World Movement for Democracy to Meet in Kyiv

Hundreds of Democracy Activists will Convene April 6-9, 2008

WASHINGTON, March 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hundreds of democracy
activists, practitioners and scholars from more than 100 countries will
convene April 6-9 in Kyiv, Ukraine, for the Fifth Assembly of the World
Movement for Democracy. The Assembly, which will be held at Kyiv's Ukrainian
House, begins at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 6. Ukrainian President Victor
Yushchenko has been invited to present welcoming remarks at the opening
session; keynote speakers will include former President of PeruAlejandro
Toledo, Maina Kiai, chairperson of the National Commission on Human Rights in
Kenya, and journalist Myroslava Gongadze, founder of the Gongadze Foundation,
Ukraine.

Making Democracy Work: From Principles to Performance is the theme for the
biennial Assembly, where more than 500 participants will take part in a wide
range of practical workshops focusing on both global and regional challenges
to the development and defense of democracy. The workshops are designed to
produce practical recommendations and initiatives, and to help participants
build and strengthen networks that will advance their work after the Assembly.
A complete agenda for the Assembly is available online.

The findings of a ground-breaking new report issued by the World Movement in
February 2008, Defending Civil Society, will be presented during plenary
session and the subject of panel discussions and workshops, providing
participants with an opportunity to collaborate in responding to the current
backlash against democracy and democracy promotion in countries where recent
democratic gains have been eroded, or where authoritarian regimes seek to
restrict the space in which civil society organizations carry out their work.

Another highlight of the Assembly will be the presentation of the World
Movement's Democracy Courage Tributes at the John B. Hurford Memorial Dinner
on the closing night, April 9th. Four groups that have taken extraordinary
risks to promote and protect democratic principles will be recognized; they
include the Monks of Burma, Iran's One Million Signature Campaign, Pakistan's
Legal Community, and the Print and Broadcast Journalists of Somalia.

The Europe XXI Foundation, based in Kyiv, is serving as the local partner
organization, working with the World Movement Secretariat to organize the
Assembly.

Initiated in 1999 to "strengthen democracy where it is weak, to reform and
invigorate democracy even where it is longstanding, and to bolster
pro-democracy groups in countries that have not yet entered into a process of
democratic transition," the World Movement is a global network that meets
periodically to exchange ideas and experiences and uses new information and
communication technologies to foster collaboration among democratic forces
around the world. It is led by a distinguished international Steering
Committee and the Washington, DC-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
currently serves as its Secretariat.

CONTACT: Jane Riley Jacobsen +1 (202) 378-9700 or jane@ned.org

SOURCE National Endowment for Democracy

Jane Riley Jacobsen of the National Endowment for Democracy, +1-202-378-9700,
jane@ned.org