The Community of Democracies

"We at the Community of Democracies must use the power of our shared ideals to accelerate democracy's movement to ever more places around the globe. We must usher in an era of democracy that thinks of tyranny as we thought of slavery today: a moral abomination that could not withstand the natural desire of every human being for a life of liberty and of dignity." --Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, April 28, 2005 [full text]

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice led the United States' delegation to the third Ministerial meeting of the Community of Democracies, giving remarks at the Opening Plenary on April 28, 2005. The United States is a strong supporter of the Community of Democracies (CD), a unique forum that brings together those nations committed to promoting and strengthening democracy worldwide. This is the only global forum singularly dedicated to the promotion of democracy.

Well over 100 nations have come together--first in Warsaw in 2000 and then again in Seoul in 2002--to reaffirm their commitment to consolidating their own democratic institutions and working with other countries regionally and globally to help them on their path of democratization. The basic principles of the group are enshrined in the Warsaw Declaration, and the blueprint for action is captured in the Seoul Plan of Action. The criteria for participation was established by the Convening Group.

Over 140 nations were invited to the third ministerial, hosted by the Government of Chile.  See the 2005 Santiago Ministerial page for more information on the ministerial.

Since expressing their support for the Seoul Plan of Action, many countries have stepped forward to implement the Seoul Plan of Action.  The Chilean Government issued a report in September 2004 outlining many of these steps.  In May 2004, the U.S. and Portuguese Governments jointly led a mission to East Timor. The Romanian Government led a similar mission to February 2005 to Tblisi, Georgia. It also hosted a regional conference for governmental and non-governmental representatives from Eastern Europe in Bucharest in November 2003 to discuss regional democracy promotion. The 17^th Rio Group Summit focused its Consensus of Cusco on strengthening democratic governance, while the 33^rd OAS General Assembly, under the leadership of the Chilean Government, which also chairs the CD Convening Group, focused on good governance. Other examples of the Community in Action, are the June 2003 Dialogue on Democracy and the Summation of Best Practices and Key Ideas.

Ministers from the Community met in September 2004 to review the Community's work and discuss both CD's work in the United Nations and the next Ministerial meeting. The United States joined other countries in reaffirming and supporting the Community's commitment to the development of a Democracy Caucus in the United Nations.