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Cyprus and Italy Bring the Donor Group up to 30

30 Member States have to date contributed to and engaged actively with the United Nations Democracy Fund. The latest contributions has come from Cyprus (US$5,000) and Italy has pledged 1,000,000 Euro, confirming the announcement made in Rome by Senator Gianni Vernetti, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, during the Community of Democracies meeting on Promoting Democracy and responding to National and Transnational Threats to Democracy ". Ambassador Spatafora and his Human Rights team in New York, led by Counselor Stefano Gatti, have been instrumental in securing the Italian contribution, which as per the official communication of the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations "testifies the support of the Government of Italy to UNDEF Actions in strengthening democratisation processes throughout the world". Italy had been instrumental in the recent past in developing the UN's e-Governance Agenda through a specific support to UNDP's Thematic Trust Fund for this purpose. The contribution of Cyprus and Italy to UNDEF brings the resources raised by or pledged to the Fund close to US$68 million. Cyprus and Italy have become the Fund's donors number 29 and 30. Italian NGO programme partners of the Fund include the NGO "No Peace Without Justice" (Non c'e pace senza giustizia) which develops a regional project in the Arab Region, focusing on Jordan, Morocco and Yemen, to increase civil society input in decision-making processes, reinforce the role and build the capacity of democracy advocates and create opportunities for dialogue.

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