Carter Center Convenes First Major Meeting between Election Observation and Human Rights Communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Soyia Ellison, soyia.ellison@emory.edu

ATLANTA - Leading members of the election and human rights communities will come together today at The Carter Center for the first major meeting between the two groups. Co-chaired by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Assistant Secretary General Ivan Šimonovic, the Human Rights and Election Standards Conference will provide participants an opportunity to reflect on areas of common interest between the two communities. Participants will also discuss potential future cooperation and will advance solutions to technical and political challenges to electoral reform at the national, regional, and international levels.

This conference is part of a larger project on election obligations and standards that is housed within the Center's Democracy Program. Since 2005, the project has been working with other election observation organizations to build consensus on the use of public international law as the basis for election assessments. It now seeks to expand those efforts and engage with other stakeholders, including inter-governmental human rights mechanisms such as the United Nations treaty bodies and human rights commissions.

Participants in the meeting include experts from the United Nations, election observer organizations, election assistance providers, academia, civil society organizations, and human rights commissions.

For more information on the election obligations and standards project, please visit http://electionstandards.cartercenter.org.

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A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.