Lantos Foundation Co-Sponsors Visit Of The Drepung Gomang Monks To New Hampshire
Visit of the Drepung Gomang Monks to Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH.
The Drepung Gomang Monks will visit the Shaker Village in the days leading up to their season's Opening Day on Sunday, May 20th. We hope you will join us for this special program. In light of the immolations recently reported in the headlines, their visit serves as another reminder of the abuses the Tibetan [Autonomous Region of China] people suffer at the hands of the Chinese government.
Katrina Lantos Swett Featured on C-SPAN's Q&A with Brian Lamb
Lantos Foundation President, Katrina Lantos Swett was featured on C-SPAN's Q&A with Brian Lamb.
During this in-depth interview by Brian Lamb, Katrina spoke about the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and her late father, Tom, who co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Human Rights Caucus. She told the story of her parents' experiences during the Holocaust and eventual immigration to the U.S. from Hungary. Other topics included her concerns about Russian leadership pulling the country away from democracy, and her admiration for the Dalai Lama's contributions to human rights.
As always, we appreciate your comments and your support which allow us to continue our work.
Watch the video:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?305009-1/qa-katrina-lantos-swett
Annette Lantos Defends Voice of America Broadcasts to China
Katrina Lantos Swett Appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice is pleased to announce that Katrina Lantos Swett has been appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The appointment was made on Monday, March 26th, 2012 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The USCIRF was created by Congress as part of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and reauthorized by Congress in 2011. The nine Commissioners of this independent, bipartisan advisory body are appointed by the President of the United States and the leadership of both parties in the House and Senate. The Commission’s principalresponsibilities are to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and to make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress.
“As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, I have a profound connection to the issue of religious freedom and a deep understanding of the role that such freedoms can play in our country’s foreign policy decisions. I am deeply honored to be appointed to the USCIRF and look forward to serving alongside my esteemed fellow Commissioners,” Swettsaid.
Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett established the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice in 2008 to carry on the legacy of her late father, Congressman Tom Lantos the cofounder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the only survivor of the Holocaust ever to serve in the US Congress. Dr. Lantos Swett currently serves as the Foundation’sPresident and Chief Executive Officer. She teaches Human Rights and American Foreign Policy at Tufts University. Katrina has also taught at the University of Southern Denmark, served as Director of the Graduate Program in Public Policy at New England College, and worked for then-Senator Joe Biden as Deputy Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee – Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
Swett graduated from Yale University with a degree in Political Science. She received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and later earned a PhD in history at The University of Southern Denmark on the topic of Human Rights and American Foreign Policy.
Katrina Lantos Swett is married to Richard Swett, former U.S. Congressman and U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. They are the proud parents of seven children and two grandchildren. The Swetts reside in Bow, New Hampshire.
Christy Turlington Burns Joins Lantos Foundation For Film Series
"No Woman, No Cry” Tackles Maternal Mortality
(Concord, NH, March 22, 2012) Fashion icon and film maker Christy Turlington Burns will present her film, “No Woman, No Cry “at Concord High School in the Christa McAuliffe Auditorium on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 7pm. “No Woman, No Cry” is a riveting documentary that follows four women in four countries including the United States, as they struggle to avoid adding to the grim maternal mortality statistics. This film has been selected as a feature presentation for The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology’s annual convention this summer.
Turlington Burns’ appearance is part of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice’s ongoing film series focusing on human rights around the world.
"When Hillary Clinton said in Beijing, 'human rights are women's rights - and women's rights are human rights,' she elucidated for all of us the profound link between a decent and hopeful future for women and a productive and prosperous future for society,” said Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation. “In this powerful documentary we are reminded how far we have to go in achieving these goals."
Turlington Burns, who faced her own sense of mortality after the difficult delivery of her daughter, has dedicated her life to improving access to adequate health care for women around the world. She is the founder of Every Mother Counts, an advocacy campaign to increase support for maternal and child health.
