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01/01/2003 | TOWARDS A WORLD ORGANISATION OF DEMOCRACIES General presentation of the campaign promoted by the Transnational Radical Party |
| In the second session of its 38th Congress, held in Tirana from 31 October to 3 November 2002, the Transnational Radical Party (TRP) adopted a political project aimed at promoting the creation of a World Organisation of Democracies, whose mandate would be to promote the respect by States of the juridical provisions and principles contained in the international treaties, conventions and pacts that they have ratified and that form the foundation of the democratic institutions, and whose aim would be to arrive at the creation of a true World Organisation of Democracies and of Democracy with binding powers. For almost one third of mankind democratic systems and institutions are unfortunately still an unknown concept, and despite the existence of binding international provisions that require States to respect civil and political rights, the truth is that dictatorial, authoritarian and totalitarian regimes continue, in the twenty-first century, to prosper. This consideration highlights one of the main unresolved issues in the international Conventions and the other international instruments regarding the protection of human rights and the fundamental freedoms: the lack of effective mechanisms of verification and promotion capable of ensuring the respect of internationally protected rights when they are violated by individual States. From this point of view, the crisis of the international mechanisms that exist today is clear for all to see. In particular, there is an evident lack of a follow-up procedure to so-called "constructive dialogue" between States and the organisms involved in verifying the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms. The consequence of this is that even in cases in which the manifest violation of rights by States is ascertained, there are no instruments capable of remedying the situation or promoting a positive solution. This means that the international provisions on the subject of human rights and the principles of democracy, although confirmed in theory in the internal legislations of almost all the Member States of the United Nations, are not applied in practice for millions of people, with an evident violation of the principle of legality by a certain number of States, which thus fail to maintain the commitments they have made at international level. This situation also characterises those countries or institutions, such as the Member States of the European Union and the Union as such, which very often continue, despite having included "democracy clauses" in bilateral or multilateral cooperation agreements, clauses that provide for the suspension of the agreements themselves in the event of the serious and persistent violation of human rights, to tolerate this practice, as happens, for example, in the cases of Vietnam, Laos, and so on. Over the last 10 or 15 years there has undoubtedly been a growing diffusion of democratic models in many regions of the world which had previously not experienced such a phenomenon. The end of the Cold War, in particular, has led many governments and international institutions to search for new forms of cooperation to support the development of democratic processes or to promote the birth of such processes; a great deal remains to be done, however, not only to make this choice permanent, but also to increase the number of "democratic" countries. The most significant initiatives undertaken at government level in this area have developed both at regional and at global level. Among the most positive experiences at regional level are the Organisation of American States and the Council of Europe, which make respect of the principles of democracy an essential condition for countries who wish to join them. At international level, as well as the United Nations Conference on new democracies and on restored democracies and the activity of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights, it is also worth mentioning the initiative of the Community of Democracies, which was launched in June 2000 with a Ministerial Conference held in Warsaw on the initiative of 7 governments, in particular of the Clinton Administration, with the participation of over 100 countries. This initiative is presently coordinated and led by 10 countries, the so-called Convening Group of the Community of Democracies, that is the Republic of Korea, India, the United States of America, Mexico, Chile, Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Mali and South Africa. In the Warsaw Declaration, the countries who were members of the Community of Democracies in 2000 identified a series of principles which form the basis of a democratic institutional system, and also set themselves the aim of establishing so-called Democracy Caucuses within the existing international organisations, that is groups of democratic countries that can form alliances on the issues of the promotion of democracy and the respect and promotion of human rights, both by presenting and sponsoring resolutions and by electing suitable States in the various international organisms. In the course of the Second Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies held in Seoul from 10 to 12 November 2002, attended by a delegation from the Transnational Radical Party, the 97 participating countries adopted a Plan of Action which, in addition to confirming the points set out in Warsaw, states that: "The Convening Group will continue to meet periodically and will be available to offer support and help to the Member States (of the Community of Democracies, ed.) for actions undertaken in the ambit of regional or international organisations, on the basis of the experience gained in the last two years. In close collaboration with the members of the Community of Democracies that are interested, the Convening Group will encourage the formation, among other things, of coalitions and caucuses for the promotion of international resolutions and other activities regarding democracy. The Convening Group thus aims to identify the means to facilitate action, to share information on developments, and to discuss the means for the promotion and consolidation of democracy in the respective regions. The Convening Group will also be available as an instrument to link regions and regional organisations, in order to promote the sharing of best practices and ideas." The risk that might emerge is that this undertaking is not followed by concrete initiatives on the part of the convening governments, as happened in the period between the Conference held in 2000 and the recent Conference in 2002. For this reason, the initiatives of the Transnational Radical Party will aim to ensure that the Seoul Plan of Action, and more generally all initiatives aimed at