OFF 2025 Agenda

Explore the heartbeat of the Oslo Freedom Forum, a roadmap to human solidarity and hope.

May 31 -

June 2

May

Oslo Freedom Forum 2027

May 31

- June 2, 2027

Oslo, Norway

Agenda

Registration & Networking

Theater Session I

Anne Lindboe

Mayor of Oslo

Parit Wacharasindhu

Thai Opposition Politician

Nyrola Elimä

Uyghur journalist

Maria Sarungi Tsehai

Tanzanian human rights activist and journalist

Evgenia Kara-Murza

Project manager at the Free Russia Foundation

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Russian democracy activist

Sir William Browder

Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign

Intermission

Theater Session II

Yulia Navalnaya

Chair of the Human Rights Foundation

FaceSoul

Somali singer-songwriter

Sulaima Ishaq Elkhalifa Sharif

Sudanese activist, Head of the Combating Violence Against Women Unit, Sudanese Ministry of Social Development

Dr. Dan Siegel

MD, Co-founder and Director of Education at Mindsight Institute

Lunch

Office Hours

AI for Activists

Workshop

Financial Freedom 101

Anna Chekhovich

Freedom Tech Education Lead, Human Rights Foundation

Ben Perrin

Bitcoin Educator, BTC Sessions

Workshop

AI for Activists

Debate

Are Sanctions an Effective Policy Tool?

Elizabeth Shackleford

Senior Policy Director, The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College

John Donvan

Moderator-in-Chief, Open to Debate

Dr. Chris Sabatini

Senior research fellow for Latin America, United States and the Americas Programme, Chatham House

Artie McConnell

Partner, BakerHostetler LLP and former US federal prosecutor

Leopoldo López

Co-founder, World Liberty Congress; Venezuelan Opposition Leader

Workshop

Bringing a Case to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD)

Lightning Talks

Ignite Talks: HRF Freedom Fellows

Office Hours

Resilience Lounge

Caroline Welch

Co-founder of the Mindsight Institute

Dr. Vanina Waizmann

Freedom Fellowship Mental Health Mentor; Founder and Director, Living with Totality

Office Hours

OFF Medical Clinic

C. Michael Wright

MD

Tabita A. Wright

MD

Office Hours

Spyware Surveillance Check with The Citizen Lab

Panel

After Dictatorship: Will Syrians Embrace a Free, Democratic, and Prosperous Future?

Fatima Aljijakli

Syrian expert in civil society resilience, institutional reform, and conflict response

Dr. Katya Alkhateeb

Co-director of Syria in Transition project and Senior Researcher at Essex Law School

Amjad Aun

Economist & Researcher, German Research Foundation.

Abdulmueen Alsebai

Book translator and freedom advocate

Dr. Tom G. Palmer

George M. Yeager chair for Advancing Liberty, Atlas Network

Panel

Engaging UN Bodies to Free Prisoners of Conscience

Dr. Ganna Yudkivska

Chair-Rapporteur, United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

Dr. Matthew Gillett

Chair Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC

Human rights lawyer

Sirikan Charoensiri

Executive advisor and co-founder, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)

Roberto González

Chief Advocacy Officer, Human Rights Foundation

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Russian democracy activist

Book Signing

Song Byeok

Song Byeok

North Korean artist and defector

Registration & Networking

Theater Session III

Michelle Gurevich

Canadian singer-songwriter

Enrique Del Risco

Cuban writer and professor

Azza Abo Rebieh

Syrian artist and activist

Kim Yumi

North Korean defector and YouTube content creator

Intermission

Theater Session IV

Pavel Durov

CEO and Founder of Telegram

Michelle Gurevich

Canadian singer-songwriter

Venâncio Mondlane

Mozambican democratic opposition leader

Sasha Skochilenko

Russian artist

Azza Abo Rebieh

Syrian artist and activist

Ani Chkhikvadze

Georgian independent journalist

Lunch

Office Hours

AI for Activists

Workshop

Financial Freedom 101

Anna Chekhovich

Freedom Tech Education Lead, Human Rights Foundation

Ben Perrin

Bitcoin Educator, BTC Sessions

Workshop

AI for Activists

Workshop

Becoming a Democratic Leader

Nikola Ilić

Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Founder, ChangeLab

Panel

Democracy’s Funding Crisis: How Private Philanthropy Can Step In

Damon Wilson

President and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy

Dr. Gregory Wolcott

Director, Individual Freedom & Free Markets, John Templeton Foundation

Pema Doma

Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet

Margaret Hoover

Host of PBS' "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover"

Dr. Álvaro Salas-Castro

President & Chief Executive Officer, The Reynolds Foundation

Book Signing

Lilian Tintori

Lilian Tintori

Co-founder, World Liberty Congress Political Prisoners Support Team

Panel

Sports & Dictators: Gulf Monarchies, Rwanda’s Reputation, and the Global Game

Abdullah Ibhais

Media Strategy Expert and FIFA World Cup Qatar Whistleblower

Miguel Delaney

Chief Football Writer at The Independent, author of “States of Play: How Sportswashing Took Over Football”

Michael Ott

Football activist and lawyer

Anaïse Kanimba

Director and Founder, Africa Bitcoin Institute / Fedi

Karim Zidan

Sports & Dictators Program Lead, Human Rights Foundation

Office Hours

Resilience Lounge

Licia Sky

Co-founder and Global Ambassador of the Trauma Research Foundation.‬

Annette Knopp

Therapist, Meditation Teacher, and Co-Founder of the Blue Spirit Retreat Center in Nosara, Costa Rica

