Activities

Members of the European Parliament visit UNDEF in New York

During a two-day visit at the UN Headquarters in New York, a fourteen-member delegation of the EU/UN Working Group of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee met with UNDEF’s Executive Head, Mr. Roland Rich. The delegation was lead by Mr. Alexander Lambsdorff, acting chair of this Working Group.

This meeting was the occasion to present to the Members of Parliament UNDEF’s funding mechanisms, its operating procedures and its progress with the view of exploring possible ways of cooperation for democracy promotion. The launch of the second round of projects to be funded by UNDEF was also mentioned.

This fruitful discussion was the opportunity to highlight UNDEF’s mission and characteristics.
Reinforcing the trend initiated by the first round of projects, UNDEF will put its efforts to bring the convening force of the United Nations to support, as a priority, initiatives which:

• Are promoted by and strengthen civil society organizations;


• Present a high potential of implementation; and


• Will produce a catalytic effect.

The European democracy agenda and the United Nations democracy agenda are complementary. The action developed by the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights and UNDEF’s activities are mutually reinforcing. Suggestions of cooperation between the EU and UNDEF were further expressed eventually for projects that are broader in scope and beyond the specific framework of UNDEF. Underlining the enhanced involvement of the European Parliament in democracy promotion, Mr. Alexander Lambsdorff invited Mr. Roland Rich to visit in Brussels with the aim to further discussions with the EU/UN Working Group of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

The UN Democracy Fund organises a Panel on Strategies to Promote Democracy

The United Nations Democracy Fund organises expert meetings to help further refine its policy and the UN’s concept of democracy-building. These meetings explore state of the art thinking and practice on democracy assistance. Meetings are organised in New York and Member States’ capitals in cooperation with/hosted by Member States and address burning issues in democracy promotion. Topics such as Democracy and Human Rights, Regional Strategies for Democracy, Democratic Transitions, Democracy and Development or Democracy and Islam will be analysed in following panels.

UNDEF visits the Organization of American States

Mr. Martinez Soliman and Mr. Caputo exchanged views on recent efforts to support democracy at the UN and at the OAS. Mr. Caputo briefed the UNDEF team on reform at the OAS, in particular on recent efforts to strengthen the OAS' political role and on its activities to strengthen democratic governance.