Biden kicks off Summit for Democracy with a $690 million pledge

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By Webdesk


US President Joe Biden has kicked off his second democracy summit by announcing $690 million in new funding for democracy programs around the world.

The summit, which began Wednesday, stems from growing concerns about democratic backsliding in participating countries, including US allies India and Israel.

While virtually addressing other world leaders, Biden said strengthening democracy is “the defining challenge of our time.”

“Today we can proudly say that the world’s democracies are getting stronger, not weaker. The world’s autocracies are getting weaker, not stronger,” Biden said.

“That’s a direct result of us all coming together with confidence in ourselves and conviction in our cause.”

Critics have questioned the usefulness of the summit, pointing to Washington’s own cozy relationship with authoritarian governments.

Early in his administration, Biden vowed to put human rights at the center of US foreign policy, but once in office he continued his predecessor’s approach of prioritizing perceived US interests rather than proclaimed US interests in international relations values.

The summit consists of a series of face-to-face and virtual meetings co-hosted by Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia.

The conference involves 120 countries, including Taiwan, but the Biden administration has not invited NATO allies Turkey and Hungary to the event.

“We are committed to supporting democratic institutions, human rights, the rule of law, [and] media freedom. So decisions about whether to add countries to the invitation to the summit were made with all of these themes in mind,” White House spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the summit earlier in the day despite recent US criticism of his plan to overhaul Israel’s judiciary — a move critics say would weaken democratic rule in the country.

In addition, major human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused Israel of imposing a system of apartheid on Palestinians, millions of whom live in occupied territories under the control of the Israeli government without basic civil rights.

Netanyahu said at the summit’s opening session that Israel remained a “robust democracy” amid “a very intense public debate.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed the event less than a week after leading opposition figure Rahul Gandhi was ousted from the country’s parliament.

Gandhi was stripped of his parliamentary seat on Friday, a day after he was convicted of defamation in Modi’s home state of Gujarat for a comment in the 2019 campaign trail that was seen as an insult to the prime minister.

A senior Biden government official looking ahead to the summit on Tuesday said the event aims to focus on themes such as “strengthening democratic resilience, promoting respect for human rights and advancing the fight against corruption”.

Biden said on Wednesday that one of his priorities will be to ensure technology is used to promote, not undermine, democratic rule.

The US president last week highlighted a measure by his administration to limit the use of commercial spyware by government agencies.

“US taxpayers should not support companies that are willing to sell their products to fight human rights abuses,” he said.

In 2021, Washington imposed sanctions on Israeli spyware manufacturer NSO Group, which has been at the forefront of global discussions about spyware abuse.

In his remarks on Wednesday, Biden also praised what he called the “unprecedented unity” democracies showed against Russia’s “brutal offensive war against Ukraine.”

China, which has been the US’s biggest geopolitical competitor in recent years, criticized the event and called on Washington to stop interfering in other countries’ “internal affairs” in the name of promoting democracy. Beijing, which is under a one-party government, was not invited to the event.

“Despite many problems at home, the US is hosting yet another ‘Summit for Democracy’ in the name of advancing democracy, an event that blatantly draws an ideological line between countries and divides the world,” said Mao Ning, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. reporters on Tuesday.

“The law violates the spirit of democracy and further exposes the US’s pursuit of primacy behind the facade of democracy.”

On Wednesday, nine Democratic members of the US Congress sent a letter to Biden urging him to take the opportunity of the summit to announce support for the creation of a new US institution to advance human rights in the country.

Many countries have such independent, public bodies that act as watchdogs, advise policymakers and investigate alleged abuses.

In their letter to Biden, lawmakers said a U.S. human rights institution would “enhance popular knowledge and understanding of human rights and help further improve compliance with our human rights commitments and obligations.”





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