Plenary Session III: Report of Topical Working Groups
November 11, 2002
Chair: Carl Gershman

Panelists: George Mathew, G. Rajasekaran, David McQuoid-Mason, Can Paker, Genaro Arriagada, Miklos Marshall, Hyun-Sook Lee, Veton Surroi, Pavol Demes.

Panel 1, Genaro Arriagada – Strengthening Political Party Systems

Our panel was integrated of a group of distinguished people, most of whom are members of parliament. The discussion was interesting and all panelists agreed that political parties are one of the cornerstones in democratic society. Without democracy there would be no political parties. In many areas of the world, political parties face adversity and strife. The overall consensus was that political parties deserve overall criticism and should be highly scrutinized because they are responsible for representing the constituency in the best possible way. The discussion was centered on changing how political parties work and the expectations of parties. It was agreed that constituents should be more involved and active with their political parties and that parties should practice internal and external democracy in order to be efficient and productive in society. As a community of democracies, it is necessary for political parties and leaders to be more engaged in political and democratic events and forums. The first recommendation is to create a stronger relationship among all parties, domestic and international. The second is, the community of democracies must be a forum for discussion among all parties. There are two mistakes, one is the situation in which we have a strong civil society and no parties and the other is strong political parties without a civil society. Another recommendation is that multilateral organizations adopt measures to focus concern towards political and democratic growth and support political party systems and models. There are political crises all over the world and as a community we should work together to mend the crises and strengthen the system as a whole. One of the biggest challenges for parties is corruption and funding. Finances and funding are unsteady issues that lead to negative views. Many countries have created efficient programs for the development of political parties and it is an overall common goal to do the same with all political governments.

Panel 2, Can Paker – Market and Democratic Governance

• To strengthen the foundation for the functioning of markets and to improve democratic governance, we propose that the Community of Democracies commit themselves to establish a private property regime, also as a key component to support entrepreneurship. We strongly urge the Community of Democracies to include property rights within the Warsaw Declaration.
• To build a middle class supportive of democratic development, governments must reduce the costs of entry into the economy for entrepreneurs, the informal sector, and especially the poor, by simplifying business registration, licensing, and tax procedures.
• To increase business association and labor union participation in democracy promotion programs.
• To increase the democratic component of economic reforms, governments, including donors, should provide for more intense public participation by increasing disclosure of draft regulations and legislation.
• To increase disclosure and transparency in society, governments must adopt freedom of information laws that will increase the flow of financial and economic information. Also, donors should provide training and support for financial and economic journalists.
• To strengthen markets and democratic governance, it is essential to have independent regulatory and economic institutions. To develop the necessary public support and local capacity for such institutions, especially in developing and transition economies, donor countries should support local policy institutions or think tanks.

Panel 3, Miklos Marshall – Corruption and Democracy

There are five recommendations that the panel made. Corruption is a universal problem that affects all nations, rich and poor, developed and undeveloped. Where corruption is pervasive, the fight against corruption must be diligent and strong. Those who are guilty of corruption should be held responsible for their mistakes and be punished. It should be required that leaders sign legal statements and those who falsely sign or deceive should be properly punished. The recommendations are as follows.

1. We recommend that the states of the community of democracies provide adequate funding to enable groups to monitor the funding of countries.
2. In the allocation of development assistance, normal countries provide preferences to countries that are clearly on the path to democracy in order to fight corruption.
3. Member states should support national and international banking laws to provide for greater transparency.
4. Member states should provide greater access to information for the public on issues such as campaign finance, healthcare, etc.
5. Member states that provide international development assistance should provide funding for education, etc.

Panel 4, David McQuoid-Mason – Education for Democracy, Civic Education

• There is a need for greater cooperation in strengthening education and the expansion of democracy. The one practical and bold recommendation falls into two parts. In line with the Warsaw Declaration’s endorsement of democracy education, and its recognition of the necessity of collaboration between governments and NGOs in this regard, we recommend that the governments of the Convening Group should, within six months, convene a meeting of representatives of their governments, other governments, along with an equal number of representatives of national and international NGOs, and multilateral institutions – such as UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, and regional bodies – to develop a strategy for promoting democracy education worldwide.
• The Democracy Education NGO Forum of the Democracy/Civic Education Roundtable has established a Steering Committee to assist the Convening Group in carrying out this proposal.

