Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-07-Speech-3-145"
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"en.20080507.15.3-145"2
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".
I would like to concentrate for a moment on the link between human rights and democracy. It is generally felt that these rights can be fully observed only in a democracy. Democracy is in turn identified with majority governments that come into being through an election mechanism. This was Greek democracy, where the majority decided on everything. Through this system of majority voting, though, Socrates was condemned to death.
Therefore, the will of the majority cannot always serve as a guarantee of citizens’ rights. This is why in the 19th century a fear arose in political thought – one that is poorly understood today – a fear of extending voting rights to broader social groups, which is linked to the assumption that only an enlightened minority is in a position to respect human rights and freedoms.
Today we often run up against situations in which quite respectable elections lead to dictatorial governments, or support such governments. Just think of countries like Belarus, or the Hamas governments in the Gaza Strip. It is also worth recalling the famous response by President Mubarak of Egypt, who, when called upon to hold fair elections, said that they would result in governments in Egypt being taken over by radical fundamentalist Islamic groups.
Clearly elections are something of untold value, and that is why they also need monitoring. Who knows, however, whether a rule-of-law government and a genuinely independent judiciary might not be more important than elections in many countries these days. Otherwise we could have a democracy that is no more than a dictatorship propped up by an election mandate – a dictatorship in which there are no independent institutions to create a complex system of balances and securities to protect citizens from arbitrary action by the authorities. Democracy must be liberal democracy, not dictatorship by the majority. We should therefore maintain the practice of observing elections, but we must not limit ourselves to such actions in the fight to establish an authentic liberal democracy. This means that more attention needs to be devoted to establishing a democratic culture and the institutions of a civil society.
Such actions cannot count on support from autocratic authorities. Better assistance mechanisms therefore need to be developed, mechanisms that are even more flexible than those we already have, and the scope of our support must be broadened by providing assistance to those courageous individuals who are subjected to various repressions on account of their activities."@en1
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