Demokratie International

On the 12th of September the European Parliament voted on the so called Sargentini Report, condemning the anti-democratic turn of Hungary and initiating the procedure related to Article  7 (1) of the Treaty on the European Union. Huge attention has been drawn to the continuous democratic erosion in Hungary.

Seventy years after the adoption of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) human rights are found in country’s constitutions and also incorporated in regional instruments. However, there is no issue as heated as the universality character of human rights.

On July 30, 2018, Zimbabwe will have its first post-Mugabe harmonised election. This article provides an overview of how the two leading contenders for the Presidency, E.D. Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa, have gone about winning the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans in the 2018 electoral race.

The 2018 Zimbabwe elections are characterised by continuities and discontinuities. While many chiefs continue to support Zanu-PF, a growing number has stood their ground and refused to partake in the repression of their people.

The Hungarian Government has voted to further deteriorate refugee people's rights and justify the imprisonment of NGO workers and attorneys who attempt to help them. ​

A revolution took place in Malaysia on May 9, 2018. It was a silent and peaceful one, amazingly achieved through the ballot box, and is therefore not noticed for what it is. But it is a revolution nevertheless.

A crucially necessary reform of the healthcare system has been awaiting Hungary since the transition from the communist era. The Orbán Government would have had a historical chance - but healthcare just keeps drifting along.

Media pluralism has suffered another major blow in Hungary. Magyar Nemzet, a newspaper that represented a brand of conservatism that was still able to critically evaluate the governing of Viktor Orbán, was shut down following the Prime Minister’s most recent election victory.

For almost a week now, huge rallies have shaken the Armenian capital of Yerevan, where Nikol Pashinyan, one of the leaders of the movement, called for a “velvet revolution”. But will the protesters this time successfully press for democratic accountability?

According to a recently surfaced voice recording, Hungary's House Speaker László Kövér admitted during a private discussion that Fidesz manipulatively redrew the borders of single-member constituencies for its own benefit.

In April 2018 a general election will be held in Hungary. But liberal democracy in Hungary is undermined in such a way that the 2018 general election cannot be called either free or fair. Here are the reasons why.

In recent weeks civil organisations in Hungary have been kept busy by a law package that the Government has drafted. It bears the name “Stop Soros” and would restrict freedom of expression and freedom of association as well as refugees’ right to protection.

The Council of Europe secures human rights but Russia has its own understanding of rules and procedures. How to deal with the quirky member in order to preserve without offending? 

Instead of top-down reforms for the media, the countries in Southeast Asia need policies that prioritize the public’s interests.

Social media in ASEAN has quickly evolved from being a passive tool for knowledge consumption and entertainment to an active mechanism for change.

Although ASEAN’s new consensus document on migration is a giant step towards safeguarding the rights of migrant workers, it still sticks to putting skilled professionals and lower-skilled migrants in separate silos.

Thirty years after the Velvet Revolution, the atmosphere in Czech society is poisonous. Many who followed the course of the Czech presidential elections during the past few weeks in detail must feel they are trapped in a nightmare.

With the death of Arseny Roginsky, the Heinrich Böll Foundation loses one of its closest and oldest friends and partners in Russia.

The power shift in Zimbabwe was a military coup, says Brain Raftopoulos. To prevent the consolidation of a new authoritarian state, the international community has to be careful not to prioritise stability over democratisation.

The scope of action for civil society actors opposing large-scale projects; protesting social injustices, land grabbing, and environmental destruction; and demanding democratic participation and human rights is shrinking continually.