NGO Secretariat Issues Final Report of CD Santiago NGO Process
Based on the final meeting of the Community of Democracies Santiago NGO Process, the Executive Secretariat has issued a final report to all governments invited to the 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Democracies. This document brings together the recommendations and proposals discussed at the final NGO meeting held in Santiago on 3-4 March 2005. The document first presents global proposals that address the overarching themes of international cooperation, political systems, corruption and accountability, civil society, and human security. The second set of proposals are based on the regional workshops held at the final NGO meeting as well as regional meetings that took place in the year preceding the 3rd Ministerial. For more information, please visit the official website of the NGO Secretariat.
NGO Process Global Issues Group
In an effort both to advise the governments of the Community of Democracies and also to strengthen the Community of Democracies process by making it more transparent and democratic, the Executive Secretariat organized a working group of non-state actors to think critically about the governmental process and develop proposals for increasing its effectiveness.
The group includes representatives from: the Democracy Coalition Project, the Council for a Community of Democracies, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the Institute of Multi-Party Democracy, and the Executive Secretariat.
The group focuses on the following issues:
a)Strengthening the Democracy Caucus in the United Nations
b)Criteria for the governmental invitation process
c)Democratization of the Convening group (e.g. mechanisms of rotation, participation, transparency of decision-making, etc)
d)Formalize participation of civil society actors in Community of Democracies process, especially regarding the format of the Ministerial meeting.
The Global Issues Group based its discussion on a paper prepared by the Democracy Coalition Project with contributions and endorsements from Westminster Foundation, Institute for Multiparty Democracy and Council for a Community of Democracies.