Mikhail Gorbachev to participate in the international conference themed “HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD”

     On 6-7 November 2008, in Bosco Marengo, Piedmont, Italy, Mikhail Gorbachev, in his capacity of President of the World Political Forum, will attend a meeting of its General Assembly devoted to the theme “HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD”. The WPF will hold this international conference to mark the 60^th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This seminal political document of international law was adopted on December 10, 2008 and became a historic milestone in mankind’s quest to assert the principles of democracy and respect for individual rights. The Conference organizers seek to “reiterate the enduring value of the principles and goals formulated in this document”, as “even today we are painfully aware that fundamental human rights are being violated, often in ways as dramatic as sixty years ago; that citizens around the globe are denied political freedom, and millions of people are subjected to discrimination and deprived of safeguards and conditions for free development, for expressing their views and beliefs, practicing religion, or just enjoying the living standards worthy of the 21^st Century”.

     The World Political Forum sees its mission as providing political figures, international experts and civil society leaders a platform for free discussion of the most important issues of world politics and problems of building a new world civilization. The agenda of the upcoming WPF conference and the list of its participants can be found at the Forum’s official Web site at http://www.theworldpoliticalforum.org/d1.php?archivio=2008.