II. Possible Supplementary Commitments 73. The OSCE community can be proud of its acquis of commitments. Both in general terms and in its specific commitments on making democracy and human rights a reality for all in the OSCE region, little can be added. What remains is the challenge to implement, which includes spreading knowledge and awareness of these standards as widely as possible, and living up to these norms in practice. There is, however, always scope for providing more clarity about exactly what the more general base lines of pluralist democracy, democratic elections, human rights, and the rule of law mean in practice. This would be done with a view to making it easier to establish whether or not the commitments are being fulfilled, and to make the process of accountability more standardized and objective. 74. This chapter provides some examples where existing commitments would benefit from clarification or specification and discusses areas in which the OSCE acquis may benefit from new commitments. To be consistent with the OSCE’s process-oriented approach, the starting point for any discussion of additional commitments in the human dimension is essentially and fundamentally a re-commitment to the core agreements in this context, such as the 1990 Copenhagen Document and post-Copenhagen Declarations and Decisions. 75. The discussion of additional commitments to supplement existing ones provides OSCE participating States with an opportunity to enrich, reinforce, and amplify existing OSCE human-dimension-related commitments, with a focus on principles not already expressly stated in the 1990 Copenhagen Document or elsewhere. The adoption of new documents will certainly not detract from or invalidate existing documents, which have always been intended to build on each other, thus constituting the normative layers of the OSCE acquis. A. Elections 76. Since 1990, OSCE States have been active in developing norms for democratic elections, and they have built upon the Copenhagen Document through a succession of Declarations and Decisions.43 The Budapest Summit duly emphasized an election as a process, and decid43  The 1990 Charter of Paris states that “we undertake to build, consolidate and strengthen democracy as the only system of government of our nations”. Furthermore, it proclaims that “democratic government is based on the will of the people, expressed regularly through free and fair elections”, and “everyone also has the right…to participate in free and fair elections”. The 1994 Budapest Summit Declaration notes that “democratic values are fundamental” to OSCE participating States and these values are “a primary goal of CSCE action” (paras. 8 and 14). The 1996 Lisbon Summit Declaration recognizes the “democratization process” and management of “democratic gains” through “further development” and co-operation “in strengthening democratic institutions” (para. 4). Moreover, the 1999 Istanbul Summit Declaration announces that OSCE participating States are committed to free and fair elections as “this is the only way in which there can be a stable basis for democratic development” (para. 26). The link between democracy and security was strengthened by the Istanbul Charter for European Security, which underlines that “democracy is the core of the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security” (para. 19). Common Responsibility: Commitments and Implementation 27