COMUNICADO DE PRENSA DEL OSLO FREEDOM FORUM

2011 Oslo Freedom Forum Opens in Norway; Live Coverage of Third Annual Summit Brings Nobel Laureates, Innovators, and Human Rights Defenders to a Global Stage

Oslo, Norway (May 9, 2011)—The 2011 Oslo Freedom Forum commences today in Norway, gathering an assembly of Nobel Laureates, world leaders, rights defenders, tech entrepreneurs, public intellectuals, and survivors of oppression, to bring global humanitarian issues to the world’s stage. The event has been described by The Economist as "a spectacular human rights festival…on its way to becoming the human-rights equivalent of the Davos economic forum."

"We created the Oslo Freedom Forum to establish a platform where human rights activists lacking international support and recognition could share ideas on a global scale with world leaders and others capable of affecting change," says Thor Halvorssen, founder of the Oslo Freedom Forum.

This morning the forum will be launched with a press conference with speakers, featuring Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi; Burmese rights activist Zoya Phan; Ghanaian economist George Ayittey; Palestinian doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish; Nobel Laureate Jody Williams; South African LGBTI rights activist Busi Kheswa; Bahraini activist Maryam al-Khawaja; and Canadian free speech champion John Ralston Saul. Also leading the discussion will be secretary-general of Amnesty International Norway John Peder Egænes.

Later this evening, Shirin Ebadi and Mayor of Oslo Fabian Stang will speak at the opening reception of the forum at Oslo City Hall. The audience will include hundreds of international guests from the realms of advocacy, business, academia, politics, media, and technology.

This year’s forum will tap into the transformative power of social media to extend the reach of the event and its power to affect change. The 2011 conference will be live-streaming at www.OsloFreedomForum.com, and video segments of all panel discussions and individual speaker presentations will be immediately archived and available on the website following the event. Online viewers are encouraged to interact with panelists during discussion sessions by emailing questions to questions@oslofreedomforum.com or by following the forum on Twitter at @OsloFreedomFrm and using the hashtag #OFF2011.

The Oslo Freedom Forum is a program of the Human Rights Foundation, a New-York based nonprofit organization committed to defending human rights globally, with a special focus on the Americas. The forum is made possible in part by the City of Oslo, Color Line, Fritt Ord, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, and the Thiel Foundation, in partnership with Amnesty International Norway, Civita, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, and PLAN Norway. For more information on the forum and for a full list of participating speakers, please visit www.OsloFreedomForum.com.

General Contact: info@oslofreedomforum.com
Global media liaison: Martha Pulido, +1 212 377 3581, martha.pulido@evins.com
Nordic media liaison: Erlend Fuglum, +47 40 21 51 98, ef@firsthouse.no