International Day of Democracy

• International Day of Democracy is observed every year on 15^th September across the globe. In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly resolved to observe 15 September as the International Day of Democracy with the purpose of promoting and upholding the principles of democracy.
• In 2020 the theme was "Covid-19: A Spotlight on Democracy". This year, the UN will focus on “strengthening democratic resilience in the face of future crises”.

Background:

In September 1997 the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) adopted a Universal Declaration on Democracy. The Inter-Parliamentary Union is an international organization of national parliaments and was founded in the year 1889.

International Day of Parliamentarism: 30^th June

Headquarters IPU: Geneva, Switzerland

President IPU: Duarte Pacheco

The link between democracy and Human rights is mentioned in the article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was accepted by the General Assembly as Resolution 217 during its third session on 10 December 1948 in Paris, France.

SIGNIFINACE:

• As per UN, the International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world.
• With Sustainable Development Goal 16, a global effort is underway to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
• United Nations activities in support of democracy are carried out through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), the Department of Peace Operations (DPO), the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

NB: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.

Reports and Indexes on Democracy:

1. “Freedom in the World 2021 – Democracy under Siege”:

• The US government funded NGO “Freedom House” published its annual report on global political rights and liberties recently.
• It assessed the level of freedom across the countries ranked them on the basis of numerical score and declared the countries as “free”, “partly free” or “not free”. India as a democracy and free society was downgraded to “partly free”.
• The freest countries in the world with a score of 100 are Finland, Norway and Sweden.

1. Democracy Index 2020:

• The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) recently released its report titled “Democracy in sickness and in health?” and also published the Democracy Index 2020.
• It has classified the economies in categories such as flawed democracies, full democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes. In the index, India has been classified as a ‘flawed democracy’ with a rank of 53.
• Norway has topped the list.

Some Famous Quotes on Democracy: 

I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong. -Mohandas Gandhi

Democracy is “government of, by and for the people”. -Abraham Lincoln

Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles. -Woodrow Wilson

 Source: un.org, ipu.org

>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<