Democracy and human rights: a tripartite conceptual framework

Abstract

The end of the 20th century witnessed a worldwide spread of democracy and human rights that was unprecedented in history. Yet, it seems increasingly clear that democracy and human rights do not necessarily go together. Human rights violations are often justified in name of democracy and freedom, and even in established democracies human rights violations are common. This article develops a tripartite conceptual framework to examine the connection between democracy and human rights, outlining three democratic accountability mechanisms – vertical, horizontal, and diagonal accountability – and the conditions under which those accountability mechanisms succeed and fail to promote human rights. Vertical accountability refers to elections and the role of citizens, horizontal accountability refers to the separation of powers, rule of law and the role of the judiciary and integrity institutions, and diagonal accountability refers to the role of media and civil society organisations in holding governments to account for human rights. We illustrate the value of this framework in the Australian context, highlighting the role and limits of the existing Australian human rights architecture including constitutional, executive and legislative protections, the absence of a bill of rights and opportunities for civil society and media to hold governments accountable for their human rights (in)actions.

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