Trudy Goodman, PhD

Clinical Psychologist and Meditation Teacher

Office Hours

OFF Medical Clinic

C. Michael Wright

MD

Tabita A. Wright

MD

Office Hours

Spyware Surveillance Check with The Citizen Lab

Panel

From Hub to Crisis: Hong Kong's Shift

Benedict Rogers

Senior Director at Fortify Rights and co-founder and trustee of Hong Kong Watch

Carmen Lau

Hong Kong Activist and Former Elected District Councillor

Chloe Cheung

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist

Samuel Bickett

Convenor, US Hong Kong Policy Roundtable, and principal attorney

Book Signing

Miguel Delaney

Miguel Delaney

Chief Football Writer at The Independent, author of “States of Play: How Sportswashing Took Over Football”

Fireside

Resilience-Building for Activists and Dissidents

Annette Knopp

Therapist, Meditation Teacher, and Co-Founder of the Blue Spirit Retreat Center in Nosara, Costa Rica

Dr. Dan Siegel

MD, Co-founder and Director of Education at Mindsight Institute

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

Researcher, founder of the Trauma Research Foundation, and New York Times best-selling author of “The Body Keeps the Score”

Registration & Networking

Office Hours

Spyware Surveillance Check with The Citizen Lab

Panel

Dark Waters: Combating Human Rights Abuses at Sea

Daniel Murphy

Investigative researcher, advocate, and journalist

Milko Schvartzman

Marine conservation campaigner

Steven Haines

Professor of Public International Law at the University of Greenwich

Irini Papanicolopulu

British Academy Global professor of international law, SOAS University of London

Panel

The Path Forward in the Middle East: Democracy or Dictatorship?

Hagar Hajjar Chemali

Former NSC Director for Syria and Lebanon and Host of Oh My World!

Ammar Abdulhamid

Parliamentarian and Director of Policy at the World Liberty Congress

Ahmed Alkhatib

Director of Realign For Palestine and resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council

Dr. Ladan Boroumand

Honorary Professor at The University of Parma & Co-founder of Abdorrahman Boroumand Center For Human Rights in Iran

Panel

Venezuela: A Challenge for Democratic Solidarity in Latin America

Juan José Matarí

Spanish Senator and President of the Senate’s Ibero-American Affairs Committee

Ambassador Tomás Pascual Ricke

Human Rights Director at Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ana Corina Sosa

Venezuelan Pro-Democracy Activist; Director, Defense & Security, Celonis

Hector Schamis

Senior advisor to OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, author, columnist, and professor of democracy, Georgetown University

Javier El-Hage

Chief Legal and Policy Officer, Human Rights Foundation

Sessions

AI for Human Rights

Fireside

Disrupting the Authoritarian Playbook: Lessons from Serbian Protests

Nikola Ilić

Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Founder, ChangeLab

Srdja Popovic

Executive Director, Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies

Workshop

Bringing a Case to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD)

Panel

In the Shadows: Gendered Violence Under Authoritarian Rule

Melissa Mahtani

International Journalist, Anchor, and Moderator

Hajer Sharief

Co-Founder of Together We Build It

Rita Kahsay

Researcher and director of Irob Anina civil society

Sulaima Ishaq Elkhalifa Sharif

Sudanese activist, Head of the Combating Violence Against Women Unit, Sudanese Ministry of Social Development

Friba Rezayee

Founder, Women Leaders of Tomorrow

Lunch

Session

Freedom Tech Track

Workshop

Becoming a Democratic Leader

Nikola Ilić

Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Founder, ChangeLab

Panel

China and Russia’s Influence in Africa

Gaëlle Borgia

Pulitzer Prize-winning Malagasy investigative journalist

Philip Obaji

Award-winning Nigerian investigative journalist, Daily Beast correspondent

Beverly Ochieng

Senior analyst, control risks and senior associate, Center for Strategic & International Studies Africa Program

Dr. Emeka Umejei

Nigerian researcher and author of “Chinese Media in Africa: Perception, Performance and Paradox”

Podcast

Dictators and Dirty Money Live Podcast: Examining the Case of Bashar al-Assad

Erica Hanichak

Deputy Director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition

Alan Haji

Team Lead for the Case-Building Project at the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre

Casey Michel

Director, Combating Kleptocracy Program, Human Rights Foundation

Workshop

Sneak Peek: HRF’s Tyranny Tracker Index

Kristen Anna

Senior Legal and Research Consultant, Human Rights Foundation

Malaak Jamal

Director of Policy And Research, Human Rights Foundation

Gorazd Ordanoski

Research Fellow, Human Rights Foundation

Javier El-Hage

Chief Legal and Policy Officer, Human Rights Foundation

Workshop

Bearing Witness and Finding Peace: A Workshop on Community Trauma and Healing

Jack Saul

Psychologist and Director of the International Trauma Studies Program in New York

Dr. Jack Kornfield

Meditation Teacher, Psychologist, and Leading Voice in the Integration of Mindfulness and Western Psychology

Fireside Chat

Jailed for Revealing Qatar’s FIFA’s World Cup Lies: A fireside chat with Abdullah Ibhais

Abdullah Ibhais

Media Strategy Expert and FIFA World Cup Qatar Whistleblower

Karim Zidan

Sports & Dictators Program Lead, Human Rights Foundation

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