DemocracyNews
Monthly Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy

DemocracyNews Special – World Movement’s Fifth Assembly Held in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 2008

On April 6-9, 2008, over 450 democracy activists, practitioners, and scholars from 104 countries gathered in Kyiv, Ukraine, for the Fifth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy under the theme “Making Democracy Work: From Principles to Performance.”  The Assembly opened with welcoming remarks from Ukraine's First Lady, Kateryna Yushchenko.  Mrs. Yushchenko spoke about Ukraine’s tumultuous history and its long path to democracy.  Reflecting on the Orange Revolution, she stressed that “the Orange Revolution did not bring change, it brought the opportunity to make change.”  Keynote speakers included Alejandro Toledo, former President of Peru; Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights; and Myroslava Gongadze founder of the Gongadze Foundation, named for her husband, a journalist who was murdered in 2000 in Ukraine.  Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko spoke the following morning about Ukraine’s transition to democracy.  Later that same day, the State Administration for the City of Kyiv held a cultural evening and dinner with various Ukrainian dance and choral performances.

During the following days of the Assembly, which included two plenary sessions and some 45 workshops and panel discussions, participants from around the world examined global and regional challenges to the development of democracy and the need to deliver on promises of democratic transitions.  The first plenary session, “Making Democracy Work,” featured a panel of experts, including Alejandro Toledo, Ayo Obe of Nigeria, and Roland Rich, who leads the UN Democracy Fund.  The second plenary session presented the “Defending Civil Society” report, co-authored by the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the World Movement for Democracy Secretariat.  The report is available online in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish (see links below).  The Defending Civil Society project was initiated in response to recent proliferating efforts by various governments to restrict the space in which civil society organizations in general, and democracy assistance groups in particular, carry out their work.  The report identifies and promulgates a set of international principles, already rooted in international law, that should inform proper government-civil society relations and protect NGOs and other civil society groups.  Many participants discussed the report in various workshops throughout the Assembly.

The Assembly came to a close on the night of April 9 with the John B. Hurford Memorial Dinner, featuring the presentation of the World Movement’s Democracy Courage Tributes.  The closing began with a video message from former Czech President Vaclav Havel, which was followed by the Democracy Courage Tribute presentations.  Tributes were presented to the Monks of Burma, the Legal Community of Pakistan, and the Journalists of Somalia, groups and movements that have exhibited extraordinary courage in the pursuit of democracy.  The evening ended with a performance by the Mad Heads XL, a Ukrainian band who performed their celebrated song “The Hope is Here,” written for Ukraine’s Orange Revolution.

The World Movement will announce via DemocracyNews the posting of video clips, pictures, and other material from the Fifth Assembly on its Web site soon.  In the meantime, transcripts of keynote addresses can be found on the Fifth Assembly Web site (www.wmd.org/fifth/OpeningAddress.html), and other links to various items related to the Assembly follow below:

Reports:

• Asia Regional Workshop Report – www.wfda.net/activities.htm?id=240
• Civil Society Strategies for Free and Fair Elections – http://yoursdp.org/component/content/article/3-international/388-civil-society-strategies-for-free-and-fair-elections
• Democracy Digest blogs on the Fifth Assembly – www.demdigest.net/kyiv.html
• National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) Receives Democracy Courage Award – www.humanrightshouse.org/dllvis5.asp?id=6442
• Role of Buddhism in the Asian Democracy Movement – www.queme.net/eng/news_detail.php?numb=978
• Somali Journalists Win Democracy Award  – http://solidaritycenter.org/content.asp?contentid=745

The Defending Civil Society Report:

• Arabic – www.wmd.org/documents/Defending%20Civil%20Society%20-%20Arabic.pdf
• Chinese – www.wmd.org/documents/Defending%20Civil%20Society%20-%20Chinese.pdf
• English – www.wmd.org/documents/Defending%20Civil%20Society%20-%20English.pdf
• French – www.wmd.org/documents/Défense%20de%20la%20société%20civile.pdf
• Russian – www.wmd.org/documents/Defending%20Civil%20Society%20-%20Russian.pdf
• Spanish – www.wmd.org/documents/La%20Defensa%20de%20la%20Sociedad%20Civil.pdf

For a hard copy of the report in any of the aforementioned languages, please contact the World Movement at world@ned.org. 

News:

• UkrainaTV Coverage of the Fifth Assembly (in Ukrainian) – www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgHBBc7S8lE&feature=related
• Unian Coverage of President Viktor Yushchenko’s Speech at the Fifth Assembly – www.unian.net/eng/news/news-245253.html
• Zimbabwean Participant Briefly Detained Returning from the Fifth Assembly – http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/15/zimbabwe-authorities-briefly-detain-head-of-election-monitoring-group

Footage:

• Performance at World Movement for Democracy Fifth Assembly – www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNVuifUWdNQ