A Design to “create a civil society structure to parallel governments…”
(Mark Malloch Brown, Deputy UN Secretary-General)

UPDATE:

• Transcript: Remarks by the Deputy Secretary-General, Mark Malloch Brown
• Transcript: Remarks by the Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Moctar Ouane
• Transcript: Remarks by IDASA ISC Representative, Paul Graham

A caucus meeting of democratic Members of the United Nations during the September “Open Debate” of the 61st UN General Assembly marked a historic turning point for civil society’s role as a major player on the world scene. Deputy Secretary General of the UN, Mark Malloch Brown, caught the moment when he said that the major grant ($256,500) to CCD from the newly established UN Democracy Fund is designed “to create a civil society structure to parallel that of governments in the Community of Democracies (CD).” This grant enables CCD to organize in collaboration with CD’s  nongovernmental International Steering Committee (ISC), five “regional networks” – in Africa, Asia, Middle East/North Africa, Europe and the Americas represented on the ISC – and thereby constitute a global constituency for CD capable of framing a civil society “action agenda” for presentation to the over 100 participating governments.

At this September 20 CD Ministerial conference at the United Nations in New York, the Community of Democracies, meeting as the “UN Democracy Caucus,” attended by  an estimated 110 representatives from 75 countries, heard Paul Graham, ISC’s member from South Africa, offer the Committee’s support for the establishment of a Permanent CD Secretariat.  The speech highlighted the interaction between the governmental and nongovernmental operations of the CD and was well received by the international audience. He also presented an ISC resolution on the “Assault Against Democracy” (for more information, see “Assault Against Democracy”).

Preceding ISC’s presentation to the CD Ministerial at the UN, he International Steering Committee (ISC) held a two-day meeting in New York City at the Open Society Institute, September 18th-19th to plan for that appearance and act upon related matters. It approved creation of “regional democracy networks” in the five regions represented in its membership (Asia, Africa, Europe, Middle East/North Africa and the Americas) by the Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD), which has recently been awarded a grant of $256,500 by the UN Democracy Fund for this purpose. The recent “Bamako Round Table on Democracy in Africa,” organized by CCD with the assistance of the National Endowment for Democracy, will serve as a prototype for other regions forming similar regional networks.  .

The CD Executive Secretariat for the Non-Governmental Process, a partner of ISC, received a $300,000 to help organize next year’s CD Biennial Conference grant from UNDEF, as did the International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT) t to assist “vulnerable groups,” such as minorities and women, in the democratic process.

The ISC will seek participation in the CD Convening Group’s Task Force on the Establishment of a Permanent Secretariat, chaired by Italian Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Senator Gianni Vernetti, co-chaired by Cape Verde  The task force consists of Chile, India, South Korea, Mali, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, and the United States.

The Democracy Coalition Project (DCP) reported on its assignment by The CD Convening Group to conduct an independent study of an estimated 40 countries to determine if they are qualified under the terms of the Warsaw Declaration to receive an invitation to the 2007 CD Biennial.

ISC representatives from the Asian region stressed that the committee should remain focused on democratization in China.  Zou (Grace) Haixia, the Director of European Relations for the Federation for a Democratic China (FDC) was present as an observer .

Yuri Dzhibladze, ISC member with the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights in Russia, reported on a meeting he attended of NGO leaders who met with President Bush at the UN on September 19th. The meeting between the NGO leaders and President Bush was organized by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and was attended by NED Director Carl Gershman.