 Yeah All right. Good morning, everyone Welcome to you all. My name is Sam von der Stark. I'm the head of the Europe program of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance welcome to you all Welcome to all of those online apologies for a late start. This is what seems to be The problem with hybrid events right those that come into the room Have to find their seat and the ones behind their screens are there on the dots So apologies to those that have been waiting online This event is called beyond the summit for democracy opportunities and the way Forward and of course as all of you know it all takes place under the framework of the summit for democracy Which was launched by President Biden About a year and a half ago and that had its first summit One year ago in December 2021 where about a hundred heads of government Came together online to talk about Commitments in three themes. So strengthening democracy was one and countering authoritarianism Two was fighting corruption and three was promoting respect for human rights That led to a series of commitments by many of the countries that participated In the year of action and that's the year that we're currently in the year of action Where we're trying to seek and all these commitments come to fruition A vehicle was established called cohorts where members member states countries And civil society teamed up to see how can we implement these commitments? And ultimately that will lead to a second summit the second summit that We now know the date for it's on the 29th and the 30th of march 2023 And that will be co-hosted by a number of countries not only the u.s But also costa rica zambia south korea and the netherlands We're very happy to have three of those co-hosts with us here today to present Their plans for the summit process Now that second summit will focus on the progress made the progress on those commitments in the year of action But of course also reaffirm the vitality of democracy And emphasize the collective action because that was the whole nature of the summit process to do things together Now the timing for that is of course very important. We know that it's crunch time for democracy international idea released its its annual flagship report just two weeks ago that Measures the state of democracy and the three findings were first More and more countries are moving towards authoritarianism crisis many as those that are moving towards democracy at the moment To even within the family of democracies that family of countries that are still Doing well within democratic standards. There's regression So whereas 10 years ago there were 12 countries 12 democracies where the quality of democracy was eroding 10 years ahead It's now 52 countries. So an increase of 300 of democracies that have actually regressed And then the autocratic regimes have become more brazen. So there's more a greater number of autocracies in the world But also the autocracies Autocracies that are there have become more brazen And have deepened their level of autocracy. So it's a difficult moment for democracy And of course we've seen that the war in ukraine has been a wake-up call in that respect That is forcing a lot of us including the eu and many other bodies to rethink what democracy means to them how they collaborate with other democracies To face the threats that are with us today We're very lucky that within the eu there's a few member states that are really prioritizing this One of them is sweden who in their upcoming presidency of the eu Have said that they want to prioritize democracy But also the current check presidency has done a lot already on the topic of democracy So I think we're in good hands to at least emphasize the urgency of the matter And of course this summit for democracy process is a global process that will help push in that direction as well International idea in the year of action has worked with the european commission To do a few things one is to bring civil society into this process Engaging them with member states And two to work on knowledge to make sure that everyone knows what the summit for democracy is about we've brought together The commitments into a commitment dashboard A resources portal for the summit for democracy that makes it easy to see what's going on Who's doing what which government is committed to what and what cohorts exist? And of course events like this so all opportunities to Bring a little bit of momentum and urgency to the topic of democracy and Build up steam towards the summit for democracy that is happening in march So today we hope to look ahead to that summit See what's coming. How can we prepare for it? But also look beyond the summit and that may feel like it's a little bit premature but On the one hand marches around the corner and what more importantly Democracy will not be healthy just in a a couple months from now, right? So we have to take a long-term view and see how especially The vehicles the instruments that we've built for this summit process the cohorts the year of action can be sustained So that all the good things that we have set up can continue to push for democracy more and more So that's what today's event is going to be about how to continue the important work around the summit for democracy And contribute to the second summit A few point of points of order A lot of you will be speaking here today. Please have been asked to Encourage you to stick to the allocated time for those in the In the audience or sitting behind their screens at home There's opportunities to ask questions and we found an innovative way to do that through slido You if you're sitting at home behind your computer, you see a qr code. I understand that you can um Take a photo of with your with your phone and then you can type in your question that appears over here on my screen In the the slido app. So that's a way for people to ask questions and be more Interactive with the people here in the room I'll leave it at that and hand over to my dear