“I am very honored that the Lantos Foundation for Humans Rights has selected No Woman, No Cry to be part of their ongoing film series focusing on human rights,” said Christy Turlington Burns, director/producer and founder of Every Mother Counts. “I hope the film will illustrate to the Concord community the challenges so many women around the world face in accessing maternal health care at critical times during their reproductive lives. It is a human rights injustice to allow women to die while bringing life into the world when we know how to prevent most of these senseless deaths. Educating an empowered community like this one can bring about lasting social change.”
Following the presentation Turlington Burns will join in a panel discussion with Dr. Barry D. Smith, former chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and current President of the New England OB/GYN Society and Katrina Lantos Swett.
Following the film and discussion, there will a reception.
Tickets are $20 and available through Red River Theatres or at the door the night of the event at Concord High School.
Coincidence? Russian President Orders Review of Khodorkovsky Case
As you know, we have been active on the issue of rule of law and democracy in Russia for years. We recently released a link to our mini-documentary and an op/ed highlighting the case of Russia's most prominent political prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
We want to make you aware that in the wake of Russia's elections yesterday, The New York Times is reporting that outgoing President Dimitri Medvedev has ordered the prosecutor-general to review the legality of Mr. Khodorkovsky's conviction along with some 30 other cases. We think it is not a coincidence, as Mikhail's release has been one of the key demands of the democracy protesters.
While we do not want to be naively optimistic, we hope this is a sign that the Kremlin is prepared to make meaningful moves in the direction of reform. If so, we welcome it. There can be no doubt that the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky has to be part of any move toward true democracy in Russia.
Can Enlightenment Come to Russia?
The Lantos Foundation is proud to announce the release of a compelling mini-documentary about Russia’s most prominent political prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. We hope you'll take the time to read this email, and share it with your social media contacts.
"The Man Who Believed He Could Change Russia”, is an engaging personal drama, and a powerful narrative about Russia’s retreat from democracy during Putin’s reign. Given recent events, this story is deeply relevant for all those who share Mikhail’s vision of a truly free Russia.
The mockery of justice and rule of law in Russia we have long highlighted in conjunction with the Khodorkovsky case was again on display this past week. Shockingly, Russian Interior Ministry officials announced plans to posthumously prosecute whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in detention under suspicious circumstances over two years ago after he uncovered massive tax fraud on the part of Russian government officials.
This abysmal “legal nihilism” and absence of rule of law is at the heart of what ails Russia. Along with recent blatant electoral fraud, it is one of the reasons that hundreds of thousands of Russians have taken to the streets in opposition to Putin’s regime.
It is our hope that the people of Russia will have the courage and determination to bring about real reform in their country, and we owe them our encouragement and support. May we suggest something simple you can do? Please share this important message with friends and colleagues, by forwarding this email or posting to your social media sites.
If we work together, we can increase pressure on what Alexey Navalny has called the gang of “crooks and thieves” that currently rules the Kremlin. At the very least, we must try to shame them into dropping the outrageous and bizarre trial of the late young hero Magnitsky and grant freedom to Khodorkovsky, a man whose only real crime was daring to challenge Putin’s authority.
Huffington Post Op-Ed - Can Enlightenment Come to Russia?
Paul Rusesabagina Remarks, 2011 Lantos Prize
My dear friends of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, please help me to thank Ms. Katrina Lantos Swett and the entire staff and Board Members of the Lantos Foundation for their conviction to human rights. They have stood up to threats and protests designed to silence our pleas for human rights and freedom in my beloved Rwanda.
My dear friends, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply, deeply humbled to receive the prestigious Lantos Foundation Human Rights Award. I am an ordinary man. I feel incredibly honored to be elevated to the same class as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Professor Elie Wiesel, who have received this award before me. Please help me to thank these 2 distinguished and towering figures who have contributed so much to the advancement of humanity. (Applause) They are now high on the list of my mentors, and I hope they will be kind enough to share with me their precious knowledge and wisdom. As I receive this award, I ask you join me in committing to the idea that never again must mean never again.
