Today is the International Day of Democracy

On the 15th of September the International Day of Democracy is celebrated in the world. Belarus seems to stay aside from the event.

The International Day of Democracy was declared 2007 by General Assembly of UN and starting from 2008 is celebrated annually on the 15th of September.

The Assembly also invited all Member States, organizations of the UN system, regional and intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals to commemorate the Day. It is a good reason to raise public awareness in the world.

General Secretary of UN Ban Ki-moon underlined in his message for International Day of Democracy 2010 that "democratic advancement is neither a linear nor irreversible process".

— In many parts of the world, we have seen serious threats to the hard-won gains in democratic governance, — said Ban Ki-moon. He also showed his awareness that "in some societies, champions of democracy and civil society activists have faced new confrontational measures".

— We should all be troubled by any such backsliding, lest it become a trend. Setbacks in democratic advancement are setbacks for development. Development is far more likely to take hold if people are given a genuine say in their own governance, and a chance to share in the fruits of progress, — underlined Secretary General and asked citizens and their governments around the globe to commemorate the Day through activities highlighting their support for democracy.

But the authority in Belarus seems to be indifferent to the event even the Republic is member country of UN. The official Belarusian Mass Media did not report neither about the International Day of democracy nor about activities which could be conducted this day.

As to co-chairman of political council of UDF, leader of the Party "Fair World" Sergey Kalyakin, such relation to the event from the side of Belarusian authorities confirms "that to the observation of democracy and human rights in Belarus is given low consideration".

— Belarus has certain problems what concerns the democracy. The authority understands it and that's why does not accent attention of society on existence of such day, — Sergey Kalyakin reported to the correspondent of news portal www.UDF.BY.

To the opinion of agency The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), there are only 30 real democratic countries in the world. Neither Belarus nor other GIS countries are among them. The EIU has analysed 167 countries on 5 criteria of political regime: election process, activities of the government, level of political participation, political culture and civil liberties.