The Forum is hosted by the Council of Europe and brings together members of civil society, political leaders and representatives of business, academia, media and professional groups.
The exchanges that take place during the World Forum meetings focus on real-life initiatives by public authorities or grassroots actors, which are critically examined by an interdisciplinary international panel.
Other speakers included Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman and Egyptian activist Nawal El Saadawi.
The second World Forum ("Re-wiring Democracy: connecting institutions and citizens in the digital age") was held between 23 and 29 November 2013 and addressed the impact of new information and communication technologies on democratic practices.
Speakers at this year's Forum included Abdou Diouf, Secretary General of La Francophonie, and Mary Kaldor, Professor of Global Governance at the London School of Economics.
[6] The lab discussions focused on initiatives to promote the inclusion of young people in the decision-making process and encourage civic engagement among youth.
Decision-makers, opinion leaders and social innovators will debate the approaches to be adopted at the international, national, regional and local level in order to ensure the protection of freedom in democracy facing violence and extremism.
These exchanges will be based on initiatives and ideas which have been selected through an open call and will be submitted for critical review by Forum participants.
If it is true that mass surveillance is a key in the fight of terrorism and organised crime, to what extent can citizens accept this lack of privacy and the restriction of personal freedom?
What is the impact of media ownership, and the control of major internet companies over personal and other data, on freedom and democratic debate?
Recognising the importance of educating children for democracy from the early ages, the Council of Europe offered to them a dedicated space, “Children’s Forum”, to allow them to express freely, to participate, to learn voting as the parliamentarians do, to cast their vote, to learn and ask questions about their rights, to innovate, in a context which allowed their voice heard at European level.
1200 students from 45 primary schools of Alsace region, France, who took part in a civic education project run by the Alsatian Themis Association, came to present their proposals for enhancing democracy and human rights.
The students were assisted in this work by their teachers and ten proposals were shortlisted by a jury and further presented and put on open vote during the Children Forum.
In the frame of World Forum for Democracy 2015, 30 experts, researchers, elected representatives from cities, social and democratic innovators, grassroots activists and civil servants gathered in a so-called “Hackaton” - a collaborative workshop where they thought about and discussed the best ways to support the development of transparent, participative and collaborative democracy.
In particular, the forum explored how education and democracy can nurture active citizens with critical and analytical skills, and how through fostering grassroots innovation and bottom-up democratic reform, it can help develop civic engagement and improve opportunities for all.
What is role of different education actors – teachers, learners, families, civil society organisations, public authorities, and the media?