The Norad Conference 2024: How can we push back on rising anti-democratic forces and human rights violations?

When: Thursday, February 1st,  0900 – 16.00 

Where: Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway 

Authoritarian forces are on the rise and people’s fundamental rights are under pressure. How can we turn the tide and stop this negative trend? On February 1st, democracy advocates, women’s rights activists, indigenous peoples, climate activists, journalists, and academia from all over the world will enter the stage at the Norad Conference in Oslo to discuss this question.  

During the past six years, the world has faced democratic setbacks. Women’s rights are being reversed. Climate activists and indigenous peoples receive death-threats for protesting. People who dare to speak up and mobilize are paying a high price.  

At the Norad Conference: Rights and Resistance, we will highlight the consequences of the decline of democracy and growing polarization. We ask: what happens when social media and Artificial Intelligence become the new weapons in the war for truth? What can we learn from those who dare to resist? And what role does development cooperation and aid play in the fight for people’s fundamental rights across the world? 

We will present new findings, interesting lectures, and engaging debates.  

Read more and sign up here 

The press is welcome to attend the conference. Feel free to contact Norad’s press team if you have any questions or are interested in setting up an interview with one of the speakers (see list of speakers and contact information below).  

Some of the speakers you will meet at the Norad Conference 2024: 

• Sevgil Musaieva, award-winning Ukrainian journalist and editor of the independent news-website Ukrainska Pravda. In 2023, Musaieva was awarded the Free Media Awards. In 2022, she was on Time Magazine’s Time100: Most Influential People of 2022.   

• Mustafa Nayyem, Head of the Ukrainian State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development. Nayyem came to Ukraine from Afghanistan as a refugee. He sparked the Maidan Revolution, and now has the responsibility of rebuilding Ukraine. 

• Iyad El-Baghdadi, Palestinian-Norwegian activist, founder of the Kawaakibi Center, and author of the book "The Middle East Crisis Factory" (Hurst 2021). El-Baghdadi was jailed and expelled from the UAE for his involvement in the Arab Spring, and was subsequently granted political asylum in Norway. 

• Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO, Global Environment Facility (GEF); renowned climate activist and previous Minister of Environment and Energy in Costa Rica. Since 1992, Rodriguez has held a handful of prominent roles at the UNs Climate Change Conference (COP). In 2023, he was on the Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influental Climate Leaders in Business.  

• Timothy Snyder, Historian and professor at Yale. Author of a number of books about holocaust, Ukraine, and Russia.   

• Hindou Ibrahim, Indigenous rights and environmental activist from Tsjad. A powerful and charismatic voice in the fight for indigenous peoples' rights and the conservation of nature. 

• Ayesha Wolasmal, Consultant with a background in diplomacy and international development cooperation. She has been working in Afghanistan for the UN and other humanitarian organizations since 2007, and she is one of few on-the-ground experts left in Kabul after Taliban took power.   

• Erica Chenoweth, professor, Harvard Kennedy School – known for their empirical study on nonviolent resistance. Chenoweth has written several books on the topic and is ranked among the Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine for their work. 

• Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Byanyima has been a strong voice for women’s rights for decades. She has previously served as the Executive Director of Oxfam International, and she has been elected to parliament in Uganda three times.  

• Ajit Maan, professor, Arizona State University; recognized security and defense analyst. Maan studies, amongst others, the use of soft power, Artificial Intelligence, and storytelling in war and conflict. 

• Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Co-founder and Board Chair of Afrobarometer – an independent African research network that measures public attitudes on economic, social, and political matters in Africa.   

• Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Minister of Climate and the Environment  

• Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Minister of International Development 

See all the speakers and sign up here: NORAD-KONFERANSEN