The challenge of enhancing democracy and human rights in Europe should not rest solely on parliamentarians, Labour MP Leo Brincat said during the parliamentary assembly debate at the Council of Europe.

Civil society, governments and academia should work hand in hand to ensure that the values and principles to which they were all committed were actually put into practice in daily life.

“In this day and age when ICT is at the forefront of society’s developments, we not only need to ensure that we have more inclusive elections and deliberation mechanisms, but also that we gauge how modern communication technologies can affect the democratic process itself,” he said.

“At the same time, we should strive to ensure that all member states should have legislation in place concerning both freedom of information as well as what is referred to as The Whistleblower Act to ensure greater transparency.”

Three years ago, the Council of Europe had organised a conference on the future of democracy in Europe at expert level in Barcelona. Its deliberations remained as valid and topical as they were then.

Primarily they needed to make governments more accountable, to offset political disengagement and to enhance incentives for citizens to participate in decision-making processes.

The conference’s main conclusion should guide them in the future in the sense that they must ensure that democratic practice is continually evaluated and renewed to adapt to new contexts.

It was equally imperative that development should also be another component of endeavours in favour of democracy and human rights.