Liberals from around the world gathered in Ottawa, Canada on 2-4 May for the 206^th Executive Committee meeting of Liberal International.

ALDE Party, as a full member, was active during the event and organised a panel discussion on Overcoming Political Oppression in cooperation with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and the Liberal International Human Rights Committee featuring the participation of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, President of the Coordination Council of Belarus, Irwin Cotler, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Evgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Summating the panel, ALDE Party Vice-President Henrik Bach Mortensen said: ”You remind us that the is the responsibility of Liberals to fight against political oppression all over the world and to support political prisoners and exiles all over the world”.

The Executive Committee voted to award the 2023 Freedom Prize to Mr. Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison charged with ‘high treason’ for speaking out against President Putin’s War in Ukraine, and adopted a number of topical resolutions including on Israel, on Sudan, and on the sanctions imposed on the Council of Asian Liberal Democrats submitted by ALDE Party.

Vice-President Mortensen also met with the Deputy Speaker of the Canadian Parliament Alexandra Mendès MP, who was born in Portugal, to discuss the political situation in Canada and in Europe.

“Canada and Europe share so many values. We are impressed by the efforts by the Canadians to stress hope and aspirations. Presenting our citizens with a positive attitude and visions about a better future is the best way to fight right wing nationalists and populists,” he said.

The conference was attended by many Canadian Liberal party representatives and members of Parliament, and was addressed by François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada (1993–2003), who was interviewed by former ALDE Party President Sir Graham Watson.

A number of organisations and parties were approved as new members of Liberal International, including from Europe: the European Liberal Forum (cooperating organisation), PDK Kosovo (full member) and Golos Ukraine (observer member).

Photo credit: (c) Liberal International