Litvinenko, Timchenko, Nemtsova, Tsepkalo: COURAGE!

Tessa Szyszkowitz in conversation with Marina Litvinenko,
Galina Timchenko, Zhanna Nemtsova & Veronica
Tsepkalo


COURAGE! How to fight for human rights
in Russia


On the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights on
December 10, 2023, Russian women human rights activists demand
pluralism, freedom of expression and the release of the political
prisoners in Russian prisons: Article 3 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights UDHR, proclaimed at the Palais de
Chaillot in Paris on December 10, 1948, states: „Everyone has the
right to life, liberty and security of person.“ December 10, 2023
marks the 75th anniversary of one of the world’s most
ground-breaking international commitments. Based on the UDHR, a
range of more specific international human rights treaties have
been adopted, to which also Russia is a party.” In 1993, the
Vienna World Conference on Human Rights set important initiatives
to turn the promises of the UDHR into concrete action.
The importance of the UDHR is highlighted by the human rights
situation in Russia and Belarus. Critics of the Russian president
and the Russian war against Ukraine are imprisoned under inhumane
conditions, forced into exile, persecuted, arrested,
incarcerated, poisoned, or killed. Among the most important
critics are imprisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny,
journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza and Belarusian opposition
politician Maria Kalesnikawa. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya and
whistleblower Alexander Litvinenko were murdered in 2006.


Marina Litvinenko, widow of murdered Kremlin
critic Alexander Litvinenko, is fighting for political murders to
be recognized as such and for those who commissioned them to be
held responsible. She lives in London.


Galina Timchenko, is the co-founder, CEO, and
publisher of exiled Russian media Meduza in Riga.


Zhanna Nemtsova, daughter of the murdered
politician Boris Nemtsov, is founder of the Boris Nemtsov
Foundation „For Freedom“.


Veronica Tsepkalo, Chairwoman of the Belarus
Women’s Foundation


Chaired by Tessa Szyszkowitz, Austrian
journalist and author. She writes for Austrian and German
publications such as Falter & Tagesspiegel, she is also a
Distinguished Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute in
London.


 


In Kooperation mit dem Bundesministerium für
Europäische und Internationale Angelegenheiten