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Summit for Democracy
Guillermo Lasso, the President of Ecuador, participating in the summit
Host country United States
DatesDecember 9–10, 2021
Venue(s)Virtual
Participants111
Websitewww.state.gov/summit-for-democracy/
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

The Summit for Democracy is a virtual summit hosted by the United States "to renew democracy at home and confront autocracies abroad". The first summit was held on December 9–10, 2021.[1][2] The three themes are defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting corruption, and advancing respect for human rights.[3] Contradictory to its themes, multiple un-democratic and authoritarian nations have attended, which has attracted criticism.

The second Summit was held in March 2023 and was co-hosted by United States, Costa Rica, Zambia, Netherlands and Korea.[4][5]

Event chronology

1st summit in 2021

The schedule was as follows:[6]

Day 1

With opening remarks from United States President Joe Biden, the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made remarks about bolstering democratic resilience in the age of COVID-19 followed by panel discussions. Next topic was about preventing corruption since the conference coincided with the two-day International Anti-Corruption Day and Human Rights Day.[7]

Day 2

Discussions about protecting human rights considered the issue of empowering human rights defenders and independent media. During the intersession remarks, Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law made a speech.[a] Discussions about strengthening democratic institutions and preventive measures to stop authoritarianism from happening were held. Threats to democracy in the digital age were also discussed regarding digital surveillance. The day ended with closing remarks from Biden.

List of invited participants

1st summit in 2021

  Summit for Democracy invited participants
  Dependent and autonomous territories of invited participants

The United States invited itself and the following countries and territories to virtually attend the summit.[8][9][10] Leaders could give a short virtual opening remarks to the participants, for example British Prime Minister gave a three-minute speech.[11]


Criticism

The summit's guestlist was criticized for inviting participants based on the political interests of the United States, not on its democracy ratings. University of Sydney politics professor John Keane said the guestlist was a "cynically drawn up, bureaucratically crafted, agency-structured invitation list that includes states that by any measure are falling way down the democracy rankings or aren't democracies at all".[12]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, accused of crimes against humanity, accepted President Biden's invitation to join the Summit for Democracy. According to ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy, "Duterte’s reign of terror and mass murder, which have provoked an ICC investigation of crimes against humanity, would seem to disqualify him from providing advice on anything except fascist populism, repression and human rights violations."[13]

Despite several democracy watchdogs calling Brazil a backsliding democracy, Indonesia and Nigeria as other types of democracy, and Pakistan as a banana republic,[14] former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari participated in the Summit for Democracy,[15][16] while former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, though invited, did not.[17] Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also participated in the summit.

Some invited countries, such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq, were deemed "not free" in the democracy watchdog Freedom House's latest "Freedom in the World" report.[16] Other invited countries, such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, India and Senegal, were deemed "partly free" in the report while Brazil, the United States, Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia and Costa Rica were deemed "free." The report also showed the United States, Korea, Japan, Canada and Australia to be developed democracies and Brazil to be a developing democracy.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Hong Kong's democracy index in 2020 was 5.47.

References

  1. ^ "The Summit for Democracy—American Leadership or Photo Op?". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  2. ^ Toosi, Nahal. "An 'Illustrative Menu of Options': Biden's big democracy summit is a grab bag of vague ideas". POLITICO. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  3. ^ "The Summit for Democracy". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  4. ^ "The Summit for Democracy". U.S. Department of States. November 2022.
  5. ^ Choi, Soo-hyang (2023-03-29). "South Korea to host third 'Summit for Democracy' -joint statement". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  6. ^ "SUMMARY AGENDA". United States Department of State.
  7. ^ Ardern, Jacinda (10 December 2021). "NZ attends US President's Democracy Summit". Beehive.govt.nz. Ministry of Health. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  8. ^ "The Summit for Democracy - Participant List". U.S. Department of State. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Biden administration invites Taiwan to the Summit for Democracy, a move likely to anger China". CNBC News. Reuters. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  10. ^ "Countries and/or governments invited to the Summit for Democracy in 2021". Politico.
  11. ^ Johnson, Boris (9 December 2021). "PM remarks – Summit for Democracy: 9 December 2021". UK Government. Retrieved 28 March 2023 – via gov.uk.
  12. ^ "Congo in, China out: Biden's democracy summit guest list raises eyebrows". Sydney Morning Herald. 2021-12-09. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11.
  13. ^ "Biden's Summit For Democracy: A Showcase For Populist Autocrats And Human Rights Violators". Scoop. December 9, 2021.
  14. ^ "Pakistan Descending Into A "Banana Republic", Says Imran Khan". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  15. ^ "Joe Biden's Democracy Summit Is the Height of Hypocrisy". Time. December 10, 2021.
  16. ^ a b "Diplomacy Alone Can't Save Democracy". The Atlantic. December 10, 2021.
  17. ^ Shakil, F. M. (2021-12-13). "Pakistan snubbed US democracy summit to please China". Asia Times. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
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