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Declaration of Parliamentary Meeting, on the occasion of the Eighth
Ministerial Conference
on the Community of Democracies on Democracy and Development,
in San Salvador, El Salvador

We, representatives of parliaments, democratically elected, gathered in San Salvador, El Salvador on July 22, 2015,

I. Recognizing the democratic progress of countries of the world, in freedom, dignity and rule of law;

II. Recognizing the purposes and principles of the Warsaw Declaration as well as the role of parliaments in the implementation and promotion thereof;

III. Emphasizing the universal character of human rights and the primary responsibility of parliaments to develop legislation that promotes respect and guarantee for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political opinion or other opinion, national or social origin, immigration status, economic status, birth or other status for the purposes of the sustainable development of our countries;

IV. Altered by the various difficulties on the democratic construction experienced in a growing number of countries in the world; particularly by policies of exclusion, inequality, the loss of separation of powers, the loss of sovereignty and the lack of citizen participation;

V. Considering that the challenges that democracies face are often global, one of them being the involuntary migration;

VI. Conscious that the democratically elected parliaments are the main institutions of democracy and should be strengthened; 

VII. Recognizing the work of the Parliamentary Forum for Democracy, created under the Presidency of Lithuania with the purpose of promoting a space for discussion and response for individual parliamentarians elected democratically;

VIII. Conscious of our responsibilities in advancing democracy around the world;

1) Express our gratitude to the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of El Salvador, for inviting us to San Salvador and having started a dialogue and exchange of experiences between the parliaments of the participating States of the Community of Democracies;

2) Agree on the necessity to take advantage of the opportunities for closer cooperation as well complimentarity between parliaments and Interparliamentary organizations;

3) Greet with kindness the intention to promote the creation of Parliamentary Groups of the Community of Democracies in the parliaments represented at this meeting, according to their internal rule of procedures and urge all parliaments of the participating States of the Community of Democracies to create such a group in their own parliaments in order to work together in promoting democracy around the world;

4) Encourage the parliaments of the participating states of the Community of Democracies to promote legislation aimed at ensuring institutional respect and the quality of opportunities between men and women;

5) Encourage the participating Parliamentary States to legislate to guarantee human rights, especially of vulnerable groups such as migrants, children, disabled, elderly, populations at poverty, among others, to promote better conditions for development to the countries;

6) Propose that the Community of Democracies continues to invite parliaments, through their Parliamentary Groups of the Community of Democracies, to further discuss joint cooperation and actions in identifying challenges and combating hurdles for democracy as well as the solidarity between parliamentarians;

7) Call on the Permanent Secretariat of the Community of Democracies to prepare a proposal of the principles for the future cooperation between parliaments as well as their Parliamentary Groups of the Community of Democracies in the Participating States of the Community of Democracies;

8) We congratulate the Presidency of the Community of Democracies and we are certain of the greatest success of the results of the VIII Ministerial Conference, recognizing also the work done in the youth, civil society and private sector forums, which contribute to support democratic standards worldwide.

San Salvador, El Salvador, July 22, 2015.

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