World Forum for Democracy

A big shoutout to the Aurora Institute for Human Rights in Brazil for winning the Democracy Innovation Award!   Their initiative, “Mine, yours, our vote,” stood out among 40 incredible projects.   Congratulations to all the finalists and participants who made this event a success!   This year’s forum brought together over 1200 participants from 80 countries. https://lnkd.in/d3vAnaVP   #CoE_WFD

And the winner of the Democracy Innovation Award is...“Mine, yours, our vote” - Aurora Institute for Human Rights. The project empowers first timen voters of diverse backgrounds. It fosters respectful dialogue on voting, promoting community care and inclusive representation. #CoE_WFD

"A few weeks ago I spoke at a conference in Oslo. One of the panelists pointed out that civil society has already generated many good ideas to defend #democracy. This is precisely the purpose of the #CoE_WFD and now it is time to put words into action" - Bjørn BERG, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe. #CoE_WFD

"Je souhaite vous remercier très chaleureusement pour votre participation, votre énergie, votre #engagement et votre franchise, car nous ne sauverons pas la #démocratie avec conformisme" - Matjaž Gruden, Directeur de la Démocratie, #CoE. #CoE_WFD

"The #CoE_WFD2024 started on Wednesday with the news of Donald Trump being back in the White House, reminding us about the context of #populist rising. This current industry of #FakeNews is weaponised to weaken our #democracies through divisive information" - Yoav SHEMER-KUNZ, Syracuse University of Strasbourg, General Rapporteur. Follow for more: https://lnkd.in/dw65NQ4k

"As teenagers, we had the the belief that progress was here and that our future would be bright. I think your generation is running the risk of being all the time connected in one-on-one basis, but losing the sense of community" - Raha, Young refugee from #Afghanistan. #CoE_WFD

"We have found a system, liberal #democracy, that seems to support people. So, if we could broaden our #education and #dissemination about it, we could move forward together internationally, because we’re actually not so different from each other" - Jaden Braves, Chief Executive Officer of the Young Politicians of Canada. #CoE_WFD

Frédéric Bierry, président de la collectivité européenne d'Alsace, France: "Je pense que c’est dans la responsabilisation de nos citoyens qu’on pourra relever les défis contre les populistes. Et pour cela faudra être très clairs avec nos citoyens sur la réalité de nos terrains". #CoE_WFD

Georgios Katrougalos, independent expert on a democratic and equitable international order of the United Nations, #Greece: "Populism is not the cause of the crisis of our democracies, it is just a symptom. It is the reaction of the population to the actual flaws of our democracies. Minorities now in our society believe that the economy is rigged in favor of the rich and the powerful. The populists exploit the feeling, but they do not create the structure of the problems, the true cause is the distribution of the wealth. If we want to combat populism, we must combat the true cause of this phenomenon". Follow live: https://lnkd.in/dxT9ijHe #CoE_WFD

Democracy in action!   Highlights from Day 2 at #CoE_WFD: Ten labs addressing key challenges and fourteen Forum Talks driving meaningful conversations.   The World Forum for Democracy 2024 showcased inspiring talks from thought leaders and featured analytical labs that proposed innovative solutions and identified ideas worth spreading. Additionally, the Forum fostered the creation of networks and communities of practice, serving as incubators to transform ideas into action.    Stay tuned for more!  #WorldForumForDemocracy #Day2Highlights #CouncilOfEurope