Conference ‘Sakharov’s Ideas Today’
Moscow, 14-15th December, 2009

 

Two-days conference ‘Andrei Sakharov’s Ideas Today’ takes place in Moscow on 14-15^th of December, 2009 and commemorates 20^th anniversary of Sakharov’s decease. It is organised be the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center under the support of the Commissioner for Human Rights Mr.Thomas Hammarberg.

This conference aims at making known the life and message of Andrei Sakharov while establishing a link between his work and that of human rights activists in Russia twenty years after his death, highlighting their common human rights ground.

Three main sections of the conference (‘Peace’, ‘Progress’ and ‘Human Rights’) are corresponding with the title of Sakharov’s Nobel Lecture in 1975. He believed that ‘these three goals are insolubly linked to one another: it is impossible to achieve one of these goals if the other two are ignored’.

Three main sessions are designed as a combination of speeches and a following discussion. Two keynote speeches at the beginning of each session will present different perspectives on the subject and tackle on number of important smaller issues. Speakers for each session are prominent experts in their field (ideally one of them coming from Russia and another one — from outside Russia). Keynote speeches are followed by a short Q&A session and 1,5-hour moderated discussion with the audience.

The introductory and closing sessions of the conference will address the global agenda in promoting peace, progress and human rights. At the end of the first day colleagues, friends and followers of Sakharov will speak about his work and personality over ‘In Memoriam: Andrei Sakharov’ meeting ad reception.
 

Speeches will be available in print as well as a number of other papers. All materials are distributed over the conference, through publications and web-resources. The event is filmed, videos will be uploaded to the web.