International Day Of Democracy:
Karnataka recently marked the ‘International Day of Democracy’ by forming a ‘historic’ 2,500-km-long human chain as a symbol of equality, unity, fraternity, and participative governance.
- International Day of Democracy is an annual celebration observed on September 15.
- The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) established this day in 2007 to emphasise the global significance of democracy.
- It serves as a reminder that democracy is not merely a fixed condition, but an ongoing pursuit.
- It calls for active engagement from international organizations, nation-states, civil society, and people to pursue the democratic idea.
- The International Day of Democracy was accredited by the UNGA on November 8, 2007, by passing a resolution entitled “Support by United Nations system of efforts of governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies.”
- September 15 was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Universal Declaration on Democracy, which was adopted in Geneva on September 15, 1997.
- This declaration outlines the tenets of democracy, proclaiming that democracy is “a system of government based on the freely expressed will of the people to determine their own political, economic, social, and cultural systems and their full participation, through free and fair periodic elections, in the composition of their representative government.”
- After the Universal Declaration on Democracy, Qatar spearheaded the campaign to observe an International Day of Democracy at the United Nations.
- The first-ever International Day of Democracy was held in 2008.
