Oslo Scholars Program
lo Scholars Program was established in 2010 by Sherman Teichman in partnership with the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) and the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University, as HRF presented an ideal platform to engage new generations of human rights defenders and scholars.
How It All Began - Sherman Teichman, Founder of Oslo Scholars
My aspiration for the Oslo Scholars was to promote and ensure a strong intergenerational interaction and a robust continuity of new generations of young, informed human rights activists, derived from my own experience as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University, where I was active with Amnesty International in 1963-65 as part of its AI’s inaugural efforts at internships. (It is amusing to me that AI, which to me was so important at Amnesty International, is now considered Artificial Intelligence, whereas the AI I knew was dedicated to compassionate humanistic activity to save wrongfully imprisoned individuals.) I had two wonderful mentors: Chester Wickwire, the University Chaplain, and Professor Hans W. Gatzke. Chester was a mentor to me in the civil rights movement, and Professor Gatzke taught me about the foreign and domestic policies of Nazi Germany and the horrors of war when I was still enrolled in the Marine Corps Platoon Leader Training ROTC program as an undergraduate.
I distinctly remember Hans’ full-length German Nazi Map of the sites of many of the 47,000 concentration and extermination camps. I was seduced by my aspiration to be a “Whiz Kid” Military Officer designing “Hearts and Minds” counter-insurgency programs in Vietnam, wonderfully debunked by Hans, and recorded in David Halberstam’s famous book The Best and the Brightest. I assigned this book in many of my university classes together with an extraordinary, too unrecognized book, The Nightingale Song. I had the great fortune to be able to honor Professor David Halberstam with my Institute’s Jean Mayer Award.
Wonderfully, many of my past and current Trebuchet interns (including Chloe Yau, first lower left) have fulfilled my aspirations and have become Oslo Scholars. I saw universities as superb homes where they could hone their intellectual and activist skills, and subsequently provide HRF’s human rights activists and honorees with important support, be it administrative, technological, legal, or design skills, and, in particular, research and computer capacity.
One of my senior research papers at JHU was on Kant’s categorical imperative and The Nuremberg Trial by Ernst von Weizsäcker, I had the amazing privledge to do some of my research at Columbia University’s Low Library, which at that point was one of the two repositories of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and critically had the opportunity to have an in depth afternoon interviewing Telford Taylor. One of my regrets was never interviewing William Shawcross, another brilliant scholarly author on Nuremberg and much else.
How It All Began - Sherman Teichman, Founder of Oslo Scholars
My aspiration for the Oslo Scholars was to promote and ensure a strong intergenerational interaction and a robust continuity of new generations of young, informed human rights activists, derived from my own experience as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University, where I was active with Amnesty International in 1963-65 as part of its AI’s inaugural efforts at internships. (It is amusing to me that AI, which to me was so important at Amnesty International, is now considered Artificial Intelligence, whereas the AI I knew was dedicated to compassionate humanistic activity to save wrongfully imprisoned individuals.) I had two wonderful mentors: Chester Wickwire, the University Chaplain, and Professor Hans W. Gatzke. Chester was a mentor to me in the civil rights movement, and Professor Gatzke taught me about the foreign and domestic policies of Nazi Germany and the horrors of war when I was still enrolled in the Marine Corps Platoon Leader Training ROTC program when I was an undergraduate.
I distinctly remember Hans’ full-length German Nazi Map of the sites of many of the 47,000 concentration and extermination camps. I was seduced by my aspiration to be a “Whiz Kid” Military Officer designing “Hearts and Minds” counter-insurgency programs in Vietnam, wonderfully debunked by Hans, and recorded in David Halberstam’s famous book The Best and the Brightest. I assigned this book in many of my university classes together with an extraordinary, too unrecognized book, The Nightingale Song. I had the great fortune to be able to honor Professor David Halberstam with my Institute’s Jean Mayer Award.
Wonderfully, many of my past and current Trebuchet interns (including Chloe Yau, first lower left) have fulfilled my aspirations and have become Oslo Scholars. I saw universities as superb homes where they could hone their intellectual and activist skills, and subsequently provide HRF’s human rights activists and honorees with important support, be it administrative, technological, legal, or design skills, and, in particular, research and computer capacity.
One of my senior research papers at JHU was on Kant’s categorical imperative and The Nuremberg Trial by Ernst von Weizsäcker, I had the amazing privledge to do some of my research at Columbia University’s Low Library, which at that point was one of the two repositories of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and critically had the opportunity to have an in depth afternoon interviewing Telford Taylor. One of my regrets was never interviewing William Shawcross, another brilliant scholarly author on Nuremberg and much else.
