Topic: Role of the UN in Encouraging and Aiding Democratization
Country: United States
Delegate Name: Cody Hoeffel
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All United States position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
Democracy is the form of government which allows the full fulfillment of the first section of the 21st article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), as it allows citizens to participate in their government through the election of representatives, or becoming a public servant themselves via election. It is a stable democracy that can allow the rights of the people to be protected as it is the people who in one way or another lead the government.
Considering this the United Nations must continue to encourage the implementation of a democracy in nations where it does not exist and human rights are cast away. The methods for doing so do not always need to be violent, rather instead stipulations for loans from organizations such as the International Monetary Fund that call for either cooperation with the UN to provide a more transparent system or begin a transition to a democracy. Such methods paired with strong urgings from the UN itself allows nations to begin transitions and prevent a total overthrowing of the present government, creating a hole in its place, a hole that is often fought over to be filled. Rather than stipulations, incentives may be provided to nations showing transitions toward democracy or a more transparent election system, once again returning to the IMF, where should such progress be demonstrated, interest rates are decreased, or a fraction of the loan is forgiven. These soft measures can be used with nations struggling with domestic problems to not only encourage a democratic process, but also aid the nations in question with whatever development issue may they may be tackling.
In addition to the soft methods, there must also, unfortunately, be plans in place for nations where the government, retains it's power for it's own sake, neglecting it's constituents. At this point the committee should consider the acts of the nation and take action on a case by case basis, in some cases this could be labeling the nation as a human rights violater, damaging the nations international standing and most likely its economy. In other, extreme cases, it may be necessary to refer the issue to the Security Council for review. Before such action is taken, there must be established communications with the people of the nation, this can be achieved through the use of special rapporteurs to provide a detailed report on the situation, in this regard, the rapporteur should have a report within two months of deployment, this report of course would be preliminary in nature, but should provide the necessary information for the committee to decide on necessary actions.
In regards to nations already in the process of establishing a democratic system, the United Nations should of course provide aid where possible. This aid needs to be focused on the demonstration of how ordinary citizens can take greater power in their government and encourage political leaders to enact reform, it has been shown that it is smaller democratic assistance groups have a greater impact on the democratization of nations than most international ones, in this regard the UN should be providing economic aid to those groups which have demonstrated their actions in this regard. The economic aid would go towards the establishment of field offices and training of the volunteers in regards to the culture and language of the nation in which they are acting. The UN itself needs to act as a monitor of democracy, tracking elections and aiding in their execution when necessary, actions that are already performed.
The issue of sovereignty is limited, while the UN cannot declare that a nation needs to become democratic without any basis, it can encourage and aid in transitions, acting as a mediator between old regimes and new governments. The United Nations Charter itself reads “We the People of the United Nations…” not we the sovereign governments of the United Nations. It is ultimately the will of the people that decide on the government, and that decision can really only be made in some form of democracy.
