Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A801-W511

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A801-W511

Release Date: January 15, 2014

发布日：2014年1月15日

Topic: The 25th Anniversary of the "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought" Event Held in the U.S. Congress (reported by: Radio Free Asia)

标题："萨哈罗夫思想自由奖"25周年活动在美国国会举行（自由亚洲电台报道）

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

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The 25th Anniversary of the "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought" Event Held in the U.S. Congress (reported by: Radio Free Asia)

2014-01-15

On January 14, 2014, the European Parliament Liaison Office with the US Congress and the Thomas Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US Congress jointly held a celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought" event in the U.S. Congress. At the meeting, several laureates of the Sakharov Prize and several US Congressional members spoke about human rights and freedom of thought.

This event was hosted by Mr. Daniel Calingaert, the vice executive-director of Freedom House. The co-sponsors included the Wei Jingsheng Foundation, Freedom House, Reporters Without Boarders, and Cuba Democracy Advocates.

The speakers at the celebration included: Hauwa Ibrahim, a Nigerian laureate; Wei Jingsheng, a Chinese laureate; Rosa Maria Paya, the daughter of a Cuban laureate, Oswaldo José Payá Sardinas, etc.

During the celebration, these Sakharov Prize laureates told of their own special experience in human rights activities and the struggle for freedom of thought. They also discussed support from both Europe and the United States, and how they could work more closely in the future to provide more support to defend individuals and organizations of human rights.

The European Parliament founded the Sakharov Prize in 1988. It was named after the Andrei Sakharov, the well-known dissident, physicist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate of the former Soviet Union. The purpose of this prize is to honor individuals and organizations for their defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Since the establishment of this prize 25 years ago, there have been activists of human rights and freedom of thought from different countries of the world who have been awarded this prize. The famous Chinese dissident, human rights and freedom activist Wei Jingsheng, who was jailed for a total of 18 years by the Chinese government, was awarded the Sakharov Prize in 1996, while he was in prison. Another Chinese dissident, Hu Jia, received this award in 2008.

The senior US representative Chris Smith (R, NJ), who is the chairman of the Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organization Subcommittee of the Foreign Affair Committee of the US House, as well as the co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, spoke at the event. He expressed that the American and European's care and support for human rights is an encouragement to these dissidents and human rights activists, to make them feel the outside world cares about the human rights conditions in their own countries. He used the experience of Wei Jingsheng as an example to show the importance of this care and support by the American government and the US Congress.

Rep. Smith said: "I never forgot what he said -- this is what the U.S. administration should learn, no matter which political party is in power. Wei Jingsheng said that when he was in prison, he could know whether the US government was caring about his situation or not through the ways and attitudes of treating him by the prison officials and other staff. When the US government was not caring or asking about his situation, his treatment in prison began to show significant deterioration; whereas when the U.S. government began to be concerned, his treatment in prison obviously improved."

Wei Jingsheng, the 1996 laureate of the Sakharov Prize, also spoke at the celebration. He said that when Europe and the United States cooperate on human rights issues and give strong support, human rights and freedom activists around the world were encouraged and their undertaking progressed. But when Europe and the USA show little differences, the Chinese Communist authorities would use the opportunity to step up its suppression to dissidents and human rights activists in China. The time when Wei received the Sakharov Prize was a time when Europe and the United States were active cooperating on human rights issues.

Wei Jingsheng said: "I think that at that time, both Europe and the United States cooperated very well on human rights issues. Not only did they make great achievements on these issues, but also in other areas include diplomacy. That gave the Chinese Communist regime a lot of pressure. But after entering this century, human rights around world all went backwards. The Western governments have not been willing to apply pressure to the Chinese government on human rights, while the Chinese government is also actively trying to create differences between Europe and the United States on these issues. Now, some friends in the European Parliament and the U.S. Congress lawmakers are actively promoting cooperation between them. I think this is very important with far-reaching significance."

Mr. Geoffrey Harris, the deputy head of the European Parliament Liaison Office, expressed during the celebration that, as these persecutors are trying to find ways to master the world of political dominance, Europe and the United States must increase their efforts to assist human rights activists.

"Of course, human rights violators in the world today are trying to seize the initiative on the occasion of international politics. We obviously need to double our efforts. Today, in this solemn place in the U.S. Congress, we should remember words from the former Czech President Vaclav Havel. We must not forget those human rights activists. These activists in their lonely struggle often do not know the final outcome of their undertaking."

In 2013, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize to Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban extremists due to her fight for girls' education.

The European Parliament awards this prize on or around December 10, the day on which the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948 and when the International Human Rights Day is celebrated. The Sakharov Prize is considered as one of the most prestigious awards in the field of defending human rights.

The above is a report by reporter Xi Wang of Radio Free Asia.

