STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
#GlobalDemocracyCoalition #StandWithUkraine
We are again witnessing just how dangerous autocrats and their regimes can be. The Kremlin has for decades trampled on the rights and freedoms of its own citizens and is now attacking peace and democracy beyond its own borders, attempting to topple the Ukrainian Government by force.
Democracy organizations from around the world, under the umbrella of the Global Democracy Coalition and beyond, join world leaders in condemning Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign democratic nation. We support steps taken by the international community to hold the Russian Government and those responsible accountable for this crime.
GLOBAL DEMOCRACY COALITION
The Global Democracy Coalition was formed in October of 2021, convened by International IDEA and other democracy and democracy assistance organizations from around the world. The goal was to create an informal group of organizations committed to the advancement of democracy, working together to engage constructively with the Summit for Democracy, hosted by United States government, in December 2021. Together, partner organizations decided to hold a Forum ahead of the first Summit.
The purpose of the Forum was to facilitate a global conversation on democracy to broaden the Summit discussions, providing a multistakeholder platform for voices, actors and issues that were not part of the official Summit. On 7 December, the first Forum brought together 52 democracy organizations across the world, with more than 250 speakers from over 50 countries and various sectors in 41 webinars, which were held over 24 hours and across all time zones, to discuss a variety of issues relevant to the democracy debate. The issues discussed ranged from the integrity of elections, women’s political participation, how to counter disinformation, hate speech, transnational repression, the state of democracy globally and regionally, youth and democracy, corruption and malign finance, the role of a free media, among many others. Coalition partners included democracy assistance organizations from the North, and democracy organizations in the global South, including from authoritarian contexts. A report summarizing the recommendations to the Summit for Democracy was put together in the 24 hours following the Forum, and handed over to Summit organizers to inform the discussions in the Summit and the year of action.
What started as an informal group working together to produce one Forum has evolved into a strategic multi-stakeholder alliance of democracy organizations from around the world committed to advance and protect democracy worldwide and to influence the Summits for Democracy and the Year of Action 2022.
The Global Democracy Coalition provides a platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange and experience-sharing, and advocacy around the Summits for Democracy and potentially beyond. Working collectively on strategic issues relevant to the democracy agenda can contribute to make our individual voices stronger and more likely to be heard.
PARTNERSHIP
The Global Democracy Coalition is a multi-stakeholder alliance of democracy organizations from around the world committed to advance and protect democracy worldwide and to influence the Summits for Democracy and the Year of Action 2022.
Being a partner/member in the Global Democracy Coalition provides access to a network of like-minded organizations and colleagues around the world, to share information on democratic innovations and good democratic practices, to identify opportunities for collaboration and to better coordinate their efforts, specifically in relation to the Summit for Democracy, but also in their democracy strengthening efforts more broadly. The Coalition enables partner organizations to have a stronger voice in influencing the Summits for Democracy and the global democracy agenda more broadly, as part of a collective effort rather than as individual organizations.
The Global Democracy Coalition does not pretend to substitute other issue-based global coalitions or Summit cohorts. Rather, it intends to bridge the issue-based discussions in other thematically organized coalitions and cohorts under the broader umbrella of democracy. It also aims to facilitate dialogue across Summit cohorts, to facilitate synergies and link them to the broader democracy agenda.