Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
July 23, 2008
Courageous Voices: Speaking Out for Prisoners of ConscienceOn July 24, U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Ambassador T. Vance McMahan will moderate a panel discussion at the United Nations in New York to underscore commitments made in the Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience.
The Declaration, issued in June, was sponsored by the United States and 63 other UN member states, and called for a global commitment to work for the freedom of prisoners of conscience and to make the release of these prisoners a key international priority.
The Declaration further noted that 60 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, there are still many examples around the world of individuals imprisoned for exercising their rights to the fundamental freedoms of expression and opinion, peaceful assembly, religion, and conscience.
The panel discussion will feature input from former prisoners of conscience and family members of current prisoners from Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, Syria, and Uzbekistan.
To read the full Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience, please visit: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/376/57/PDF/N0837657.pdf?OpenElement
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