- Date : 14 Sep 2022 - 16 Sep 2022
- Time : 16:00 - 12:30 (UTC+1)
2021 was a year of further democratic backsliding in many countries worldwide. Seventy percent of the world’s population now live in either outright non-democratic regimes or democratically backsliding countries, compared to forty-six percent ten years ago.
In December 2021, one hundred countries joined President Biden’s Summit for Democracy to affirm global commitments to democracy, with the White House announcing 2022 as a ‘year of action’ to support and promote democracy worldwide. As part of the preparation for this conference, fourteen leading pro-democracy organisations and think tanks came together and identified Five Messages for the summit that are crucial to advancing democracy worldwide. In the European Union, a Team Europe Democracy Initiative was also launched to inspire coordination with EU member states on external democracy action.
Russia’s attack against Ukraine has escalated this shift in the geopolitical landscape. A watershed moment for the future of democracy, this war further advances anti-democratic trends worldwide. Yet at this same time, the last few months have seen the international community, including EU member states, come together in an unprecedented show of solidarity to protect and support democracy.
During this year’s Democracy Day discussions, a wide range of high-level speakers, international democracy advocates, and activists from both sides of the Atlantic and the Global South will 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.
Speakers
Filsan Abdi
Former Ethiopian Minister of Women, Children and Youth
Qyira Yusri
Education Director and Co Founder of UNDI18
Imad Daimi
President, Raqabah Observatory
Valeriu Drăgălin
President, European Democracy Youth Network
Ken Godfrey
Executive Director, European Partnership for Democracy (EPD)
Bama Athreya
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub and Inclusive Development Hub, USAID
Cecilia Ruthström-Ruin
Sweden’s ambassador for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law
David Salvo
Deputy Director, Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund.
Jerzy Pomianowski
Executive Director, European Endowment for Democracy (EED)
Neal Mac Call
Head of Division Democracy and Electoral Observation, European External Action Service
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.
Yuliia Bankova
Oleksandra Matviychuk
Andriy Dligach
Svitlana Matviyenko
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
Rana Ayyub
Context Session: Shada Islam Interviews Richard Youngs, Senior fellow, Carnegie Europe and Jerzy Pomianowski, Executive Director, European Endowment for Democracy
Jerzy Pomianowski
Richard Youngs
Shada Islam
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.
Christina Kokkinakis
Imad Daimi
David Salvo
Shada Islam
Rana Ayyub
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.
Cecilia Ruthström-Ruin
Neal Mac Call
David Červenka
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
Qyira Yusri
Jutta Urpilainen
Valeriu Drăgălin
Ken Godfrey
Bama Athreya
Aisha Dabo
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
Ivana Karaskova
Milosz Hodun
Milan Jovanović
Lisa Gürth
