EDS Chairman Juraj Antal and co-chair for the permanent working group on Human Rights, Charlotte Spurkeland attended Forum2000 which was held from the 9th to the 11th of October in Prague, Czech Republic.
Forum 2000 was held for the 15th time, and the theme of this years forum was "Democracy and the Rule of Law". With over 50 panels and discussions, the program promised to touch on a range of interesting and difficult issues, and did.
The forum attracts highly qualified speakers from all over the world, and was opened by Former President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel, and a video greeting from Aung San Suu Kyi. Other prominent speakers were the President of The Republic of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, and Atifete Jahjaga the President of Europe’s youngest country Kosovo.
Democracy and the rule of law in Asia and Russia was discussed in several panels. It was argued that in many countries democracy has been replaced by use of law. The key to gaining democracy is to have rule of law, not rule by law, as Bobo Lo put it in a session on the rule of law in Russia. Boris Nemtsov, the Opposition Leader in Russia emphasized the need for an educated population to work and said that ”for democracy to work you need an educated population. Education is necessary if the people are to hold those responsible to account. But any form of education is not enough, the educations content is just as important.”
-One of the most interesting panels was on the rule of law and global economic performance - and the discussions back and forth between Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economic Sciences and Hernando de Soto, President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru, says Juraj Antal.
-They put forward the point that rule of law is agreed by all, and that attaining a fair rule of law is a difficult question. Democratic accountability and property rights are the key to a fair rule of law, but that in for example China property rights play less of a role. De Soto gave examples from Peru, and expressed that the country is going through a strong and dangerous recession time, and that the right to property is in danger – and that transparency is a real issue.
The Arab spring was also discussed. The social medias, Facebook and twitter, have been given a lot of credit for the revolutions, but the journalist Stephen Gan made the point that whilst only 20% of Egyptians are on the web, many more get their information through televisions. The impact social media make for the spreading of democracy is substantial, but as the Philippine journalist Marites Vitus said in a session on Asia; "good ideas travel fast, but so do bad ideas". There are therefore reasons to be careful when drawing the conclusion that the Internet will only be a positive force in the fight for democracy and the rule of law.
Another of the interesting issues that was raised in the forum was women in politics. The session touched on how women should be encouraged to achieve positions though being given opportunities, and given the chance to prove themselves as talented and able, rather than being put in positions through use of quotation instead of qualifications.
-Attending Forum2000 lifts the expertise in EDS, and gives our organization a unique opportunity to hear from world experts on the issues that touch on our core values of democracy and the promotion of Human Rights throughout the world, says Juraj Antal.
-It is an honor to be present and hear the views of some of the world’s expertise on the area of Human Rights, and will definitely contribute positively to our work in EDS when forming our own political opinions, Spurkeland agrees.
Belarus was represented at the forum with both opposition politicians and human rights activists. Other issues that were debated at the forum were organized crime and corruption, greening the economy, law and environment and women leaders in tomorrows world.
Read more about the Forum2000, and watch some of the sessions here: www.forum2000.cz.
The whole conference was transcribed and will be available on the website shortly.
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