May 2006 United Nations Democracy Fund VOLKER LEHMANN Summary The recently established United Nations Democracy Fund(UNDEF) should provide strategic support to catalyze democracy and human rights initiatives around the world. It is intended to complement the UN’s existing engagement in democracy promotion. Yet given its limited resources, the Fund will have to carve out a competitive niche side by side with other, already well-established democracy-promotion programs. In addition, while the Fund was created thanks to the leadership of some democratic countries, notably the United States, its success will depend on more member states embracing it as a relevant tool for democracy promotion. Background Democratic values were enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as well as in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. More recently, a group of states established a‘Community of Democracies’ to consult within the framework of some of the UN bodies. In a similar vein, in 2001 the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General “to examine options for strengthening the support provided by the United Nations System for the efforts of the Members States to consolidate democracy”(GA Resolution 56/98 of 14 December 2001). These normative processes to strengthen democracy were accompanied by operational activities of the UN System. In particular, in 2000 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) put democratic governance at the center of its development cooperation program, and dedicated a substantial proportion(about US$ 1 billion) of its core resources towards this end. Another significant development was the establishment of the Electoral Assistance Division(EAD) within the Department of Political Affairs(DPA) in 1992. The EAD is responsible for the coordination of the activities of the United Nations System in the field of electoral assistance. After a proposal by US President George W. Bush to the UN General Assembly in the fall of 2004, UNDEF was established in July 2005 as a United Nations General Trust Fund. It was kicked off by the United State’s initial contribution of US$ 10 million, which was matched by India. As of 3 March 2006, the Fund has received US$ 32.5 million in contributions and US$ 16.5 million in pledges. Table 1: Top Contributors to UNDEF Donor Country Contributions and Pledges(million US$) United States 17.9 India 10.0 Qatar 10.0 Australia 7.3 Germany 1.6 France 1.2 United Kingdom 0.6 Senegal 0.1 Chile 0.1 Czech Republic, 0.05 Poland, Portugal Source: UNDEF Website http://www.un.org/democracyfund/financial_contrib utions.htm(retrieved 20 April 2006). What is the UNDEF? UNDEF wants to provide strategic support to democracy and human rights initiatives around the world. UNDEF receives voluntary contributions from member states. The Secretary-General decides on project funding based on the recommendations from an Advisory Board, which has 17 members: Six representatives from those member states contributing the most to the Fund (see Table 1), currently Australia, France, Germany, India, Qatar, and the United States; five representatives from other member states to ensure geographic diversity, currently Benin, Chile, Hungary, Indonesia, and South Africa; four persons appointed in their individual capacity,