International Conference on Civil participation in Decision-Making
PROGRAMME
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Opening session
- Irakli GIVIASHVILI, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Georgia to the Council of Europe (speech)
- Marija PEJČINOVIĆ-BURIĆ, Secretary General of the Council of Europe (speech)
- Kakha KALADZE, Mayor of Tbilisi, Georgia (speech)
Thematic addresses
- Hélène LANDEMORE, Associate Professor of Political Science at Yale University, USA (video, speech)
- Andy WILLIAMSON, Council of Europe expert in participatory and digital democracy, Isle of Skye, United Kingdom (speech)
Civil participation in decision-making in Georgia
- Natia MEZVRISHVILI, Head of Administration of the Government of Georgia (speech)
- Maia BITADZE, Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi, Georgia (speech)
- Kakha BAKHTADZE, NGO “Environment and Development”, Georgia (speech)
- Mariam SIKHARULIDZE, Expert, Independent Reporting Mechanism for OGP, Georgia (video, speech, presentation)
European experiences in civil participation in decision-making
- David ERAY, Minister of Environment, Jura canton, Switzerland (speech)
- Taras KUCHMA, Mayor of Drohobych City, Ukraine (video)
- Philippe JAQUEMYNS, Deputy Mayor of Woluwé-Saint-Lambert, Belgium (presentation)
- Volodymyr PROKOPIV, Deputy City Mayor, Secretary of Kyiv City Council (video) and Artem STELMASHOV, Head of Division, Kyiv City Council, Ukraine (video)
- Krzysztof STANOWSKI, Head of International Cooperation Centre, Lublin, Poland (brochure, Lublin Participation)
- Lucy FLEMING, Head of Democratic Engagement, Bristol, United Kingdom (speech)
- Anthony ZACHARZEWSKI, President of The Democratic Society, Brussels Office (video)
International approaches to civil participation in decision-making
- Anna RURKA, President of the Conference of International NGOs (speech)
- Markku MOLLARI, Chair a.i. of the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (speech)
- Thomas ANDERSSON, Member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (speech)
- Marco KEINER, Director of the Environment Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (speech)
Continued civil society’s and citizens’ engagement between elections is fundamental for the functioning of a truly democratic society and opens a society-wide dialogue on critical issues. Civil participation is not only the direct result of the rights enshrined in Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of expression, assembly and association), but also a common value of the European States and a way of governing, which better involves all concerned stakeholders.
This is why the Council of Europe continues to work in this area and has developed further standards: the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority; the Committee of Ministers’ Guidelines for civil participation in political decision-making; the Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)4 on the participation of citizens in local public life; the 2019 Revised Code of good practice for civil participation in the decision-making process.
Given the on-line format of the event, all contributions appear in the original versions and language, as submitted by their authors and were not subjected to any modifications or alterations of any kind by the organisers. Account taken of the very limited time available for the organisation of the Conference and of the large number of contributions on the agenda, translation of the conference materials was performed internally by the staff of the Department of Democracy and Governance of the Council of Europe.