Democracy is about power-sharing
Last year, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 15 September International Day of Democracy. This decision holds special significance for the IPU as the international organization of parliaments.
To mark this event, the IPU examined current challenges to democracy at a panel discussion at the House of Parliaments, in the presence of Mr. Danilo Türk, President of the Republic of Slovenia; Ms. Marta Lagos, Executive Director of the LatinoBarómetro polling organization (Chile); and Prof. Benjamin Barber, a US-based political analyst and writer. IPU Secretary General, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, and the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, were also present. Mr. Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States of America, 2002 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and President of The Carter Center, sent a video message.
“The IPU welcomes the International Day of Democracy. It offers an important opportunity for the international community and countries to reflect on democracy and to think about what each and every one of us can do in order to defend democracy and improve it”, said the IPU Secretary General, welcoming the participants gathered at The House of Parliaments for the panel discussion moderated by Swiss journalist Muriel Siki (TSR).
Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze underlined that “in establishing this Day, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed that democracy is a universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems”.
“Democracy is what it produces”
In his address, the President of Slovenia, Danilo Türk, said that “it is fair to say that this entire process of new and restored democracies articulated a list of issues which are central to the establishment and functioning of democracies globally today”. These essential elements are: the understanding that democracy has to deliver. “Democracy is a value in itself, but its actual test is in what it produces. Because people do not live out of love for nice principles, there have to be practical results and democracies have to meet the challenge of practical needs throughout their existence”. The rule of law, transparency and the need to fight corruption are important. “The credibility of democracy depends on how effective it is in this matter. Democracy cannot exist in a lawless society, at least not for a long time. Once the basic rule of law is established, there are tests of whether democracy will thrive”. One of the tests is how effective it is in fighting corruption. Another element relates to security. “Democracy of course is not without its challenges. Challenges to security of society are also challenging democracy”, added the Slovenian President.
Markets are being questioned
Ms. Marta Lagos, Executive Director of LatinoBarómetro, spoke about the threats that democracy has to face. “The biggest threat that democratization processes have is the fact of not being able to democratize societies and markets so that all can benefit from progress”. Will democracy fail to generate a fair process for societies? That is the question that we need to answer.
“Unfortunately, in some parts of the world growth and development have widened the gap between those who feel part of the system and those who do not. Markets are being questioned as a tool to distribute the economic goods and the progress of wealth. Parliaments play a central role in this process. They can be part of the problem, or they can be part of the solution. Parliament is nothing more, and nothing less than the reflection of how a given society has been able to represent its plurality and diversity”, stressed Ms. Lagos. “In this first celebration of the Day, let us hope for the sake of democracy that parliaments will grasp and interpret the demand for plurality and diversity, producing higher degrees of freedom and trust in their societies”, she concluded.
“Democracy is about powersharing”
Mr. Benjamin Barber, a US-based political analyst and writer, who is also President of the NGO CivWorld, believes that democracy is the only way our planet will survive. “Democracy is about power and power-sharing. Those who live under it must participate in it. Too often we talk about democracy in terms of liberty, equality, justice, civility and representation. But ultimately, it is about power and about power-sharing and people who want democracy want a share of power. They want a voice in their own affairs, which is why voicelessness is perhaps the most dangerous indicator of the absence of democracy and why the work around the world of people to give women a voice, the poor a voice, the lower casts a voice, that is one of the primary objectives”.
According to Mr. Barber, parliaments are the conservatories and the emblem of democracy. They play a vital role but they can only do it successfully if they maintain a close connection with those they represent and if they keep those they represent engaged and if they call on them to be citizens and to share the responsibility. Professor Barber, who was one of President Clinton's advisers, underlined that “if citizenship is no more than paying taxes and voting once a year and it is sending your children to die occasionally in wars that you don't really control, then most people will become cynical about democracy. No matter how good their rules are no matter how much they elect the parliament and the leadership that represents them”.
« I applaud the IPU for raising public awareness »
Former US President Jimmy Carter“I applaud the Inter-Parliamentary Union for coming together to raise public awareness about the first International Day of Democracy and about our collective responsibility to protect the citizens’ rights to vote, to be elected and to participate freely in the public affairs of their country”, said former US President Jimmy Carter, 2002 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and President of the Carter Center, in a special video message addressed to the IPU.
