The International Day of Democracy conference is an annual event that brings representatives from the international community together to share their experiences about protecting and building democracy worldwide.

In 2019, the International Day of Democracy conference focuses on a key issue in contemporary democracy discussions: Accountability.

Maina Kiai, former UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of freedom of peaceful assembly and association and a prominent Kenyan human rights activist, is the conference’s keynote speaker. Kiai has spent much of his career focused on combatting corruption, supporting political reform and fighting against impunity in his native Kenya.

A number of other high-profile speakers from throughout the world will speak at the conference about their work fighting for democratic accountability.

Their combined experiences as civil society leaders, elected officials, investigative journalists, academics, legal representatives and EU officials demonstrate that accountability is key to well-functioning democracies.