Frédéric Burnand - "We want to highlight these problems wherever they happen," Leo Kaneman, one of the festival’s founders, told swissinfo.
This year the organisers have decided to pay homage to the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, murdered last October, during a special evening about the violent deaths of Russian reporters and the erosion of civil liberties under President Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, International Women’s Day, the festival is taking a closer look at violence committed against women. The Swiss president, Micheline Calmy-Rey, will be attending, along with the former interior minister, Ruth Dreifuss, and Luis Alfonso de Alba, president of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The festival is also casting a critical eye over the United States war on terrorism and its effects on civil liberties in America. Other subjects include the threat of genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region, policing the internet, legislation against historical revisionism and the kidnapping of Japanese nationals by North Korea.
Switzerland has not been forgotten, with a documentary by Andreas Hoessli, Swiss Sans Papier, which puts the 90,000 illegal immigrants who work in the country under the microscope.
Free speech
The festival tries to cover the whole spectrum of human rights, including economic, cultural and social ones. This means themes such as microcredit are also on the programme.
The programme is getting underway as the human rights council opens its fourth session in Geneva, allowing activists to make their voices heard.
On Friday, for example, Nassera Dutour, president of the association representing the families of Algerians who have disappeared without leaving a trace, will be able to express herself freely.
In February, the Algerian authorities refused to let a conference on forced disappearances during the 1990s go ahead. Thousands of people vanished during the civil war that was going on at the time.
But it isn’t just a soapbox for human rights specialists. The festival has become popular, showing that human rights do have some appeal for a wider public.
"Each year, more and more people are turning up," said Daniel Bolomey of Amnesty International Switzerland. There were 6,000 spectators for the first edition, and 16,000 last year.