In 1994, I watched my country dissolve into chaos and mayhem. I was a hotel manager, not a soldier nor a politician. Still, I listened to the little voice inside me, my conscience, and tried to do everything that I could to stop the violence and to shelter the 1,268 who had come to my hotel for shelter. Some who at first could pay, some who just ran to us for safety, but we all made it through hell. I am proud to say that the Milles Collines Hotel was the only public place in Rwanda where no one died, no one was beaten and everyone who sought shelter made it through the Genocide alive.
Today I tell my story – the story of those who died during the terrible genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Over 400,000 Tutsis. Another 400,000 Hutus. I try to provide a voice to the voiceless. As you may know, a humanitarian can often measure his success by how harshly his work is criticized, and my critics often say that I deny the genocide. Nothing can be further from the truth. I am here as a living testament to that genocide. To those who died. To provide testimony about the horrible people in that Hutu elite government, in the military, and in the militias who caused those deaths. The genocide was a terrible, defining moment in my life and in that of my country. And it must not be forgotten.
17 years after the genocide , we don’t have two armies fighting to the death for power control, nor do we have roving gangs of militiamen killing innocent villagers by the thousands every 10 minutes. We have a country that, on the surface, appears to be peaceful. But it is a country with no space for political dissent or real democratic action. The potential violence is just below the surface. As the human rights abuses spread and media suppression grows, things get more dangerous. I am calling upon the international community to work with me for a truth and reconciliation process to break the historic cycle of violence in Rwanda and replace it with sustainable peace.
But what I have found over the years is that Rwanda has unfortunately not changed so much. The leaders who caused the genocide are now gone, and this is an excellent thing. But Rwanda has new leaders now, and as we say in Kinyarwanda, the dancers have changed, but the music stays the same.
Now I spend my time as a humanitarian. Reminding people that we must never forget. And saddened that we forget all too often.
In addition to talking about 1994, I also cannot stay silent about what is happening in Rwanda today. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press do not exist. Political oppression is the norm. Opposition leaders are arrested and killed. Today in Rwanda, leaders insist that a dictatorship is necessary to safeguard the people. In fact, as with all dictatorship it only serves to safeguard itself.
And the current government – the government that we all believed in 1994 had saved Rwanda from the genocide – is now responsible for unthinkable violence next door in the Congo. Over six million people dead in a war driven by conflict minerals. With so much that the United Nations says that war crimes have been committed by the current Rwandan government. Crimes against humanity. And possibly even a new genocide.
I see my native country, the home of my heart, and I cannot stay silent. I fear that it is now a dormant volcano, waiting to erupt again.
As Katrina knows only too well, raising my voice comes at a price. During the genocide I and my family were often in terrible danger. Now, I am threatened once again on a regular basis.
It seems that authoritarian leaders do not appreciate the work of humanitarians. And sometimes they will go to extreme means to stop it. But the preparation for this award has made me realize though that I am not alone. I want to very much thank Katrina and everyone at the Lantos Foundation not just for this award, but for their support in recent weeks. As the Rwandan government and its advocates tried to silence my voice, they were steadfast in standing up for what was right. In standing up for free speech, and for the prospect of truth, reconciliation and peace in my native Rwanda. They stood up for the power of words to heal our differences. With a few more people like those at the Lantos Foundation, the world will be a much better place.
In closing, I would like to leave you with the words of a great man, Mr. Albert Einstein. He said:
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
I hope you will join me in saying that never again must mean never again. I hope you will join me in doing something when we see evil. In confronting it. I hope you will join me in being ordinary people, who take every opportunity to do the right thing.
I thank you all for listening to my words today. And I thank the Lantos Foundation from the bottom of my heart for this award. Thank you.