Eliot Stellar

In closing, I would like to invite Professor González and Professor Mohamed to come to the podium and join Dr. Orlov.

Colleagues, we all know that it takes dedication to be a human rights activist in the United States. It takes that same dedication, and more, to be a human rights activist in Chile, South Africa, and the Soviet Union, and in many other countries around the world. But it takes tremendous personal courage and strength and conviction to fight openly for human rights in those countries.

In appreciation of these brave qualities, for sharing your thoughts and concerns and hopes with us here today, I would like to present each of you with this engraved medallion of the academy in addition to our heartfelt thanks.

Now, while you are still standing and still here, I can think of no better way to end this meeting than to quote from a passage about victims of oppression from the speech made by another human rights activist, Elie Weisel, when he accepted the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize:

What all these victims need, above all, is to know that they are not alone, that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled, we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs.