News

Canadian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Invites Democracy Fund to Briefing

Members of Canada's House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development were in New York from February 7-8, as part of a study of Canada's role in international support for democratic development around the globe. The study aims to examine all aspects of Canadian policy and activities in the field of democracy assistance in light of the international challenges of democratic development. Magdy Martinez-Soliman and Randi Davis were invited by the Canadian Permanent Representative, Ambassador John A. McNee, to brief the Parliamentary Delegation. Led by Mr. Kevin Sorenson, MP, Chair of the Committee, and Dr. Bernard Patry, Vice-Chair, the MPs engaged in a lively and pointed dialogue with UN Democracy Fund officials. Members of the Delegation (Ms. Vivian Barbot, Députée; Mr. Bill Casey, MP; Hon. Mark Eyking, MP; Mr. Peter Goldring, MP; Ms Francine Lalonde, Députée; Ms Alexa McDonough, MP; Mr Deepak Obhrai, MP) who were accompanied by Committee Staff (Ms Angela Crandall, Mr Gerald Schmitz and Mr James Lee) inquired about the composition of the Board of the Democracy Fund. They asked whether contributions were a desirable criterion for Board membership.

The MPs were briefed about the selection process of the 1,300 applications to the Fund, the eligibility criteria and the Canadian NGOs that had been awarded grants. Parliamentary projects, programmes located in the CIS and Eastern Europe and initiatives supporting Political Parties, defined as major actors of Democracy, were reviewed in particular, and further information was provided on the MoU signed between UNDEF and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Another focus of interest were projects attempting to combat corruption and gender-sensitive projects in democracy-building. MPs asked about how access to information on calls for funding was provided and inquired why, if the Democracy Fund was part of the UN Reform, it had to be funded with voluntary contributions and not core budgetary resources. The briefing with the Democracy Fund is part of an agenda of meetings of the Committee, including UNDP, the UN Peacebuilding Support Office and the UN democracy caucus. The Committee intends to submit a report of its findings this year with recommendations to the Canadian Government on future policy directions for democratic development.

The study the Committee is undertaking aims to examine international democracy assistance in comparative perspective with a view to benefiting from the experiences of other donors. The Committee has also visited Washington D.C. to study the U.S. role in democracy promotion and the latest thinking about the main challenges facing providers of democracy assistance. The Members of Parliament hope to learn more about particular cases of support for democratic development, such as in Afghanistan, that pose a large challenge for the international community as a whole. To date, the Committee has heard from a number of Canadian witnesses and has also traveled to some European countries to learn more about their approaches to supporting democratic development abroad.

In September 2006, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development began a major study of Canada’s role in international support for democratic development around the globe. The Committee is particularly interested in learning about approaches to support for democratic development that have shown demonstrable success on the ground. Among the key questions to be addressed are support to democratization in fragile or failed states, most pressing needs for support, forms of democracy assistance that have proven to be the most effective, successful case examples and pitfalls to be avoided, the role of civil society organizations as well as governments in supporting democratic development abroad, the role of political parties in democracy promotion, the status of the acceptance of global principles of democracy similar to the development of international human rights standards, the role of international organizations including the United Nations in supporting democratic development, how Canada’s existing contribution is viewed in the field of international democracy promotion and whether there are areas in which Canada might exercise particular capabilities in providing democracy assistance. The Committee will also try to find out whether Canada could and should be doing more, if so, what additional resources and democracy promotion instruments might be considered, and where Canada should concentrate its efforts in future in order to make the most impact.

On a related matter, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry has recently opened webpages with democracy-building information. Read more at http://geo.international.gc.ca/cip-pic/library/democratie-en.asp