Мон 
EnglishExcellencies,
Dear colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen
It is an honor for me to speak before such a distingueshed audience. I would have been even more delighted if I was able to talk about a perfect and model democracy in my country. Alas, nothing is perfect in the world and so is the state of democracy in Mongolia.
We are one the youngest democracies in the post-cold war world. As any youngster, we are still experiencing joys and disappointments of the challenging growth and change of the system, change of ourselves and change of our mentality.
20 years is a very short period of time in terms of history. We can be proud of many things that we have completed during this period and at the same time we still need to nurture and polish many things to make democracy mature in this country.
Over the last 23 years of democratic reforms Mongolia has advanced on many fronts. First of all it was a peaceful transition encompassing both political and economic spheres which almost no other country ever had gone through before. Simultiounous transition to democratic political system and free market economy created additional difficulties to what we had to do to achieve.
The first democratic Constitution of Mongolia was enacted in 1992, it contained for the first time a whole chapter on the protection and promotion of human rights. Since then advances of democracy could be summarized as follows:
1/ Multi-party system was developed (Mongolia has now over 20 registered political parties)
2/ Legal foundation was put in place for the development of democratic institutions;
3/ Periodic elections of the Parliament, President and local parliaments were held and most of them were considered free and fair
4/ Freedom of the press was more or less developed, althouthI must say that over the recent past many mass media has come under the control of some wealthy people and rich politicians
5/ Vibrant civil society emerged although I must again say some of them are politically oriented
6/ Market economy basis was layed down unleashing the potential of individuals to pursue their entreprenership (today 80 % of GDP is produced by the private sector);
As a result, democracy has taken a firm foothold in Mongolia and there is no U-turn in its development. However due to some specific reasons we are advancing in a ‘’a step forward and then a step back’’ manner. In the first decade of democratization process, the legacy of the old regime influenced a lot people’s mentality and advances of society. Mongolians were used to have more or less even level of everything in their life and heavily rely on the Government for their livelihood. And yet, rapid political changes, especially what the Government did, did not meet expectations of the public in terms of improving their daily life as was promised.
The first Democratic Governance Indicators (DGI) released in 2006, came to a conclusion that democracy in Mongolia was at the crossroads. The second DGIs report covering 2007-2008 made the same conclusion.
By 2008 the economy was more or less stabilized but at the same time alarming signs of widening gap between the rich and the poor and corruption had emerged jeopardizing fruits of slow but steady democratic changes. Perhaps that is the reason why DGI issued in 2010 was mostly factual and had no conclusions. I recommend you read carefully these documents to understand dynamics and phase-wise outcomes of the period.
Throughout 2010s and up to now corruption has been top concern for Government and political parties everybody blaiming everybody for its expansion.
The process of UNCAC implementation was reviewed by a group of experts from Kenya and Yemen and staff members of the Secretariat in 2010. The review was based on completed response to the comprehencive self-assessment checklist received from Mongolian side, relevant supplementary information, telephone conferences and e-mail exchanges.
Several measures have been taken in recent years in order to implement UNCAC step by step. The Law on Information transparency and freedom of accessibility and The Law on Regulation of public and private interests and Prevention of Conflict of interests in Public sector were adopted by the Parliament in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The new Laws on Presidential, Parliamentary and Local assemblies elections included drastic changes related to donations, election financing and most importantly accountability for their violations. The independent authority agains corruption is becoming more resolute in dealing with high-flying corruption cases. So far so good.
However the reality is not as bright as it may seem. There is a lot of criticism in the public and the press that the core principle of upholding rule of law is being abused and violated. The situation has worsened since the latest parliamentary elections held in June 2012. According to the opposition Mongolian People’s Party which I belong to the Government and Parliament took a number of decisions which violated the Constitution and several other laws. That, in its turn, may lead to overall disrespect of the rule of law further discrediting democracy, need for political check and balance system and accountability of Government to the people.
In my view, the following chain of factors and circumstances , namely; ignorance of rule of law-loss of political check and balance system-disregard for accountability- political dependence and loss of impartiality of the judiciary-use of law enforcement for political purposes will directly lead to rampant corruption, erasing everything we have achieved so far with such pain and efforts. The final result will be erosion of democracy. Dear friends, just remember, the first thing to, to, let me use this word, to kill democracy is to ignore the the rule of law.
I can bring out many examples of what is happening within the same chain nowadays in Mongolia. ButI am sure, for experienced people like you here, understanding of our concerns, tendency of events, direction of advancement and attitudes are more important than the actual, not very pleasant for the host country details.
We have gathered here to share our experiences, concerns for the future of democracy, learn from each other. Learn also from each others’ mistakes and shortcomings.
Now, we Mongolians, like many of you, who want to build a real democracy in our respective countries know that democratization of a society is a long road with a lot of potholes and bumps and difficult everyday work. There is no one right recipe for democracy. We have to go our own ways taking into account tradition, culture, mentality, way of life and inspirations of our peoples. Yes, it is an inspiring challenge and I wish you every success in your selfless and rewarding effort for the happy future of your peoples.
