United Nations Democracy Fund
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The United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) was established by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July 2005 at the African Union Summit in Syrte, Libya, as a United Nations General Trust Fund under his authority. Its primary purpose is to support democratization throughout the world. UNDEF finances projects that build and strengthen democratic institutions, promote human rights, and ensure the participation of all groups in democratic processes.
The Fund provides assistance to governmental, non-governmental, national, regional, and international organizations, including relevant United Nations departments, offices, funds, programmes and agencies. The Fund complements current UN efforts to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide.
The projects do not promote any single model of democracy. As the Heads of State reiterated in the 2005 Summit Outcome Document, democracy does not belong to a single country or region. They stressed that “democracy is a universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural system and their full participation in all aspects of their lives.”
The purpose of the Fund is to build capacities for democratic governance, especially at the country level. This can only be done effectively in a supportive institutional environment. Under no circumstances will activities funded by the UNDEF be “imposed” on a country. The approach will necessarily be one of collaboration and support.
Background: Democracy and the United Nations
For the UN, the importance of democracy and of democratic values was first highlighted in the Charter of the United Nations, as well as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This in turn has been echoed in a variety of documents – declarations, conventions, covenants, most notably the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which contains binding obligations on States Parties in respect of elections, freedom of expression and association and assembly and other vital democratic entitlements. In the 1990s, a period characterised by important changes in various parts of the world, democracy has also become a theme of a number of international conferences, and major UN organs, including the General Assembly, pronounced themselves on ways to strengthen democracy.
This process was matched by increasing operational activities in support of democratisation processes by the UN System. In particular, in 2000 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) placed democratic governance at the heart of its development cooperation programme, equipping itself with greater internal expertise in this area and channeling a substantial proportion of its core resources in this direction. Another significant development was the establishment in 1992 of the Electoral Assistance Division within the Department of Political Affairs.
The links between international peace and security, sustainable human development and democratization were all embraced again by the international community with the unanimous adoption of the Millennium Declaration at the Millennium Summit in 2000.
