Speakers

Ales Bialiatski

Nobel Peace Prize 2022

Ales Bialiatski was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2022, together with Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties, for his fight for human rights, democracy, and peaceful co-existence. A writer and human rights activist from Belarus, Bialiatski has dedicated his life to fighting for democracy and the rights of political prisoners. He has been arrested a number of times for his activism, and was incarcerated during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December 2022. In December 2025, he was released in a prison exchange and continues his work for freedom and human rights from exile.

At the Nobel Peace Conference 2025 he will talk about the threat autocratic leaders are posing on democracy and peace.

Maria Ressa

Nobel Peace Prize 2021

Maria Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, together with Dmitry Muratov, for her fearless struggle for freedom of expression. As a journalist, Ressa works to expose abuses of power, violence and authoritarian behaviour. Maria Ressa is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University and co-founder and CEO of Rappler, an online news site for investigative journalism in the Philippines, well known for its documentation of how social media are being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse.

At the Nobel Peace Conference 2026, Maria Ressa will speak about “Narrative Warfare & the Breakdown of Reality”.

Juan Manuel Santos

Nobel Peace Prize 2016

Juan Manuel Santos was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for “his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end”. Before being President, he was Minister of Foreign Trade, Minister of Finance and Minister of Defense.

He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Compaz Foundation, which he created to contribute to peacebuilding in Colombia.

Santos is a member of the board of the International Crisis Group, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Society, and is also a member of the Planetary Guardians and the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

In November 2024, he was appointed Chair of The Elders, the organization founded by Nelson Mandela, made up of an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet.

At the Nobel Peace Conference 2026, he will discuss with his fellow laureate Maria Ressa how big tech affects democracy.

Gina Romero

UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association

Gina Romero is United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association. Her mandate focuses on promoting, and ensuring respect for, the rights to freedom of assembly and of association around the world, and in identifying key areas in which the content of these rights can be progressively developed.

She teaches at the Universidad de los Andes, in Colombia.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Romero led several initiatives for the promotion and defense of democracy and rule of law. She is one of the founders and served for nearly 10 years as Executive Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy, Redlad. In this position she also served as Secretariat of the Civil Society Pillar of the Community of Democracies.

At the Nobel Peace Conference 2026, Romero will present her latest report to the UN on Gen-Z Activism and the Future of Civic Space

Rakshya Bam

Activist, Nepal

Rakshya Bam is a young activist and civic leader known for her role in recent youth-led political and social movements in Nepal. She is recognized for transforming questions into public pressure and dissent into democratic dialogue.

Emerging from the Nepal’s far-west yet speaking to the entire nation, she represents a generation that refuses to inherit silence. Her work lies at the intersection of street, state, and society.

She has emerged as one of the most recognizable voices of Nepal’s Gen-Z generation, demanding accountability, democratic engagement, and justice.

Wanjira Wanjiru,

Activist, Kenya

Wanjira Wanjiru is a Kenyan activist, writer with the Kenya Organic Intellectuals Network, and grassroots organizer. She is a co-founder of the Mathare Social Justice Centre and has become a leading voice in Kenya’s youth-led movements, advocating for economic democracy, social justice, and Pan-African liberation. Her work has been featured in Al Jazeera’s "Generation Change," and she authored the foreword for Oxfam’s "Resisting the Rule of the Rich." Wanjira also fuses activism and education through initiatives such as the Matigari Youth Book Club and the Liberating Minds podcast.