(Translated by: the Wei Jingsheng Foundation)

Original link of this report:

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/nu-01152014151054.html

Related photo by RFA:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2014/newsletters2014-1/SakharovPrize25inUScongress140115RFAreport.jpg

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A801-W511

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A801-W511

Release Date: January 15, 2014

发布日：2014年1月15日

Topic: The 25th Anniversary of the "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought" Event Held in the U.S. Congress (reported by: Radio Free Asia)

标题："萨哈罗夫思想自由奖"25周年活动在美国国会举行（自由亚洲电台报道）

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2014/report2014-01/SakharovPrize25celebration140115RFAreportA801-W511.htm

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"萨哈罗夫思想自由奖"25周年活动在美国国会举行（自由亚洲电台报道）

2014-01-15

由欧洲议会驻美办事处以及美国国会"兰托斯人权委员会"联合主办的"萨哈罗夫思想自由奖"25周年活动，1月14日在美国国会举行。会上，该奖项几位获得者以及诸位美国议员，就人权和思想自由问题发表了讲话。

活动由"自由之家"副执行主任丹尼尔-凯领尔特（Daniel Calingaert）先生主持。该活动的协办单位有："魏京生基金会"、"自由之家"、"记者无国界"，以及"古巴民主倡导者"。

在庆祝会上演讲的人包括：尼日利亚的获奖者浩瓦-伊布拉音(Hauwa Ibrahim)；中国获奖者魏京生；古巴获奖者奥斯瓦尔多-胡赛-帕雅-萨尔蒂纳斯 (Oswaldo José Payá Sardinas) 的女儿罗莎-玛丽亚-帕雅 (Rosa Maria Payá) 等人。

在庆祝会上，"萨哈罗夫奖"获得者讲述了各自从事人权活动和争取思想自由方面的特殊经历，以及欧洲和美国给予他们的支持、欧美今后如何可以更加密切地合作，从而为捍卫人权事业和个人以及组织提供更多的支持。

"萨哈罗夫思想自由奖"是欧洲议会于1988年设立的。该奖以前苏联著名持不同政见者、物理学家和诺贝尔和平奖得主安德烈-萨哈罗夫命名。该奖项旨在表彰那些为捍卫人权和思想自由而做出贡献的个人和组织。

自"萨哈罗夫思想自由奖"设立后的25年以来，世界不同国家的人权和思想自由活动人士，先后被授予该奖。中国著名持不同政见者、曾被中国政府先后共监禁18年之久的人权和自由活动人士魏京生，于1996 年在狱中时被授予萨哈罗夫自由奖；而中国另一位异议人士胡佳则于2008年获得该奖。

美国国会众议院外交事务委员会非洲、全球健康和人权小组委员会主席、美国国会及行政当局中国委员会主席之一、共和党籍资深众议员克里斯托弗-史密斯在讲话中表示，美国和欧洲对人权和思想自由事业的关怀和支持，对那些持不同政见者和人权活动人士的鼓励作用，使他们感到外界关注他们所在国的人权状况。他以中国著名异议人士和人权活动者魏京生的经历为例表示，美国政府和国会对这些人权和自由活动人士的关注和支持的重要性：

"我从没有忘记他所说的话，而这正是美国行政当局---无论是哪个党当政---都应该吸取的教训。魏京生曾说，他在监狱时，从监狱官员和其他工作人员对待他的方式和态度，就可以得知美国政府是否在关注他的现状。当美国政府官员不关心或过问他的境况时，他在监狱里的待遇就开始出现明显的恶化；而当美国政府开始关注他的情况时，他在监牢里的待遇很明显有所改善。"

1996年萨哈罗夫自由奖获得者魏京生也在庆祝会上讲了话。他表示，欧洲和美国在人权问题上合作并给予大力支持时，世界各国的人权和自由活动人士受到鼓舞，他们的事业得以进步。但两者稍微表现出分歧时，中共当局就利用时机，加紧打压国内异议人士和人权活动人士。而他本人获得萨哈罗夫奖时，正值欧洲和美国在人权问题上积极合作的时期：他说：

"那个时候我觉得，欧洲和美国在人权问题上合作的很好。他们不仅在人权问题上很有成果，而且在外交其他领域里也取得了成就。这给中共造成了很大的压力。但进入本世纪之后，全世界的人权都有所退步，而西方政府不愿再就人权问题向中国政府施加压力。而中国政府也积极在人权问题上试图在欧洲和美国之间制造分歧。现在，欧洲议会的一些朋友们和美国国会的议员们在积极推动欧洲和美国的合作。我觉得这是非常重要的，也是意义非常深远的。"

欧盟议会驻美国国会联络处副主任杰弗里-哈里斯先生，在庆祝萨哈罗夫思想自由奖设立25周年活动上讲话时表示，面对如今迫害人权者想方设法试图掌握全球政治主导权之际，欧洲和美国必须增加他们协助人权活动者的努力：

"当然，在今天世界上的违反人权者正在设法夺取国际政治主动权之际，我们显然需要加倍努力。今天我们在美国国会这样一个庄严的地方，应该记住捷克前总统哈维尔的一句话，我们必须不忘记那些人权活动人士的孤独奋斗。这些活动人士在孤独奋斗的过程中，很多时候，并不知道他们的事业最终能否有成果。"

2013年，欧洲议会将萨哈罗夫自由奖授予了因争取妇女教育权而遭塔利班极端主义分子枪击的、巴基斯坦16岁的维权少女，马拉拉-优素福扎伊(Malala Yousafzai)。

萨哈罗夫奖于每年12月10日颁发，这天正是联合国大会于1948年宣布世界人权宣言正式生效的日子，也是庆祝因此而订立的国际人权日的同一天。萨哈罗夫奖被认为是捍卫人权领域中最具有荣誉的一项奖励。

以上是自由亚洲电台记者希望的采访报道。

报道的原始连接：

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/nu-01152014151054.html