POSITION PAPER OF THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY FOR THE SEOUL MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES

(www.radicalparty.org) DOCUMENTS ON: GLOBALISATION / DOC.TYPE: REPORTS

09/11/2002 | POSITION PAPER OF THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY FOR THE SEOUL MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES

The Transnational Radical Party (TRP) welcomes the Warsaw Declaration and considers the Community of Democracy process as a major contribution in the promotion of democracy. On the occasion of the Second Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies convened in Seoul from 10 to 12 November 2002, the TRP wishes to present a position paper on the possible developments concerning the activities of the Community of Democracies (CoD) and its members on the promotion of democratic norms and the ascertainment of civil and political rights the world over. The following recommendations are based on the General Motion adopted by the TRP in Tirana, Albania from 31 October to 3 November at the 2nd session of its 38th Congress; the full text of the motion can be retrieved at www.radicalparty.org.

The TRP believes that for over 50 years the most important international and regional institutions, first and foremost the United Nations, have adopted universal declarations, international treaties and declarations of intent sanctioning human, civil and political rights for all the inhabitants of this planet, rights that are systematically violated by most states. The TRP wishes to stress that we are witnessing an alarming and systematic erosion of democracy through the violation of the rule of law, which is the very foundation of real democracies.

The TRP is convinced that the military interventions that are sometimes necessary to ensure international peace and security, and which may be carried out by individual states, NATO or on the basis of a UN mandate, are no longer suitable for the promotion of democracy and freedom in countries under totalitarian, dictatorial and authoritarian regimes.

Considered that in a joint Statement of Foreign Ministers of the Convening Group of the CoD issued in New York on September 12, 200, during the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations, a series of initiatives were announced among which:

- the creation of the so-called 'democracy caucus' at the United Nations, which should "meet during the session of the General Assembly, and will comprise those countries that have endorsed the Warsaw Declaration of democratic principles;
- the invitation to participants in the 'democracy caucus' to exchange information, support resolutions, and undertake other activities that encourage and assist countries that have chosen the democratic path;
- the offer of support for resolutions that promote and strengthen democracy such as that adopted by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of Geneva;
- the recognition that, in situations in which regional procedure fail to produce a consensus candidate for a U.N. body, it would be appropriate for participants in the Community of Democracies, in casting their votes, to take into account among other considerations whether countries contesting the seat have endorsed the Warsaw Declaration.

Considered furthermore that the Members of the Convening Group also agreed to meet regularly at the ministerial level, including at the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

The TRP believes that a world organization of democracies should be promoted to address international peace and security, justice and development, an organization that should have as its immediate political priority the establishment of a World Democracy Organisation as a tool able to enforce international legal provisions on human rights, which, if they continue to remain dead letter, may trigger new human and humanitarian tragedies for a large part of the inhabitants of this planet.

The objective of creating a world organization of democracies to establish a World Organization of Democracy is the only tool capable to "declare war" on the true causes of armed conflicts and terrorism, which led to extensive bloodshed in the past century and that continue to be the distinctive feature of the beginning of this Millennium: the lack of democracy and freedom for billions of people living under dictatorial and authoritarian regimes;

TRP Identifies in the Second Intergovernmental Conference of the Community of Democracies held in Seoul, South Korea, on November 10 - 12 and in the concomitant forum of NGOs the first international fora where the project for the creation of a world organization of democracies aiming at establishing a World Democracy Organization should be submitted.

To this end the TRP wishes to make the following recommendations to the CoD and the NGO forum:

1) The formal establishment of a permanent operational Secretariat of the Community of Democracies, made up of representatives of the group of the convening countries and others with the task to fully enforce the Warsaw Declaration of 2000, the Seoul Action Plan and of working out a project that - through Preparatory Intergovernmental Conferences - may then achieve the objective of convening a Diplomatic Conference leading up to the formal establishment of a World Organization of Democracy.

2) The formal setting up of "Democracy Caucuses", i.e. groups of democratic countries within the United Nations system and international regional organizations, such as the Council of Europe and the Organization of American States, building upon what was enshrined in the Warsaw Declaration and the Joint Communiqué of the Foreign Ministers of the convening countries, adopted in September 2000. These caucuses should meet at least 6 times a year to address the issue of the actual enforcement of the Charters establishing these international organizations.

3) In the relevant international fora and in the "Democracy Caucuses", priority should be given to the respect for human rights and democratic principles, when States are elected to the bodies of the above mentioned organizations and when experts are elected in Human Rights monitoring bodies.

4) The promotion, both at the Commission on Human Rights and at the General Assembly, of resolutions aiming at establishing a Preparatory Committee whose duty is to present proposals for a new segment of international law able to lead to the birth of the World Democracy Organization.

5) The promotion at the UN of initiatives that - also through resolutions adopted by the General Assembly - should recognize situations of systematic violation of human rights, democracy and the rule of law as a threat to international peace and security and therefore under the competence of the Security Council.

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