Annual Report 2017 | Part  Two

IN MOST DEVELOPING COUNTRIES ECONOMIC GROWTH AND EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES DO NOT GO HAND-IN-HAND WITH IMPROVEMENTS IN CITIZEN'S ENJOYMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN AND LABOUR RIGHTS. THE EU IS THEREFORE PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH ITS TRADE INSTRUMENTS, IN PARTICULAR THE GENERALISED SCHEME OF PREFERENCE PLUS (GSP+). THE GSP+ GRANTS CERTAIN COUNTRIES BETTER ACCESS TO EU MARKETS IN EXCHANGE FOR BETTER PROTECTIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, LABOUR STANDARDS, ENVIRONMENT AND GOOD GOVERNANCE. THIS GIVE-AND-TAKE BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS CAN BECOME A WIN-WIN FOR CITIZENS WHO SHOULD BENEFIT FROM GROWTH AND BETTER HUMAN RIGHT PROTECTIONS AT THE SAME TIME.

THE PROMOTION OF HUMAN AND LABOUR RIGHTS THROUGH GSP+ IN NINE COUNTRIES

Recognising the importance of GSP+ as a mechanism to promote fundamental freedoms and rights, DRI is implementing a three-year project funded by the EU to support the promotion of human and labour rights through GSP+ in nine countries worldwide. DRI and its partners are using the opportunities created by the GSP+ to inform and empower citizens so they can actively claim their rights. Local partners carry out monitoring of key human rights issues as well as consultations on the situation of human and labour rights, engaging with citizens' organisations, trade unions, the business community and local authorities. In this way, new spaces of dialogue are opened between groups that usually refuse to sit at the same table to discuss human rights issues.

KEY ACTIVITIES

While trade statistics are routinely gathered, the question remains, how to track the countries' performance on protecting human rights? With the support of DRI, partners in the nine countries monitor specific human rights, collect data and produce reports. The main areas under monitoring are civil and political rights, in particular freedom of speech, safety of journalists and human rights defenders; social and economic rights, and labour rights. To share experiences and discuss how to develop country-specific, meaningful indicators to monitor rights compliance, DRI gathered its partners from Bolivia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan and the Philippines in Colombo on 20-21 November 2017. The workshop provided the knowledge and laid the foundations for the development of country-specific monitoring plans to be carried out in 2018.

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Since GSP+ as a mechanism is not well-known among the global development and human rights community, DRI produced simplified and accessible information about the mechanism for easy disseminated. The "Factsheet: GSP+ Monitoring Process" visualises the GSP+ monitoring process, including its purpose, the role of civil society, and the role of the country Scorecards. The second "Factsheet: Sri Lanka and the GSP+", describes Sri Lanka's turbulent role within the scheme, focusing on the country’s recent recertification in 2017.

PARTNERSHIP WITH OBSERVER GROUPS in DR CONGO

The EU-funded programme has been extended to 2021 in a context of ever-shifting dates for the presidential elections. This will allow DRI and its lead partner, the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), to offer continued support to the 11 domestic observer groups who have for years been preparing to monitor the long-awaited polls. With a considerable level of preparedness built since the programme start in 2015, the observer groups now play a more central role in training their own colleagues across this vast country under the umbrella of the project. Throughout 2017, DRI staff contributed to the training of long-term observers and helped to further develop the programme for the extension.

SUPPORTING DEMOCRACY

Innovating Civil Society Support

The programme, implemented with the National Democratic Institute and the consultancy firm Sofreco, gained fresh momentum this year with a mandate from the EU to explore new frontiers in how to support civil society. With DRI expertise, the programme developed a "Guide for Citizen Observers on Electoral Reform". Now an official EU manual, it helps civil society worldwide more systematically participate in improving electoral processes and frameworks, drawing on observer recommendations. The programme also introduced pilots to test its “Citizen Voice Initiative for Accountability”, a dialogue mechanism for civil society to debate the EU's priorities in supporting democracy. To address the global phenomenon of shrinking space for civil society, DRI co-implemented a regional study across seven countries in Southern and East Africa to analyse why it is becoming increasingly difficult for civil society to work in their countries. The project aims at informing CSOs as well as EU Delegations to jointly launch actions countering the shrinking space.

In 2017, Europe faced new challenges with the continued attacks on democracy in Poland and Hungary, social-media-based interference in elections and a rise of anti-democratic forces in many countries. 

We advocated for a more appropriate use of terms, arguing at many events and in our paper "False frames: How we undermine democracy with careless language", that the inflationary use of the term “populism” is misleading and counterproductive as it does not help to distinguish between democratic and anti-democratic parties. We brought together well-known political experts to discuss this at a one-day workshop “Democracy in Europe one year after Trump”, co-organised with the Mercator Foundation.

