CAN THE UN DEMOCRACY CAUCUS “PUT WHEELS” UNDER UN REFORM?

Dick Rowson, President of CCD (Council for a Community of Democracies) and Board member of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA)

This article will appear in the September 2005 edition of the UN Vision newsletter of the UNA-NCA .

22 August 2005

THE SETTING

As this article goes to press, the heads of state and government of 175 nations are preparing to descend on New York , September 14 – 16, for the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly, the so-called UN Summit, to discuss and act upon Secretary-General Kofi Annan's UN reform proposals, “In Larger Freedom.” Their Excellencies will act upon a “Draft Outcome Document” prepared under the direction of UN General Assembly President Ambassador Jean Ping of Gabon based on “intense consultations in an attempt to reflect Member States's concerns.” The Summit is the initial event in the Assembly's sixtieth session being held to review implementation of the 2000 Millenium Declaration and related UN conferences.

Directly following the Summit, the Foreign Ministers of the over 100 nations in the UN Democracy Caucus, which was established at the last UNGA by the Community of Democracies, will meet at what a group of 36 human rights and pro-democracy leaders of organizations from Africa, Asia, Europe and the America (including the writer) describe in their Open Letter to the Convening Group of the Caucus as “this crucial juncture in the history of the United Nations.” Their letter speaks to the leaders of the Caucus with the voice of civil society on behalf of freedom, democracy and human rights at this historic moment:

“Given the unique opportunity presented by the Summit in September to reform the United Nations, we believe that this is the appropriate time for the UN Democracy Caucus to play a far more visible leadership role as decisions are taken to reform the human rights and democracy mechanisms of the UN.”

THE PROBLEM

Mark Malloch Brown whom Kofi Annan chose to lead an effort to reform the UN, when asked as reported in the September/October 2005 issue of “Foreign Policy” magazine how confident he was that the U.N. General Assembly meeting would implement the proposed reforms, replied:

“External political events – the current difficulties within Europe, the level of tension between China and Japan , nuclear problems in countries such as Iran and North Korea – provide a highly confrontational, difficult environment in which to restructure the institution.” He went on to say,

that this situation “is compounded by a lot of internal U.N. difficulty – the Oil-for-food problem that won't go away and continued questioning of the U.N.'s leadership -- then of course, the summit may flop.” Mr. Brown also referred to the “punitive urge for the ( United States ) to pay back the UN for the position it (took) on Iraq .”

If this were not problem enough, at the Third Biennial Conference of the Community of Democracies in Santiago , Chile. , last April, while the final declaration said CD governments should “give serious consideration to the candidacy of countries contributing effectively to the promotion and protection of democracy and human rights worldwide in bodies, which focus on elements of democratic governance,” it failed to specify that this measure should be applied to the proposed Human Rights Council included in Kofi Annan's reform plans. The Community of Democracies itself as noted by CCD Chairman, Robert Hunter in his commentary on the Santiago meeting entitled, “A Tool for Democracy Could Use Some Help,” (“Washington Post”, August 10, 2005 “) permitted membership (in its own ranks) of such countries as Russia (slipping fast by any standard of democracy) and Egypt (now, however relegated to CD “observer” status).” Neither development bespoke a clarion call for democracy and human rights.

THE KEY ROLE OF DEMOCRACY

What's behind the U.N. Secretary-General's reform plan and the creation of a UN Democracy Caucus by the Community of Democracies? Kofi Annan provided a clear answer to that question five years ago at the founding meeting of the Community of Democracies in Warsaw , 2000. He said then: “The theme of this conference, “Toward a Community of Democracies,” represents my own most profound aspirations for the UN as a whole. When the UN can truly call itself a community of democracies the Charter's noble ideals of protecting human rights and promoting the ‘social progress in larger freedom,' will have been brought closer.” He views the Caucus and the force for democracy in the UN it represents as a crucial factor in the realization of his proposed reforms.

Furthermore, his eloquent statement links the importance of democracy and human rights to development and security, what the drafters of the Outcome Document define as the other two pillars constituting the “overall architecture” of UN reform: “Our nations and peoples will not enjoy development without security, nor would they enjoy security in the absence of development, and they would not enjoy either without respect for human rights.”

The General Assembly must now act on this principle by strengthening the capacity of the UN to work more effectively to promote democratic development and human rights. Taking advantage of UNA/USA E-Action Network, last month I wrote President Bush and Secretary Rice:

“If the Summit is to lead to real change at the UN, the UN Democracy Caucus…must push for action at the 60 th UNGA session following the Summit . I strongly urge you to seize this rare opportunity by asserting US influence to forge broad international consensus around a comprehensive plan to revitalize the United Nations. As a first step, I ask that you declare your intention to attend this September's UN World Summit in New York and clearly explain to the American public and to the Congress the importance and value to the United States of a strengthened United Nations.”

THE PROPOSAL

In the Open Letter, referred to above, sent this past June to the “Permanent Representatives of the Convening Group of the UN Democracy Caucus,” the 36 signers (including the Council for a Community of Democracies) challenge the more than 100 government representatives in the Caucus to support the following reforms at the UN Summit, later this month:

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

  • Replace the Commission on Human Rights with a standing Human Rights Council, whose membership would be elected by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.
  • Elevate the new Council to the level of a “main Charter body (akin to the now defunct Trusteeship Council) reflecting the centrality of human rights in the UN system.”
  • Support a smaller membership while preserving regional diversity to improve efficiency and enhance effective action.
  • Election to the Council should reflect the agreement reached at the Community of Democracies Ministerial meeting in Santiago last April to “give serious consideration to the candidacy of countries contributing effectively to the promotion and protection of democracy and human rights worldwide.” In the words of the Secretary General, election must “abide by the highest human right standards, as membership is not a right, it is a privilege.” These principles should be a requisite for membership in the Council.
  • The main focus of the Council's work should be on urgent, major human rights violations by specific states; all members should be subject to peer review.
  • Elections should be by a transparent process with a public list of declared candidates, open voting, time to weigh qualifications and based on the voting records and compliance with treaties on human rights, monitored by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

UN DEMOCRACY FUND

  • The Open Letter urges the Caucus to endorse the recommendation of the Outcome Document to establish this Fund, and
  • Expand the donor base of the fund among Caucus member states, particularly those that have reached high levels of prosperity. NOTE: India and the US have each pledged $10 million to the Fund by a joint declaration in Washington , this past summer.

DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY

  • Replace the weak language in the Outcome Document that speaks only of democracy as a value “implying the will of the peoples to express and decide freely their own political system, by reaffirming:
  • Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights where it states in part: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures,” and
  • The UN General Assembly Resolution on Promoting and Consolidating Democracy and the ministerial declarations of the Community of Democracies that include full respect for such rights as:

•  Multi-party and multi-candidate elections

•  Freedom of expression and association

•  Freedom of the press

•  An independent judiciary

•  An accountable legislature

•  Promotion of tolerance and pluralism

OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

  • Support the recommendation of the High Commissioner to double the budget of the Office over the next five years and include this commitment in the Summit document.
  • Support the Commissioner's focus on :”democracy deficits” as one of her six priorities

SUMMARY

What these proposals say is that the recommendation to the General Assembly to transform the ineffective Commission on Human Rights into a Human Rights Council and related recommendations, will have little meaning unless the current system is replaced by one that is led by States willing to enforce respect for human rights. This requires limiting Council membership to States that have pledged such respect. It is essential, therefore, that democracies support each other for election to the Human Rights Council and vote against the candidacy of those countries with a record of massive rights violations or which are unwilling to accept monitoring missions authorized by the Council.

What are the chances that these proposals will be accepted? The S/G's Chief of Cabinet, Mark Malloch Brown's views, cited earlier, reflect very real problems as does Ambassador Hunter's assessment of the shortfall of the recent Ministerial Community of Democracies Conference in Santiago, both cited earlier. As a veteran of the Cold War who experienced, first hand the powerful force democracy and human rights exerted for change over the totalitarian system of Soviet Communism, I learned how difficult it is to effect permanent changes in the international system. Yet, the Helsinki Accord based on human rights worked its way, eventually, and played a key role in undoing tyranny over a large part of the world.

And, there are some similar signs today: the built in flexibility and prospect for change in our own foreign policy, which historically has shifted between narrow parochialism and enlightened multilateralism -- this will be tested during the crucial UN World Summit later this month in New York; the rising influence of major democratic nations such as India, Brazil, Germany and Japan and:

-- Secretary Rice's attendance at the Santiago meeting as an active participant in the democratic decision-making process of that body;

--The warm reception being given the UN Democracy Fund proposed at the last UNGA by President Bush and now endorsed, with pledged funds, by India and the United States;

--Approval at the Santiago conference of Hungary's proposal for an International Centre for Democratic Transition in Budapest with its global mission to bring the experience of democratic transitions in Portugal, South Africa, Chile, Eastern Europe and elsewhere to those aspiring to democratic governance or seeking to consolidate their democratic gains;

--Formal acceptance at the Santiago meeting of the value of integrated discussions between government and civil society representatives and the commitment to expand that interface to the UN Democracy Caucus as it already is reflected in NGO representation at Convening Group meetings of the Community of Democracies.

In sum, we are seeing a slow but steady, albeit tortuous evolution of a process or movement toward global democracy linked to development and security. Through intergovernmental and global “actions in concert” by democratic governments represented by the UN Democracy Caucus, the Community of Democracies and others acting in tandem with increasingly influential players from civil society, we can trace the beginnings of a new kind of multilateralism better able to ensure the rights and freedom of peoples than was possible under the old rules of national sovereignty. States that cannot give a voice to their citizens, modernize their social structure and provide their peoples with hope and opportunity, stand to lose their sovereign right and ability to govern. That this is increasingly becoming clear to authoritarian regimes faced with the demonstrable effectiveness of democracy is perhaps our source of greatest hope for UN reform based on the principles of democracy and human rights.
© 2004 Council for a Community of Democracies - All Rights Reserved
Powered by Crescent Leaf Technologies