Democracy Building in Iraq
Visit of Iraqi representatives in Slovakia
18th - 25th February 2007
REPORT
On 18th - 25th February 2007, the Slovak Atlantic Commission, the Euro-Atlantic Center and the Center of Nations Slovakia in cooperation with the Atlantic Club of Iraq convened a project under the name “Democracy Building in Iraq”. In frames of this project 11-members´ delegation of Iraqi parliamentarian and non-governmental representatives visited Slovakia. The event was held under the aegis of the State secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ms. Diana Štroffová. The aim of this visit was to assist Iraqi leaders with democracy building, to provide them with our fresh and successful experience with the democratic transition, building of democratic institutions, civil society, non-governmental organizations, and legal state. During their stay in Slovakia – Bratislava and Banska Bystrica, the Iraqi delegation participated in seminars, lectures, discussions and meetings with governmental, parliamentarian, non-governmental, academic, expert and media representatives and discussed the possibilities of stabilization and democratization process in order to learn from the Slovak experience and search for models, which can be applied in the Iraqi democratization process.
The Iraqi delegation participated on official political meeting as well, among others, they met with the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Mr. Jaroslav Paška, State Secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ms. Diana Štroffová, further on with members of the Slovak parliament: Ms. Magda Vášáryová, Mr. Boris Zala, Mr. József Berényi, with diplomats as Mr. Martin Bútora, experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense and representatives of the non-governmental community.
Program
Monday, 19th February 2007 BRATISLAVA:
Ms. Oľga Gyárfášová, analyst of the Institute for Public Affairs began with the series of discussions and provided the Iraqi delegation with basic facts on Slovakia focusing on historical, economic and social development. Mr. Grigorij Mesežnikov, the President of the Institute for Public Affairs, explained the general characteristics of the “Democratic Transition” and provided with the Slovak experience, stressing the problematic points of the Slovak transition process. Ms. Nasra Hassan, director of the United Nations Information Service in Vienna explained the role of UN in Peace and Security; meanwhile the Iraqi delegates stressed the importance of a higher engagement of UN in Stabilization of Iraq. Mr. Vladimír Lomen – from the UN SC Coordination Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified the position of Slovakia as an UN SC non permanent member and explained the issue of Security Sector Reform and its implications for countries, which are rebuilding their security sector after a crisis. Mr. Michal Vašečka, independent analyst explicated the principals of political freedom, minorities rights and human rights in democratic societies focusing on the problematic points of these freedoms and rights in democracies. Mr. Juraj Juran from the Ministry of Culture explained the relation between state and religion in Slovakia, why did the secularization emerge in Europe and why is it so important for the independence of the state power.
Tuesday, 20th February 2007 BRATISLAVA
The Iraqi Delegation participated on the expert round table at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense discussed with the Iraqi delegates about the military and non-military engagement of Slovakia in Iraqi stabilization process and the current security situation in Iraq. In the afternoon the delegates had a meeting with the representatives of the Slovak Parliament, namely with the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Mr. Jaroslav Paška, who declared his preparedness to help Iraq with democratization process. Delegates also met with Mr. Boris Zala and Mr. József Berényi from the “Slovak – Iraqi friendship group” in the National Council. Mr. Zala stressed the importance of obtaining the state monopoly of power in Iraq. But the first precondition of its effectiveness should be the independence of state power and secularization of the state from the religion. From this point of view, the Slovak lecturers explained the European perception of secularization. Mr. Zala stressed that secularization and the separation of state and religion solved in the Europe’s history many problems and fights. Mr. Berényi stressed the importance of protection of minorities’ rights. In the evening the Iraqi delegates had the opportunity to exchange ideas with Slovak experts and public on possibilities of Iraqi democratization and security stabilization process at the conference: Rebuilding Iraq in the University Library in Bratislava.
Wednesday, 21st February 2007 BRATISLAVA
The Iraqi delegation began the day with discussion with Mr. Rastislav Kužel, director of the MEMO ´98 NGO, who explained the role of media in democratic society, importance and its independence. The discussion was followed by Mr. Dušan Ondrušek from the Partners for Democratic Change NGO, who explained the characteristics of the peaceful conflict management in democratic societies and the cooperation between NGOs and state structures. The Iraqi delegation participated also at a working lunch with Mr. Martin Bútora, honorary president of the Institute for Public Affairs and Ms. Magda Vášáryová, member of the Slovak parliament, both very active supporters of civil society. The Slovak guests briefed the Iraqi friends about their experience on building, financing and performance of the Slovak civil society. They stressed that the civil society plays an irreplaceable role in democracy. The work of the civil society activists should be mainly based on a voluntary work. Afternoon began with the discussion with representatives of the Slovak Agency for Investments and Trade about the engagement of Slovak Republic in rebuilding Iraq. The representatives briefed the Iraqi guests about the projects on which Slovakia took part or is willing to take part. Ambassador Christopher W. Ross, Senior Advisor for Office of Iraq, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the US Department of State discussed with Iraqi delegates thorough a videoconference at the US Embassy in Bratislava the problems with the financing of NGOs in Iraq, the problems of performance of Iraqi civil society in a wider sense. The evening reception was hosted by the US Ambassador in Bratislava in his residence. The Iraqi guest had the opportunity to meet the Slovak security community and discuss the matters of interest informally.
Thursday, 22nd February 2007 BANSKÁ BYSTRICA
The delegation moved to Banská Bystrica to meet the academic representatives. They met with the representatives of the University of Mate Bel and with the Students of the Faculty of political Science and International Relations, first at the discussion with undergraduate students followed by a more informal discussion with professors and graduated students.
Friday 23rd February 2007 BANSKÁ BYSTRICA
The Delegation met with the representatives of the Banská Bystrica Self Governing Region, where they discussed the Slovak and Iraqi model of the vertical division of state power. The meeting was followed by an expert round table at the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations led by the professor Peter Lieskovský. He explained that democracy is a dynamic and open system; it evolves constantly and should be open to new ideas. In democracy there are more visible disputes than in autocracy, because everybody can express his opinion, but these disputes should be solved at the political level in Parliament. In reverse, in autocracy the alternative ideas are suppressed by the power. The democracy should not be based only on the democratic Constitution, or only on the political representatives, but first of all on the individual well-informed citizen of the state, regardless his religious creed or ethnicity. He explained the positive and problematic aspects of democracy and stressed that there is not a general “best” model of democracy. Democracy is flexible and should be adapted to the national specifics, but the basic elements of democracy should be preserved. Any national compromise, Mr. Lieskovský advised, should be based on the general need of all individual citizens: the freedom, security and human rights. This should be the leading motive of all Iraqi representatives and the state should be able to secure these basic needs. This lecture was followed by a discussion with Mr. Marian Gula from the National Memory Institute, who explained how Slovakia deals with the former collaborators of the totalitarian regime. This question is also very important in the Iraqi society now, when the regime change emerged. The last session was devoted to the civil oversight of the security sector, Mr. Vladimír Tarasovič, an security expert explained how did Slovakia build the new security sector and through what problems did it go through. Mr. Tarasovič stressed the necessity to build a civilian security community and civilian management system. The Security department should be interconnected with this civilian community.
