Reflection on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy seventeen years later
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest”. – Elie Wiesel
Freedom and human rights have been declining for 20 years. Ninety one autocracies outnumber the 88 democracies in the world after 25 years of an autocratization wave.
Universal human rights are in a deepening crisis in 2026. The post-World War II architecture is under sustained attack, enforcement is uneven and weakening, yet the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) remains an enduring aspirational standard.
This grim reality brings human rights defenders from Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Cuba, Hong Kong, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe to the Geneva Summit this year.
In these societies, fundamental rights face systematic assault.
Yet these are not the darkest times.
The UDHR emerged in 1948 from the Holocaust’s horrors—the failure of nation states to protect their own citizens. The failure of the Westphalia system.
It was not the great powers but Latin American nations, including Cuba, that led the push to challenge the failed system.
In February 1945, at the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle, Cuban diplomat Dr. Gustavo Gutiérrez y Sanchez presented detailed drafts: a “Declaration of the International Rights and Duties of the Individual” and a “Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Nations.” These, from his book La Carta Magna de la Comunidad de Naciones, influenced Canadian diplomat John Humphries and the UDHR.
Gutiérrez, born in Camajuaní, Cuba, in 1895 and dying in Miami exile in 1959, helped shape Cuba’s 1940 Constitution. Over the course of his life he was a diplomat, jurist, and scholar—now often the “forgotten man.”
Mary Ann Glendon, in 2008, highlighted Latin America’s role, spotlighting charismatic Cuban delegate Guy Pérez Cisneros, whose advocacy bridged ideals and reality. His son Pablo recounted the stark contrast between that democratic Cuba and today’s repressive regime.
Since 2009, the Geneva Summit has given Cuban democrats a platform to bypass censorship and challenge the dictatorship’s narrative at the UN. Seventeen have spoken; here are some key voices:
- Regis Iglesias Ramírez: Varela Project organizer and Christian Liberation Movement spokesperson, imprisoned over seven years in the 2003 Black Spring crackdown for nonviolent reform advocacy. He addressed the Summit in 2013 after his 2010 release.
- Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina: Founder of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, repeated prisoner of conscience enduring hunger strikes for rights and university reform. Exiled after 2011 release, he spoke in 2012.
- Manuel Cuesta Morúa: Social democratic dissident, founder of Arco Progresista and leader of #Otro18 for pluralistic elections and racial integration.
- Rosa María Payá: Founder of Cuba Decide, pushing a binding plebiscite for democracy; global advocate for investigation of her father Oswaldo Payá’s 2012 murder. She first spoke in 2013 and now serves on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
- José Gabriel Ramón Castillo: Founder of the Independent Institute of Culture and Democracy, Varela Project promoter; sentenced to 20 years in Black Spring, exiled to Spain in 2008. He addressed the Summit in 2009 and 2010; he passed in 2018.
The UDHR and UN Human Rights Council arose from nation-state failures; UNWatch, and the Geneva Summit arose due to UN shortcomings. It is fitting that Cuban democrats helped birth the UDHR and continue today through the Geneva Summit advancing universal rights through nonviolent resistance—honoring their legacy while confronting today’s challenges to human rights and freedom.
The live broadcast of the 18th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy will begin at 4:00am Eastern Standard Time. Exiled Cuban dissident Yunior Garcia will be speaking at 9:20am.
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