Standing up for

Democracy
& Rights

Working together to turn hope into action

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6-7 November, 2025, Copenhagen

Hosted by Nyt Europa and Global Focus with partners

A two-day conference during the Danish EU Presidency, bringing together voices from across Europe and different sectors to collectively reaffirm our shared democratic commitments and translate them into concrete action.

📍 Venue: University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Social Sciences

The venue is accessible for participants with accessibility needs.

👉🏾 Participants can register here

👉🏾 Volunteers can register via email here

Conference Program

Skills and Capacity Labs

Practical Information

Why this conference,
why now?

What to expect

The universal appeal of democratic norms that has shaped European cooperation for over 80 years can no longer be taken for granted.

Across the continent, we are witnessing the erosion of civic space, fundamental rights, and rule of law safeguards, which is intensified by global instability, security concerns, and rising authoritarian trends.

This conference is rooted in the belief that European strategic autonomy needs to be based on a robust, inclusive vision of democracy, where rights, rule of law, and active civic engagement are indivisible.

Against the backdrop of the Danish EU Presidency, we aim to seize this moment to:

Through plenary sessions, keynote speeches, participatory formats, workshops and co-creative spaces, participants will:

Shape a shared roadmap for

defending and revitalising democracy and rights in Europe

Work alongside leaders and experts in interactive plenaries, skills & capacity labs, and co-creative workshops

Gain practical tools and establish

collaborative initiatives to act beyond this event

Find ways forward to move beyond diagnosing problems towards concrete, actionable change

Further collaboration to strengthen cross-border and cross-sector alliances and promote different perspectives

Break down silos, recognising that threats to civic space and the rule of law effects us all

We aim to find ways forward, further collaboration,
and break down silos!

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Conference Program

Thursday, 6 November

Friday, 7 November

14:30 Registration and Coffee

15:00 Welcome

Lone Loklindt, Chairperson, Nyt Europa,

and Member, FRi Advisory Board

15:20 Opening Speech

Marie Bjerre, Minister of European Affairs, Denmark

15:50 Visualising Democracy and Human Rights

Crash course in visual collaboration

16:20 Coffee Break

16:30 Onboarding and World Café

17:50 Panel Debate

Democratic shifts in Europe: understanding the reasons and creating new pathways with:

Marlene Wind, Professor, University of Copenhagen

Sandra Seubert, Professor, Goethe University Frankfurt

Moderator Andreas Accardo, Head of Unit,
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

18:30 Free Time

19:30 Conference Dinner

Self-paid, sign up here

08:30 Welcome, Recap and Feed Forward from Day 1

09:00 Keynote Speech

Sirpa Rautio, Director,

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

09:15 Panel Debate

Showcasing how to mobilise for democracy: cross-sectoral perspectives on good practices and lessons learned with:

Balázs Dénes, Executive Director, Liberties Europe

Márta Pardavi, Co-Chair, Hungarian Helsinki Committee

Nikolaj Nielsen, Lawyer, Kontra Advokater

Elena Sánchez Nicolàs, Editor in Chief, EUObserver

10:00 Coffee Break

10:30 Skills and Capacity Labs

Parallel workshops, see below for registration

12:00 Lunch

With art performance by New Democracy Fund Partners

13:00 Co-Creating Ways Forward

Parallel working groups

16:20 Reporting Back and Synthesising

16:30 Break with Gallery Walk

Presentation of harvest sheets from working groups

16:40 Passing the Baton

Keep momentum going for the upcoming EU presidencies with:

Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou, Professor, European Law and Reform, and Director, CRoLEV (Cyprus)

Joe O'Brien, Director, Irish Council for Civil Liberties (Ireland)

17:00 Check-out and Ways Forward

17:30 Networking and Drinks

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Skills and Capacity Labs

In the face of democratic backsliding, diagnosing problems is no longer enough.

Rather we must build the capabilities to act, and here the Skills and Capacity Building Labs are designed as parallel workshop sessions where theory meets practice, and potential is realised.

These interactive, problem-driven sessions bring together participants for co-learning, peer exchange, and hands-on collaboration. The format focuses on enlightenment, hands-on techniques, co-creation of tools, and cross-sectoral fertilisation.