colleague Cara Adamo the acting director for human development migration governance and peace and d inpa Go ahead Cara Thank you sam and thank you all for joining the event Physically defined the code But also online. It's a busy time of year And we really wanted to have this this event Because it is a good way also For us to to end in a way this year of action that We've entered in together the european commission in partnership with international idea Make a bit of the state of play of what we have achieved where we are but as sam mentioned also Looking towards the march summit and beyond it So indeed our aim is to fold on first is to was to increase transparency and participation of civil society towards the summit and beyond And secondly take this opportunity really to to galvanize our joint efforts also together with the member states to support democracy Head home and around the world in I would say indeed a difficult difficult context So what did we achieve a few key milestones to be mentioned also thanks to our partnership We have contributed to increase transparency and information on the summit of democracy with the development of Dedicated the result resource portal by international idea with the news events commitments democracy data publication of relevance For democracy and for those engaging in the summit During the year of action we have engaged hundreds of civil society organizations and very importantly from the global south And in particular Paraguay, kenya, moldova This action has really brought together civil society and governments to dialogue to speak about their engagement to forward democracy Young people civic and political participation around the world has been a particular focus for us This is really a top priority also for the european commission And in most countries where elections are held you could observe that water apathy is a concerning phenomenon And affecting youth the youth cohort in particular, but we also observed that Where positive actions were taken by governments, this is a trend that can be easily reversed So if we take a couple of example kenya's constitution set aside special seats for young members of the parliament Nepal managed to register first time voters. So young voters Turning 18 year old in the three months before the elections Which was a great achievement and a challenge for for many countries And youth voter turnout dramatically increased in country like senegal, zambia and nigeria and this example also showed that Particularly should take nepal or senegal that local democracy is really a driver for change and for democratic renewal And the importance to bring democracy really closer to the citizen So for me it's part of the commission has been really an active partner of the u.s For the summit and we are co-leading two cohorts participating in a few others Um, but the two cohorts we are co-leading That are represented today are the youth political and civic engagement cohort that my department really co-leads and the the deliberative democracy and citizens assemblies cohort Also from the european commission and then of course i see also the external action service here. They take part in the Electron integrity cohort together with you So the deliberative democracy and citizens assemblies cohort is led by ireland And co-sponsored by the commission and it explores the democratic renewal through new ways of engagement. It really Takes the lessons learned from the conference on the future of europe and it brings forward the new concept of Participatory democracy really engaging citizens through citizens assemblies To value and recognize people's agency dignity and political power And it's I think much is quite well done. I read your this year idea global state of democracy report Which really talks about the need To show citizens the value of democracy to rebuild the the social Fabric right and so the societal cohesion Overcoming of popular polarizations, you know actions and rebuilding trust of citizens really at the center of of this cohort The other cohort the youth political and civic engagement cohort is now gathering some 50 Different organizations from all around the world. I'm very proud of that and I have the colleague Chiefly in charge of that among the public who made a very miraculous Work in these few months. The commission is co-leading this with Nepal and Ghana but also with european partnership for democracy very very Instrumentally in this process afric tivist, which is the african-based network of NGOs and european democracy youth network So the work of this cohort Is quite intense Is putting young people at the center and we are going towards three achievements One is a menu of model commitments to bring to the leaders at the summit And I see that this is something common to a number of other cohorts, you know, it's a participatory work Which then should bring to the leaders potential commitments for them them to endorse and and implement But also resources and tools such as a handbook on successful youth participation initiatives And last but not least A index for youth political on youth political participation So let me turn today to To the guests and and the incoming speakers congratulate them for all the Work and progress they have done in this year of action And this is really the objective as Sam was mentioning of the conference today To keep track of that to exchange to discuss the positive aspects, but also What we could do together behind it in the three panels today. We will look at the Summit for democracy process and what it has added in terms of promoting democracy We will also speak very much about the involvement of EU countries, EU member states, and you mentioned the Netherlands Who is one of the co-hosts of the summit? So we will have a representative of the dutch MFA to tell us more about it and their plans You mentioned that check presidency and indeed I also wanted to salute their the really strong engagement during their presidency on on