Artigenda
International Day of Democracy
When: Annually, September 15.
An annual day dedicated to democracy. That is what Democracy Day on 15 September is all about.
Universal Declaration on Democracy
The day is closely linked to the UN principles for democracy, and there is something to be said about those principles, especially the place where they were finally drafted. These principles were drawn up in Cairo in September 1997. At that time, Egypt was not exactly the epitome of exemplary democracy.
On paper, Egypt has been a democratic republic for ages. In practice, presidents Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak ruled the country autocratically. At the time the declaration was drafted at the UN, Egypt’s leader was Hosni Mubarak (1928 – 2020). In parliament, the National Democratic Party (NDP) always had the majority. Moreover, thanks to an instituted state of emergency after the assassination of Anwar Sadat (1918 – 1981), it proved very easy to control the situation. So no, Egypt was not exactly a paragon of democracy. Despite this, then, a declaration was signed there in Cairo, the Universal Declaration on Democracy.
IUP
This declaration led to a sequel years later: Democracy Day. This had everything to do with the desire of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The official name is L’Union Interparlementaire, hence IUP. Its history dates back to the late nineteenth century, and it aimed to bring together parliamentarians around the world. This IUP began lobbying for a day of democracy. Especially after several peaceful revolutions. The revolutions had all happened at the hands of a parliament. So actually through a democratic path.
It eventually managed to get all this on the agenda at the UN and since 2007 we have therefore known the International Day of Democracy. Only its first version then took place in 2008. First, it had to be officially determined that the day would happen, of course. You can read more about that in this PDF document.
UN website
Just as this is the case for all United Nations Observances, there is also a website for this day.
