A/HRC/22/29 16. Non-institutional actors can also play a useful role in furthering democracy. For example, while traditional leadership may have non-representative features, some traditional authorities have provided an important basis for promoting democratic governance through consensus-based mechanisms. When available, the legitimacy of those arrangements proceeds from their harmonious relationship with their traditional community and their social environment. III. The imperatives of the rule of law and human rights A. Interdependence of human rights, democracy and the rule of law 17. In 1993, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights stated that democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing, and that the international community should support the strengthening and promoting of democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the entire world. 5 Furthermore, the former Commission on Human Rights adopted a series of resolutions between 1999 and 2005 re-emphasizing the interconnection among democracy, human rights, development and the rule of law. 18. Almost 20 years after the World Conference on Human Rights, the Human Rights Council affirmed in resolution 19/36 that democracy is vital for the promotion and protection of all human rights (para. 4), stressing that States are guarantors of democracy, human rights, good governance and the rule of law, and bear responsibility for their full implementation (para. 12). 19. As demonstrated in the above-mentioned 2005 expert seminar,6 the indivisibility of human rights and the interdependence of human rights and the rule of law are core components of democracy as a concept and as a practice. 20. The primacy of the law ensures the legitimacy of power holders and that of a system of governance adhered to by all. The interlinkage between human rights and the rule of law broadens the observance of democratic values. In established democracies, the legal authority to govern and to exercise power is subject to compliance with the fundamental principles of the rule of law as well as to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. 21. The interdependence between democracy and human rights is established in several international human rights instruments, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provide that (a) everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives; (b) everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country; (c) the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures (art. 21). 22. The Human Rights Committee, in its general comment No. 25 (1996), stresses further this interdependence by demonstrating that article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which recognizes and protects the right of every citizen to 5 6 6 Para. 8. See para. 4.