PRESS BRIEFING ON DECEMBER CONFERENCE ON NEW OR RESTORED DEMOCRACIES

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON DECEMBER CONFERENCE ON NEW OR RESTORED DEMOCRACIES

Peace and development were directly dependent on the growth of democracy, according to a report of the Secretary-General on Support to Emerging Democracies, introduced to correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon by a panel of United Nations and diplomatic officials.

The panel was moderated by Thérèse Gastaut, Director of Public Affairs at the Department of Public Information. The Secretary-General's report was the basis for the upcoming Fourth International Conference on New or Restored Democracies, to take place from 4 to 6 December in Cotonou, Benin, which the Secretary-General was expected to attend. It would be the first such conference in Africa.

"Why a conference on democracy in a continent where one would argue the challenges are much more basic -- poverty and conflict, a failure of basic services and the spread of HIV/AIDS?" asked Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Strengthening the institutions of democratic governance was, he said, precisely the best way to empower the poor, to get adequate resources assigned by governments to meet education and health challenges, and find peaceful solutions to conflict. For those reasons, governance had become the name of the game for UNDP. "Only if the poor have a political voice," he said, "are we going to find a solution for the crisis of poverty."

Joel Adechi, the Permanent Representative of Benin, said that such linkages would be elaborated upon at the upcoming conference, which his country was honoured to host. The conference would bring together representatives of governments, civil society, and the United Nations to exchange views on democratic practices that would promote peace-building and economic and social development. Threats to democracy would also be considered, as would the involvement of women and youth in democracy and good governance. He anticipated that the conference would highlight Africa's concerns and aspirations regarding democracy. And he expected it would resonate beyond Africa, as the international participants affirmed their commitment to strengthening democracy.

Danilo Turk, Assistant Secretary-General of the Department of Political Affairs, said that there was no need, given the events of the day, to explain the importance of democracy for the United Nations. He was referring to the fact that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was admitted to the United Nations as a new Member State this afternoon. That positive development was the result of a democratic transformation. In discussions of sovereign States, he continued, it was not always clear that sovereignty belonged to the people and should be seen in a democratic context.

Mr. Turk was encouraged by the growing recognition that the lack of democracy was a major root of conflicts, and by the growing tendency towards democracy worldwide. The Secretary-General, he noted, attached great importance

Democracy Press Briefing - 2 - 1 November 2000

to the support of democracy through the United Nations, favouring a system-wide approach rather than one assigned to a single sector of the organization.

A correspondent asked whether Mr. Brown thought that people who were starving would accept the priority of democratization over other ways of improving their lives. Mr. Brown replied that it was not an either/or choice. A small slice of total development resources went to governance. Furthermore, democracy would be useless if it just resulted in civic lessons for the hungry and the ill; it was important because it was a means for the poor to get government resources devoted to food, health and education.

Studies in India showed that 50 years of democracy had led to an absence of famines. On the other hand, the breakdown of democracy could incur great costs to a country's economy and development, as in Côte d'Ivoire, where democratic culture and ethnic integration were currently on trial.

Mr. Turk was asked how a concept of sovereignty that prioritized democracy squared with the traditional concept. In the past decades, he replied, a more sophisticated interpretation of sovereignty had been developing that took human rights and democracy into consideration. That wasn't necessarily the classic view.

Another correspondent wondered how the United Nations could strengthen the new democracy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Mr. Turk replied that humanitarian assistance, followed by economic assistance, would help. Admission to United Nations membership was a critical first step, as it meant acceptance among the international community. Asked whether the questions of Montenegro and Kosovo should be settled now with the new Government, as those questions were potentially destabilizing, Mr. Turk said that negotiations were taking place but the new Government should be allowed some time; a stable democratic government offered much better opportunities for peaceful solutions.

Asked which countries were actually attending the Cotonou Conference, Mr. Adechi replied that 183 countries had been invited; the actual participants should be confirmed by middle of November. A wide range of countries were expected. It was anticipated that the "old" democracies would share their experience with the new or restored democracies. Countries now thought of as not yet on the road to democracy would, hopefully, be set on course by the conference. Only a few countries had said they weren't interested -- thinking of themselves, he supposed, as too democratic or needing time to come on board. He did not have a list of those countries on hand.

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