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# 									Remarks for the Summit for Democracy Day 2 Civil Society and Youth Opening Ceremony							

Remarks

Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights

Summit for Democracy Day 2 Civil Society and Youth Opening Ceremony

Seoul, Republic of Korea

March 19, 2024

***As delivered***

Good morning, and thank you, Sira for the warm introduction and Sook Jong and Tom for your thoughtful remarks. It is an honor to help kickoff an action-packed Day 2 of this remarkable Seoul Summit! Let me first reiterate the U.S. government’s sincere thanks to the Republic of Korea for your leadership in hosting this Third Summit for Democracy and ensuring civil society and youth have a prominent role to play. We congratulate you on carrying the torch forward and hosting such an impactful and inclusive global gathering. I would also like to thank the Platform for the Engagement of Civil Society—which includes the Community of Democracies, International IDEA, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Open Government Partnership, with support from the East Asia Institute—for helping organize today’s events, bringing so many diverse civil society voices to the forefront, and for helping to carry the Summit legacy forward.

All of you here with us today are a testament to the profound results of our collective efforts, including the work of some 16 Democracy Cohorts launched through the Summits for Democracy process over two years ago. These Cohorts underscore the importance of civil society and governments working together to strengthen policy responses and ensure democracies deliver concrete progress. Take for example, the Labor Cohort — co-led by the U.S. government in partnership with the AFL-CIO. This grouping unites diverse labor stakeholders to support trade union rights in the global economy through the M-POWER initiative, a U.S. partnership with Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, South Africa, and Spain, as well as the International Trade Union Confederation, and several philanthropic organizations. M-Power utilizes joint diplomatic action and stakeholder engagement to support worker rights, uplift democratic worker organizations, and connect labor rights protections to growth and improved enforcement. For example, M-Power convened governments and global labor leaders in Africa last year to discuss how unions can help reduce gender-based violence and disparities in global garment supply chains.

And as we gather today under the banner, “Democracy for Future Generations,” I would be remiss if I did not mention the breakthrough success of the Youth Political and Civil Engagement Cohort, which has grown to more than 300 member organizations from every region of the world! In the lead up to this Summit, they developed an advocacy campaign calling on global decision-makers to uphold youth political rights and expand their meaningful participation in concrete ways. I couldn’t agree more with the spirit of this campaign. Soon we will hear from Loise Mwakamba, a youth activist who is using technology and communications expertise as a catalyst to lift up and amplify the voices of young people in Kenya. Loise’s activism has spurred vital youth-led movements such as a Kenyan Get Out the Vote Youth Campaign.

Following Loise and others’ example, we must do more to support young leaders, provide opportunities for learning and exchange, and integrate their perspectives into policymaking. This imperative motivated the United States to launch the global Youth Democracy Network at the second Summit for Democracy, and we are excited to partner with the Community of Democracies to scale-up this important effort in earnest this

year. Young people all over the world will be invited to join the Network, interact via the online platform, learn from digital programming, exchange perspectives, and engage policymakers. We hope our partners here will support this important initiative, because in doing so, we can expand and learn from the world’s community of young democracy champions.

We will soon welcome three young democracy champions to the stage who are making impactful contributions in advancing free and fair elections, documentation of grave human rights violations, and elevating youth empowerment globally. As we celebrate their accomplishments, let us not forget that all over their world, fellow courageous democratic reformers continue to face harassment, threats, and violence for their efforts to promote human rights and freedom, hold governments to account, and help societies progress. This is why the United States is unrelenting in rallying collective action to push back against attempts to silence civil society voices – both online and off. To this end, Secretary Blinken unveiled yesterday a new U.S. initiative to provide public guidance for technology companies to better counter attacks targeting human rights defenders online. It builds on months of U.S.- EU collaboration setting out voluntary actions online platforms can take to bolster support for defenders under threat. Yesterday, we also welcomed six more governmental signatories — including the Republic of Korea — to a U.S.-led joint statement on countering the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware – collective action that will stem the reach of digital repression against civil society actors. And all the while, multistakeholder support for civil society offline continues to flourish via the Lifeline Embattled CSO Defenders Fund, a partnership of 22 government and foundation donors that has offered life-saving emergency assistance to over 4,000 frontline activists and organizations in over 110 countries and territories. These efforts are just a few of many ways the United States is partnering to catalyze more effective, collaborative action to protect indispensable civil society actors who risk their own safety in defense of human rights and democracy for all.

Three years of collective action, on every continent, to strengthen democracy has affirmed some core truths. Democracies are stronger together. Civil society is integral to successful democracies. And collaboration across regions, sectors, and generations is integral to democratic renewal. Your collective action has helped ensure that democracy endures, adapts to 21st century challenges, and delivers — from supporting free and fair elections, to fighting corruption, to building a resilient information ecosystem, to protecting human rights for all. I look forward to hearing and learning from all of you today as we move forward together and drive progress.

Thank you.

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