Committee For The Defence Of Democracy (Komitet Obrony Demokracji - KOD)

The Committee for the Defence of Democracy (Komitet Obrony Demokracji – KOD) is a grassroots civic movement and international NGO founded in 2015 in Warsaw. Its goal is to protect the rule of law, democracy and human rights, defend European values and strengthen civil society. KOD is the movement which organised the biggest mass protests in Poland since the fall of communism, gathering hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of all major cities in the country and numerous capitals worldwide. 1.5 million Poles claim they have at least once attended a KOD protest. KOD is registered in the Polish and Belgian Associations Registers as well as in the EU Transparency Register as a not-for-profit non-governmental organization under the name of Committee for the Defence of Democracy (short: Democracy Committee). The aims of KOD include: - Developing and promoting attitudes and actions which foster the preservation and development of a democratic legal state. - Promoting and developing the idea of a neutral world view. - Promoting and developing the idea of civic society, promoting good citizenship and good behaviour. - To promote and protect human rights, freedoms and civil liberties. - Activities promoting European integration and developing contacts and cooperation between societies. - Taking action against the breaking of the principles of democracy and the rule of law (including state and local authority fraud and when they exceed their rights and competence). - Activities aimed at disseminating knowledge about the democratic political state system, promoting social justice, ensuring the freedom and human rights of citizens and the safety of citizens In 2016, KOD’s efforts were recognized by the European Parliament which awarded it the European Citizen’s Prize.