democracy support also in Bringing forward transatlantic cooperation and we all look forward to swedish presidency Who put democracy rule of law human rights at the heart of their agenda during the semester So to conclude we will really continue to work together to To push democracy support to make sure that civil society's part and parcel of the discussions in the summit and and beyond. Thank you Thank you very much Chiara. I think this is the end end of the opening session and that will turn directly to the first panel I'm looking at my colleagues to yes, uh, please for the speakers If you could come up to this stage and we'll leave the stage and I think we'll begin immediately Thank you Good morning dear guests and speakers. It's it's a pleasure for me to be here We are here today to speak about the life or democracy promotion work beyond the summit for democracy And my name is Oana Gordienko. I'm representing the team europe democracy initiative secretariat And i'm honored to moderate the first Panel today on embracing the opportunities of the summit for democracy process Just a couple of words on why am I here today in this in this honorable panel As I said as a representative of secretariat of team europe democracy initiative I would like to say a couple of words about ted And why it makes sense also in the in the core in the current context Of this conference in general So quite hand in hand both in timing and in spirit was the summit for democracy a thematic global team europe initiative on democracy has been launched in december 2021 And the secretariat has started to be operational a couple of months ago And the main goal of this initiative is to promote and strengthen democracy globally by bringing eu and member states actions together globally And providing the platform for exchange expertise better longer term vision and alignment of priorities among the eu member states Working with the challenges faced by democracies worldwide. So this is one of the examples of things beyond and parallel to summit for democracy, which is trying to bring value to this global process of Fighting or counteracting The general democracy backsliding that has been mentioned already today and that we all know is unfortunately happening So apart from the team europe democracy, of course a lot has happened in the last year And today we would like to talk about the opportunities created in this year After the first s4d held in december 21 and the agenda for democratic renewal being set globally We are kind of in the middle of the year of action Which is expected to deliver On their commitments from governments with support and pressure from civil society and democracy support organization and We here would like to take a stock of what's been happening And how different groups perceive The challenges and the positive changes that have been brought by the summit and developments beyond So did advocating for more ambitious and more accurate commitments By participating states became more realistic or easy or maybe even more desired by the governments What have been the positive changes around it? What are the positive takeaways and opportunities? That were created by the summit including the work behind commitments and the work beyond cohorts So today, um, we are here With the the great speakers. I would like to present you first So we have miss elia teyo acting deputy chief of mission us of us to the european union Mr. Paul massan chief country support from open government partnership Um, miss alizenda bayeste busho a project coordinator of the global democracy coalition was the international idea and online with us Hopefully we'll see soon Connected miss in chimunia nadiva the chief specialist legal affairs from the state house of zambia Actually, one of the countries hosting the next summit next year So miss teyo, um, would you like to start our discussion and offer your view on what has the s4d process already added in terms Of promoting democracy worldwide And how could countries further use the summit for democracy process to foster collaboration on democracy domestically But also globally and internationally Thank you so much for the question and thank you so much everyone for braving the cold to be here in person And also for those of you joining online I think this year of uh action that we have been working on I think one of the things that all of us who are committed to to democracy and are committed to these efforts Has really allowed us to coalesce behind These ideas We've had over a hundred partner governments around the world that have taken meaningful steps to build more resilient democracies To combat corruption and defend human rights And we can see that in my own country where this has been an opportunity for us to also stake take stock And to make those and um, one of the things that I like to talk about is that democracy is not just a noun But also a verb and so how are we as individual citizens? Not only being more engaged in democracy, but also encouraging Our fellow citizens to participate We have seen the summit process also include partnerships with civil society Building broader more regional partnerships through our intergovernmental focal groups and where we are negotiating impactful declarations to be released for the next summit I think also this important Evolution of having co-hosts from costa rica the netherlands the republic of korea the republic of zambia reinforces our efforts to bolster democracy Globally and that are shared with as a shared priority and across different regions As we gather our citizens to um to show how democracy delivers for them The united states it continues to be uh dedicated to implementing its own commitments We're working with partners to support the implementation of over 750 commitments That were made And so really um the the role of each of us civil society government citizens Um through each of these cohorts. I think is an important Contribution and evolution in this work. I'll leave it