(Source: https://medium.com/wordsthatmatter/voting-for-democracy-dcac09090b8a)

This meeting of the The Global State of Democracy Report 2019: Addressing the Ills, Reviving the Promise was convened to discuss about the state of democracy. The representatives gathered to discuss about democracy.

Annika Silva-Leander said that all regions are more democratic now than 40 years ago. She said that democracy continues to spread to countries that have never been democracies. Not only that, democracy has proven resilient. Furthermore, democracy is an enabler of sustainable development, which is the fundamental right.

However, there are some challenges to democracy. First, the quality of democracy is declining. For example, share of weak democracies is on the rise. Also, democratic erosion and backsliding are on the rise and civic space is striking across all regions. In addition, hybridity has increased in the past four decades. Moreover, there is the insufficient progress in three areas: 43% of countries still have high levels of corruption and progress on gender equality is too slow. There are some policy recommendations as well. First, she recommended to improve the quality of democracy beyond elections. Second, it is important to focus discussions on delivery of democracy. Third, democracy support should be evidence, context and performance-based.

Next, Gulden Turkoz-Cosslett talked about democracy and sustainable development goals. She said these are the aspirations that are universal. Also, she said that democracy requires constant adaptation and constant attention—it should never be taken for granted. Not only that, media market has revolutionized the information flow; however, it allowed mis-information to be spread. Certainly, we should seek out justice and help the institutions.

Meeting Title: On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day Launch of The Global State of Democracy Report 2019: Addressing the Ills, Reviving the Promise

Date/Location: Thursday, 12 December, 2019; 10:00-12:30; Conference Room 11; United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY

Speakers:

Annika Silva-Leander, heads the Democracy Assessment and Political Analysis (DAPA) unit;

Gulden Turkoz-Cosslett, the Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Director, Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy, UNDP

Written by: WIT Representative, Won Ah Oh