Some 130 human rights activists from 85 countries gathered in Dublin Castle this morning for the Front Line Dublin Platform 2011.
The three-day conference is designed to provide an environment where defenders of human rights can share their experiences and knowledge. It is the sixth platform organised by Front Line, a Dublin based international foundation for the protection of human rights defenders.
In her keynote address, executive director of Front Line, Mary Lawlor, welcomed the activists from around the world to Dublin and praised them for their work.
"Justice, freedom and human rights will never come easy but neither can they be indefinitely denied when there remain those with the courage to speak out and defend the rights of others like you" she said. "While there is increasing repression of human rights defenders, there are also more human rights defenders in more countries making more of a difference for their communities."
Prior to her speech, Ms Lawlor presented a bouquet of flowers to a tearful Mutabar Tadjibaeva from Uzbekistan, who finally arrived in Dublin, six years after she was arrested on her way to the 2005 Dublin Platform.
A critic of the Karimov regime which rules her country, Ms Tadjibaeva was sentenced to eight years imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital where she was forcibly medicated with psychotropic drugs and denied access to family and lawyers.
At one point during her incarceration, the guards left a noose in her prison cell to encourage her to end her life. When all campaigns had failed to secure her release, Front Line sent a bouquet of flowers to the prison for her birthday to remind her that she had not been forgotten.
The flowers were delivered and given pride of place in the prison common room.
Now a refugee in France, Ms Tadjibaeva and Ms Lawlor were both overcome by emotion this morning as flowers were presented in person this time, before a standing ovation from the crowd gathered.
Chairing the opening function, Front Line trustee and board member, Kieran Mulvey paid tribute to the victims of state terror around the world.
"Last weekend all over the world we remembered the appalling tragedies of the bombings in the USA and the individual stories of loss and grief," he said. "Today, by holding this sixth platform we remember the victims of state terror, of paramilitaries, of repression, discrimination, torture and the denial of fundamental human rights up to and including the murder of human rights defenders."