We continued following rule of law and constitutional changes in Poland and Hungary, countries in which ruling parties take over many state institutions. The Hungarian justice system, media, referendum campaign finance, and public procurement were affected by the legal changes introduced by the government, according to our data-based analysis. To follow up on our findings, in 2017, together with Polish and Hungarian constitutional law experts we debated about "Recovering from Authoritarian Backsliding: Pathways and Prospects", an event co-organised with the Center for Constitutional Transitions and the Center for Global Constitutionalism. Building on our expertise and network we aim to create a platform of constitutional experts in Europe and develop joint tools which can be used for better communication on the threats to democracy and how citizens can affect these threads.

DRI IN THE MEDIA AND RESEARCH

Apart from media reporting on DRI publications and events, we also published opinion articles in various media in order to promote the cause of democracy. They included Foreign Policy, EUractiv, and EUobserver, Tagesspiegel as well as interviews in CNN and Arte. DRI staff also contributed to Think Tank and academic publications.

A few reading examples: Daily Times; Tagesspiegel; Carnegie Europe; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Guardian one and two; Foreign Policy; Deutschlandfunk Kultur; Deutsche Welle; EURACTIV; IPG; CNN

SOCIAL MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY

In the past too little was known too late about what happened on social media in conflicts or elections, so we used our presence in many countries to monitor "real-time" public posts on social media like Facebook or Twitter. Our monitoring of extremist Facebook groups during the Rakhine state crisis in Myanmar received wide-spread coverage by international media, including interviews with CNN and Arte. We also monitored social media during the German federal election and explored how social media monitoring could be integrated into general election observation. We trained election observation groups on how to monitor social media and we have presented our findings and recommendations at many conferences and workshops dealing with regulation and the burgeoning field of civic tech.

HUNGARY

Hungary's government under Victor Orbán has been seen as a pioneer of undemocratic policies in EU member states. For many years the Hungarian parliament changed the constitution and other laws amidst a chorus of criticism in the country and abroad. We wanted to find out what these legal changes meant in reality. What emerged is not pretty. A constitutional court packed with judges appointed by the ruling party and deciding in favour of the government most of the time, tax-funded media that only present government views and friends and family of the prime minister who received lots of contracts from the government, altogether amounting to EUR 1,9 billion over six years. We describe this and more in our study 'Judging by Results’, prepared together with Transparency International Hungary, Mertek Media Monitor and the Eötvös Károly Policy Institute.

Berlin

Carnegie Europe

The Carter Center

Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA)

Eötvös Károly Policy Institute

European Council on Foreign Relations

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Humboldt University

International IDEA

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

Mercator Stiftung

Mertek Media Monitor

National Democratic Institute (NDI)

Office for Economic Policy and Regional Development (EPRD)

Re:Publica

Robert Bosch Stiftung

SOFRECO

German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)

Transparency International Hungary

Ukraine & Georgia

Association for Development of Judicial Self-Governance in Ukraine

Center for Political and Legal Reforms

Council of Europe Office in Ukraine

ForSet (Georgia)

Georgian Young Lawyer's Association (GYLA)

Hromadske Radio

Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko

National University of Kyiv

Kreativ - Vinnytsya Regional Informational Centre

Ministry of Justice of Ukraine

National Agency for Public Service

OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine

StopFake Ukraine

Studway

Texty.org

Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre (UCMC), Ukraine

USAID New Justice Project

USAID Project "RADA"

Yurydychna Gazeta

Libya

Clingendael Institute

The Libyan Coalition for the Constitution (LCC)

Lebanon

Beyond Reform and Development (BRD)

Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE)

NAHNOO

Partnership Centre for Development and Democracy (PCDD)

Urban Planning and Local Authorities Development (UPLoAD)

Tunisia

Assemblée des représentants du people (the parliament) Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature

Cour des Comptes

Ecole Nationale d'Administration

Faculté des Sciences juridique économique et de Gestion de Jendouba

Faculté de droit et des sciences politiques de Tunis

Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Politiques et Sociales de Tunis

Haute autorité indépendante de la communication audiovisuelle

Instance d'accès à l’information

Institut Supérieur de la Magistrature

Ministère chargé des Relations avec les instances constitutionnelles, la société civile et des droits de l’Homme

Radio Nationale Tunisienne

Tribunal Administratif

Article 19

The Carter Center (TCC)

Conseil supérieur de la Justice belge

IFES

International IDEA

National Democratic Institute (NDI)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Action Associative

