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The Community of Democracies (CD) is an intergovernmental organization of democracies and democratizing countries with a stated commitment to strengthening and deepening democratic norms and practices worldwide. The CD is composed of both a governmental component made up of government representatives, and the ISC/CD, a non-governmental component comprised of civil society organizations, and both components meet as a group at biennial ministerial conferences. In 2004, CD governments also organized themselves into a Democracy Caucus in the United Nations (U.N.).
The CD was inaugurated at its first biennial ministerial conference hosted by the government of Poland in Warsaw on June 25-27, 2000. The initiative was spearheaded by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, along with seven co-conveners, including the governments of Poland, Chile, the Czech Republic, India, Mali, and the Republic of Korea.
At the close of the conference, the participating governments signed on to the “Warsaw Declaration” agreeing “to respect and uphold…core democratic principles and practices” including, among others, free and fair elections, freedom of speech and expression, equal access to education, rule of law, and freedom of peaceful assembly.
In closing remarks to the ministerial conference in Warsaw, the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan praised the Community a Democracies as a positive development toward global democracy, saying, “When the United Nations can truly call itself a community of democracies, the Charter's noble ideals of protecting human rights and promoting 'social progress in larger freedoms' will have been brought much closer. |
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“The Community of Democracies initiative aims to forge international consensus among countries committed to the democratic path on ways they can better work together to support and deepen democracy where it exists, and to defend it where threatened."
U.S. State Department |
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In late 2007, it was announced that a Permanent Secretariat would be established in Warsaw. To date, a Convening Group (CG), composed primarily of governments that initiated the Warsaw Conference, has governed the CD movement. All decisions are made by consensus. The chairmanship of the CG rotates on a biennial basis, with the chairing government responsible for hosting the biennial ministerial conference, as well as carrying out other CD initiatives. In 2006, the convening group expanded to its current membership, which consists of Chile, India, Poland, the Czech Republic, the United States of America, Mali, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, the Philippines, Mongolia, Morocco, El Salvador, Cape Verde, and Italy.
Membership in the CD is in theory reserved for governments that have shown a commitment to democratic governance as outlined in the Warsaw Declaration. However, the organization has yet to develop a definitive invitation process. The current invitation process has come under criticism as being too lax, undermining the credibility of the organization as an organization with a fully democratic membership.
Since the original conference in Warsaw, the chairmanship has been held by South Korea, Chile, and Mali, and each chair country hosted additional ministerial conferences: Seoul in 2002 (which produced the Seoul Plan of Action), Santiago in 2005 (which produced the Santiago Commitment), and Bamako in 2007 (which produced the Bamako Consensus). Following the Bamako Ministerial in November 2007, Portugal assumed Chairmanship of CD and will be the host of the next ministerial conference. João Gomes Cravinho, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, was named by Portugal to coordinate its Chairmanship of CD.
Click here to read more about The Evolution of A Movement: CCD's role in the Community of Democracies movement over the years.
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