Declaration approved by acclamation by the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, at its 161st session, held in the city of Cairo, Egypt, on September 16, 1997. The Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Reaffirming the commitment of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in favor of peace and development, convinced that strengthening the democratization process and representative institutions will greatly contribute to the achievement of this objective;
Also reaffirming the vocation and commitment of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for the promotion of pluralist democracy and the establishment of representative government systems in the world, and wishing to reinforce its continuous and multifaceted action in this domain;
Recalling that each State has the sovereign right to freely choose and develop, in accordance with the will of its people, its own political, social, economic and cultural systems, without interference from other States, in strict accordance with the Charter of the United Nations ;
Also recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, approved on December 16, 1966, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted on December 21, 1965, and the Convention on the Universal Declaration of Democracy.
Declaration on All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted on December 18, 1979; Recalling also the Declaration on the Criteria for Free and Fair Elections, adopted in March 1994, which confirms that, in any State, government authority can derive solely from the will of the people, expressed in truly free and fair elections;
Considering the Agenda for Democratization presented on December 20, 1996 by the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the United Nations General Assembly Session; Adopts the following Universal Declaration on Democracy and invites governments and parliaments around the world to be guided by its contents.