Captive Nations Summit 2025

On Monday, July 14, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation led efforts to mark National Captive Nations Week, in fulfillment of the 1959 congressional resolution adopted during the Eisenhower administration to show American solidarity with nations subjugated by communism. This year’s Captive Nations Summit brought together senior leaders, international experts, and dissidents to discuss the deadly, and sadly, enduring legacy of communism, and the lessons learned for current and future generations of freedom fighters.

The event opened with a fireside chat between Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, Ph.D., VOC Trustee, Vice Chair of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, and Dr. Eric Patterson, VOC President and CEO. This discussion was followed by a panel of dissident speakers from all five remaining captive nations: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. The 2025 Captive Nations Summit speakers were:

Vi Kha Hoang, Founder, Viet Toon; Principal of Thang Long Vietnamese Language School
Elfidar Iltebir, President of the Uyghur American Association
Eunsook Jang, Fulbright Scholar, DPRK Escapee, and M.A. Candidate at Brandeis University
Bounleaung Kern Kataviravong, Vice President of Union for Lao Nation
Rosa María Payá, Founder of Cuba Decide, and Commissioner Elect of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Event co-sponsors included Cuba Decide, Defense Forum Foundation, North Korea Freedom Coalition, Uyghur American Association, Union for Lao Nation/CERLA, and the Viet American Foundation.

The summit was filmed and broadcasted by C-SPAN.