President Joe Biden hosts the Democracy Summit held online, attended by leaders from 111 countries. The purpose of the summit is to support global democracy in the face of the rise in authoritarian regimes.
The fact that some countries were invited to the conference, which will last two days, despite the controversial record of their democratic record, and the complaints of those who were not invited, are overshadowed.
In the opening speech of the summit, President Biden drew attention to a global erosion of democratic institutions and called on world leaders to join forces.
Biden stated that they are working with Congress to allocate $424 million to a new initiative that will be created to support world democracies and support independent media.
Stating that this is a critical time to increase efforts to support democracies, Biden cited the struggle in Congress for the voting rights law in the USA as an example and emphasized the difficulties faced by the USA’s own democratic institutions and traditions.
Biden pointed out that the data of non-governmental organizations and studies evaluating democracy around the world reveal a global wrong direction in the last 10 years, including the USA.
Saying that democracy is the most decisive struggle of the period, Biden drew attention to the need for cooperation to protect democracy and said, “We must gather around the values that unite us.” “We must stand behind fundamental freedoms such as justice, the rule of law, freedom of expression and assembly, freedom of the press and freedom of religion,” Biden said.
Stating that Congressman John Lewis is a very important name for American democracy, Biden reminded that the last message Lewis gave before he passed away last year was the message “Democracy is an action, not a situation”. Lewis was an icon of the US civil rights struggle. Biden said that during the two days of the summit, the leaders of more than 110 countries met with representatives of non-governmental organizations, trade unions and trade organizations to join forces and consolidate their common commitment to improve democracy.
Uzra Zeya, the civil security, democracy and human rights officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that the event aimed to bring deep-rooted democracies and emerging democracies together and to have a democratic enlightenment moment for their people.
The summit is also a test for Biden’s promise to make the United States a global leader again in the fight against authoritarian world powers Russia and China.
China and Russia are not invited to the event. On the other hand, the raid by his supporters in the US on January 6, after former President Donald Trump’s allegations of electoral corruption, to intervene in the process of confirming Biden’s election victory, also led to the discussion of the durability of US democracy.
The guests are discussed
Among the other topics discussed are the countries like the Philippines, Poland and Brazil, which human rights groups accuse their leaders of having authoritarian tendencies on the guest list.
The fact that Taiwan was among the invitees caused the reaction of China, which considers the democratically administered Taiwan as its own territory.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the US invitation to Taiwan shows that democracy is only “using democracy as a cover and tool to further its geopolitical goals, exert pressure on other countries, divide the world and serve its own interests.”
As the summit approached, Washington had announced sanctions against officials in Iran, Syria, and Uganda, whom it accused of being oppressive against their people, and those it accused of being linked to corruption and criminal gangs in Kosovo and Central America.
The United States hopes to support global initiatives to use technology in areas such as protecting privacy and circumventing censorship before the virtual summit, which is planned to be held face-to-face in 2022, and that countries will make promises to improve their democracies.
”It is difficult to evaluate the application without seeing it”
Annie Boyajian of think-tank Freedom House believes the summit could be an opportunity for democracies caught in between to heal themselves and promote cooperation between democratic governments. However, according to Boyajian, it is not possible to evaluate without seeing what promises will be made at the summit and which of them will be implemented in the next year.
Foreign Ministry official Zeya stated that thanks to the summit, civil society can hold countries, including the United States, accountable for democracy, but he did not comment on whether Washington would withdraw the invitation to countries that did not fulfill their promises next year.
Sarah Holewinski, Director of Human Rights Watch, warned that the fact that invitations for the 2022 face-to-face summit will not be dependent on the fulfillment of the promises will cause some promises to remain only words.