there thank you very much miss tail and um we'd like to to um Continue with the view from the ogb from mr. Massen As we heard, uh, it's the it's really the the warp the democracy not a noun and there So many stakeholders involved and the one of the achievements of the summit is actually Lying in the bringing all the actors together and really involving citizens And civil society stronger in the in the processes So ogp has been working globally since 2011 actually in an approach aligned A lot was that um brought by summit for democracy It has always been about joint discussions between the cso's government private sector team work for better and more open government and governance Um, so it would be of great interest to hear also your view on what has the summit and the last year brought to the cso's voice mandate monitoring role in the process and engagement Thanks, um Yes, I want to say a bit about about what what it has done so far what we can still expect in the months ahead and I think also what After the summit for democracy could look like Which I think is also important As my my colleague was saying I think the summit for democracy highlighted essential components of what strong and resilient democracies Look like and shows how important this to strengthen our democracy not just um In the institutions and the processes but also in action and action of citizens as part of that a whole man abroad as as Chiara was also talking about in her introduction I think this the focus on three themes key themes was very strong for the summit of democracy And that it challenged governments to make fresh political commitment To the agenda of democracy and democracy support as well as very concrete reforms We know Not all commitments were as ambitious as we hoped for not as co-created as we hoped for But the fact that there were hundreds of commitments coming out of it At least gave a new base for a conversation between government and civil society And as ogp, we know that government and civil society working together really pays off in our 10 years We have over close to 5 000 commitments And what we can tell from that data is that if you co-create your commitments with civil society You get more ambitious commitments You get better design commitments and you get better early results. So it really pays off to work with civil society One of the strengths we always try to leverage is how you can connect international conversations With domestic action. That's the strength of our our model One of those international conversations that is working for us Is the summit for democracy Now if you look at the next couple of months, there's a few things I think that our opportunities continue to collaborate On democracy between government and civil society first the cohorts that were already referenced I think those might be the strongest thing coming out of the summit for democracy in the end The fact that those are designed Based on collaboration that they are often multilateral and multi stakeholder Is a is a strong strength We are leading one of them together with the u.s. Government and the brookings institution the one on financial transparency and integrity that focuses On beneficial ownership on open procurement As well as on the role of enabling industries where it comes to the financial sector And we see that in that cohort. There's a great willingness to To share perspectives to learn from each other, but also then to connect that back to their ogp processes. For example Countries like Liberia, Chile, Norway and Armenia are four countries that are Using the interplay between the summit for democracy and the ogp domestic action plans to advance their advance their commitments They are also they met last week in washington and During the international anti-corruption conference there and they are Planning to use the second summit for democracy as a as a political call to action to do much more in the years ahead Second point there is connecting the s4d to to international platforms that already exist and will continue to exist after s4d Sunsets after the second summit An example in that respect is Slovakia Who is a leader on beneficial ownership where in the summit for democracy? It's also a leader on beneficial ownership in ogp It uses its action plans repetitively to open up contracting For example, it mandates any company that wants to do business With the state to be in a publicly accessible Beneficial ownership registry and they are planning to maintain that despite the court ruling of the european court for justice last week that weight the right of privacy Stronger than the right of public access to who owns and benefits from companies in Slovakia said we will try to uphold uphold the the public accessibility of beneficial ownership data And is willing to take the legal fight for that which shows real leadership on the topic So that's the second one. The third one is I think it opened up a lot of Opportunities to connect innovation and implementation support. For example, the uk has dedicated Teams inside government to help other governments with the implementation of their beneficial beneficial ownership registers And through its development support, it also funds organization like open ownership To do the same across the world And finally, I think you're seeing to see Cross-regional collaboration and coordination between countries. For example, Netherlands, Canada and Ecuador Are convening a high-level meeting. I think next week or still this year To prepare not just for the summit for democracy, but also for the next Uncaged the u.m Against corruption meeting as well. So they are Again, they are trying to see what the connections are Now alongside those high-level political messages. I think it's really important To keep emphasizing the importance of meaningful input of civil society, which was not the strength of the first summit for democracy process Going forward, of course, it has to really come in more strongly And with that, I