Recapitulation of the 2014 Norad Conference
Welcome speech by Director General, Villa Kulild
The 2014 Norad Conference was about Democracy and human rights.
- View the recordings from the conference in the article, or visit our YouTube channel
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Børge Brende
- We believe that good governance should be a standalone goal among the post-2015 SDGs. We will promote this in the course of this spring. We want every country to deliver on good governance, minister Børge Brende said in his speech.
- Read full adress by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Børge Brende
Helen Clark, leader, The UN Development Programme (UNDP)
- Our new Strategic Plan emphasises the need for democratic governance to promote voice, the rule of law, and accountability, and to build institutional capacities to deliver basic services to all and empower people to claim their rights -Helen Clark.
- Read her adress here: Democratic Governance, Human Rights, and Development
Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2014
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, Helen Clark, leader of the UN development programme (UNDP), Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende and UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Flavia Pansieri, sat on the panel, in a discussion about the global challenges for human rights.
Flavia Pansieri, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
- For us at the UN office for human rights, I think 2014 has been one of the most difficult years. We have experienced crisis after crisis. We have experienced gross violations in a large number of countries, said Flavia Pansieri, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
Molly Melcing, Leader of Tostan
Molly Melching started her adress with taking us to Senegal, to a village, that represent many thousands of villages that her organisation Tostan have been involved in. Tostan has been active in eight African countries, over the last 25 years, to combat gender mutilation.
Jan Teorell, Professor in Political Science at Lund University Principal Investigator in Varieties of Democracy
Jan Teorell is a Professor in Political Science at Lund University and Principal Investigator i Varieties of Democracy (v-dem), who are creating a new and more profound method to measure and analyze democracy. This was the theme of his adress at the 2014 Norad Conference in 2014.
Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International
- Having traveled extensively over the last year, to some of the most troubled spots in the world;there is no question that the world is facing far too many human rights challenges for us to be complacent, said Shalil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
Frank Mugisha, leader of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)
Frank Mugisha is the leader of the organisation «Sexual Minorities Uganda» (SMUG). He won, in 2011 the Rafto Prize, for his work to fight for elimination of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. In the 2014 Norad Conference, he adressed the rights of LBTI persons, and the ongoing legislative processes in his home country, proposing to restrict the rights of homosexuals.
Attiya Waris, Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi
Attiya Waris is a Senior Lecturer at the Law faculty in the University of Nairobi. She holds a PhD in tax law form the University of Lancaster, and is studying the importance of tax, for human rights and democratization. In her adress at the 2014 Norad Conference, she spoke of the links between tax and human rights violations.
Panel Discussion: From normative frameworks to realities on the ground
A panel discussion with Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International, Molly Melching, leader of Tostan, Frank Mugisha, leader of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and Attiya Waris, Senior Lecturer at the Universitety of Nairobi.
Also present at the conference was former UN special Envoy to South-Sudan, Hilde Frafjord Johnson. In an interview she stated that her experience in Sør-Sudanwas that «human rights are seen as western weapons». The interview was in Norwegian.