AlBawsala

Association des magistrats tunisiens (AMT)

Association pour la Recherche sur la Transition Démocratique (ARTD)

Association La Ruche Tozeur

Association Tunisienne de Droit Constitutionnel (ATDC)

L'association Tunisienne des femmes juges

Association Tunisienne pour l’Intégrité et la Démocratie des Elections (ATIDE)

Association Tunisienne des Jeunes Magistrats (ATJM)

Association Tunisienne des Sciences Administratives (ATSA)

CentreTuMed

Farhat Hached Institut for Research and Democracy

IWatch

Jasmin Foundation

Jeunesse Sans Frontières Tunisie (JSF)

Kolona Tounes

Ligue des Electrices Tunisiennes

Mourakiboun

Observatoire Chahed

Ofiya

Ordre National des Avocats Tunisiens (ONAT)

Pole Civil pour le Développement et Droits de l’Homme SOLIDAR

Syndicat des magistrats tunisiens (SMT)

Syndicat National des Journalistes Tunisiens (SNJT)

Touensa

Union des magistrats de la cour des comptes (UMCC)

Union des magistrats administratifs (UMA)

Union Tunisienne des Médias Associatifs

Sri Lanka

Centre for Policy Alternative

European Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka

Jaffna Social Action Center

Maatram Foundation

National Collaboration Development Foundation

Rights Now – Collective for Democracy

Right to Life

Uva Shakthi Foundation

Verité Research

Myanmar

Alliance for Gender Inclusion in the Peace Process

Centre for Civil and Political Rights

Center for Development and Ethic Studies

Chalk&Slate Technology

Charity Oriented Myanmar (COM)

Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

Electoral Reforms Coordinating Body (ERCB)

Friedrich Naumann Stiftung

Hans Seidel Stiftung

Hornbill Organisation (HBO)

Human Rights Defender Forum

International Bar Association Human Rights Institute

International Commission of Jurists

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral

Assistance

Myanmar Institute for Democracy

Myanmar Knowledge Society

Myanmar National Human Rights Commission

The New Myanmar Foundation

Pandita Development Institute

Peace and Justice Myanmar

Pyidaungsu Institute

The Salween Institute

Union Election Commission

GSP+

Armenia: Eurasia Partnership Foundation Armenia (EPF)

Bolivia: Centro de estudios para el desarrollo laboral y agrario (CEDLA)

Cabo Verde: Comissão Nacional para os Direitos Humanos e a Cidadania (CNDHC)

Kyrgyzstan: Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society

Mongolia: Globe International Center (GIC)

Philippines: Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)

Paraguay: Centro de Análisis y Difusión de la Economía Paraguaya (CADEP)

From our Ukraine office:

Country Representative: Bohdan Nahaylo

Translator: Iryna Babanina 

Translator: Roman Proskurenko 

Finance and Administration Officer: Yuliya Dudnyk

From our Tunisia office:

Legal, Political and Parliamentary Officer: Meriem Guetat

Legal liaison Officer: Nouha Chaouachi

Logistics assistant: Jamel Ayed

From our Libya office:

Country Representative: Anne-Marie Brinkmann

Accountant: Mohamad Masoud

From our Pakistan office:

Country Representative: Hassan Nasir Mirbahar

From our Lebanon office:

Research and Communications Officer: Poliana Geha

Project Coordinator: Abed Khattab

Project Coordinator: Fares Halabi

From our Myanmar office:

Programme Coordinator/Human Rights and Legal Expert: Marine Constant

Senior Elections Advisor: Dorota Ryzy

From our Sri Lanka office:

Country Representative: Sakuntala Kadirgamar

Project Officer: Saumya Muthulingam

Project Assistant: Rebeka Alexander

From our Berlin headquarters:

Regional Manager Asia: Jennifer Birch

Programme Officer MENA: Leonie Lorenz

Junior Programme Officer Asia: Alexander Simm

Executive Assistant: Patricia Serb

Student Assistant: Miriam Wiemers

Interns: Meriam Ayachi, Ivona Semren, Elizabeth Banerd, Bruno St-Jacques

Photo credits: Cover illustration by Jörn Kaspuhl; Photo chapter DR Congo by MONUSCO on flickr; Photo chapter Special Thanks by Meg Nielson on Unsplash; Photo chapter Supporting Democracy by rawpixel on Unsplash

Imprint: © Democracy Reporting International gGmbH (DRI), June 2018.
All rights reserved. Distribution for all noncommercial purposes is encouraged, provided DRI is acknowledged as the source and sent copies of any translation.