also want to make a reference to the to the eu Evaluation that was released just yesterday Evaluation of the rule of law and anti-corruption work and one of the conclusions recommendations in there was That with this important work around rule of law and anti-corruption You should always Take a country focused approach, not a government focused approach Because you really need to work with all the stakeholders in society to tackle these These difficult problems final point. I want to make is what should we take forward beyond The second summit Well, a couple of things that it really has given us already right the fresh political momentum and energy around this agenda both democracy at home and abroad So that's something we should keep. I think there still is a need for a global coalition of strong leaders on this topic I think the fact that the second summit is co-hosted with zombie and the Netherlands and South Korea and Costa Rica is really important I hope that's something we can continue going forward with also a strong role For the EU leadership also something coming out of that evaluation was that the EU Needs to play a stronger leadership role globally where it comes to rule of law and anti-corruption I think the cohorts are something we should try and keep As well as keeping the pressure on the countries to actually deliver on what they promised It is a year of action But we also know that in that year of action not so much has happened yet in terms of implementation. So hopefully We keep them to their promise Keeping track of of progress is incredibly important international and idea and ogp are teaming up to design a methodology for all governments to actually Monitor progress in the same way so we can compare what was promised and what has happened. I think that's incredibly important And one thing I think we shouldn't do in my view at least is Keep the standalone process of the summit for democracy and keep the summit for democracy as a brand I think it did an incredible thing with the first summit and probably with the second summit But after that, I think there are a lot of international platforms and partners That could team up and use their existing spaces and methodologies, whether it's the annual report of international idea The research and convening power of the OECD the political weight of the EU The domestic action role of ogp. I think there's a lot of international partners out there that can carry this work forward In some keep the good the energy the momentum the partnership And let go of some of the things that were not perfect in the summit for democracy We also have to be honest about that including the role of civil society, which was relatively weak, but we also have to know that not one government or institution can fight Fight the topics that were at the heart of the summit for democracy on their own. It really will need partnership with With ordered institutions with the media with civil society and with governments. Thank you Thank you very much, um, paul and um, that's that's the great, um introduction to the to the input I would like to hear now, um from um from the Global democracy coalition, uh representative Because this was something that paul just mentioned that the global coalition of leaders is needed as well as that CSO's role has been um increased In summit for democracy, but has not been ideal or not has been kept to the standard that we actually needed um, and that's the role of CSOs was actually quite weak so, um From miss baesta busho. Um in the context, it would be really interesting to hear on how the others CSOs worldwide have been perceiving the summit And um, what are the the implications and of the global democracy coalition that you are part of? Thank you so much and thank you for having me in this timely panel on the opportunities that have been presented by the summit for democracy Um, when I was invited I was asked to highlight some positive takeaways and opportunities that have come out of the summit process And I wanted to focus As olena said on the involvement of civil society in the summit So the first summit for democracy was warmly welcomed by civil society as an opportunity to place democracy at the front and center of the global agenda The global democracy coalition one of the greatest achievements of the summit process Was formed a few months before the first summit in october 2021 to provide an additional avenue of engagement for civil society in the summit It was convened by international idea and around 20 democracy organizations of which many are in the room As an informal group committed to the advancement of democracy and determined to engage constructively with the summit So two days before the first summit a global democracy coalition Forum took place to facilitate the global conversation on democracy Broadening but also complementing the official summit discussions A series of webinars took place involving more than 250 speakers from various sectors and countries including many from the global south The forum concluded with a report of recommendations that was handed over to the summit organizers And the truth is that the impact of the coalition has been remarkable Because what started as an informal group Working together to produce one forum has evolved into strategic multi stakeholder alliance of more than 90 democracy organizations from around the world that are committed to advance and protect democracy worldwide The organizations in the coalition regularly collaborate together in different initiatives that go from webinars where we discuss Issues of relevance to the summit to a collective digital library to recommendations for the second summit And dialogues on how to give continuity to the summit process So I want to stop here and reflect a little bit on the recommendations that I just mentioned They have emanated from a brainstorming exercise that the coalition facilitated last month And this exercise was part of the coalition effort to share civil society