CD Chairmanship

The chairmanship of the Community of Democracies (CD) changes every two years, following the culmination of the chair country hosting a Ministerial Conference.  In addition to hosting the Ministerial Conference, the chair country also oversees the CD’s Convening Group (CG), currently comprised of 17 member countries. The chair country also regularly organizes CG meetings.  The chair country of the CD is also responsible for organizing an annual meeting of the United Nations Democracy Caucus that coincides with the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.  The chair country works with the CD’s Permanent Secretariat, currently headed by Professor Bronisław Misztal, in order to direct all of the CD’s activities.

The chairmanship of the CD is currently held by the country of Lithuania, who assumed control in July 2009 following the Lisbon Ministerial held on July 11-12, 2009 hosted by then-chair country Portugal.  The Lisbon Ministerial concluded in the adoption of the Lisbon Declaration, which reaffirmed the CD’s commitment to strive to establish sustainable global democratic governance and to uphold universal human rights and freedom for all individuals. 

Since assuming the chairmanship of the CD, Lithuania has announced five goals and priorities that it would like to pursue during its chairmanship, they are:

1. To crystallize the mandate of the Community of Democracies and to adjust it to the current issues. 
2. To achieve that the Community of Democracies dedicates more attention to the democratization of European Union’s neighbors in the East, the Middle East and Africa.
3. To initiate and draft statements of the troika of the Community of Democracies on threats to democracy in the face of conflicts and crises. 
4. To strengthen the role of the Community of Democracies in the United Nations.
5. To make cooperation between the governmental and nongovernmental structures on the issues of democracy promotion more active.

During its chairmanship of the CD, Lithuania is also overseeing the formulation of several Working Groups, which are meant to devise collaborative and practical initiatives to promote and support democracy at all levels of government.  The Working Groups will address topics including:

• Poverty, Development, and Democracy that is chaired by Italy and Chile
• Promoting Democracy and Responding to National and Transnational Threats to Democracy that is chaired by Hungary
• Regional Cooperation that is chaired by Romania and South Korea
• Threats to Civil Society that is chaired by Canada.
• Gender Equality and the Promotion of the Rights of Women that is chaired by the United States.

In addition, Lithuania is also currently in the process of formulating Working Groups for the following topics: Education and Training for Democracy; Working Methods of CD and its Convening Group; Grassroots Democracy and Local Governance; and Political Parties and Parliaments.  The Working Groups will operate throughout the duration of Lithuania’s chairmanship, until the next Ministerial Conference. 

In addition to organizing the aforementioned Working Groups, Lithuania will also oversee many important events, including: the organization of the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of the CD in Summer 2010 to be held in Krakow, Poland; a joint event with NGOs and youth organizations with Lithuania’s chairmanship of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in 2011;aCD panel on transatlantic cooperation in the margins of the Brussels Forum in Spring 2010; a joint event in cooperation with youth organizations and NGOs during Lithuania’s Presidency of the CBSS in Spring 2010; a CD panel within the Global Internet Governance Forum to discuss the use of modern technologies for democracy development in Vilnius in Fall, 2010; a round table in conjunction with Lithuania’s chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on democratic activities in 2011; and its own Vilnius Ministerial in 2011.

Lithuania will host the Vilnius Ministerial in 2011, bringing the total number of CD Ministerials to six.  Following the Vilnius Ministerial, the country of Mongolia will assume the chairmanship of the CD in 2011.

For more information about Lithuania’s chairmanship of the CD, please see:

Lithuania Assumes Chairmanship of CD; Pledges to Continue Partnership with Civil Society