International Democracy Day Brussels is an event organised each September to mark the UN International Day of Democracy.
Join a wide range of high-level speakers, international democracy advocates, and activists from across the world as they address the challenges of this new world order for democracy. They will discuss the mechanisms to protect and support democracy, such as Team Europe, and the potential for greater North-South collaboration.
Programme
Rebuilding Ukraine: the Lugano Declaration
In this webinar, prominent civil society activists from Ukraine will discuss the main tenets of the Civil Society Manifesto (Lugano Declaration) and the need to involve civil society to achieve success in reforming and rebuilding a post-war Ukraine, built on a strong democratic foundation.
Registration for the Morning Sessions
Video Message by Jan Lipavský, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
Keynote Speech by Rana Ayyub, Journalist, Washington Post
Context Session: Shada Islam Interviews Richard Youngs, Senior fellow, Carnegie Europe and Jerzy Pomianowski, Executive Director, European Endowment for Democracy
International Panel on Democracy in Era of Geopolitics
In this inaugural session of the 2022 edition of International Democracy Day in Brussels, experts will lay out the geopolitical context of this watershed moment for democracy and high-level representatives from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America will discuss possible solutions to the challenges of this new era of geopolitics.
Coffee Break
EU Presidencies and the EU External Democracy Agenda: Seizing Momentum for Democratic Change (International IDEA)
This workshop aims at gathering insights on the EU democracy agenda 2022 and 2023 and recommendations from the Brussels democracy community and stakeholders for shaping future agendas. The session will be moderated on the basis of guiding questions.
Lunch Break and Registration for Afternoon Session
The 50%’s Voice: Launch of the Youth Political and Civic Engagement Cohort (EPD)
The European Commission and the European Partnership for Democracy have launched the Youth Political and Civic Engagement Cohort as part of the Summit for Democracy’s Year of Action to take action toward implementing Summit for Democracy commitments on youth political and civic engagement. This session will launch the Youth Cohort and discuss avenues for meaningful dialogue and collaboration between many types of actors working to advance democratic participation of youth across the globe. Bringing together youth activists in the EU and globally as well as key decision-makers involved in youth engagement worldwide, this session will be an opportunity for debate and collaboration on the issue of youth political engagement. It will be livestreamed here
Hybrid Threats to Democracy (ENoP)
With the urgency to stand for democracy, this session will explore the non-military notion of ‘’hybrid threats to democracy’’. It will bring representatives from the EU institutions and experts from political foundations and their partners to discuss how to respond to disinformation threats and foreign election interventions. It will also look into our role as political foundations in empowering civil society and political actors in facing such realities, and discuss the role of China and Russia in this new geopolitical context
Speakers
Christina Kokkinakis
Deputy Managing Director Global and Director for Values and Multilateral relations, European External Action Service (EEAS)
Bama Athreya
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub and Inclusive Development Hub, USAID
Neal Mac Call
Head of Division Democracy and Electoral Observation, European External Action Service
David Červenka
Director for Human Rights and Transition Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic
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