Welcoming remarks Ms. Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the 20th meeting of the Governing Council of the Community of Democracies, High-Level Segment

2 March 2016 at 15:30
Palais des Nations, room XXIII

Madam Secretary General, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for this opportunity to greet the Governing Council of the Community of Democracies.  It is most welcome that your meeting takes place here at the UN, coinciding with the spring session of the Human Rights Council and in the year of its tenth anniversary too.  Thank you for joining us in this happy birthday.

There is much to appreciate in the symmetry between the purposes of the Community of Democracies, those of the Council, and of those that fall to the Officer of HC for Human Rights.

Our commitment shared is to promote, protect and uphold human rights including democratic principles, and to strengthen democratic institutions. These are precious points of convergence and the added strength that this Community provides to their defence is deeply appreciated and the evidence of the world around us suggests, very much needed. 

While democracy spreads, and its practices increasingly are recognised as an essential basis for good governance, we witness too their numerous infringements – violations of the rule of law, and of fundamental human rights.  The bedrock of democratic systems: the equality and non-discrimination, the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and freedom of association; and the right to participate in public affairs. Every time a violation of these human rights is perpetrated, democracy is undermined.

Each and every State has committed to respecting these rights and freedoms. Yet many invest remarkable energy and some creativity in hampering rather than advancing them: Costly and intricate law enforcement methods are introduced to spy on or otherwise sanction those who exercise their rights to information and to speaking out; multiple innovations seek wrongful containment of social media and the internet; detention of dissidents, journalists and human rights defenders drives cruelty, suffering and intimidation – dissuading participation in public affairs and decision-making.

National legislation restricting human rights defenders and curtailing civil society is today being wrongly justified in the name of anti-terrorism and national security legislation - laws relating to public morals, defamation or blasphemy; deliberately cumbersome laws on the registration, functioning and funding of associations; official-secrets legislation; and legislation regulating Internet access.

And surveillance programmes expand.

National security and criminal activity may justify exceptional and narrowly-tailored use of surveillance, but surveillance without safeguards to protect the right to privacy seeds the divisions in which terror flourishes, hampers fundamental freedoms and undermines the bedrock that democracy provides.

When people do not have a means to channel their grievances - when they are not allowed to speak out, protest peacefully or exercise their democratic rights, stability will suffer.

The very object – by definition – of democracy is that each and everyone of us is upheld as equal; that truth can be spoken to power without fear or favour; that power bends its knee to public scrutiny; that rights be upheld when power is contested, when power is granted, when power is exercised and when power must be transferred. 

Just upstairs, the Human Rights Council is actively engaged in protection and affirmation of human rights with a direct impact on democracy. During the current session, the Council will discuss the incompatibility between democracy and racism.

It will also consider recommendations for the proper management of demonstrations. 

Later this year, an expert workshop on the right to participate in public affairs will be organized and in November, the first session of a new Forum on human rights, democracy and the rule of law will be held. Under the theme of “Widening the democratic space: the role of youth in public decision-making”, which we hope will advance the inclusion of young people in political processes.

We would warmly welcome your participation in this forum.

Democracy is so much more than a single political system – indeed as we know there are many many versions of democratic systems and ample room within those principles to flourish diverse and locally sensitive approaches.  But the essence of those principles cannot be violated with legitimacy no matter the conditions local, regional or global.  Equality before the law, the right of each and everyone of us to peacefully hold our beliefs and express our ideas – no matter how unpalatable those may be to anyone else; the obligations that power must pay to those over whom they govern and the ultimate duties – commensurate with our power – that we have to uphold those very principles.  That makes of democracy much more than a mere system, it is the essence of accountable political leadership, a deeply personal responsibility for those of us with power and thus a deep privilege too.

We do look to the Community of Democracies to uphold these principles as standards for us all.

Thank you.