International Day of Democracy was established on December 13, 2007 by the UN General Assembly, since 2008 it has been celebrated annually on September 15. The main goal of Democracy Day is to raise public awareness of human rights and democratic values.
Democracy (translated from the ancient Greek "power of the people") is a form of government in which decisions are made not by one person or a small group of people, but by the majority of the population. Since many current decisions cannot be made by the entire people, society delegates certain powers to its elected representatives. It is the electivity of the main government posts, the adoption of fundamental decisions for the state by voting of the entire population and the supremacy of human rights and freedoms that form the basis of most modern versions of democratic forms of government.
The International Day of Democracy, celebrated on September 15, provides an opportunity to take a closer look at how human rights are respected in certain countries, what problems of democracy are currently the most acute. In many cities around the world, events are being held to remind about the values of a democratic world order and the grave consequences of their violation.
Various political actions are timed to coincide with the International Day of Democracy, in many cases they are carried out by opposition parties that do not agree with the activities of the existing government. They have the opportunity to once again declare their demands, point out the shortcomings of the existing political system. In particular, the Russian opposition is going to hold a mass protest action on September 15, 2012, in which, according to the organizers, more than 300 thousand people will take part.
For the current government, no matter what country in the world we are talking about, the existence of the Day of Democracy is another reminder of the need to strictly observe and protect democratic values, promptly eliminate the identified shortcomings, and contribute by all means to the spread of democracy in the world.
