Topical Working Groups
Panel 5 - Democracy, Freedom of Association and the Protection of NGOs
Chair: G. Rajasekaran
Panelists: Edil Baisalov, Choong-Ho Kang, Joseph Tsikira

Rajasekaran: Government ministers and civil society leaders from around the world have gathered to address the problems of strengthening democracy on the national, regional and global levels. Addressing these issues, what kind of solutions should non-governmental organizations and independent groups propose to the governmental assembly in promoting democracy?

Some trends have been discouraging. Trade unions are turning back, even retreating, on the issue of liberalism (e.g. China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia). In addition, there is no proper legislation in place to implement the rights of civil activists in many regions.

Tsikira: Zimbabwe is a country known to be undemocratic as democratic rights are being violated on a daily basis. International organizations such as the ILO (International Labor Organization) do provide some basic guidelines for human rights protection, but within the country there is no legislature to ratify them.

The basic constitution of Zimbabwe does maintain a sense of democracy – freedom of expression, the right to assembly- but the awareness remains only in the constitution. To ameliorate the situation, civic organizations have made efforts to democratize the political arena through promoting free votes for all, strengthening the opposition party, and leaving the ultimate freedom of choice to the people. However, civic organizations continue to face harsh conditions: even forced disintegration by the government.

Baisalov: Kyrgystan has had different experiences compared to already democratized countries but similar experiences to countries in transition from communist regimes to democratic. The country is still in a transitional period and faces the unfortunate situation of being the only democratic country surrounded by Russia, China and Kazakhstan. After the collapse of the communist regime, the U.S. government and the European Union tried to structure civil society in Kyrgystan. There were outside interventions, but important initiatives nevertheless. Funding for human rights groups has mostly come from foreign sources – as high as 95 percent - and local support has mostly come from volunteers.

Democratic movements are beginning to blossom and governments are making concessions, announcing constitutional reforms, and recognizing the legitimacy of NGOs. Already, approximately five thousand NGOs have emerged in many arenas regarding community development, and women’s rights. Now NGOs can freely register on a notification basis. There needs to be a critical mass of NGOs.

Kang: Korea has come a long way in the promotion of democracy but needs to make further efforts in its development, especially in terms of freedom of association.

For instance, Korea is notorious for leftist unionists. Leaders have been arrested, sent to jail. A number of charges did apply to the union leaders, that is, leading an illegal strike, or impeding the exclusive rights of management, or not keeping to legal procedures. However, the problem is that any strike can be easily defined as illegal by the government. Normally more than ten charges per arrest have been made. More than 700 unionists were sent to jail under the Kim Dae Jung government. This fact is obviously a great disgrace for the administration as well as for the democratic state itself.

Public servant unions are also still not allowed, but its formation has been proposed to the National Assembly. However, the government has not legally recognized the proposed form of union and insists that the Public Servant Union use the name of “employee association,” rather than “trade union.”

As another example, teacher’s unions were not allowed until 1988. It was formed in 1989, but the government refused to recognize the association since teachers could also be regarded as public servants. Efforts should continue to fully implement the rights to association and action.

Proposals for the Promotion of Democracy

- It is necessary to produce a form of global assessment; a reporting of global backlash to NGOs by surveying repressive governments and other institutions.

- The NGO community should form initiative groups, and use a self-regulatory mechanism to make transparent, proper assessments for itself.

- There is a need to urge governments to establish legal mechanisms for the protection and promotion of civic activism.

- There is a need to request more freedom for NGOs, even non-registered ones.

- There is a need to establish networks within and outside the NGO community.

- There is a need to focus on global integration: this is very important to engage in social dialogue.

- Beware of dilemma between democracy and security: the problem of unjustly labeling international organizations as being terrorists.

- Governments should act with prudence and make sure the target they are after are not NGO activists and continue to maintain the rights to freedom of speech and association.

- Do not discard the rights of NGOs.

