During the White House Summit on Democracy, Grace Initiative Global held a side event on Promoting Strategies for Transparency and Accountability for a Flourishing Democracy in Iraq. Our side event took place on December 10, 2021 – International Human Rights Day. Drawing from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,which reaffirms inter alia the equal rights of men and women to access social progress and better standards of life. These fundamental values are embedded in a democracy, which is transparent, accountable and flourishing. Our program was truly global in perspective and in location and time zones, with experts from France, Iraq, Japan, the UK and of course the US. The experts examined the importance of furthering and ensuring transparency and accountability – diminishing the potential harmfulness of corruption in a democracy. Some practical elements of a flourishing democracy are generally agreed to be a strong civil society, an active and unrestricted press, a strong and fair legal system. This is exemplified in what is referred to as the social contract between the people and their representatives, taking into account their expectations from governance and the government’s responsibilities to the people, this requires confidence and reliance, which is based on transparency and accountability. We will explore these components in our discussion.
