Biden's democracy summit: Problematic invite list casts shadow on impact | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
June 10, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2023
Biden's democracy summit: Problematic invite list casts shadow on impact

World+Biz

Reuters
07 November, 2021, 07:00 pm
Last modified: 07 November, 2021, 07:02 pm

Related News

  • Trump risked national secrets, US prosecutors allege in indictment
  • Oil prices fall on report of possible Iran-US deal
  • Biden and UK's Sunak pledge AI, minerals, Ukraine partnership
  • Trump faces federal charges in classified documents case, adding to legal woes
  • Millions breathing hazardous air as smoke from Canadian wildfires streams south over US

Biden's democracy summit: Problematic invite list casts shadow on impact

Biden administration officials say the December event is just the "launch" of a longer conversation about democracy and that countries will need to fulfill the reforms they pledged to be invited to the follow-up summit planned next year

Reuters
07 November, 2021, 07:00 pm
Last modified: 07 November, 2021, 07:02 pm
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks after late-night passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill to repair the nation's airports, roads and bridges, at the White House in Washington, DC, US November 6, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks after late-night passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill to repair the nation's airports, roads and bridges, at the White House in Washington, DC, US November 6, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

President Joe Biden is getting ready to deliver on a key campaign promise by convening a Summit for Democracy: a first-of-its kind gathering of more than 100 countries to help stop democratic backsliding and erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide.

But rights advocates are questioning whether the virtual event can push those world leaders who are invited, some accused of harboring authoritarian tendencies, to take meaningful action.

"If the summit is to be anything more than just another meeting, each attendee, including the United States, will need to follow through on meaningful commitments on democracy and rights issues in the year ahead," said Annie Boyajian, vice president for policy and advocacy at Freedom House, a non-profit group specializing in human rights and democracy.

Administration officials say the December event is just the "launch" of a longer conversation about democracy and that countries will need to fulfill the reforms they pledged to be invited to the follow-up summit planned next year.

The event - to be held on Dec. 9 and 10 - is a test of Biden's longstanding claim, announced in his first foreign policy address as president in February, that the United States would return to global leadership under his tenure to face down authoritarian forces led by China and Russia.

A tentative invite list first reported by Politico and confirmed by a source familiar with the matter shows that the event will bring together mature democracies such as France and Sweden but also countries including Philippines and Poland, where activists say democracy is under threat. In Asia, some US allies such as Japan and South Korea were invited, while others like Thailand and Vietnam were not.

Representation from the Middle East was slim with Israel and Iraq among the few countries invited and notable US allies such as Egypt and NATO partner Turkey absent from the list.

Rights groups praise Biden's pledge to reinstate the promotion of rights and freedoms as a foreign policy priority, after the disinterested approach of his predecessor Donald Trump, who openly praised strongmen such as Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

They also say the invitation to countries with problematic human rights records raises doubts about the credibility of the event, but at the same time illustrates the administration's struggle to balance wider US national security interests, such as countering a rising China, with higher ideals.

"Clearly, strategic considerations about countering China are at play in inviting very troubled, backsliding democracies like India and the Philippines that are in China's neighborhood," said Amy Hawthorne, research director at the Project on Middle East Democracy, an advocacy group.

"The same might be true for inviting deeply flawed democracy Iraq, the neighbor of US adversary, the Iranian theocracy," she added.

'Make choices'

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has in the past stated he does not "care about human rights", and Indian President Narendra Modi, who advocacy group Freedom House said is driving India toward authoritarianism, will be among those discussing with Biden how to help democracy flourish globally.

An official at the Philippines' foreign ministry confirmed Duterte was invited to the online forum and said Washington had imposed "absolutely no conditions" on his attendance. The country's government was still considering whether to participate, the official said.

A senior US official involved in the planning of the summit told Reuters that invites were sent to countries with different experiences of democracy from all regions of the world. "This was not about endorsing, 'You're a democracy, you are not a democracy.' That is not the process we went through," the official said.

Biden administration officials say they had to "make choices" to ensure regional diversity and broad participation.

Human rights groups said that with only weeks until the summit it was unclear how Washington would monitor implementation of commitments and hold the leaders who participate to their word.

'A place of humility'

Poland, which is locked in a feud with the European Union over what Brussels says is democratic backsliding, was invited, but officials there took umbrage at an earlier message from Washington that appeared to place conditions on the invitation, according to a Polish government source.

The earlier email contained a list of suggested actions that would demonstrate Poland's commitment to freedom and democracy, including respect for LGBTQI rights - a major sore point in Washington's dealings with Poland's right-wing government that has moved to restrict gay rights.

