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