The Macedonian P.E.N. Centre on the Conference in Venice

The President of the Macedonian P.E.N. Centre, Mr. Dimitar Bashevski, participated in the Conference organized by the Italian P.E.N. Centre between the 2^nd and the 6^th of May in Venice under the general subject “The Human Rights of the Writers”, and took part in the round table held under the title “The Freedom of Expresion and the Human Rights of the Writers in the World”. The Conference was organized with the sponsorship of the President of the Republic of Italy and in collaboration with the National Commission of UNESCO for Italy, and its participants were also Mr. Jiří Gruša, the President of P.E.N. International, and Ms Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, the Secretary General of P.E.N. International.

In the introductory part of the Conference spoke the President of the Italian P.E.N. Centre, Mr. Lucio Lami, then Mr. Jiří Gruša and Ms Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, and then also other Italian representatives. Before the start of the round table discussion, chaired by the Secretary of the Italian P.E.N. Centre Mr. Emanuele Bettini, the President of the Writers in Prison Committee of the International P.E.N. Ms Karin Clark had an introductory exposé about the situation with the human rights of the writers in the world. She presented the cases of violation of the rights and freedoms of writers in several countries and presented also the activities of the Writers in Prison Committee in helping these writers.

On the round table, at which representatives from 15 P.E.N. Centres were taking part – from Austria, Bangladesh, France, Guinea, Nigeria, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, Tibet and P.E.N. Esperanto, Dimitar Bashevski presented his paper under the title “Freedom, the Writer and Literature”.

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