Dr. Lloyd Axworthy
President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Winnipeg
WINNIPEG, MB – Dr. Lloyd Axworthy is honoured to be an official delegate with the respected Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) which is fielding a pre-election assessment mission for the May 25 presidential election in Ukraine. The mission will be in Ukraine from Monday, April 7 to Friday, April 11, 2014, to demonstrate the interest of the international community in the development of the country’s democratic political process and offer an impartial assessment of the political environment.
Members of the delegation are Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, president and vice-chancellor of The University of Winnipeg and former Canadian minister of foreign affairs; Edward “Ted” Kaufman, former U.S. senator from Delaware; Tom Andrews, former U.S. representative from Maine and president and CEO of United to End Genocide; Matyas Eorsi, former member of parliament from Hungary and former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Nadia Diuk, vice president of programs for Europe, Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean for the National Endowment for Democracy; Andrew Bruce, executive director of Electoral Reform International Services; Laura Jewett, NDI regional director for Eurasia; and Catherine Cecil, resident director for NDI in Ukraine.
The delegation will assess the state of preparations for the elections, including the legal and political environment, through a series of meetings with election officials, presidential candidates, political party leaders, and representatives of civil society, the media, the international community and government.
Following completion of the assessment, the delegation will present its findings at a press conference on Friday, April 11, 2014.
The NDI delegation will conduct its activities in a nonpartisan manner in accordance with applicable law and international standards for election monitoring set forth in the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation. The mission is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
UWinnipeg’s vice-president (finance & administration) Bill Balan is also joining the delegation as an advisor. Fluent in Ukrainian, Balan successfully negotiated closer ties including exchange programs with four leading educational institutions in Ukrainian last April 2013 — National Technical University of Ukraine – Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI); National Academy of Public Administration; National University of Kyiv “Mohyla Academy”; Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv). During this mission, Balan and Axworthy intend to strengthen those relationships and offer support and assistance to partners in the educational sector.
Find out more about UWinnipeg’s ties with Ukraine.
BACKGROUND
The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government. Since its founding in 1983, NDI has worked with local partners in 130 countries and territories, bringing together individuals and groups to share ideas, knowledge, experiences and expertise. Partners receive broad exposure to best practices in international democratic development that can be adapted to the needs of their own countries. NDI’s multinational approach reinforces the message that while there is no single democratic model, certain core principles are shared by all democracies.
Madeleine K. Albright is chair of NDI. Dr. Albright was the 64th secretary of state of the United States. In 1997, she was named the first female secretary of state.
Dr. Lloyd Axworthy is President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Winnipeg, Dr. Axworthy’s political career spanned 27 years, including Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1996-2000. He became internationally known for his advancement of the human security concept, in particular, the Ottawa Treaty – a landmark global treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. For his leadership on landmines, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. For his efforts in playing a pivotal role in establishing the International Criminal Court and the Protocol on child soldiers, he received the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe.
In 2004, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Axworthy as his special envoy for Ethiopia-Eritrea to assist in implementing a peace agreement between the East African countries. In 2006, the Organization of American States appointed him to lead the OAS Electoral Observation Mission that monitored the 2006 general elections in Peru. He recently served as a member of the UNDP Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor which released its report, Making the Law Work for Everyone, in 2008. He served as President of the UN Security Council in Feb 1999 and April 2000.
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MEDIA CONTACT
Diane Poulin, Senior Communications Specialist, The University of Winnipeg
P: 204.988.7135, E: d.poulin@uwinnipeg.ca
NDI CONTACT
Kathy Gest
P: 202-728-5535 E: kgest@ndi.org
