On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged the globe to learn from the past 18 months’ lessons in order to improve democratic resilience in the face of future crises.
António Guterres emphasized in his address on the International Day of Democracy that, in the aftermath of COVID-19, this meant establishing effective governance methods that could confront all types of emergencies, whether public health, environmental, or financial.
“It requires dealing with the crisis’s gross global inequities, from chronic gender inequality and poor health systems to unequal access to vaccines, education, the internet, and online services,” he said.
Along with the human toll borne by the poorest, “these persistent historical inequities are themselves dangers to democracy,” according to the UN chief.
According to the Nigeria’s News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), UN correspondent of the secretary-general argued that strengthening democracy also meant embracing participation in decision-making, including peaceful protests, and giving a voice to people and communities who have been historically marginalized.
Women, religious and ethnic minorities, indigenous populations, people with disabilities, human rights campaigners, and journalists are all silenced, according to Guterres.
“Democracy cannot live, let alone thrive, in the absence of public space,” he added.
In his speech, he also emphasized the necessity of countries gradually phaseing out emergency authorities and legal measures that, in some situations, have become repressive and violate human rights law.
He noted that some states and security sector institutions rely on emergency powers because they provide quick fixes, but warned that “such powers could seep into legal frameworks and become permanent, undermining the rule of law and devouring the fundamental freedoms and human rights that serve as a bedrock for democracy.”
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the secretary-general warned that “every crisis poses a threat to democracy, because the rights of the people, in particular those most vulnerable, are all too quickly ignored.”
It is for that reason that protection of rights in times of crisis is a key element of his Call to Action for Human Rights, issued in February 2020.
As the world starts to look beyond the pandemic, Guterres called on the international community to “commit to safeguarding the principles of equality, participation and solidarity”, so that it can better weather the storm of future crises.