10 million people engaged with our social media content. Here is a selection of some of our favorite posts:
Attendee Feedback
"I was deeply impressed by the Oslo Freedom Forum, and especially the inclusion of people from all political persuasions, united in their belief in universal human rights if they don’t agree on anything else. - Melissa Chan
"The most intellectually, geographically, culturally diverse event I have ever been to, a huge range of expertise and experience all mixed together...It was really good to get out of the usual micro-bubble and remember the big fight, and what the cost of losing that is” - Molly McKew
"I've never seen such an inspiring collection of human rights defenders in one place” - Andrew Zolli
"It is good to be back at the Oslo Freedom Forum, the Davos for human rights” - Vladimir Kara Murza
"Want to learn from some real innovators? Talk to human-rights activists about how they pursue their missions amid huge constraints. That’s why I love being back at The Oslo Freedom Forum.” - David Rowan
"I don’t think I’ve ever been in a room with so many troublemakers!” - Zeid Ra’ad Hussein
Stay up-to-date with the Oslo Freedom Forum community throughout the year by following us on Facebook,Twitter, and Instagram. And subscribe to the Human Rights Foundation’s mailing list for regular updates on our events, programs, and ways you can join us in defending freedom where it is most at risk.
