All of our democracy and human rights work has its origins in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the UN’s member states signed more than 60 years ago.
The declaration lists a series of human rights that apply to everyone, regardless of their skin colour, sex, religious beliefs, and so on. It also describes the duties the state has towards its citizens and vice versa.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 1 from the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Since this first underlying declaration, the UN has agreed on several conventions that have had a major impact on human rights work.
Participation and human rights
The rights’ perspective and poor people’s view of their situation should pervade all development assistance efforts. This is about making people more aware of their rights and about creating better conditions for states to live up to their commitments towards their citizens.
The target is to contribute towards a democratic culture with greater freedom and opportunities for poor people, men and children to participate in processes and demand responsibility for decisions that affect them. The governments with which Sweden is co-operating should also be able to respect, protect and fulfil human rights.
Making clearer connections
Democracy is generally an effective form of government to create prosperity. But there is a need to strengthen knowledge of and understanding for the connection between democracy, human rights and the reduction of poverty.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) lists prosperity in countries around the world every year. All the countries at the top of this list are governed by governments that have come to power through free and fair elections. Their citizens also have right of association, right of expression and freedom of information.
Poverty often goes hand in hand with a lack of democracy. The countries at the bottom of the UNDP’s list have deficiencies on various points. This is, for example, where we find Mozambique, which receives considerable support from Sweden. Every year, Freedom House estimates the extent of citizens’ freedoms and the human rights that they enjoy.
There has been a considerable reduction in the number of authoritarian regimes in the last 30 years, while new, often fragile, democracies have appeared. But this trend is not as positive everywhere and in recent years there have been worrying signals that suggest that the levels of democracy and political freedom in the world are actually falling. So far, only 13 per cent of the world’s population live in fully developed democracies.
Freedom from oppression
Democracy and human rights are the areas that Sida invests in most. In 2008, about SEK 5.2 billion of our bilateral development assistance was used for such efforts. The West Bank and Gaza, Afghanistan, Mozambique, Kenya and Bosnia-Herzegovina received the most support.
Contributions within other areas also go towards improving democracy indirectly. For example, education and knowledge make it easier for citizens to participate in politics in their countries. With more households in rural areas gaining access to electricity, they can acquire the internet or a television and have a greater chance of reading and meeting.
More than SEK 13 billion, 84 per cent of the development assistance in 2008, went to direct and indirect efforts for democracy and human rights.
Varying conditions
The respect for human rights and improving democracy has reached different stages in our partner countries. Our development assistance must therefore be tailored according to the level of democracy that the country has achieved.
Some of our partner countries are not governed according to democratic principles. There is a constant discussion about whether it is right or wrong to provide support to these. However, our development assistance does not go to these regimes, but to organizations that are independent of the government. This is one way of working towards change in the long term.
About one quarter of Sida’s development assistance for democracy and human rights goes through the UN and other multilateral organizations, particularly the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the OHCHR.
Three major areas in democratic development assistance are:
