India Conference: Strengthening Democracy in Asia

April 3, 2015
News

The Strengthening Democracy in Asia: Inclusion, Participation, and Rights conference sought to strengthen relationships and networks among civil society organizations, media practitioners, politicians, and other champions of democracy.

The conference, held in New Delhi on March 23-24, featured Nobel Peace Prize winners His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Kailash Satyarthi, and highlighted challenges faced by activists, best practices in addressing those challenges, and ideas for promoting democratic change within society. The event also served as an opportunity to honor the historic work of George Fernandes in support of labor rights in India and democracy and human rights in Tibet and Burma.

 

To view highlights from the event and participants’ comments, use the hashtag #AsiaDemocracy. Top tweets included – Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (@BWCCI), who wrote “World belongs to 7 billion human beings. Stop emphasizing differences.” Quoting His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Hammad Siddiqui (@hammads) tweeted,“Each country Belongs to peoples NOT to few leaders.”

 

The conference was jointly organized by the New Delhi-based Institute of Social Sciences, the Asia Democracy Network (ADN), and the  World Movement for Democracy