The Advisory Board of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), established to promote and consolidate new and restored democracies with financial and technical help, will meet tomorrow to review the Fund’s progress after its first year of activities and decide on future priorities and policies.
The United Nations Democracy Fund has unveiled its first beneficiaries, awarding $36 million in grants to 125 projects around the world that range from promoting voter registration to encouraging judicial reform, supporting female parliamentarians and teaching human rights awareness in schools.
The United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), established in July 2005 to promote and consolidate new and restored democracies with financial and technical help, began its first day of practical work today when Secretary-General Kofi Annan chaired a meeting of the Fund’s Advisory Board.
The United Nations does more than any other single organization to promote and strengthen democratic institutions and democratic practices around the world, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Community of Democracies today.
The Community of Democracies, an informal grouping of 100 countries advocating democratic values and institutions, held a seminar today to analyze challenges and opportunities related to democracy, try to chart the future of the worldwide democratic movement and assess the role of the United Nations in promoting democracy.
As delegates gathered in Mongolia for talks on ways to deepen democracy and shore up democratic institutions, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned today "the greatest danger today may be the weakening of the substance of democratic government, even as its outward forms appear intact."
Addressing a conference in Norway today, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed that genuine adherence to democratic principles must guide both nations and international organizations if all people were to prosper in today's interlinked world.
Cities have a crucial role to play in making science and technology work for the common good, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message to a meeting of mayors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