- Incorporate multiple initiatives in the field regarding the protection of civil rights. (The World Bank can assume this role by “enabling the legal environment for civil action.”).

Observations and Recommendations

Government ministers and civil society leaders from around the world have gathered to address the problems of strengthening democracy on the national, regional and global levels. Regarding these issues, we need to address what kind of solutions non-governmental organizations and independent groups should propose to the governmental assembly in promoting democracy.

The panel and participants identified several global issues affecting the fundamental rights of freedom of association for labor unions and threats to the operation of NGOs. These include:

- The situation is growing worse. Despite some isolated local exceptions and higher visibility of labor standards and NGOs, the perception generally around the world is that conditions are growing worse for labor unions and NGOs. Restrictive new laws are being passed, the search for foreign investment is driving labor standards down, significant setbacks of democratic institutions are taking place, many extremely authoritarian governments show no signs of change. Zimbabwe is a country where the labor unions in particular are under direct attack by the government.

- “Democracy vs. Security” – The “war on terrorism” after September 11, 2001 is being used by governments to crack down on trade unions and NGO activities in the name of security; however often this repression is fueled less by security concerns and is an attempt to use security as an excuse to curtail and limit the power of trade unions and NGOs. This is evident in countries like Indonesia.

- Internal security legislation – Governments throughout the world are using draconian internal security regulations (often counter to protection of rights in their own constitutions) to harass and detain labor and NGO activists. Singapore and Malaysia present examples of this phenomenon.

- Globalization – Some of the effects of economic globalization are being used by governments and corporations to impact on issues raised by unions and NGOs, which have the effect of trying to shrink the space and role of unions and NGOs in civil society. This includes labor, environmental and consumer issues among others.

Community Action

There needs to be greater cooperation and coordination between unions and NGOs on human rights and democracy campaigns as well as campaigns to free political prisoners. This includes enlisting and helping coordinate organizations such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the World Movement for Democracy, the Peace Brigades, and the increased use of UN mechanisms such as the UN Representative of the Secretary General for Human Rights Defenders. The sea of new technologies such as the Internet is crucial for the ability of unions and NGOs to respond to these challenges.

A survey by civil society organizations on the backlash against labor unions and NGOs as a result of the post 9/11 “war against terrorism” is recommended to document the current state of attacks on unions and NGOs. This report would draw on a variety of sources including the ICFTU annual report, ILO documents and other sources of information about the state of freedom of association and expression generated by civil society.

Recommendations to Ministerial Meeting

Enabling Environment – Democracies should provide a positive “legal enabling environment” which respects the fundamental rights of freedom of association, right to organize and collectively bargain, and freedom of expression. This environment should be grounded in these countries’ commitments to the UN Human Rights Charter, and the core labor conventions of the International Labor Organization. The NGO Forum also calls on democratic countries to utilize more directly and effectively those UN agencies that protect labor and other human rights. Governments are also called upon to acknowledge and support efforts such as the World Bank’s survey to determine enabling legal environments which better contribute to development.

Global Assessment – It is necessary to produce a form of global assessment; a reporting of global backlash to NGOs by surveying repressive governments and other institutions. It is also necessary for the NGO community to form initiative groups and use a self regulatory mechanism to make transparent, proper assessments for itself. Global integration is very important to engage in social dialogue among different parties.

Release Political Activists – Countries aspiring to the label of “democratic” must release trade union and political activists who are detained and jailed for exercising their legitimate rights of freedom of association and expression. A special appeal to President Kim Dae Jung, as leader of the host country of this conference, is lodged by the NGO Forum because of the high level of trade union activists currently being detained, and to set an example for other democracies to follow.

Due Process and Fair Trials – The use of internal security acts (often dating from the colonial period) by countries that call themselves democracies must be reviewed. The practice of arresting and detaining labor and human rights activists without due process or a fair trial simply for exercising their freedoms of association and expression in not a democratic value and should come to an end.