He brought attention back to the following two days of the Summit and what Ms Katrín JAKOBSDÓTTIR, Prime Minister of Iceland, had prepared in terms of a beautiful message of hope. This was the message he wanted to distribute from Reykjavík to the rest of the world. Ms JAKOBSDÓTTIR said that the problem was humans who had done a lot of terrible things, which created fear. Looking at history sometimes made even her extremely hopeless, she said. At the UN General Assembly, the Secretary- General told her that it would take 300 years until gender equality was reached. She said this was something that they should not even have to be talking about in the 21st century, and that it was just crazy that half of humanity did not enjoy normal human rights. As Mr KOX said, and she said she agreed again with her colleague, if there was one thing stronger than fear, it was hope. Humans were also wonderful. What always inspires the Icelandic Prime Minister was how people in dire circumstances, refugees, people in conflict, people dealing with impossible situations, actually enjoy each other's company and continue to care and love one other. She quoted Ms Fiona O’LOUGHLIN, who talked about compassion, which they still had, as well as love, and therefore hope. She added that she was born an optimist, too, and would die an optimist. Not being optimistic was something they could not afford to be, since there were so many big challenges that needed to be tackled. This Summit was just one link in that important chain. She said the Council of Europe inspired hope as an important institution that was really showing its importance in dealing with those huge generational challenges. Ms BRYNJÓLFSDÓTTIR thanked the panellists and the audience for their very good questions, and wished everyone good luck for their work. Mr KOX thanked Ms BRYNJÓLFSDÓTTIR for moderating the two panels of the day He also thanked her for moderating in-depth discussions with open questions and without closed answers. There was a round of applause. Mr KOX prepared the podium for another distinguished guest who he said could perhaps tell them about the enormous fears that she was confronted with alongside her people. He said perhaps there was also a message of hope that the people of the country where she came from were able to overcome the enormous challenges they were confronted with. Mr KOX welcomed Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Leader of the Belarus democratic opposition, representing the people from Belarus, who he said were in such a tremendous struggle to regain their freedom and to regain democracy. There was a round of applause. Statement by Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Leader of the Belarus democratic opposition Ms Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, leader of the Belarus democratic opposition, addressed the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, the Icelandic Prime Minister, friends of Belarus, and members of the Standing Committee, with what she said was a very simple message from Belarusians: Be the voice of those who cannot speak now. Last week, she said she had a call with a Belarusian woman whose daughter and son were both in prison. They were detained in the very first days of the war. They were not activists; they had never taken part in protests before. When Russia started to shell Ukraine from Belarusian territory, they could not stay inside, and they had gone to the streets with thousands of others. The next day, police raided their house. They were taken to the KGB and probably tortured. They were forced to record a confessional video, which was posted on YouTube by the KGB. This woman’s son was told that he had committed state treason and could be executed. Now they were being held in full isolation, and even their mother did not know where they were. When this woman was telling her story to Ms Tsikhanouskaya about her children, she said, the only thing she had left was hope. Her only hope was that the world did not forget about them, so that she could see her children again. Ms Tsikhanouskaya said she knew that hope was not enough for victory, but hope could be transformed into energy, and energy into actions. This desperate woman had become an activist. She began to help other families of the repressed who found themselves in similar troubles. Ms Tsikhanouskaya’s task, their common task, was to make sure that all the people like this woman did not lose hope.

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