On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden will announce new funding to support democracies around the world, despite criticism that his administration has made little progress in advancing human rights and democracy as a priority in its foreign policy.
Senior administration officials said on Tuesday that Biden will announce $690 million to fight corruption, support free and fair elections, and advance technologies that support democratic governments at a second White House-led Summit for Democracy. When he last held such an event in 2021, he announced over $400 million for similar programs.
Even as Biden and South Korea announced plans to host a future third summit, rights advocates say there is little evidence that the countries participating in the summit have made progress in improving their democracies, and that there is no formal mechanism to hold participants to the modest commitments made at the first meeting.
Since then, the world has changed dramatically, with countries emerging from the global pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
More recently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government’s decision to weaken the power of Israel’s judiciary, Mexico’s decision to weaken its election oversight body, and India’s decision to disqualify a top opposition political leader have all cast doubt on Biden’s repeated claims that democracies have grown stronger.
In his speech to the summit on Wednesday, Netanyahu expressed confidence that a political compromise on judicial reforms, which he argued could be reconciled with civil liberties, could be reached, despite his opponents accusing him of seeking to limit judicial independence.
According to senior administration officials, Biden will try to make the case that the events of the last year have demonstrated that democratic governments based on the rule of law are still the best way to promote peace and prosperity.
“As President Biden has stated, we are currently at a tipping point in terms of the future of democracy in the United States and around the world,” one of the officials said.
The governments of Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Zambia will co-host the summit. The event brings together 120 countries, including Taiwan, civil society organizations, and technology companies.
