CALD Executive Director Participates in Human Rights Day Event in Washington

On 10 December 2023, the United Nations celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).  This landmark document enshrines the inalienable rights for everyone regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

As part of the year-long initiative to celebrate the passage of the UDHR, the Global Democracy Coalition, in cooperation with Alliance for Vietnam Democracy and Counterpart International, organized a hybrid event entitled, “Human Rights Defenders Unite: Challenges, Experiences and Opportunities” on 11 December 2023 in Washington DC, USA.

The event aimed to achieve the following objectives: 1) to provide a platform for human rights activists and defenders to share their experiences, challenges, and successes within their respective regions; 2) to explore the common challenges faced by human rights defenders globally and discuss potential solutions; 3) to discuss the potential backlash experienced by individuals and organizations involved in human rights work; and 4) to explore support mechanisms for human rights activists and organizations. 

In line with this objectives, three panels were organized focusing on global perspectives, inter-regional perspectives and a deep dive perspective on Asia.  CALD Executive Director Lito Arlegue was invited to speak at the Asia panel, and was asked to share his thoughts on how to promote a sustainable and resilient civic space for human rights defenders in Asia.

“We all want an open and pluralistic civic space that guarantees fundamental freedoms”, said Arlegue at the opening of his intervention. “However, to realize this, we need to recognize contextual, organizational and strategic realities that human rights activists in Asia have to contend with.”  He expounded by pointing out that regionally, democracy (and by extension, human rights) is not that strong in Asia to begin with, and this has been made worse by the aggressive promotion of China of its “whole-process people’s democracy”.  He also drew attention to the fact that many human rights defenders need to improve their capacities to advance their advocacies, as well as being multi-pronged in approach and being strategically open to collaboration with unlikely allies.

Apart from attending the human rights event, Arlegue also took the opportunity to meet with CALD partners in the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI).