NWAMI International Malta at prestigious Oslo Freedom Forum

The Maltese NGO NWAMI International Malta will be participating at the prestigious Oslo Freedom Forum, the 15th edition of the global meet-up for dissidents and human rights defenders on the frontlines.

NWAMI International Malta will be represented in Oslo by its president Maria-Gabriele Doublesin and general secretary Samira Jamil.

“Attending the Oslo Freedom Forum is an invaluable experience, both in terms of personal and professional growth and in advancing NWAMI International Malta’s mission and goals. We are immensely grateful for this unique opportunity to directly interact with distinguished thought-leaders and change-makers who are dedicated to bring about positive change in the world from and to learn from them,” Doublesin said.

By attending this forum, NWAMI International Malta can showcase its efforts to promote cultural understanding and human rights, while gaining insights and inspiration from fellow attendees.

Following up on a call for bilateral initiatives issued by the Iceland-Liechtenstein-Norway Active Citizens Fund – supporting activities that strengthen ties Maltese NGOs and entities from donor states that develop active citizenship, foster social justice and inclusion and combat discrimination – NWAMI International Malta entered a bilateral partnership with the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) for the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum Initiative.

The grant enabled two of its delegates, NWAMI International Malta President and Chairperson of Projects and Research, Maria-Gabriele Doublesin, and Samira Jamil, the organisation’s General Secretary, to travel to Norway to attend the complete series of conferences and panel discussions that are spread over a period of three days and to carry out awareness promoting cultural understanding and to share insights gained.

NWAMI in Malta works to foster a spirit of inclusion, community cohesion and multicultural integration. This also includes working towards a reduction of all forms of discrimination, including overt and covert racism and a reduction of hate crime in society.

This year’s Oslo Freedom Forum has its theme ‘Celebrating Solidarity’, which honours the unity, mentorship, and community that the Human Rights Foundation, and its global community of frontline dissidents, journalists, and philanthropists, has fostered in the last 15 years. It recognises that only together can we defeat tyranny.

HRF promotes freedom in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes, where it is most at risk. Individuals who suffer under authoritarianism are more likely to lack food and clean drinking water, lack access to basic education, live in extreme poverty, face war and civil strife, become a refugee, lack freedom of speech and voting rights, and face constant threats of imprisonment, torture, violence, and death.

The Oslo Freedom Forum is an internationally recognised conference for democracy and human rights, starting off from the work of 200 individuals who gathered in the Norwegian capital in 2009 to celebrate the survivors of Communism and Nazism. 

Today the OFF is dubbed as the “Davos for human rights” where the voices of courageous dissidents are amplified to expose the threats to liberal democracy and pressing human rights issues.