US officials said they did not dictate any conditions but called on invited countries to come forward with commitments to take action.

"The idea has never been to prescribe or to be prescriptive," said one of the officials.

The United States would also make its own commitments, the official added, as Washington faces skepticism about the health of its own democracy. After losing the November 2020 election to Biden, Trump's false claims of fraud paved the way for his supporters' Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol, an unprecedented episode that stunned foreign governments and armed authoritarian leaders with cause to question the robustness of American democracy.

"In all of our diplomatic communications around the summit, we are starting from a place of humility and recognizing that no democracy, including of course the United States, is perfect," said a second administration official.

Top News / USA

Biden Presidency / Democracy Summit / USA / Joe Biden

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • More taxes proposed for pvt unis, English medium schools, trade orgs, NGOs
    More taxes proposed for pvt unis, English medium schools, trade orgs, NGOs
  • Cenbank questions Tk408cr shady loan deals of Shahjalal Bank
    Cenbank questions Tk408cr shady loan deals of Shahjalal Bank
  • Illustration: Collected
    Power crisis almost unchanged despite supply from Adani plant

MOST VIEWED

  • FILE PHOTO: Civilians who fled the war-torn Sudan following the outbreak of fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrive atop a truck at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) transit centre in Renk, near the border crossing point in Renk County of Upper Nile State, South Sudan 1 May, 2023. REUTERS/Jok Solomun
    Mediators announce 24-hour Sudan truce with warning to rival generals
  • A woman pays respect in front of messages and floral tributes at the children's playground the day after several children and adults were injured in a knife attack at the Le Paquier park near the lake in Annecy, in the French Alps, France, June 9, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
    Toddlers stable after Annecy attack, Macron hails emergency responders
  • Colombian military soldiers pose for a photo after the rescue of child survivors from a Cessna 206 plane that crashed on May 1 in the jungles of Caqueta, in limits between Caqueta and Guaviare, in this handout photo released June 9, 2023. Presidency/Handout via REUTERS
    Four Colombian children found alive in jungle weeks after plane crash
  • Photo: Reuters
    UN focused on improving Russian exports ahead of grain deal deadline
  • Smoke rises from a wildfire in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, in this screen grab taken from a video, June 8, 2023. BC Wildlife Service/Handout via REUTERS
    Wildfires spread in British Columbia, Quebec sees signs of progress
  • REUTERS/Carlos Barria
    What are the charges against Donald Trump in the classified documents case?

Related News

  • Trump risked national secrets, US prosecutors allege in indictment
  • Oil prices fall on report of possible Iran-US deal
  • Biden and UK's Sunak pledge AI, minerals, Ukraine partnership
  • Trump faces federal charges in classified documents case, adding to legal woes
  • Millions breathing hazardous air as smoke from Canadian wildfires streams south over US

Features

Every floor of this school has three to four bedrooms, with 15 to 18 children in each of them. Photo: Saqlain Rizve

What an average boarding school looks like in Dhaka

2h | Panorama
Yamaha MT-15 V2

Top 3 150-160cc naked sports bikes in Bangladesh

20h | Wheels
Infograph: TBS

Balancing lives and livelihoods: How can South Asia prepare for the next pandemic?

22h | Panorama
Earning more money isn’t exactly a priority for Messi, already one of the world’s richest athletes. Photo: Bloomberg

Why Lionel Messi chose Miami over Riyadh

23h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Stats of Europe’s Top 5 League

Stats of Europe’s Top 5 League

17h | TBS SPORTS
13 helpful tips to negotiate about job

13 helpful tips to negotiate about job

1d | TBS Career
Why did Messi turn away from Europe?

Why did Messi turn away from Europe?

1d | TBS SPORTS
Tips to getting sleep on a hot night

Tips to getting sleep on a hot night

1d | TBS Health

Most Read

1
bKash denied permission to pay $4.10 lakh for Argentina football partnership
Banking

bKash denied permission to pay $4.10 lakh for Argentina football partnership

2
Photo: Noor-A-Alam/TBS
Splash

The Night Dhaka did NOT vibe with Anuv Jain

3
Photo: TBS
Energy

2nd unit of Payra power plant to shut down over coal shortage

4
Photo: Screengrab from a video posted by a NSU student
Energy

'Will collapse any moment': NSU teachers, students raise concern after long power outage hit country's largest private uni

5
Digital bank licence requires Tk125cr capital
Banking

Digital bank licence requires Tk125cr capital

6
Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed Paulash/TBS
Energy

LPG price drops by Tk13.42 per kg

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]