DEMOCRACY AROUND THE WORLD | Giving citizens a voice
12 September 2008
World to Observe First International Day of Democracy
Events to include U.S. panel discussion on promoting human rights
Washington — Numerous events are being held worldwide and in the United States to mark the first International Day of Democracy September 15, an observance established by the U.N. General Assembly in 2007 and intended to be held annually.
The General Assembly said the day helps reinforce the need to promote democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a September 11 statement that “it is deeply significant that this Day was brought into being by countries which are themselves working hard every day to nurture and consolidate their young democratic foundations. When the International Conference of New and Restored Democracies, through its Chair, Qatar, put forward the General Assembly resolution proposing the Day, it sent a powerful signal to the rest of the world.”
The secretary-general added that “democratization is not a spectator sport. And it is more akin to a marathon than a sprint. It is a long struggle that must be waged by individual citizens, myriad communities and entire nations.”
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES
The International Day of Democracy also marks the September 15 launching by the U.S. State Department of a worldwide competition aimed at promoting a global dialogue on democracy. The Democracy Video Challenge asks budding filmmakers, democracy advocates and the general public to create video shorts on the meaning of democracy, with the winners selected by the online voting public. (See “Democracy Video Challenge.”)
To commemorate International Democracy Day in the United States, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the House Democracy Assistance Commission are sponsoring, with the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a panel discussion focusing on human rights abuses against parliamentarians around the world. The event, being held September 18, will include members of the U.S. Congress and legislators from Afghanistan, Haiti, Liberia and Timor-Leste. The IPU is an international organization consisting of the parliaments of countries worldwide. (See “Congressional Caucuses Help Draw Attention to Specific Issues.”)
IPU Secretary-General Anders Johnsson, who will speak at the event at the U.S. Congress in Washington, told America.gov that he welcomes the International Day of Democracy in that “it provides an important opportunity to celebrate the advances and achievements of democracy and to reflect on how best we can overcome its current challenges.”
“I believe all of us who are involved in political processes in parliament and elsewhere have much to contribute to this debate. That is also why the IPU urges all parliaments to commemorate this day,” said Johnsson.
DEMOCRACY DAY EVENTS IN GENEVA AND ELSEWHERE
The IPU is holding a September 15 event in Geneva to address such issues as the main challenges facing democracy today, and how democracy is affected by globalization and the emergence of new forms of “social organizations, such as civil society organizations.” Scheduled speakers for that event include former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Benjamin Barber, president of the New York-based CivWorld, which oversees projects aimed at finding solutions to global challenges.
Another speaker in Geneva will be Marta Lagos, executive director of Latinobarómetro, a Chilean-based public opinion polling firm on Latin America. She told America.gov that countries following democratic principles give them a “way of belonging to the world,” and that the more the international community emphasizes the importance of democracy, “the more that countries feel the need” to follow that path.
“Freedom” is the most critical issue facing democracies today, Lagos said. That means, she added, that people are “asking for democracy because they want political freedom, they want the choice in the economic sphere, they want choice in their own life — the freedom to move, to be themselves.”
The IPU reports that International Day of Democracy events are also being held in such countries as Algeria, which will hold a conference-debate about “The Role of Parliament and Parliamentarians” in that nation.
In addition, Indonesia’s parliament will launch a civic education program; the United Kingdom will release a new guide for the public called “Parliament and You”; Uruguay’s House of Representatives will send posters of the Universal Declaration on Democracy, adopted by the IPU’s policymaking body in 1997, to more than 2,400 schools and 450 secondary schools across the country; and members of the IPU national group in the Zambian parliament will explain the objectives of the International Day of Democracy in radio and television programs on the country’s national broadcasting network.
More information about the International Day of Democracy is on the IPU Web site.
More information about the Democracy Video Challenge is available on the contest Web site.
More information about the House Democracy Assistance Commission is on its Web site.
More information about Latinobarómetro is on its Web site.