Mr. Carter explained that, together with his Carter Center colleagues, he has been working to promote democracy and human rights for nearly 20 years. “Since 1989, we have observed 70 elections in 28 different countries. All of The Carter Center’s election observation missions are conducted in line with the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation. This document - to which the IPU is also a signatory - marked a critical milestone in the development of election observation. It has now been endorsed by 32 election observation organizations across the globe. The Declaration is important because it provides consistent, professional standards for international election observation. In essence, we are seeking to re-establish the essential human rights and fundamental principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent treaties as criteria against which genuine democratic elections are assessed”, he added.
Events held by parliaments
To mark the first International Day of Democracy, the IPU invited national parliaments to organize their own democracy-related activities to highlight the role of parliament as the cornerstone of democracy According to the information received, the following parliaments held an event on or around 15th September to mark this Day: Afghanistan, Algeria, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Monaco, Mongolia, Namibia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Zambia.
They included the adoption of a resolution marking the Day, television and radio programmes, an “Open Day” and special parliamentary sessions. The IPU President Pier Ferdinando Casini participated in one such session at the Hellenic Parliament. Other activities included the involvement of the public, in particular young people, in parliamentary proceedings and the organization of democracy-related exhibitions. Many of the parliaments had made use of the information that the IPU had placed at their disposal, which included a poster and leaflet, as well as a redesigned version of the 1997 Universal Declaration on Democracy. Some had translated the material into their national languages.
[See the complete list of activities]
Iranian Speaker Ali Larijani visits The House of Parliaments
On the occasion of the 119th IPU Assembly, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mr. Ali Larijani, paid a visit to the House of Parliaments. Mr. Larijani and his delegation were received by IPU Secretary General Anders B. Johnsson. The discussion focused on the relation between the IPU and the Iranian Parliament, parliamentary diplomacy and fields where the IPU could offer its good offices, as well as the Middle East crisis, the situation in Iraq and nuclear non-proliferation.“Defending the human rights of legislators is a responsibility for all MPs”
A panel discussion focusing on the human rights of parliamentarians and the various violations they are sometimes subjected to was held at the US Congress on 18 September 2008 as a joint endeavour of the IPU, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the House Democracy Assistance Commission. As the title suggests, the panel explored the link between democracy and human rights, and particularly the right of elected representatives to express their views freely and without fear. It also examined how parliamentary solidarity and diplomacy can be mobilized in support of democracy.
Coming on the heels of the first International Day of Democracy, celebrated on 15 September, the panel provided an opportunity for the US Congress to pay tribute to the new International Day. Members of parliament from Afghanistan, Liberia, Timor-Leste and Haiti were among the participants. A video message sent by former US President Jimmy Carter - in which, among other things, he saluted the IPU and its Universal Declaration of Democracy - provided one of the highlights. Some of the salient points of the event included calls for pro-active diplomacy, needed at the first sign that democracy is under attack in a country. Governments that abuse their authority must be made aware immediately of the fact that their actions will not go unsanctioned.
The participants underlined that parliaments must act as human rights watchdogs and whistleblowers on the international scene. They must help raise the bar of what is acceptable conduct in the way governments treat their political opponents.
They added that democracy is a slow process that must be adapted to each country's political history and practical circumstances. There is no universal formula. The key to success in all cases is parliamentary oversight. This is also important to build people's trust in the democratic process. It is not only undemocratic regimes that violate the rights of parliamentarians. Terrorism can be an even greater threat to democracy in certain countries. Members of parliament have been killed by terrorists seeking to destabilize the democratic process to their advantage.
Human rights education should be a mainstay of all democracies. It is particularly important in new democracies where people may not fully understand the choices they are facing, as in the case of a new constitution. Democracies must guard against increasing economic and social inequalities; yet they must protect minority rights and accept the ethnic and linguistic differences in their midst.
The panel featured two prominent human rights leaders in the US Congress, Representatives Jim McGovern and David Price. They were joined by Senator David Coltart of Zimbabwe, Deputy Speaker Amanullah Paiman of Afghanistan, and Mr. Lenin Hurtado, a member of the Constituent Assembly of Ecuador. Ms. Kathryn Porter, President of the US Legislative Council for Human Rights, read out a message from Ms. Leyla Zana – a leading opposition leader from Turkey, and Ms. Ariela Blatter from Amnesty International offered a round-up of the substantive discussions.
The IPU Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson, moderated the discussion and gave a presentation on the work of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians. In his closing remarks, he invited participants to be vigilant, but also to look on the bright side. Democracy had made huge strides in just twenty years, he said, especially in Africa. Several countries that until recently had been thought of as lost cases were currently undergoing a true democratic renaissance