· Youth Assembly (Friday 5 to Sunday 7 October)
At the initiative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, some 200 young people (aged 16 to 24), from Council of Europe member states, observer states and states partners for democracy, will meet from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 October, at the Palais de l’Europe, to discuss the themes of the World Forum with Council of Europe parliamentarians.
The Youth Assembly will be followed worldwide, through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Some 40 youth participants will take part in the Forum and present contributions to it.
The Youth Assemblies from the City of Strasbourg, and Alsace region will join the Youth Assembly of the Forum, in particular at a public event in Strasbourg city centre.
· Exhibition “Cartooning for peace”
“Cartooning for peace” is an association which was founded in 2006 by Plantu, Cartoonist of “le Monde”, with the support of Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations. It brings together about 100 press cartoonists from different countries, to promote freedom of expression. The exhibition presented in Strasbourg will be created especially for the Forum. Inaugurated on 6 October, the exhibition will remain open to the public during the month of October, at the “Aubette” exibition rooms, place Kléber. Entry free of charge.
· Civil society debate (Sunday 7 October)
The Council of Europe INGO Conference, regrouping around 400 European and world wide NGO networks with participatory status, will gather its members to discuss the Forum’s topics, with a view to actively contributing to the debates which will follow during the week. This meeting, which will be held at the Council of Europe, is open to all interested civil society organisations.
· Opening plenary session of the Forum (Monday 8 October):
“Universal values, global challenges and regional realities”
Two thousand people are expected at the opening session of the Forum, at the Council of Europe. The participants will be welcomed by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the local partners of the Forum.
After welcoming addresses by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (Albania), speeches are foreseen by the President of the French Republic and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, or their representatives, by the President of Tunisian Republic, as well as by other high-ranking personalities.
A panel of international personalities will then hold a debate on links between democracy and markets: “Do markets need democracy and vice versa?”
At lunchtime, the VIPs and partner organisations will be invited to participate in a lunch debate with Ms Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2011 and Ms Asmaa Mahfouz, Sakharov Prize 2011.
The afternoon will begin with parallel conferences, on the three main themes of the Forum:
- “Values v. values? Democracy: a universal value?”
- “Virtual values? Democracy and new social networks”
- “One size fits all? Democracy and globalisation”
Each conference will be introduced by a panel of personalities, as well as European and international experts. These conferences will allow members of the Youth Assembly and INGOs to present their work and also to fuel the afternoon’s debates.
The conferences are open to the public.
At the end of the afternoon, a plenary session broaching the theme “People against money, breakdown of confidence?” will take place, with personalities from the economic and finance fields.
Monday’s plenary sessions and thematic conferences will be summarised and used as a basis for the conclusions of the Forum.
It is foreseen that the plenary sessions can be followed on the Internet.
· The thematic workshops (Tuesday 9 October)
Twelve more restricted working sessions, on the three themes addressed on Monday afternoon, will allow for a more thorough debate between the experts and the public.
These thematic workshops will take place mainly in the Palais de l’Europe. Some, however, may be organised in other locations in Strasbourg.
· “Democracy in the 21st century” workshops (Wednesday 10 October)
The objective of these workshops is to discuss various themes, touching on different aspects of democratic life. These public workshops will be held in various locations in Strasbourg, at the initiative of the partners of the Forum (City of Strasbourg, National School of Administration, University of Strasbourg, Press Club, Euro-Institute of Kehl, Conseil Général du Bas-Rhin, Regional Council of Alsace and European Parliament). They will deal, in particular, with the following themes:
- Responsible media
- Local and regional democracy
- Transfrontier co-operation
- Education for democracy and citizen participation
- Is representative democracy in crisis?
- Responsible leadership
- Money and Democracy (Fight against corruption and organised crime)
- Migrations: solidarity in crisis?
- Europe – a global actor?
· Closing session (Thursday 11 October)
The closing session will take place on Thursday morning, 11 October, in the Assembly Chamber of the Palais de l’Europe, under the chairmanship of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who will present the conclusions of the Forum. Speeches from one or several international personalities are also foreseen for the closing of the Forum.
· Additional events
During the entire week, local partners of the Forum will organise, in different locations around the City of Strasbourg, a series of events relating to the Forum: citizen debates, literary evenings, films screenings, concerts, etc.