Rights must be upheld and strengthened. AWAFY’s message on the occasion of the International Day of Democracy
On International Day of Democracy, which the United Nations General Assembly designated in 2007 as a permanent Global Day of Celebration that contributes to raising public awareness of democracy and promoting and adhering to its principles.
On this day, AWAFY affirms that democracy is not merely a mechanism for governance or the transfer of power; rather, it is a solid foundation for safeguarding rights and duties at both the public and private levels and for shaping a shared future for all citizens. Effective democracy is measured only by our commitment to protecting human dignity, ensuring equality before the law, and expanding the scope for popular participation in decision-making and implementation.
We, in our grassroots youth human rights and human rights organization, believe that rights are not complete without an equal awareness of duties. Democracy places a responsibility on individuals to respect the law, participate actively in public life, and defend the values of freedom and justice. It also obligates the state to create a transparent institutional environment that enables effective accountability and guarantees freedom of expression, organization, and civil society.
In our current violent Sudanese context, this momentous occasion serves as a reminder that striving to implement some of the democratic system’s standards and its just and positive values, in accordance with our local contexts, as well as those in the Global South, is not a political luxury, but rather a necessary condition for strengthening good governance, building just peace, sustainable stability, and balanced development. The absence of these targeted standards and values certainly leads to the empowerment of tyranny, the squandering of resources, and the replication of crises, while their actual presence establishes a new social contract based on fair participation and equal citizenship.
Therefore, we call, through all our organization’s various platforms, on all societal, political, and human rights forces in our country, the region, and the Global South in general, to make these positive standards and just values of the democratic system a daily practice. These standards are not limited to election seasons or manifestations of political action, but rather are reflected in all public policies, in respect for diversity, and in protecting the most vulnerable groups from marginalization, violence, and exclusion.
In this spirit, AWAFY affirms its commitment and great desire to continue contributing to the human rights struggle, in order to consolidate effective democratic values that protect the Sudanese people and enable them to live in freedom and dignity, in a homeland where rights are equal to duties and where the state is built on the foundations of justice and accountability.
AWAFY Sudanese Organization
September 15, 2025, Sudan