Summit for Democracy Newsletter: December 2023

S4D Stakeholder Updates

• The Youth Democracy Cohort has created an interactive map that highlights initiatives and projects that have enabled young people to meaningfully participate and make a positive impact in democracy support.  Explore the #YouthDemocracyMap!
• The Youth Democracy Cohort has also launched the Young Researchers’ Network Initiative. This initiative is bringing together a diverse group of young international scholars and democracy support practitioners to foster cross-regional and cross-disciplinary exchanges on the topic of youth participation in democracies across the world.
• In Quito, Ecuador, USAID Administrator Samantha Power launched Tu Municipio Responde, “Your Municipality Responds,” a five-year program to help municipal governments provide important public services as part of the United States’ global Partnership for Democratic Development initiative, a signature initiative from the Summit for Democracy.
• USAID will award up to $30 Million to Strengthen National Architectures to Counter Corruption. This new initiative forms the cornerstone of USAID’s bold suite of programming to tackle transnational corruption, as set out in USAID’s Anti-Corruption Policy, and is a key deliverable under the Summit for Democracy’s Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal.
• The Financial Transparency and Integrity (FTI) Cohort will meet on the margins of the UNCAC CoSP in Atlanta, USA to explore obligations, standards, and commitments related to enablers of corruption.
• The FTI Cohort also shares the following: The newly launched Brookings Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security (ACDS) project held a public event on December 6 highlighting anti-corruption progress and priorities in the lead up to the tenth UNCAC CoSP and the third Summit for Democracy. Watch the event recording here featuring a fireside chat with ACDS Chair Ambassador Norman Eisen (ret.) and Shannon Green, Assistant to the Administrator of the USAID Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG), followed by an expert panel discussion. Check out an accompanying podcast with Eisen.
• The Election Integrity Cohort shares the following: Along with Transparency International, International IDEA, WFD, and the UNCAC Coalition Secretariat, the IFES Center for Anti-Corruption and Democratic Trust (IFES CACDT)  have prepared a Joint Statement calling for States Parties to adopt enhanced political finance transparency considerations, with over 100 signatures from civil society, international organizations, and other parties from around the world. 
• Additionally, the IFES CACDT will be involved in an official side event at the UNCAC CoSP. The event, titled “Making Cents of It: Perspectives on Political Finance’, will bring together experts from IFES, TI, IDEA, the Carter Center, and the Electoral Service of Chile to discuss the importance of political finance to the broader anti-corruption landscape. It will be held from 13:00-13:50 EST on Monday, December 11.

S4D in the Media

• President Biden signed the first-ever Presidential Memorandum outlining the Administration’s commitment to worker rights globally. With the signing, President Biden is directing U.S. federal departments and agencies to advance labor rights and worker empowerment in their work abroad. This work continues the Summit for Democracy’s Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal. 
• South Korea’s intelligence agency has identified 38 Korean-language news websites that are suspected of being run by Chinese companies, according to the Independent. Several of the websites are alleged to be spreading pro-China and anti-U.S. content. These reports have praised the Chinese government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and argued that South Korea’s involvement in the U.S.-led Summit for Democracy brought "more harm than good.”

Events and Publications

• To showcase civil society’s contribution to the fight against corruption, the United States is convening, in collaboration with UNODC and the UNCAC Coalition, the first-ever Anti-Corruption Civil Society Forum ahead of the Conference of States Parties (COSP) on December 10 at the Georgia World Congress Center.
• The EU’s European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) has released their Opinion on Democracy in the Digital Age, a research document that examines how digital technologies can contribute to a weakening of democratic institutions if we are not careful. 
• The Global Democracy Coalition, the Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy, and Counterpart International are hosting an event for the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, titled Human Rights Defenders Unite: Challenges, Experiences, and Opportunities. It will be held Monday, December 11, from 9:00am to 1:30pm EST. 
• The event Democratic Governance: Challenges and Opportunities for the Development Agenda, highlights the role of countervailing institutions in protecting democracy from erosion and countering the rise of authoritarian forces. It is hosted by the World Bank’s Governance Global Program (GGP) and  the Coalitions for Reforms (C4R) Program in coordination with International IDEA. It will be held Thursday, December 14, 2023 from 10:30am to 12:00pm EST. 
• The Embassy of Sweden to the United States and International IDEA will host an event in celebration of International IDEA’s recently published Global State of Democracy Report. The event will be held in-person at House of Sweden, and will also be live streamed for people abroad to watch the event online. It will be held Wednesday, December 13, from 12:00 to 2:00pm EST.
• The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRL) has released a report titled Scaling Trust on the Web. It maps systems-level dynamics and gaps that impact the trustworthiness and usefulness of online spaces.

Relevant Tools and Resources

Summit For Democracy Commitment Dashboard

Summit For Democracy Resources

GDC Digital Democracy Library

Global Democracy Coalition

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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