Instituto de Estudos Políticos
Universidade Católica Portuguesa
FIRST COORDINATION MEETING
Non- governmental process for the Community of Democracies
Lisbon, January 19-21, 2004
Background of the Community of Democracies
The Community of Democracies began in Poland in 2000 as a coalition of democratic governments with the common goal of strengthening democratic values and institutions at the national, regional, and global levels.
First ministerial meeting was convened by the governments of Chile, the Czech Republic, India, Mali, México, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States of America. In the Warsaw meeting, a civil society counterpart held a parallel meeting, in the first effort to include non-governmental actors in this process.
A second ministerial meeting was held in November 2002 in Seoul, South Korea, at which the participating governments agreed on a Plan of Action. At this time, the non-governmental meeting, “Global Solidarity for the Expansion and Strengthening of Democracy,” convened 256 people from 75 countries to prepare a Declaration for the strengthening of democracy.
The next ministerial meeting of the Community of Democracies will be held in Santiago, Chile, in early 2005, and in order to broaden the scope of participants in this process, a group of civil society actors in Chile have created an Executive Secretariat to organize a non-governmental preparatory process, aimed at discussing democracy-related problems and creating proposals for the official conference in 2005. The Executive Secretariat is hosted in PARTICIPA, a Chilean NGO that participated in the International Committee of the non-governmental forum in Soul 2002. Genaro Arriagada is its Chair and Andrea Sanhueza its Executive Secretary.
Objectives of the Non-Governmental Process
The main objectives of the non-governmental strategy are:
- To organize and develop a participatory process for social and political actors so that the meetings are seen as milestones in an ongoing and sustainable process.
- Advocating and raising global awareness on the importance of developing effective and comprehensive democracy promotion instruments, especially taking in consideration the present world context
- To increase significantly the implementation of government commitments, pushing them to action along the lines of civil society proposals.
For the achievement of these objectives, the Executive Secretariat is aiming to create of a non-governmental constituency for the Community of Democracies, composed by representatives of NGO networks, Unions, representatives of regional parties´ networks, political foundations and other relevant actors.
The goal is to provide governments, international and regional organizations, civil society, and the donor community with a high-level analysis of democratic deficits and proposals for how to address them.
Global partnership will be composed by regional partners within the following regions: (i) Asia, (ii) Latin America and the Caribbean, (iii) Middle East and North Africa, (iv) North America, (v) Western, Central and Eastern Europe, (vi) Sub-Saharan Africa and (vii) Russia, Balkans and New Independent States.
First coordination meeting - Lisbon 2004
The Lisbon meeting is a unique coordination opportunity between regional partners and the Executive Secretariat and for partners among each other.
The meeting has been designed and planned as a brainstorming meeting, which means that one of the main goals is to gather ideas and points of view from the participants regarding the non-governmental strategy for Santiago 2005.
This includes discussing, in conjunction with participants, what should be their role in this process, and the feasibility of working within their region toward the Santiago 2005 meeting of the Community of Democracies.
In order to do that the agenda includes time for discussing the governmental and non-governmental processes of the Community of Democracies; the main challenges derived from them, the available funding, and the proposed strategy for the non-governmental process elaborated by the Executive Secretariat.
Participants are asked to bring to the table their agendas, activities and ideas, so the main challenge -based on the information provide by the participants and the Executive Secretariat- is to decide together what is feasible to implement.
Given the concerns the Executive Secretariat has received from some invited instiutions, it is important to note that participating in the Lisbon meeting does not imply a commitment with the process, nor does it mean that participants will act as regional partners throughout the process.
Objectives
- To introduce the Community of Democracies process, both the governmental and non-governmental efforts.
- To learn the objectives, scope of action and activities of the participant institutions.
- To present the non-governmental strategy for Santiago 2005, assessing funding opportunities and constrains for its implementation.
- To discuss and decide about 2004 activities at the regional level
- To establish next steps based on the results of the discussion.
DRAFT (12.01.04)
FIRST COORDINATION MEETING
Non- governmental Forum for the Community of Democracies
Lisbon, January 19-21, 2004
Meeting Location
Institute for Political Studies
Catholic University of Portugal
Palma de Cima
1649-023, Lisboa
Tel. +351-217-214129
Fax. +351-217-271836
Hotel
Marriot Hotel
Av. Dos Combatentes, S/N 10600 Lisbon, Portugal
Phone: +351-217-235400
Fax: +351-217-235440
Registration
14.00 – 19:00 / Credentials
Opening Plenary
19.30 – 20.30 / Welcome and Introduction
Objectives:
1. Welcome words and presentation of the agenda
2. Individual and institutional presentation
3. To set the main idea of the meeting / Genaro Arriagada, Executive Secretariat
Andrea Sanhueza, Executive Secretariat
Prof César das Neves, Catholic University of Portugal
20.30 – / Dinner / Host: Portuguese Government [to be confirmed]
JANUARY, 20th
9.00 – 9.15 / Presentation of the day / Andrea Sanhueza, Executive Secretariat
Panel 1
9.15-10.45 / Background of the Community of Democracies
Objectives:
1. To present both the governmental and non-governmental processes for the Community of democracies.
2. To present main results of those efforts 3. To discuss main challenges
4. To discuss coordination levels between the two. / Facilitator Richard Rowson, Council for a Community of Democracies, USA [confirmed]
Panelists
Claudia Caldeirinha, Democracy Coalition Project (Brussels) [confirmed]
Yuri Dzhibladze, Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights (Russia) [to be confirmed]
Coffee Break / 10.45-11.15
Panel 2
11.15-13.30 / Main current democratic deficits
Objectives:
1. To present the Democracy Framework Paper 2. To discuss it from stakeholders´ perspective
3. To establish the main and urgent issues / Facilitator
Pedro Mujica, Executive Secretariat
Presenter
David Altman, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile [confirmed]
Panelists
IDEA International [to be confirmed]
Riad Malki, The Palestinian Centre for the Dissemination of Democracy and Community Development [to be confirmed]
Luis Alvarado, International Socialist [confirmed]
Lunch / 13.30 – 15.30
Panel 3
15.30- 16.30 / Non-governmental Strategy for Santiago 2005
Objectives:
1. To present the non-governmental strategy and current status
2. Discuss main ideas of the day as an input for next day / Andrea Sanhueza, Executive Secretariat
16.30 / End of the day
JANUARY, 21st
9.00 – 9.15 / Opening and Introduction
Agenda of the day
Rapport Tuesday / Executive Secretariat
9.30-11.30 / Regional Working Groups
Objectives:
1. To discuss main regional democratic deficits
2. To discuss how to integrate participants´ efforts in their regions with this process
3. To discuss funding opportunities and constrains for the strategy
4. To define a regional counterpart
5 To discuss next steps / Executive Secretariat will define a facilitator in each workshop
Coffee Break / 11.15 – 11.45
11.45-13.15 / Plenary: Results of the working groups and next steps
Objectives
1. To present main results of the working groups
2. To define next steps / Regional Rapporteurs
Executive Secretariat
Lunch / 13.15 – 14.45
14.45 – 15.45 / Report to Portuguese and Chilean governments / To be defined
15.45 – 16.15 / Closing remarks / Executive Secretariat
17.00 – 18.00 / Press Conference (optional for participants) / Joao Espada, Institute for Political Studies, Portuguese Catholic University
Executive Secretariat
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