[bestbits] [governance] Remarks at UNESCO Closing Ceremony of "Connecting the Dots Conference"

[Benedek, Wolfgang (wolfgang.benedek@uni-graz.at)]

Dear Nobert,

on the issue of democracy in international instruments like the UDHR and
the ICCPR, it should be noted that democracy is neither used in Article 21
of the Universal Declaration nor in Article 25 of the ICCPR, which speak
of participation in government of one's country, periodic elections etc
The limitation clause in Article 29 UDHR states that rights can be
restricted for the sake of the general welfare in a democratic society. As
the UDHR is not a binding convention there is no authoritative
interpretation of this phrase by an international human rights body to my
knowledge.

However, in the context of the European Convention on Human Rights, the
European Court of Human Rights regularly requires a "pressing social need"
for restrictions which are possible based on the similar limitation clause
"necessary in a democratic society". More and examples in my book with
Matthias Kettemann on Freedom of Expression and the Internet, Council of
Europe 2014.

Wolfgang Benedek






Am 09.03.15 11:54 schrieb "Norbert Bollow" unter <nb at bollow.ch>:

>On Mon, 9 Mar 2015 16:16:17 +0800
>David Cake <dave at difference.com.au> wrote:
>
>> Jeremy claims that if the inclusion of
>> the term in descriptions of mutti-stakeholder bodies means anything
>> concrete, it means retaining a special role for government (in,
>> presumably, all situations, not just those areas like law enforcement
>> that governments have a special role intrinsically by law). JNC
>> denies that interpretation - so please, what IS your interpretation
>> of what the term democratic in the context you discuss would mean.
>
>I hereby assure you that JNC has every intention of publishing a
>position paper which will address this in some depth. I will post about
>this when it is available.
>
>In the meantime, you and/or others might be interested in reflecting on
>what is the precise meaning of the word "democratic" in the context of
>the very interesting way in which this word is used in Article 29 of the
>Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
>
>Greetings,
>Norbert
>co-convenor, Just Net Coalition (JNC)
>http://JustNetCoalition.org
>