From 6th until the 10th April 2010, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) held its 37 Congress and internal bureau in Yerevan, Armenia. The Congress, which takes place every 3 years, brought together human rights activists from the 155 member organizations of the FIDH.
The delegates from member organizations elected the new International Bureau and decided to welcome in their network 9 new organizations that will strengthen FIDH’s action at a national and regional level. The International Campaign for Tibet which had requested its affiliation and was supported by Human Rights in China, the affiliated member of FIDH for China, became a new correspondent member on 9 April. FIDH is now composed of 164 members worldwide (www.fidh.org).
EU Policy Director Vincent Metten, who represented ICT at the Congress said: “ICT had already a very close relation with FIDH, in particular at UN and EU levels. We wanted this cooperation to be formalized and to go one step further. ICT is honored to have been accepted as a new member as it will allow increased synergies with FIDH’s International Secretariat as well as with other FIDH members in Asia”.
The topic of this year’s Congress was “Justice: new challenges” and brought together all FIDH members as well as key actors and renowned national and international partners: in particular Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Françoise Tulkens, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, as well as representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, European Commission, and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Opening ceremonies speeches are available at: FIDH, FIDH 37th Congress – 37ème Congrès de la FIDH – Opening Ceremony – Ouverture – Yerevan, Armenia – Erevan, Arménie.