Oslo Scholars 2025 - Oslo Freedom Forum
Tufts University Oslo Scholars (Chloe lower left and Alejandro third upper right)
Mozambican opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane giving an opening speech
Tufts Oslo Scholars and Ella Ota, HRF Program Officer
Student Narratives
Witnessing Courage, Renewing Purpose - Chloe Yau 25’ Oslo Scholar
Growing up in Hong Kong, I learned early on how fragile basic human rights can be. Conversations about press freedom or political dissent could not be had in public; imagining a future where those rights were secure seemed impossible. That changed when I attended the Oslo Freedom Forum. Under the theme Imagine, the Forum invited us to picture a world free from repression, and for me, it became a space where hearing powerful personal stories of struggle and resistance was inseparable from envisioning a better future—one imagined collectively, as a global community.
Upon arrival, I was struck by the diverse community of people, from artists, dissidents, activists, and politicians, the Forum dissolved distance. I met people whose names I had only read about in the news: Kim Yumi, who recounted the split-second decisions that saved her family during their escape from North Korea; Azza Abo Rebieh, a Syrian artist whose smuggled sketches gave fellow prisoners a fragment of dignity; and Sulaima Ishaq Elkhalifa Sharif, a Sudanese women’s rights activist and trauma specialist who has risked detention and her life to document sexual violence in the Sudanese conflict and to hold perpetrators accountable. Each story had a clarity and urgency that made it impossible to remain a passive listener.
The program’s breadth was striking. Discussions ranged from how authoritarian states hide wealth in global financial hubs, to the reach of digital surveillance, to the ways disinformation corrodes trust across borders. A panel on gender-based violence under authoritarian rule—featuring advocates from Libya, Tigray, Afghanistan, and Sudan—was especially difficult to hear, but necessary. Another, on labor abuses in international waters, resonated deeply with my interests in international law and environmental justice. Testimonies from Indonesian and Thai fishery workers exposed how human rights violations at sea often go unseen, and how urgently stronger protections are needed. Hearing such courageous personal accounts did more than inform me—they cemented my commitment to pursuing work at the intersection of migration, international law, and global justice.
What I took from these conversations was that every struggle, no matter how geographically distant, is part of the same global fight for dignity. Policies, institutions, and treaties matter—but so do the individual voices that put a human face on injustice.
For me, being an Oslo Scholar was not just about access to an extraordinary network. It was a moment of realignment. I left Oslo with a sharpened sense of purpose and a community that made the idea of a freer world feel less like a distant hope and more like a collective project I could contribute to.
Global Voices on Global Issues - Alejandro Alvarez 25’ Oslo Scholar
The theme of the 2025 Oslo Freedom Forum was Imagine, an invitation to picture a freer, more just world. But in truth, imagining the impact of this experience before arriving in Oslo was impossible. From the very first moment, surrounded by passionate activists, survivors, and advocates from around the globe, it was clear this wasn’t just a conference; it was a living space of resistance, courage, and transformation. The opening speeches set the tone: North Korean defector Kim Yumi recounted her family’s harrowing escape, a journey from complete state control to the dignity of personal choice. Mozambican opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane shared how, despite systemic repression, he continues to advocate for democracy and truth in his country. Syrian artist Azza Abo Rebieh spoke of how her art, secretly sketched while imprisoned, became a lifeline for herself and fellow inmates under the Assad regime. Each story was personal, painful, and powerful, and reminded us that the fight for freedom is never theoretical.
What struck me most about the forum was its truly international scope. It didn’t limit itself to Western issues or familiar headlines. Instead, it offered a platform for voices from every corner of the world, inviting us to engage with stories and struggles we might otherwise never encounter. One panel explored Hong Kong’s evolving role as a financial haven for authoritarian regimes. Another examined the growing influence of China and Russia in Africa, unpacking how resource extraction and political interference have reshaped governance across the continent. These panels didn’t just inform but rather pushed us to question how power operates globally, and how international solidarity must be redefined in the 21st century.
As someone deeply passionate about Latin American politics, my favorite panel was “Venezuela: A Challenge for Democratic Solidarity in Latin America.” The lineup was striking: Juan José Matarí, President of Spain’s Ibero-American Affairs Committee; Ambassador Tomás Pascual from Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Georgetown professor and OAS advisor Hector Schamis; and Ana Corina Sosa, daughter of opposition leader María Corina Machado. Together, they tackled the consequences of Maduro’s electoral fraud, the regional migration crisis, and the disappointing silence of many international actors. They also drew vital links to the situations in Cuba and Nicaragua and analyzed how global powers like China are reshaping the hemisphere’s political landscape. It was honest, layered, and long overdue.
Being an Oslo Scholar was far more than an academic or professional milestone. I left the Forum with a renewed sense of purpose and a deeper commitment to fighting for justice, both in Latin America and beyond. This experience marked the beginning of a summer devoted to social advocacy through the Human Rights Foundation’s affiliated initiatives, but it also marked something more profound: a reminder that change starts with listening and imagining that another world is possible.