views on the lessons learned from the first summit and the year of action But also what civil society Things can be done to enrich and make the second summit even more relevant The recommendations gather have been compiled into a report that will be handed over to the summit organizers To help shape the second summit with the inputs from civil society So the main topics that the recommendation were related to were Transparency of the summit process the need to involve civil society as an equal partner The role of cohorts in the formal process reporting mechanisms Inclusions the agenda topics commitment And the need to complement the efforts and I will focus on three because I don't have time to To discuss more But I want to clarify that if I don't touch upon the value of the cohorts is because it's another panel coming up That I'm sure will cover this so the three recommendations I will focus on will be monitoring of the commitments Inclusiveness and complementing of existing efforts So when it came to the commitments What came out from the discussions were two main issues The first one is the importance of clarifying the commitment process for the second summit Both in terms of government reporting on the implementation of the commitments that were made in the first summit But also clarify recommendations and process for announcing new commitments and here Clear guidelines on how these commitments can be of high quality building on profession on On potential gaps from the first summit would be very important as part of these guidelines Requiring written commitments would be important to facilitate civil society and other independent monitoring But also to enhance accountability on the process And the second point was on the monitoring of the commitments So clear and common reporting guidelines for countries would be important To ensure that countries provide an update on the achievements in implementing the first round of commitments And as mr. Massen commented the ogp Brookings and idea have developed such guidelines and reporting templates that we encourage countries and others use To ensure the use of a common approach and common terms Because many civil society organizations and international organizations Are tracking the commitments made by governments today for the first summit So it would be valuable for the summit organizers to work with civil society to identify more permanent civil society commitment monitoring mechanism Especially if governments will be requested to make new commitments during the second summit The second recommendation relates to The summit to be more inclusive first inclusion of voices from non-democratic context would be very important This could be done by for example inviting all countries to participate in the summit, but not all governments Civil society from non-invited countries should be able to participate in the summit discussions for the summit participants to hear their views Understand the need that they have the lessons that they have to share and also to give them an opportunity to create new networks And expand those networks And finally on this point on inclusiveness the coalition encourages the summit organizers to provide translation interpretation for official events, but also to facilitate translation for side events Because this will ensure the many meaningful participation, especially from civil society organizations from the global south And lastly, and I will be very quick here the recommendation on efforts that should be made to complement Existing initiatives to avoid duplication of existing processes and fill the necessary gaps And here I want to stress because I believe it is one of the most positive things that came out of the summit process Is the palpable willingness and openness from the summit organizers to see civil society organizations at the table Not only because there have been a couple of civil society consultation rounds during the year of action Where the summit organizers have have sat with civil society organizations to discuss the different topics that are relevant to the second summit But because we have observed as the coalition how the summit organizers are working on identifying potential avenues of collaboration With stakeholders that are working on Issues that are relevant to the second summit and it is clear that they are interested in complementing such efforts For the sake of the summit but also for the possible continuation of Of the process So these are very broadly some of the positive aspects that we can observe have happened with civil society in between summit But I will leave it here as my time is up, but happy to engage in the Q&A. Thank you Thank you so much, um miss baista and um We would like to to move to our um next speaker Yeah, we um we have her online as I understand So, um, it's miss netziva from the state house zambia And it's really interesting to to hear your views on on the year of action in zambia Because the context is already quite interesting according to the global status of democracy report zambia moved from a hybrid regime classification in 2021 into a democracy classification in 2022, which is really remarkable on the global scale in the context of um Autocratization and democratic backsliding that we've been experiencing and that sam has been mentioning In the in the opening. So it's it's a really great achievement. Um, and Also zambia's commitment to the summit for democracy process by becoming a host Next year is only underlying The their commitment to um move on and beyond in their democratic Development. So it would be really interesting to hear from you miss netziva on The the implications of the year of action in zambia from the point of view of the government Your cooperation with the civil society and their inclusion in this process on the way and And also your your plans and aspirations For the event to be hosted as a part of summit for democracy in zambia next year So it would be really interesting to floor