How to register for the Skills and Capacity Labs

Not signed up for the conference yet? When signing up for the conference, pick your preferred workshop session here.

Already signed up for the conference? Go back and edit your current registration via NemTilmeld (you have recieved a link via email).

Read in depth about each workshop session here

1. Media, disinformation and democracy

The workshop is organised by Civil Liberties Union For Europe and will be hosted by Valentin Toth, Head of Communications.

The aim of the workshop is to map how civil society perceives the state of democracy within the broader information space, from the perspective of mainstream media and the growing influence of disinformation.

Through interactive, group-based activities, this playful workshop will explore the main challenges, generate possible solutions, and define a shared vision.

The key conclusions and priorities of the workshop will be channelled to the Danish EU Presidency’s relevant platforms.

2. Timeout Dialogue Method supporting civic engagement and democracy

The workshop is organised by Timeout Foundation.

In this workshop you will learn about the Finnish Timeout Dialogue Method and how to use it to support civic engagement and participatory democracy.

Over the last six years more than 140.000 people have participated in different Timeout Dialogues. The method has proven successful in generating constructive discussion formats and is now being implemented and used as a working tool across countries and sectors, by NGO’s, ministries, cities, communities and active citizens.

In this workshop you will learn to prepare and to facilitate Timeout Dialogues.

3. Civic space monitoring: from data to action

This workshop is organised by European Center for Not-for-Profit Law, European Civic Forum and Danish Institute for Human Rights.

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for concrete methodologies that track data and identify trends in civic space and the enabling environment. Advocacy efforts are often reactive, which limits the chances of achieving meaningful change. The aim of the session is for the different organisations to present in detail how different methodologies work and their synergies.

Specifically, we will present the new tool: Monitoring Action for Civic Space (MACS) and the Early Warning System and the Right to Defend Rights monitoring tool from DIHR.

Participants will be get to interact with the tools and assess their needs and potential areas for improvement. In addition, the session aims to connect data with action and identify tools for advocacy, so participants can identify concrete resources and tools for advocacy.

4. Use of citizen-generated data for more inclusive decision-making

This workshops is hosted by Danish Institute for Human Rights, International Civil Society Centre and IWGIA.

ICSC will present the Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data, which was recently endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission. The Framework guides and sets standards for citizen data as a practice to close data gaps for population groups often less visible in data to ensure that their experiences and needs are reflected in analyses and policies.

IWGIA and DIHR will showcase best practice examples of how to collect citizen data from population groups often overlooked in data and policy making:

The Indigenous Navigator
The Handicap Barometer
The LGBT+ Barometer

The workshop is a facilitated exercise where participants will learn about citizen data as concept and practice and get to engage with thematic and concrete tools to collect, disseminate, and turn citizen data into policy change.

5. Youthopia: youth engagement across segments and borders

This workshop is organised by the Our Rule of Law Foundation.

Across Europe, youth engagement is often designed from the top down: Topics are pre-set, participation is institutionalised through formal councils, and initiatives rarely focus on academic quality or policy relevance. The combination of these factors often serves to discourage rather than encourage young people to learn how to use their democratic agency. The Our Rule of Law Foundation takes a different approach. Founded by law students as a grassroots initiative, it has grown into a pan-European foundation, recognised as the national winner of the 2024 European Charlemagne Youth Prize (Netherlands) for empowering young Europeans to engage meaningfully in democracy.

Through its mentorship programmes, the Our Rule of Law Academy, the Vote4OurRuleofLaw Fellowship, and the Our Democracy Report (ORoL) has developed a model that combines research rigour, youth-led participation, and real policy impact.

The Youthopia workshop will present this model and invite participants to reflect on its strengths and limitations. Together, we will discuss how it might be improved, scaled, or adapted to other contexts. The session will conclude with a co-created blueprint of actionable principles for meaningful, long-term youth participation in democratic life.

6. From civic space struggles to EU impact

This workshop is organised by the Balkan Civil Society Development Network with Civic Initiatives.

