Dalai Lama to join Forum attendees

The Dalai Lama will spearhead an international group that will address the global conference "Peace, Democracy and Human Rights in Asia." The Sept. 10-11 conference at the Prague Crossroads is organized by Forum 2000.

The Forum idea was born in 1997 when former President Václav Havel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel and philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa invited world leaders to Prague to discuss the challenges humanity was facing on the threshold of a new millennium.

"Of course, I do not think that one or more Forums will change the world," Havel said.

"However, it seems to me that it is our duty to do everything we can to articulate all the impending threats to our present-day civilization."

Organizers say Prague, with its rich cultural history, provides an ideal backdrop for discussions on the topics facing world leaders.

"It is a major international event," said Oldřich Černý, director of Forum 2000. "It may seem strange to some people that we are holding a conference on Asia in Prague, but the simple fact is this type of conference would not be able to be held in most Asian countries."

The conference's participants will focus on the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with an emphasis on freedom of thought, conscience and religion. They will also discuss the protection of cultural rights of religious and ethnic minorities, including language, spiritual traditions and customs. One of the major concerns of the conference will be education, as this is one of the most strongly contested issues in the field of minority rights.

 Environmental rights and their link with human rights protection will also be on the agenda.

"We expect about 400 people to attend," Černý said. "One of the keynote speakers will be the Dalai Lama, who has long been a friend of Havel's and first visited Prague in 1990."

The conference will be divided into two parts. The first will be opened to interested public and media, and the second will be a closed working session of Nobel Peace Prize laureates and their assistants.

Former South African President F.W. de Klerk will also address the conference. In 1993, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela for his role in the ending of apartheid. Irene Khan, general secretary of Amnesty International, was scheduled to attend but had to pull out from the event at the last moment.

"This is one of the year's major conferences on Asia," Forum spokesman Filip Šebek said. "There are many changes taking place on the continent across a wide spectrum: economically, politically and environmentally. How Asia tackles the challenges and opportunities it faces will be of huge significance not just for Asia but for the entire world."

The opening ceremony takes place at the Prague mayor's residence at 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 10. The conference proper starts at 9 a.m. the day after at Prague Crossroads, with welcoming remarks from Václav Havel.

In addition to the Dalai Lama and de Klerk, invitees include foreign policy specialist and former U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, Iranian dissident and intellectual Ramin Jahanbegloo, Burma Campaign UK International Coordinator Zoya Phan, Freedom Now Executive Director Maran Turner, former Burmese student activist and Women's League of Burma founding member Khin Ohmar, European Commission Deputy Director-General for External Relations Karel Kovanda, Czech MP Petr Bratský, civil and human rights activist and Vietnamese dissident Doan Viet Hoat, former Reporters Without Borders Secretary General Robert Menard.

Tom Clifford can be reached at
tclifford@praguepost.com