International IDEA’s Observer Mission to the UN hosts workshop on gender equality, lecture series

While the weather has been cold and dreary this New York City spring, the events organized by International IDEA’s Permanent Observer Office to the United Nations (UN) have been anything but. In March, the Observer Office, in coordination with International IDEA’s Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy (IRDD), hosted the Community of Democracies and the UN Development Programme: a day-long workshop on the margins of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women.

The theme was ‘Regional Organizations and the Promotion of Gender Equality and the Political Empowerment of Women’. Representatives from the Council of Europe, the African Union Commission, the League of Arab States, the Organization of American States, and the Pacific Island Forum, among others, were in attendance. Participants discussed ways to improve cooperation between intergovernmental bodies, local institutions and regional organizations for inclusive development and the empowerment of women.

The beginning of May saw the first in a lecture series on democracy called the Margaret Vogt Lectures, organized by the UN inter-agency Executive Committee on Peace and Security’s Working Group on Democracy. International IDEA is the only non-UN entity in this group, participating as an observer. Thomas Carothers from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace was the first lecturer, and he spoke on ‘Democracy’s Uncertain State’.

Carothers detailed the complexity in calling democracy’s contemporary state ‘uncertain’, noting that the uncertainties lie in weak institutions—institutions that can be enhanced through global best practices and lessons learned. The lecture series commemorates the work of former Special Representative for the UN Secretary-General, Margaret Vogt, a scholar devoted to democracy, accountability, peace and security across the Africa.

The following week, the Observer Office co-organized a side-event to the UN President of the General Assembly’s dialogue on the future of the UN’s peace and security architecture. The dialogue was called ‘In a World of Risks: A New Commitment for Peace’. IDEA’s event was co-organized with the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) with co-sponsorship by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the UN, the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) and the Africa Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD). The event – ‘Beyond the UN Peace and Security Architecture: How can Enhanced Cooperation with Civil Society and Regional Organizations Help the UN to Fulfill its Purpose?’ – brought together representatives from country missions, UN bodies and civil society to discuss the growing importance of regional organizations and civil society actors on conflict prevention and peacebuilding processes. The President of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, provided closing remarks lauding the role of such actors in peacemaking, as well as the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Margaret Vogt lectures continue

The second installment of the Margaret Vogt Lectures took place at the end of May and featured Leonardo Morlino, Professor of Political Science at La Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali ‘Guido Carli’, speaking about the challenges to democracy presented by the recent economic crisis in Europe. Morlino was in New York to launch the English translation of ‘The Quality of Democracies in Latin America’ as well, which was also produced through the Observer Office. Featuring a new preface for the English edition, the report uses quantitative and qualitative data to assess the state of democratic institutions throughout the Americas.

Discussion paper

The Observer Office is also completing the production on a discussion paper by Timothy Sisk called ‘Peace as a Prerequisite: Evidence for the Effects of ‘Peaceful and Inclusive Societies’ on Development Outcomes’. This paper will be released in time for the UN Economic and Social Council’s 2016 High-Level Political Forum on the theme ‘Ensuring that No One is Left Behind’. The Observer Office will host a side-event to coincide with this release.