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Summit for Democracy Newsletter: October 2023
Newsletter
Dear Summit for Democracy Friends,
The third Summit for Democracy is scheduled for March 2024! It will focus on the theme "Democracy for Future Generations" with five subthemes, including technology, youth promotion, media, investment in future generations, and global partnerships. Read below for the latest S4D news and do not hesitate to reach out if you have any ideas or feedback at demsummit@accountabilitylab.org.
The Summit4Democracy.org newsletter is a joint initiative of the Global Democracy Coalition powered by Accountability Lab and International IDEA. This newsletter seeks to ensure that organizations involved in the Summit for Democracy and related processes are able to stay up-to-date on the activities, issues, and initiatives that emerged from those processes. Would you like to submit to the newsletter and the S4D News and Resource Portal? Use our form here.
Summit for Democracy 2024
The Government of Korea has released updates for the Summit for Democracy! Here is what we know so far.
- Theme and subthemes: The third Summit’s theme will be Democracy for Future Generations. The overarching theme will encompass five (preliminary) subthemes:
- Technological advances, focussed on democracy, digitalisation and anti-corruption
- Investment in future generations
- Promotion of youth – in particular girls’ – participation in democratic spaces
- Media and empowerment of women in media
- Domestic and global partnership for future generations, especially with the Global South
- Summit Date and Format: The Summit will take place in March 2024. It will be a three-day event, including plenary sessions and meetings for other stakeholders. The plenary session will consist of 5 sessions with keynote speakers.
- Dedicated Summit Website and Youth Engagement: the organizers have shared their plans to create and maintain a dedicated website for the Summit. The website will be created and maintained to facilitate communications about the Summit with the public and stakeholders, including by publishing reports and recommendations.
- Elevated Role of Democracy Cohorts: another significant development is the increased prominence of Democracy Cohorts. The work of the Cohorts is essential and cooperation with key stakeholders is central to the process. The 16 Cohorts will be divided into 5 groups according to the above subthemes and in view of creating synergies between the cohorts. Each group will have its own discussions and there will be the expectation that each will produce a report with recommendations. These results are to be presented at the plenary session by Cohort representatives.
S4D Stakeholder Updates
- International IDEA, European Endowment for Democracy (EED), the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP) and Carnegie Europe hosted a 2 day event in Brussels for International Democracy Day. Discussions centered around the Policy and Democracy Community, The Future of the Summit for Democracy, and Democracy in Action: Youth Driving Innovative Engagement. Learn more here and here.
- The Global Democracy Coalition (GDC) hosted a S4D dialogue at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit in Tallin, you can read more about the event and its outcomes here and here.
- On October 10th, the Youth Democracy Cohort will launch a newsletter with a new video on Youth Participation, and updates on the dissemination of possible commitments. Sign up for their newsletter here.
- The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (UK-NCSC) delivered on a commitment made at the 2023 Summit for Democracy by convening 6 countries for the Strategic Dialogue on Cybersecurity of Civil Society Under Threat of Transnational Repression. They also co-chaired a meeting with international partners to discuss how democracies can work to defend communities at risk of being targeted online.
- The White House’s U.S. Action on Global Development highlighted the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal (P.I.D.R.) that emerged from the 1st Summit for Democracy.
- Stakeholders such as the The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights are pushing the White House to make binding the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.
- The Financial Transparency and Integrity (FTI) Cohort met on the margins of the Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Tallinn, Estonia to discuss the nexus between beneficial ownership and procurement. Next up: The cohort plans to meet during the week of the UNCAC CoSP in Atlanta, USA this December to discuss enablers of corruption.
- The International Cooperation for Anti-Corruption Cohort shared their August 2023 newsletter, which you can read here.
S4D in the Media
- The New York Times analyzed President Biden’s statement during the Summit for Democracy, noting that democracies are “getting stronger, not weaker.”
- The New York Legislature is pushing the LLC Transparency Act, a mirror of the “Corporate Transparency Act” first promoted at the first Summit for Democracy.
- The Second Summit for Democracy highlighted steadfast commitments to advancing and promoting women’s political and civic engagement. A recent analysis published in the Wilson Center’s New Security Beat describes the importance of these commitments here.
Events and Publications
- #ShePersisted unveiled the Monetizing Misogyny research series, which exposes the issue of gendered disinformation and digital assaults targeting women in politics, journalists, and activists across five nations. In preparation for 2024 elections, with more than 2 billion people eligible to vote across 50 countries, deterring and responding to gendered online abuse will be critical. You can find the reports here.
- University of Illinois will be hosting a Democracy & Polarization Summit on October 9 - 10, 2023 which aims to foster an inclusive and open dialogue on topics such as political polarization, bipartisanship, and the future of democracy.
- Keseb’s Global Democracy Champions Summit will focus on the 2024 Mega Election Year, where around 2 billion voters across 50 countries will go to the polls. It will be held October 24 - 26, 2023.
- The 2023 Denver Democracy Summit will serve as a platform for the Denver University community and the world’s leading thought leaders on democracy to evaluate ongoing efforts to strengthen democratic norms, values, and institutions. It will be held October 25 - 26, 2023.
- The World Forum for Democracy 2023 will analyze the question, Does Democracy = Peace? It will be held November 6 - 8, 2023.
Relevant Tools and Resources
The Summit For Democracy.org newsletter is a joint output of the Global Democracy Coalition, powered by Accountability Lab and International IDEA.
Cover Photo: Photo by Alex Radelich on Unsplash
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