Community of Democracies

Extraordinary Meeting of the Governing Council

Renewal membership of Argentina, Estonia, Guatemala, Norway, and the United Kingdom

Wednesday, September 27th, 2023

On this occasion and given the postponement of the decision of GC membership of Guatemala upon recommendation by the Executive Committee, on the terms of said written recommendation and the minutes of Executive Committee meeting held last week, we gather today to assess the democratic performance of four member states of the Community of Democracies. Before referring to all four countries under renewal, we respectfully ask and thank you in advance that both the written recommendation of the Executive Committee to postpone, and the minutes of the past Executive Committee meeting, be part of the minutes of this Extraordinary Meeting of the Governing Council.

Also, because for the benefit of time I will just refer briefly to the situation of Democracy in those four countries, I respectfully ask that our full and comprehensive reports (each one between 6 and 10 pages long), be part of the minutes of this meeting; as well as the Permanent Secretariat’s report.

Based on our careful assessment of the quality and functioning of democracy in these countries, as Civil Society Pillar we recommend RENEWING the membership of the following four states under review: Estonia, Norway, United Kingdom, and Argentina.

In addition to underscoring the democratic credentials of these nations, we wish to highlight the following aspects of their democratic experience.

Norway:

A traditionally vibrant democracy, Norway has a Freedom House score of 100, which is representative of a highly free setting. The country features a constructive and smooth relationship between government and civil society. Government deals positively with civil society organizations, including less-mainstream groups, and takes into account relevant stakeholders in decision-making processes. This is an example that can be disseminated throughout the Community to help fortify democracy.

Estonia:

In Estonia, whose Freedom House score is 94,technology has been incorporated to strengthen democracy, creating platforms that allow access to public information, electronic voting, and other noteworthy strategies. This has contributed to generate one of the highest levels of transparency and helped increase levels of political participation. Other countries could learn from Estonia to revitalise democracy and facilitate civic engagements. The Community of Democracies could help socialise the Estonian experience throughout its membership.

United Kingdom:

In the United Kingdom, another advanced democracy with a Freedom House score of 93, concerns have been raised regarding transparency, political participation, and protection and promotion of human rights. Particularly, an increase in restrictions and attacks against civil society reveals a downturn in civic freedoms which in 2022 led the CIVICUS Monitor to downgrade the United Kingdom’s ranking to ‘obstructed’. Another issue of concern is refugee and asylum seekers rights, particularly in light of the 2022 Nationality and Borders Act. Several negative consequences for refugees and asylum seekers have been reported subsequent to approval of this act.

Argentina:

In Argentina, with a Freedom House score of 85, democracy is impacted by high corruption, as revealed by a Corruption Perception Index of 38 over 100.Power concentration in the executive branch, facilitated to a significant degree by the allocation of emergency powers to the presidency, weakens the system of checks and balances which is intrinsic to the republican form of democracy. Another factor to consider is a deepening of political polarisation as indicated by the tone of public discourse becoming more hostile and the attitude of some politicians towards journalists and the media becoming less tolerant, resulting in a deterioration of political analysis.

Despite these highlighted issues, which should be followed up by the Community of Democracies, we concur that membership of these four countries -Norway, Estonia, the United Kingdom, and Argentina- in our community should be renewed.

Notwithstanding the above, as we’ve stated in the past and during our meaningful visits with the SG to these countries as part of the renewal process (thank you to focal points, from civil society and governments), there’s no perfect / flawless Democracy, there’s always room for improvement, and we applaud the commitment to strengthen Democracy.  We also stand by the idea of robust Democracies reaching out and embracing less robust Democracies with a commitment to positive change.

Guatemala:

Given that representatives of some member states here have to refer to Guatemala, as pertains to Guatemala, whose significantly lower Freedom House score of 49 indicates a Partly Free situation, we do have significant concerns.

Although Guatemala is formally a representative democracy, there is clearly a marked tendency to openly violate constitutional norms of guarantees and citizen rights such as freedom of expression, the right to peaceful demonstration, and access to justice. Levels of impunity and corruption are high, as reflected in a Corruption Perception Index of 24 out of 100 in 2022.

The shortcomings of Guatemala’s democracy have come to the fore during the 2023 electoral process, which has seen harassment and exclusion of candidates, attempted fraud, vote buying, partisan use of state funds, and the judicialization of elections by the Public Prosecutor’s Office against members of the winning political party in the electoral contest. After the first electoral round, a process was initiated in which questionable legal rulings were again used in an effort to remove the political party Movimiento Semillafrom the electoral contest. Even so, Semillas Presidential candidate, Bernardo Arevalo, won the second round of elections.

Currently, the country is seeing attempts by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to block Arevalo’s ascent to power in January 2024 based on spurious legal proceedings which counter the popular will expressed at the second round on 20th August. International pressure is instrumental to prevent efforts to block Arevalo’s Assumption of the presidency from succeeding.

Based on these findings, we believe and hence recommend the postponement of the decision to renew or not.  A conclusive review of Guatemala’s membership should be taken after the recently elected president can take the oath of office in January 2024, to ensure that a convoluted electoral process will culminate in a transfer of power that conforms to the popular will, as expected in all democracies.

We thank the members of the Governing Council for your kind attention.

Enrique de Obarrio, ISC Chair, Civil Society Pillar