This interactive lab will explore how civil society can effectively engage EU institutions and policies to defend civic space and strengthen democracy — both in EU Member States and in enlargement countries. Drawing on BCSDN’s Monitoring Matrix and lived experiences from the Western Balkans, the session highlights how challenges in candidate countries often foreshadow or mirror civic space struggles within the Union.

Serbia will act as a case study. Participants will examine how BCSDN and partners raised awareness of restrictive civic space developments in Serbia, leveraging connections and collaborations with European and international organisations and networks. This case will illustrate how regional advocacy networks and EU-level engagement can amplify national struggles, generate international solidarity, and pressure institutions to act.

7. Strengthening solidarity and coalition-building mechanisms

This workshop is hosted by the European Network Against Racism.

This session focuses on reinforcing the infrastructures that enable solidarity and collection action across movements and borders. Drawing on ENAR’s experience in shaping and monitoring the EU Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-2025 as well as the upcoming EU Anti-Racism Strategy, it explores how similar frameworks can inspire and strengthen collaboration among movements for racial, climate, migrant and social justice.

Through shared reflections and practical examples of cross-country coalition-building, participants will identify concrete ways to connect grassroots realities with EU-level advocacy, fostering resilient networks capable of responding collectively to shrinking civic space and rights restrictions.

8. Democratising the MFF

This workshop is organised by: the National Federation of Polish NGOs and Stefan Batory Foundation.

In mid-July, the European Commission presented its proposal for a new Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-32. It includes an ambitious plan to double current funding for the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, which is to become part of a new initiative called Agora EU. However, immediately after the announcement, voices of opposition to a general increase in the EU budget arose. We now face months of struggle to maintain support for CSO’s.

But money is not everything. CSO’s also have procedural solutions at their disposal to implement their agenda and improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable members of our societies – horizontal principles and mechanisms to control their implementation (e.g. monitoring committees). However, the current draft EU documents setting out the rules for implementing the EU budget do not guarantee sufficient use of these mechanisms. Joint action is needed to remedy this.

The aim of this workshop will be to familiarise participants with various issues that increase the participation of CSO’s in the implementation of the EU budget, including cohesion policy. Together, we will explore what advocacy activities are worth undertaking and what arguments to use to achieve this. We will also identify allies at European and national levels who are worth engaging in this activity. The main recommendations developed will then be presented in a policy paper and translated into action.

9. A strategic approach to legal defence

The workshop is organised by the Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef).

Around the world Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP’s) are increasingly being used as a means of blocking accountability and silencing advocacy.

In response to this growing threat to democracy, last year two new legal instruments were introduced to tackle SLAPP’s in Europe: an EU Directive and a Council of Europe recommendation on SLAPP’s. Both instruments are replete with gaps and ambiguities, and much will therefore come down to the transposition process (due to end in May 2026).

This session will explore how we can take advantage of the opportunities this period brings – with courts in Europe increasingly receptive to anti-SLAPP arguments – while reducing the risk of bad case law accumulating that reduces the scope of anti-SLAPP protections.

It will look more broadly at how defensive legal actions can be made strategic, and how funders and CSO’s can help build far-reaching and durable protections for activists and other public watchdogs.

Participants will gain the capacity to identify strategic cases; mitigate risks associated with litigation; develop the law to build anti-SLAPP protections; and respond sustainably to legal strategies built around financial attrition.

10. The role of cities and regions implementing human rights

The workshop is held by the Human Rights Office of the City of Vienna

and Region Västra Götaland. It will be hosted by Shams Asadi, Human Rights Commissioner, Emma Broberg, Regionsudvikler/ regional developer and Morten Kjaerum, Adjunct Professor, Aalborg University.

In 1958 Elanor Roosevelt famously expressed that if human rights are not implemented where people live their daily life they have worth nowhere (paraphrased). The human rights city movement has developed across all continents the past 20 years. This summer it took an important step forward when the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) co-signed the Guidance Framework for Creating a Human Rights City building within the EU framework. Why are cities relevant in this regard and how is it done and implemented in the everyday life in a city or region? These are the questions we will discuss, and participants will be presented with tools to address human rights at a local level.