Permanent Observer to the United Nations

Our work with the UN

International IDEA fosters partnerships, multilateral dialogue and UN policies that strengthen democracy. Through its Permanent Observer status at the United Nations General Assembly, International IDEA acts as a leading voice on democracy within the UN system, contributing to UN debates through statements and expert inputs, convening dialogues and producing knowledge and data supporting International IDEA’s Member States with expertise on democracy relevant to UN processes and agendas. 

We also collaborate with the UN Secretariat, UN agencies and programmes, and partners on the ground on issues related to electoral processes, constitution building, parliaments, women’s political participation, anti-corruption and political finance, disaster risk reduction, climate change and hazards, data on democratic governance and the state of democracy, and on the 2030 Agenda, in particular on Sustainable Development Goal 16. International IDEA coordinates the SDG 16 Data Initiative, which produces non-official data to track progress on the implementation of the SDG 16, together with partner organizations.

International IDEA also hosts the UN and Democracy Hub, a user-friendly digital library that provides a one-stop-shop for knowledge resources, data, and analysis on democracy-related topics in the context of the work of the United Nations.