Panel 5, G. Rajasekaran – Democracy, Freedom of Association, and the Protection of NGO’s

The situation around the world is growing worse in protecting NGO’s. The competition for foreign investment is driving labor down. In Zimbabwe, the labor unions are under direct attack by the government. The process of globalization has improved and resulted in a new form of networking around the world. What we can do is maintain the importance of our community and increase the cooperation of organizations all over the world in protecting rights. The use of new technologies such as the internet is influential in maintaining a network. Democracies should provide a set of rights to all people and an environment that follows accordingly with the set of rights.

Panel 6, George Mathew – Local Government and Democracy

The local government is the foundation of a nation’s democratic structure and practices. It is a training ground for politicians and facilitates multiparty governance and political pluralism. Local governments and democracy encourage and facilitate poverty alleviation, greater participation in the electoral process, women’s participation in society, and the participation of excluded communities. Local governments have been influential in opening up and democratizing the military and authoritarian regimes. (Cases of Germany, Nigeria, and Brazil) Therefore, considerable attention and importance should be paid towards local governments and democracies.

Panel 7, Pavol Demes – Promoting Civil Society in Closed Societies

Lively discussion started out with addressing cases such as Burma, North Korea, and Cuba. Several recommendations resemble other panel recommendations. The international and global community should create pressure to protect human rights. Efforts should be made to release falsely accused and imprisoned prisoners. They should encourage the freedom of expression in media in whatever way possible and recognize genuine civil activists and groups in order to engage with them in a professional and productive manner on a regular basis for the overall betterment of the community of democracies around the world.

Panel 8, Veton Surroi - Media and Democracy

Press freedom is a universal value and should be agreed to by all governments. There should be no attempts to define press freedom on any ethnic, regional, or religious basis. The free flow of information should be guaranteed. The debate over the “new information order” is irrelevant and regressive. We call upon participants in the Community of Democracies to convene at the upcoming UNESCO meeting to develop a common position to safeguard freedom of the media. Access to state held information must be guaranteed. There should be transparency and public dissemination of information related to the working of state institutions. All governments should put in place legislation providing for freedom of information access. The distribution of broadcast frequencies should be a transparent process governed by autonomous entities that reflect the diversity of society. Any restriction on the freedom of media justified by national security should be narrowly drawn and interpreted. The withholding of information under the aegis of a broad and imprecise definition of national security is unacceptable. We welcome the attention drawn to the issues of ownership and the influence of the corporate world in the media sector. This issue needs to be addressed without compromising basic journalistic freedoms. The Non-Governmental Forum volunteers to outline problems and issue of this area for the upcoming meeting in Santiago. We welcome the raising of issues posed by the expansion of the internet. The Non-Governmental Forum recommends that internet content not be restricted, that internet distribution be diverse and accessible and not be controlled by a monopoly.

Panel 9, Hyun-Sook Lee - Gender and Democracy

Gender refers to the social constructs of sex ie: masculinity and femininity. Incorporating a gender perspective into an expanding and strengthening democracy helps us to understand how these social constructs of gender may assist or hamper efforts to promote democracy.

While gender issues are not necessarily women’s issues, it is the obstacles to women’s full participation in democratic societies that present some of the greatest challenges to the achievement if full democracy. When over half the population is hampered in their participation with government or ignored in government policy or even restricted by the government, full democracy is not in effect.

Recommendations are as follows:

1. The existence of a coherent national plan for achieving gender equality, which includes specific targets such as, increasing the political representation and participation of women in elections and at different levels of government, eliminating discrimination against women in government programs, increasing women’s access to employment, reducing violence against women, the inclusion of gender issues in civic education at all levels, particularly the inclusion of gender issues and awareness in any educational reform efforts, and the inclusion of gender issues in government budgeting processes.
2. Member and candidate governments should measure and report on gender opportunity and equality, and present sex disaggregated data to the Community of Democracies. Member governments should report on the implementation of national action plans.

In addition, we recommend that member governments of the Community of Democracies commit to supporting and raising gender issues in international organizations and should the Community of Democracies establish a Secretariat, the Secretariat should have equal gender representation at all levels. And last but not least, more women should be present on official government delegations to the Community of Democracy meetings.

Chairman Gershman

An overall issue that seems to face all the panels and groups is the issue of human rights. Oppressive governments should not be tolerated. Another common issue is cooperation. Cooperation across all sectors and issues is crucial in attaining democracy and promoting democratic ideals.