Let’s celebrate United Nations International Day of Democracy on September 15.
“Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, national governing bodies, civil society and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere”.
It is time to seize the moment to build a more equal, inclusive and sustainable world, with full respect for human rights. The values of freedom, respect for human rights and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections by universal suffrage are essential elements of democracy. In turn, democracy provides the natural environment for the protection and effective realization of human rights. These values are embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and further developed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrines a host of political rights and civil liberties underpinning meaningful democracies.
The C19 pandemic has brought to the surface long neglected injustices and the need to improve health systems, worker protections, education and training access as well as the digital divide. Protecting democracies is critical to ensuring the free flow of information, participation in decision-making and accountability of governments for those decisions. Justice and inclusion, in the spirit of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and particularly Sustainable Development Goal 16, will need to be central elements of the recovery effort. Thank you to all those individuals that have strengthened democracies around the world.
I want to thank teachers, college and university professors, lawyers, legal assistants, judges, librarians, public policy professionals and historians for your efforts to safe guard democracies. There are hundreds of occupations in today’s labour market that play a role in safe-guarding our democracies – take a moment to thank individuals that you think have made a difference…
Thanks for this post. As I reflect on democracy and its intersection with "decent" work, I am grateful for the laws and codes that govern employee rights. However, a key component of democracy is access to education about those rights and advocacy for those whose rights are not being recognized or supported. There's a key role for career development professionals, human resource professionals, and counsellors to ensure all workers (and aspiring workers) understand their rights and have the needed supports to work safely.