The Community of Democracies: We have supported since its birth the project for a Community of Democracies. Some of us participated in initiating this process, long before it became known to the general public. We plan to continue being involved in it, adding to its unfolding our emphasis on the institutional aspect of inter-democracy unity.

We recently have joined the Members of the Campaign for a UN Democracy Caucus in signing a letter urging the Convening Group of the Community of Democracies to lead the Democracy Caucus to work actively in the negotiations for a strong and effective Human Rights Group.

See NGO Coalition Urges UN Democracy Caucus to Ensure Strong Membership Mechanism for Proposed Human Rights Council

Brent Scowcroft, "The Dispensable Nation?"

7 August 2007 The International Herald Tribune- Scowcroft, former National Security Adviser to President George H.W. Bush, argues that the United States needs to re-engage with its Atlantic Community partners in an era of declining power and increasing threats. Mr. Scowcroft is wary of projects for a worldwide Community of Democracies to combat new threats, calling instead for a strengthened Altantic Community. The important distinction, he maintains, is not between countries that are democratic vs. non-democratic, but between those which are developed economically and those who are not. Thus, America's relationship with Europe becomes paramount in a world of rising tensions with Russia, the rapid modernization of China, and the precarious state of democracies in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. He sees progress with the election of politicians who are perceived to be more pro-American than their predecessors, especially Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Angela Merkel in Germany.

"Will the United States remain the "indispensable nation" in global affairs under these new conditions? It depends on what you mean by the term. There is one form of American indispensability that, thus far, no other power or bloc - not the Chinese, not the Europeans - has demonstrated: the ability to mobilize the world community to undertake the great projects of the day. We, the United States, act as the catalyst.
... But all of this comes at a time when the forces of change unleashed both by the end of the Cold War and by the onset of globalization make it much more difficult for individual nation-states, each on its own, to cope with the threats of this new world. National borders are eroding. ... states are increasingly going to be driven to cooperate to solve these problems.
I know that some have proposed a new league or assembly of the world's democratic states as a solution. And if the goal of such a body is to assist in the promotion and extension of democratic norms around the world, that is fine. But seeing this as some sort of a new bloc in world affairs is a bad idea. It is not useful at this juncture to again be dividing the world up between the good and the evil. Moreover, most countries are, at this point in time, motivated by a variety of interests, and shared commitment to a democratic form of governance is not the best yardstick. If you look at some of the recent controversies that have divided countries at the United Nations or at other global gatherings, it has not been a clash between democracies and non-democracies, but often between developing and developed nations. For example, India, the world's largest democracy, has been in the vanguard of the states resisting U.S.-inspired proposals for reform at the United Nations. I do think it is very important, however, for the Atlantic community to regroup. The trans-Atlantic rifts of the last several years, especially over Iraq, have frayed the ties that bind. And we do have an important foundational base: We share with the Europeans a common view of the individual and his relationship to government and society. Europe is in the midst of a fundamental change, spurred by the arrival of new leaders. The election of Angela Merkel as chancellor of Germany in 2005, followed by Nicolas Sarkozy's victory in the French presidential elections this spring, offers the possibility that the Franco-German axis that is at the heart of the European Union will now be more open to alignment with the United States in pursuing truly cooperative ventures, rather than seeking to compete with America. A strengthened Atlantic community, in turn, is therefore in a position to work with other major powers and regional blocs to advance an agenda for common action on such matters as the environment.... (Read more)

Senator McCain calls for the establishment of a new international organization: a League of Democracies
May 1, 2007
ARLINGTON, VA - U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver remarks to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in Stanford, California at 12:00 p.m. PDT. Below are Senator McCain's remarks, as prepared for delivery: " (...) With our democratic friends and allies around the world, we need to build a new global order of peace, a peace that can last not just for a decade but for a century, where the dangers and threats we face diminish, and where human progress reaches new heights. (...) Today we need to revive that vital democratic solidarity. We need to renew the terms of our partnership and strike a new grand bargain for the future. (...) If we strike this new bargain and renew our transatlantic solidarity, I believe we must then take the next step and expand the circle of our democratic community. (...) The 21st century world no longer divides neatly into geographic regions. Organizations and partnerships must be as international as the challenges we confront. The NATO alliance has begun to deal with this gap by promoting global partnerships between current members of the alliance and the other great democracies in Asia and elsewhere. We should go further and start bringing democratic peoples and nations from around the world into one common organization, a worldwide League of Democracies. This would not be like the universal-membership and failed League of Nations' of Woodrow Wilson but much more like what Theodore Roosevelt envisioned: like-minded nations working together in the cause of peace. The new League of Democracies would form the core of an international order of peace based on freedom. (...) This League of Democracies would not supplant the United Nations or other international organizations. It would complement them. But it would be the one organization where the world's democracies could come together to discuss problems and solutions on the basis of shared principles and a common vision of the future. (...) This is not idealism, my friends. It is the truest kind of realism. Today as in the past, our interests are inextricably linked to the global progress of our ideals. The vision of a new era of enduring peace based on freedom is not a Republican vision. It is not a Democratic vision. It is an American vision. (...)" Read Complete Speech

UN seeks to mollify US over rights council
FT-By Mark Turner at the United Nations
March 10, 2006

The United Nations General Assembly has delayed until next week a decision to create a Human Rights Council, in a last-ditch attempt to overcome US objections and avoid a damaging vote that could unravel the project altogether.
The new council is meant to replace the widely discredited Human Rights Commission in Geneva, but the US says it would vote against it because its proposed form marks insufficient progress.
European and other UN members, as well as Kofi Annan, the secretary-general, agree the proposed council is not as strong as they hoped, but believe the current text is as good as they can get, and does mark a substantial step forward.
US opposition has focused on the mechanism by which the council’s members are chosen. Washington says any candidate should win two-thirds approval in the 191-member UN General Assembly, but that was opposed by more than 120 countries. The current proposal says an absolute majority is sufficient. Read More

U.S. Quits Council Race, Possibly Fearing Defeat
Thalif Deen
April 08, 2006

The United States, which has been lambasted for human rights abuses both by members of its armed forces in Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad and by U.S. law enforcement officials in the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba, has backed out of a hotly contested race for membership in the newly-created U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC).
(... )If the United States contested and lost, it would have been a resounding public slap for a country which is a self-styled promoter of human rights but which still justifies abuses in the name of fighting terrorism. Read More