furthering the process of democratisation and the safeguard and promotion of human rights, can genuinely be put into practice over the coming weeks and months. To this end, the Transnational Radical Party intends to work together with as many governments as possible, through any form of cooperation that will allow the achievement of this goal. JOINT ACTIONS AND INITIATIVES BY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS AND THE TRP The Transnational Radical Party believes that it is important to undertake the following initiatives without delay: A) To press the members of the Convening Group to apply the Seoul Plan of Action and its other decisions (see the enclosed full text of the Declaration of the Ministers of the Convening Group of 12 September 2000), and to work at the same time to expand the membership of the Convening Group. From this point of view it is necessary to increase the involvement of the Member States of the European Union, and of the European Union as such, in the activities of the Community of Democracies. At the moment, in fact, apart from the presence of Portugal and of two future members of the European Union, Poland and the Czech Republic, in the Convening Group, the countries of the European Union have not played a substantial role in this process. B. A first measure to take in this respect is to establish precise rules of operation for the Convening Group and for the Community of Democracies as a whole. A preparatory meeting of member countries could be held in the next few weeks in New York for this first fundamental step for the effective organisation and operation of the Community of Democracies. C. In the framework of the objectives outlined above, it is necessary to give priority to the constitution of Democracy Caucuses within the various international organisms in which the issue of the promotion of democracy and human rights is on the agenda, in particular during the course of the forthcoming session of the Commission on Human Rights which will be held in Geneva from 17 March to 25 April 2003. On this occasion it is to be hoped that the members of the Community of Democracies which are not members of the Commission on Human Rights for 2003 can take part in the Democracy Caucus as observers. As far as the possible constitution of the Democracy Caucus at the next session of the Commission on Human Rights is concerned, the TRP has already been assured that the government delegates of Chile, India, Portugal and the United States are interested in such an initiative, although they have not yet made any definite commitment. Still on the subject of the Commission, the government delegates of several other countries have expressed an interest in working with the Transnational Radical Party to draw up a resolution on the "Promotion and Consolidation of democracies" which, on the basis of the results achieved by the Seminar held on 25 and 26 November, could open the way to further initiatives. The first objective of the meeting of the Democracy Caucus should be to officialise the frequency of its meetings, also through the adoption of Rules of Convocation and Procedure. Other objectives to be discussed include the following: A. To work out common positions on the issues on the agenda of the General Assembly which are specifically linked to democracy - such as the extension of the mandate of the Unit for electoral assistance; B. To function as a forum for coordination and information-sharing among the members of the Community of Democracies which are part of the governing organs of Funds and Programmes relative to aspects of democracy-building in their work; C. To function as a forum for coordination and information-sharing among the members of the Community of Democracies for the coordination of aspects relating to democracy-building in bilateral aid programmes promoted by individual governments; D. To build a North-South consensus among the members of the Community of Democracies on appropriate "democracy clauses" to be applied by the international agencies for development assistance; E. To meet regularly as the Caucus of the Community of Democracies at every session of the Commission on Human Rights to identify ways of furthering the issue of democracy in relation to the subjects on the agenda of the Commission (the members of the Community who are not members of the Commission could take part as observers); F. To discuss and coordinate strategies for election when countries and/or individuals run for election by the General Assembly or by the ECOSOC in organs in which democracy and democratic rights constitute one of the main issues of debate (presumably in the form of support for members of the Community of Democracies); G. As in point F, extended to all specialised groups/commissions/organs, not only, therefore, to those involved more directly in questions related to democracy; H. To establish informal contact among the members of the Community of Democracies on a wider range of issues within the United Nations (development, arms control, conflict prevention, etc.); I. To convene the Democracy Caucus also in the context of institutions linked to the United Nations, including those concerned with economic issues, such as the ILO, the IMF, etc.; J. To function as a forum in which to examine possible reforms of the operative or decision-making structures of the United Nations in order to guarantee greater responsibility/transparency/"democratic" representation. During this phase the role of Convener of the countries which are part of the Convening Group is played by Chile. The Transnational Radical Party has learnt that Chile would be willing to promote a meeting of the Democracy Caucus on the occasion of the forthcoming session of the Commission on Human Rights, a willingness which would naturally be strengthened if other governments were to express an interest in the initiative. 1. In the joint communiqué of the Foreign Ministers of the Convening Group, of 12 September 2000, the member countries undertook, among other things: to convene the informal "democracy caucus" at the United Nations that was discussed by the many countries that participated in the Warsaw Conference and endorsed its official Communiqué. The "democracy caucus" will meet during the 55th session of the General Assembly, and will comprise those countries that have endorsed the Warsaw Declaration of democratic principles; to invite 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; to direct their senior officials to prepare proposals that will delineate the criteria to enable countries to participate in the Community of Democracies and establish procedures to govern its activities, and those of the informal "democracy caucus"; to recognize 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; agreed to meet regularly at the ministerial level, including at the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. |