is yours, please Thank you very much Good morning to everybody and thank you for giving us this opportunity to participate in this meeting I'm presenting but I'm also joined by One of my colleagues So post zambia's participation in the 2021 december first summit for democracy Zambia came up with three commitments towards its renewal for democracy The three commitments were rule of law freedom of speech and ensuring an independent electoral commission Under the rule of law the country has remarkably done very well And uh, that's how we have moved from a classification of almost being an autocratic country to one that is Ensuring that it have it upholds its democratic tenant Zambia has been in the process of ensuring that it amends all rules and laws that have been promulgated towards the 2021 elections that were really put in place to to to to do away with The opposition political participation and civil society participation Pre-election and most of those rules have been amended to ensure a free and a fair playground for civil societies and opposition political parties Zambia has also ensured its commitment towards freedom of expression media and speech by amending all laws that Have been impeding on people to freely express themselves and also opposition political players In expressing dissent to a sitting president or sitting government One of the remarkable steps that Zambia has taken in its upholding democracy And freedom of expression is amending the laws on criminal defamation of the president which have been used by many governments in the past to to prevent people or other opposition players and civil societies in giving their own dissent or opposing views to a sitting government and a sitting president So for us, this is a very good win to the fight for freedom of expression and upholding the rule of law One other step that Zambia has taken in ensuring that it keeps its commitments That were made under Ensuring an independent electoral commission is by ensuring that the independent the independence of the electoral commission By sponsoring it in every activities that it has undertaken post elections as well as ensuring that The commission was kept intact No members were victimized that were left by the previous government at the electoral commission Until a few whose contracts came from end But we have ensured that the electoral commission remains independent And that they are free to carry out the activities with the full support of the government And another step that Zambia has ensured that has taken to ensure It's renewed towards democracy is ensuring an all represented human rights commission Our human rights commission has been inclusive of different members of the of the society We have women well represented on the commission We have views that have been well represented on the commission as well as persons living with disabilities Which was not the case in the previous regime Coming to the to the summit the second summit for democracy Zambia is one of the core hosting countries with the Netherlands South Korea the United States As well as Costa Rica, we are very privileged to have been picked as one of the core hosts and for us it's An assurance that Zambia has really moved in a short space of time to show its commitments towards democracy So the summit is going to be a two-day summit as already alluded to by the by the first and second speaker Zambia is going to co-host other 16 african states. The first day is really going to be a virtual meeting between All participating heads of states as well as the other four co hosts The second day is going to be a hybrid of events some online and some in-person meetings And our theme is really centered on free fair and transparent elections in Africa Why free fair and transparent elections in Africa Zambia believes that the mode of choosing a leader is the beginning of democracy for us the best of a leader in every country Shows whether or not this country is going to uphold tenets of democracy So we believe that elections free and fair elections are very important In underscoring democracy in every country and we believe that where free and fair elections are held and the leader is acceptable in a country It's easy for the country to participate globally and locally as well as in the region when it comes to upholding democracy So the challenges that we could have faced maybe in the year of actions The year of action is maybe we have not had a proper participation of the civil society But we cannot go without mentioning that the civil society organizations have always been a part and parcel of our cooperating partners in The fight for democracy the fight against corruption as well as in Monitoring free and fair and transparent elections. However, we have fully engaged the civil society organizations in our plan in our planning and preparations for the second summit for democracy and They are going to be part and parcel of our panelists and as well as presenters and discussants in the During the 20 23 March summit for democracy So unless there are any questions with regards our Our year of actions as well as Our preparations for the second summit for democracy. I think this is a quick summary I could give of how Zambia has performed in the year of action as well as our plans and preparation towards the second summit for democracy in March Thank you Thank you so much miss naziva Um, and at this point I would like to open the floor for questions Um at the moment we don't have anything online. So if anyone from the audience would like to to ask the question, please raise your hand and state your name and also the speaker you would like to address If possible There are no questions from the audience Yes, please of course miss zane, you know one of the things that we've been really focused on and I and I love hearing about the civil society organizations and We're very you know focused on as the agenda is coming together in these key themes on Free and independent media fighting