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Note: The opinions presented are not necessarily those of the Government of Canada
1 of 1 - Democracy as an ideal - Duration: 2:47
Other video formats - Windows Media | QuickTime Transcript: My main area is public international law and specifically human rights. I’ve been very involved as a European official in human rights work for many years. I’m still doing research and writing mainly about human rights issues. I am also teaching human rights, especially international law of human rights.
I think it’s fair to say there has been quite some progress with democracy in different parts of the world. Not everywhere, obviously. Looking at Europe, I think there has been striking progress, particularly after 1989. Not everything is perfect, but on the whole, development has been very positive.
In Latin America there has also been development towards democracy. What strikes me as a lawyer is that more and more—also in texts adopted by the United Nations—democracy is used as a reference. They mention democracy as an ideal. In Europe, that was the case before, when you look at texts of the Council of Europe, of the European Union. But more and more, democracy is, at least verbally, accepted as an important reference. I think it is an ideal and it should be. This doesn’t mean that you can have exactly the same type of democracy everywhere in the world—you can’t have the same democracy that exists in Canada or Switzerland or other countries. But I think there are common features in democracies which are acceptable in spite of cultural differences, and I think many people in the world aspire to a democracy.
One way of promoting democracy is to lead by example. I think Canada is well placed to do that. Canada is not perceived as an imperial or imperialistic power. I think Canada can and must build on that by conducting its own policies. And I think it has a good chance of being heard and being considered in other parts of the globe.
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