Part of our development assistance for democracy and human rights goes to state authorities in partner countries. The purpose is to better equip them to give the service that citizens have the right to.
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Article 25 in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Sweden is supporting the development of efficient and open public administration with a focus on poor people’s needs and rights.
Swedish expertise
Several Swedish authorities are engaged in development assistance and are cooperating with their equivalent authorities in developing countries. We are supporting a long series of such efforts.
Statistics Sweden is one example. Access to statistics that provide facts about development problems is an important tool in planning the right contributions in the work of combating poverty. For example, this could be finding out who the poorest people are. Such information can contain more political dynamite than one might think.
The Swedish National Audit Office and the Swedish Tax Agency are other examples of authorities that are engaged in development assistance efforts. Outlining the state budget in a way that citizens understand reduces the risk of corruption and mismanaging resources. Tax collection is also necessary. Without money, the state cannot provide citizens with any service.
Some of the many examples include supporting the national audit office in Liberia and a major tax reform in Indonesia.
Poor people’s access to justice
The judicial system is central to a democracy. In the perfect democracy, all individuals are treated equally by the judicial system. The police are friends of the citizens, not enemies. Judges and lawyers are not bribed and have no connections to those in power. They can judge each case based on the nature of the crime, not depending on the accused’s position in society. Those who have been imprisoned can serve their sentence without the risk of being tortured.
This is the ideal, though the reality is totally different in many of Sida’s partner countries. The development assistance is used to strengthen the weak links in the chain. Police forces receive training in human rights. Prisons receive support to improve the prisoners’ situation. Courts’ ability to hold trials is improved in various ways, and so on.
Many efforts that we support have to do with improving poor people’s access to the judicial system. For example, in Nicaragua we have long been contributing to “barefoot lawyers”, in other words, people in villages who have basic training in law but who are working in different fields, so that even the poorest people can afford to appoint a lawyer. Training lawyers is also an important part of development assistance.
More free elections
Free elections and more parties to choose from is an obvious part of a democracy. Today, presidential and parliamentary elections are held in most countries with varying quality. One requirement is that all citizens are given the opportunity to participate and that they feel free to vote.
We have contributed towards elections in many countries. Our efforts have included registering citizens so that they can utilize their right to vote. Another important issue is to include more women in politics. Development assistance also goes to election observers who monitor whether the elections are free and fair.
We also support parliaments in several countries so they can improve their ability to:
- examine the government
- represent the citizens
- handle the state budget
- legislate
- handle conflicts of interest.
