<
https://www.democracywithoutborders.org/36332/proposed-un-rapporteur-to-support-democracy-fill-gaps-event-in-geneva/>
"On March 25, 2025, a side event titled “Democracy and Human Rights” was
convened in the margins of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights
Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Hosted by CIVICUS and Democracy Without Borders
with the co-sponsorship of a number of partner organizations, the event served
the purpose of briefing diplomats, experts and civil society representatives on
the proposed mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on Democracy. The new independent
position, which would be unpaid as per the UN’s practice, is being suggested to
help support democratic resilience and development worldwide.
With around ten UN Member State delegations and numerous other participants
present, CIVICUS’ UN Advisor in Geneva Sigrid Lipott introduced the event by
highlighting the situation of shrinking civic space in many countries around
the world. In CIVICUS’ recent annual edition of the
State of Civil Society
report, the group noted that democracy was undergoing “significant regression”.
The proposed UN Special Rapporteur on Democracy would be a way for the UN to
react and assist countries to deal with common challenges.
According to Andreas Bummel, Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders,
the foundation for the new mandate was the UN’s consistent support of democracy
from its foundation up to the present. While there was no single model of
democracy, the resolutions and instruments adopted and regularly reaffirmed by
the UN over time in aggregate constituted an “actionable definition”, he said.
In particular, the mandate could be tied to Article 21 of the
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and Article 25 of the
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights."
Via Muse.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
