A warm welcome!

Our annual conference has the motto

War in Europe – How do we protect human rights?

Exactly one year ago, we commemorated our 50th anniversary here with an encouraging speech by our former German President Joachim Gauck.

In the meantime, we are already 51 years old and the topics have by and large remained the same:

• Russia’s war of annihilation against Ukraine
• The threat of other neighboring states by Russia
• The so-called God-state of Iran, which knows no mercy
• The threatening hunger for power of China

to name but a few.

This year also marks an anniversary:

75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

As a human rights organization, we must ask the question:

Has respect for human rights improved since 1948?

Actually, only in Eastern Europe due to the collapse of communism in 1989/90.

Otherwise, there is light and shadow. I’m afraid: There are more shadows.

• While the foundations of international law have been further developed
• The UN instruments for the protection of human rights likewise
• The International Criminal Court in The Hague has been established

But just looking at our program today shows how modest this progress is.

As far as the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik), which has thankfully perished, is concerned, one must even be careful not to gloss over it nostalgically with increasing temporal distance.

Below you will find an excerpt of the speeches during the meeting.

In addition, our Board of Directors and the International Council were newly elected: https://www.igfm.de/igfm-auf-einen-blick/