After being circulated among participants
in the Non-Governmental Process for the Community of Democracies,
the Country Assessments report has been finalized.
The purpose of the report is to help the Convening
Group make decisions on which governments should be invited
to the third Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Democracies
and in what category (full participant, observer or non-invitee).
The study compiles and evaluates reporting from a variety
of national and international sources, including intergovernmental,
civil society and media reports, and reaches conclusions based
on the criteria for participation of governments adopted by
the Convening Group.
The invitation process is a critically important way in which
the Convening Group can demonstrate its determination to uphold
the commitments made in the Warsaw Declaration and Seoul Plan
of Action and ensure continued progress at the Santiago meeting.
The report was produced by the Democracy Coalition
Project in collaboration with Freedom House as part of the
work that they have been doing as part of the Global Issues
Group and used the criteria established at the second Ministerial
Meeting of the Community of Democracies in Seoul, as well
as the Convening Group’s criteria paper as a basis for
determining the appropriate status for countries.
The full report can be found at http://www.santiago2005.org/html/issues.html
or at http://www.demcoalition.org/html/globa_cd.html.