Finally, I want to assure all of you that, regardless of all these ups and downs on the way to mature democracy, every political party and movement in this country is for developing democracy further, making it the guarantee for prosperous, self-sufficient and independent Mongolia a proud member of world community.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Dear colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen
It is an honor for me to speak before such a distingueshed audience. I would have been even more delighted if I was able to talk about a perfect and model democracy in my country. Alas, nothing is perfect in the world and so is the state of democracy in Mongolia.
We are one the youngest democracies in the post-cold war world. As any youngster, we are still experiencing joys and disappointments of the challenging growth and change of the system, change of ourselves and change of our mentality.
20 years is a very short period of time in terms of history. We can be proud of many things that we have completed during this period and at the same time we still need to nurture and polish many things to make democracy mature in this country.
Over the last 23 years of democratic reforms Mongolia has advanced on many fronts. First of all it was a peaceful transition encompassing both political and economic spheres which almost no other country ever had gone through before. Simultiounous transition to democratic political system and free market economy created additional difficulties to what we had to do to achieve.
The first democratic Constitution of Mongolia was enacted in 1992, it contained for the first time a whole chapter on the protection and promotion of human rights. Since then advances of democracy could be summarized as follows:
1/ Multi-party system was developed (Mongolia has now over 20 registered political parties)
2/ Legal foundation was put in place for the development of democratic institutions;
3/ Periodic elections of the Parliament, President and local parliaments were held and most of them were considered free and fair
4/ Freedom of the press was more or less developed, althouthI must say that over the recent past many mass media has come under the control of some wealthy people and rich politicians
5/ Vibrant civil society emerged although I must again say some of them are politically oriented
6/ Market economy basis was layed down unleashing the potential of individuals to pursue their entreprenership (today 80 % of GDP is produced by the private sector);
As a result, democracy has taken a firm foothold in Mongolia and there is no U-turn in its development. However due to some specific reasons we are advancing in a ‘’a step forward and then a step back’’ manner. In the first decade of democratization process, the legacy of the old regime influenced a lot people’s mentality and advances of society. Mongolians were used to have more or less even level of everything in their life and heavily rely on the Government for their livelihood. And yet, rapid political changes, especially what the Government did, did not meet expectations of the public in terms of improving their daily life as was promised.
The first Democratic Governance Indicators (DGI) released in 2006, came to a conclusion that democracy in Mongolia was at the crossroads. The second DGIs report covering 2007-2008 made the same conclusion.
By 2008 the economy was more or less stabilized but at the same time alarming signs of widening gap between the rich and the poor and corruption had emerged jeopardizing fruits of slow but steady democratic changes. Perhaps that is the reason why DGI issued in 2010 was mostly factual and had no conclusions. I recommend you read carefully these documents to understand dynamics and phase-wise outcomes of the period.
Throughout 2010s and up to now corruption has been top concern for Government and political parties everybody blaiming everybody for its expansion.
The process of UNCAC implementation was reviewed by a group of experts from Kenya and Yemen and staff members of the Secretariat in 2010. The review was based on completed response to the comprehencive self-assessment checklist received from Mongolian side, relevant supplementary information, telephone conferences and e-mail exchanges.
Several measures have been taken in recent years in order to implement UNCAC step by step. The Law on Information transparency and freedom of accessibility and The Law on Regulation of public and private interests and Prevention of Conflict of interests in Public sector were adopted by the Parliament in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The new Laws on Presidential, Parliamentary and Local assemblies elections included drastic changes related to donations, election financing and most importantly accountability for their violations. The independent authority agains corruption is becoming more resolute in dealing with high-flying corruption cases. So far so good.
However the reality is not as bright as it may seem. There is a lot of criticism in the public and the press that the core principle of upholding rule of law is being abused and violated. The situation has worsened since the latest parliamentary elections held in June 2012. According to the opposition Mongolian People’s Party which I belong to the Government and Parliament took a number of decisions which violated the Constitution and several other laws. That, in its turn, may lead to overall disrespect of the rule of law further discrediting democracy, need for political check and balance system and accountability of Government to the people.
In my view, the following chain of factors and circumstances , namely; ignorance of rule of law-loss of political check and balance system-disregard for accountability- political dependence and loss of impartiality of the judiciary-use of law enforcement for political purposes will directly lead to rampant corruption, erasing everything we have achieved so far with such pain and efforts. The final result will be erosion of democracy. Dear friends, just remember, the first thing to, to, let me use this word, to kill democracy is to ignore the the rule of law.
I can bring out many examples of what is happening within the same chain nowadays in Mongolia. ButI am sure, for experienced people like you here, understanding of our concerns, tendency of events, direction of advancement and attitudes are more important than the actual, not very pleasant for the host country details.
We have gathered here to share our experiences, concerns for the future of democracy, learn from each other. Learn also from each others’ mistakes and shortcomings.
Now, we Mongolians, like many of you, who want to build a real democracy in our respective countries know that democratization of a society is a long road with a lot of potholes and bumps and difficult everyday work. There is no one right recipe for democracy. We have to go our own ways taking into account tradition, culture, mentality, way of life and inspirations of our peoples. Yes, it is an inspiring challenge and I wish you every success in your selfless and rewarding effort for the happy future of your peoples.
Finally, I want to assure all of you that, regardless of all these ups and downs on the way to mature democracy, every political party and movement in this country is for developing democracy further, making it the guarantee for prosperous, self-sufficient and independent Mongolia a proud member of world community.
Thank you for your kind attention.
