WHY WE MUST DEFEND OUR DEMOCRACY - Initial Thoughts

Democracy and human rights walk hand in hand. In so doing, they are the best promise we have for a better life for us all. Let’s take good care of this promise!

It cannot be stressed enough: We need, we must - we have a responsibility to - defend our democracy! Actively, persistently, with compassion, conviction and ingenuity. We simply don’t have any alternative if we want all colourful members of our beautiful human species to have a possibility to live a life in dignity... And we do, don’t we ...?

Dignity is the universal value that permeates all human rights, be they civil, cultural, economic, social or political, rights which belong to each of us human beings because of our intrinsic value and specificity.

Moreover, states have freely ratified a multitude of treaties for the protection of human rights, treaties which they are legally bound to implement. However, for human rights law to be successfully enforced, it is essential that it be mainstreamed into all relevant dimensions of a state, including, in particular, the areas of education, politics, health, law enforcement, business, economy, finance, climate, and social affairs such as child-care, elder care, care of the disabled and other people in need of special assistance.

Following in particular the barbarism of the Second World War, democracy as opposed to totalitarianism became a true game changer for millions of people around the world, allowing them to live a life in relative peace, security, freedom and justice thanks to the improved protection of human rights that democracy brought about.

The drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, knew all too well what they meant when stating in the first Preambular Paragraph of the Declaration that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”. They also understood that totalitarian regimes mean denial of rights, freedoms and justice, and that such denial constitutes a threat to the security and peace in the world. For this reason, Article 29(2) of the Declaration, which allows for limitations on the exercise of our rights and freedoms for certain specific purposes, requires that these limitations be determined by the needs “in a democratic society”.

The notion of democracy is also a defining feature of human rights treaties such as the American and European Conventions on Human Rights, and it has turned into a fundamentally important controlling concept in the work of both the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as well as the American and European Courts of Human Rights.

While many peoples still don’t have the benefit of living in a democratic society, basic democratic principles and human rights have become an important ideal that galvanises grassroot action for positive societal change in many parts of the world. It’s often a most dangerous work, but numerous women and men still persist in promoting the ideal of a better existence at the peril of constant threats, intimidation, imprisonment, and death. To such courageous and pioneering people, the desire to build a society of peace, justice and freedom is stronger than anything else.

It is a wonderful thing that hope for a better world, a brighter tomorrow, is so deeply rooted in the human heart and mind. It helps us survive also infernal situations with a determination to help the world become a more dignified place where the respect for Human Rights of each person will create a Better Life!

While living in, or dreaming of, a democracy, we are however also frequently reminded of its shortcomings. Of course, democratic states are continuously confronted with many problems and challenges, from political divisions, inequality, discrimination, exclusion, corruption, police abuse, various forms of extremism and other internal and external security threats. In other words, living in a democracy does not necessarily mean that we are living in a rose garden!

A democracy is also in many ways a fragile structure. The recent examples of the United States and Hungary, for instance, remind us - as if it were necessary - that a rabble-rouser leader may all too quickly undermine even a rather well-functioning democracy.

When criticising democracy as a form of government, it is however important that we bear in mind that, in a human society, perfection is hard to come by. Humankind is in a constant state of flux and this naturally also holds true for democracy as a way of organising society. Therefore, a well-functioning democracy will require constant, consistent and coherent vigilance as well as hard and complex efforts that may only gradually show the positive results desired. Sometimes there is progress, other times regression. Further, problems often change nature over time, and the solutions must be adjusted accordingly. What is important is not to give up our faith in democracy, but to keep persisting in consolidating it as well as adapting and renewing it whenever necessary. One interesting way of doing this may be to try to enhance peoples’ active participation and deliberation in its various dimensions. [1]

As we can see, there is an intrinsic link between a democratic society, on the one hand, and the effective protection of our civil, cultural, economic, political and social human rights, on the other hand. These notions are inherently dependent on one another: There can be no democracy without an effective protection of human rights and no human rights without an effectively functioning democracy.[2]

Anna-Lena Christina

[1] On this issue see, for instance, RICARD-NIHOUL, Gaëtane, “Representation and Participation – Reinventing European Democracy (European Democracy and Citizenship, Policy Paper No. 248), Paris, Jacques Delors Institute, 30 pp.: https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PP248_Consultations-citoyennes_GRN-FR-1-1.pdf [2] SVENSSON-McCARTHY, Anna-Lena, The International Law of Human Rights – With Special Reference to the Travaux Préparatoires and Case-Law of the International Monitoring Organs (International Studies of Human Rights, Vol. 54), The Hague/Boston/London, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1998, p. 145.