On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist, was brutally murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul with the direct approval of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). His assassination sparked international outrage as governments, journalists, and businesses tried to reckon with this horrific act. Five years later, the international community has welcomed the crown prince back into the fold despite the lack of justice or accountability for the murder. As a result, MBS has escalated his campaign of repression and become an even bigger threat to human rights in Saudi Arabia and around the world.

Please join The Freedom Initiative, Project on Middle East Democracy, ALQST for Human Rights, Committee to Protect Journalists, Democracy for the Arab World Now, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, and PEN America as we commemorate the life and legacy of Jamal Khashoggi and commit to safeguarding the rights of dissidents.

Pre-Recorded Opening Remarks:

• Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA)
  Chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, & Global Women’s Issues
• Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
  Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relation Committee
• Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT)
  Chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism
• Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA)
  Co-chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
• Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
  Ranking Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee

Speakers:

• Omar Abdulaziz
  Omar Abdulaziz is a Saudi dissident and video blogger based in Montreal, Canada. He was close friends and worked with Jamal Khashoggi on various initiatives after leaving Saudi Arabia in 2017. In 2018, he was targeted by Saudi hackers and his conversations with Khashoggi were intercepted. 
• Karen Attiah
  Karen Attiah is the Global Opinions editor for the Washington Post, where she recruited Jamal Khashoggi as a contributor. She has written extensively about his murder and called for an investigation and accountability. In 2019, she won a George Polk Award for her writing and was named 2019 Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black journalists for her coverage of Khashoggi’s murder.
• Lina al-Hathloul
  Lina al-Hathloul is a Saudi human rights defender and head of monitoring and advocacy at ALQST for Human Rights. She is the sister of Saudi women’s rights defender and former political prisoner Loujain al-Hathloul.

Moderator:

• Akbar Shahid Ahmed
  Akbar Shahid Ahmed is HuffPost’s senior foreign affairs reporter based in Washington, D.C. He has reported from across the Muslim-majority world and has written extensively on the death and aftermath of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. 

Video Remarks:

• Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi

Please join us virtually for the African Human Rights Leaders Summit, an event that aims to bolster civic voices from the region ahead of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

The event will provide an independent platform to raise and integrate the voices and views of African human rights and civil society leaders, as well as members of African civic groups and the diaspora, ahead of the Summit. It will consider ways to prioritize human rights and democratic governance in U.S. partnerships across the continent, and will aim to feed into the implementation of the broader U.S.-Africa strategy.

Welcome & Keynote

9:00 – 9:15 AM

• Nicole Widdersheim
  Deputy Washington Director, Human Rights Watch
• Honorable Graca Machel
  Founder, Graça Machel Trust

Civil Society as a Democracy Safeguard

9:20 – 10:15 AM

Civil society and human rights leaders discuss the vital importance of addressing democratic backsliding, as well as attacks on basic human rights such as freedom of expression, rising detention, torture and violence on journalists and human rights defenders.

Panelists:

• Maya Sahli-Fadel
  Vice Chair, Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced Persons and Migrants in Africa
• Hassan Shire
  Executive Director, Defend Defenders
• Donald Deya
  Chief Executive Officer, Pan African Lawyers Union

Moderator:

• Carine Kaneza Nantulya
  Deputy Director for Africa, Human Rights Watch

Weighing in on the U.S. Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa

10:25 – 11:20 AM

Civil society and human rights leaders discuss the human rights challenges they are facing and how the new US-Africa strategy can proactively support marginalized populations as well as those on the frontlines working to hold their governments accountable.

Panelists:

• Kamissa Camara
  Senior Advisor for Africa at USIP (Sahel); Former Foreign Minister of Mali
• Achaleke Christian Leke
  AU-Africa Youth Ambassador for Peace; Central Africa and Executive Director, Local Youth Corner Cameroon

Moderator:

• Professor Peter Lewis
  Chair of African Studies, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

Human Rights Promotion & Protection: What Works and What is Needed

11:25 AM – 12:20 PM

Human rights defenders will highlight effective tools and tactics in promoting and protecting human rights and how the US government and US civil society can better support them. They will discuss practical examples of collaborations and successful projects.

Panelists:

• Adama Dempster
  Secretary General, Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia; Secretariat for the Establishment of a War Crimes Court in Liberia
• Irene Petras
  Human rights lawyer (Zimbabwe)
• Yasmin Omar
  International human rights lawyer; UN and Regional Advocacy Manager, Committee for Justice; Member, Steering Committee of the U.S. Committee to End Political Repression in Egypt
• Hagir Elsheikh
  Human rights activist (Sudan)

Moderator:

• Kehinde Togun
  Managing Director – Public Engagement, Humanity United