Questions:

Jan Urban - many people in this room are lobbying for Liu Ziabo to receive the Nobel Prize.  Would it be possible for your organizations to support this effort?

Leissner responded that you should contact your parlementarian because they have the right to nominate people.

Julius Kaggwa - need to contextualize the issue of human rights.  In some societies repressive actions - specifically against homosexuals - is strongly supported by a majority of citizens.  How do we reconcile our support for human rights and democracy in this case?

Chris Walker - China has been mentioned many times today in reference to violations of human rights.  Is it the position of the Obama administration that support of the Chinese economic partnership will also spur improvements in its human rights situation?

Posner notes that dialogue with China has turned into a kind of ritual, but he wants to insert human rights into strategic discussions. He says they are looking at how to introduce in trade and security discussions. The only way we're going to succeed is when the meeangers come from a range of government entities. It was clear to him in Egypt that the government there was having a very different discussion with other US government players, so he's trying to get everyone on the same page. We've got to look at policy advocacy, public diplomacy and assistance programs in each country.

Leissner also wanted to stress the importance of dialogues, noting the EU has 17 dialogies going on at the UN with various countries. A democractic system is not a guaruntee for respect for human rights but it is a prerequisite.

Regional powers such as South Africa and Brazil who should be on the side of human rights have been siding with the "global south."  They have defined their primary interest as supporting the countries of the southern hemisphere.  Hopefully the U.S. can help push them to solve this tension.  It also needs to be a vital part of the EU foreign policy to press that democracy and human rights is not a regional issue.

Ted Piccone from Brookings wants to hear more on coalition building that Jennifer Windsor of Freedom House mentioned in her opening remarks. He urges them to start working now to make sure good states are elected because if Iran is elected again to the UN Human Rights Council, Obama might be prompted to walk away again!

Asst Sec Posner urges less coordination on voting because the countries are voting in blocks, including EU, whereas some states are more forward looking than others. African Union and OIC (Islamic conference) are also voting inblocks and they are more powerful than the lukewarm EU block which tends to compromise to the lowest common denominator. This is a "prescription for disaster" says Posner.