corruption bolstering democratic reformers and advancing technology for democracy And the opportunities that you've talked about with brookings and with other NGOs um, if you had sort of a wish list of what you could get Um governments to participate in If you had a magic wand like what would be the fix that you would look for Um governments to do from a civil society standpoint In the summit itself or afterwards whenever whenever Okay, um no in the summit itself. I think I would design it in a way that Every session every moment has not just civil society in the room or civil society as an afterthought for five minutes at the end But as equal speakers in the conversation civil society as broadly defined that includes media and other organizations I think you get a much richer conversation if it's not just Between governments and between heads of government. So that's one. Um, I think where it comes to the to the national level I think if you design commitments, whether they go into the second summit for democracy or if they go into Whatever future iteration Of of democracy support It's similar bring civil society into the conversation Because we know civil society is very well connected internationally. They have a lot of expertise to bring I know they can be very difficult as well at times um, but you get much stronger commitments That align with priorities of a broader set Of actors across society to focus on So you get support for your agenda You get input in in the commitments you want to design design and you get help with implementation as well So I think it is really the integration of of civil society throughout whatever you do when I think You should not underestimate the symbolism of And not just the symbolism but the actual participation of civil society I remember the very first ogp summit in 2011 in brazil Which started About 45 minutes late And why was that it was because behind the scenes negotiation was going on If civil society could be on stage with president bruceff and hillary clinton, or if there would first be A protocol moment after which civil society would join And there they started with at least for ogp Having civil society at stage as equals with the head of governments and head of state Which was a very powerful way of showing we're going to do things differently Thank you so much. Actually in this context, um, I would really like to to hear from miss nadziba if she's with us still Um Yeah, um, whether you've been already thinking about The ways of including the civil society better more because you also mentioned that So far you saw that the participation was was limited and you would really like to include the more as partners in the fights So in the context of preparation for the for the next summit for democracy event in zambia Whether you've already been thinking through the ways of engaging them better having them at the table And whether some negotiations with the cso's have been happening regionally As as a preparation for it Okay, thank you very much. Uh, so, um, firstly civil societies have been engaged and have been Our cooperating partners when it comes to issues to do with human rights Uh transparency Accountability and the fight against corruption however specifically when it comes to the summit for democracy This is when we've really engaged the civil societies. So we have a we have a meeting I think it should be on the 17th of uh of this month. I think this week on friday. We have a meeting with uh, About eight civil society organizations that we hope to take part and participate in The second summit for democracy the response has been good and we hope that uh, they'll buy into Our theme and our agenda and that they are going to bring to the table the valuable collaboration and and um ideas towards our planning for the um second summit for democracy in march Also, I must mention that civil societies have been involved and have worked closely with the government when it comes to issues to do with the monitoring of elections and also Providing reports post elections of how the few elections have been held Uh and how human rights were upheld said during the the period preceding and post elections So they have been a part and parcel of the government's cooperating partner and with Partners and we've collaborated with them on many Issues uh surrounding democracy only that this is when they've been brought on board With regards the summit for democracy and their response has been very uh overwhelming and positive So we hope that post uh the 17th of december they fully come on board In the preparation stage of the summit the second summit for democracy Thank you Thank you very much. That's really great to hear and uh all the the luck and success to you with this endeavor Um, I think we had a question from the audience So what I wanted to ask is whether you could please expand a little more on the plans of the u.s. government How uh, you plan to use the work that has been done in is being done in the democracy cohorts And specifically perhaps the model commitments that will Come out of it. Will the u.s. Uh government continue to drive and invite participating countries to come And uh to expand their set of commitments and will uh the Do you think that the model commitments will be a good lead for that? Thank you so much for the question Absolutely, I think one of the things that we've been very committed to is um is this process and to hearing a diverse set of voices You know the biden the biden harris administration has really viewed this as an inflection point in history and that we need the united states to engage Um other governments other civil society actors in in getting this forward. So the agenda for the second summit has not been fully Finalized as our our co-host are working on that as well But I think that the model commitments announce You know the collective calls to action the raising awareness on how authoritarian regimes are manipulating democratic systems. These have all been Things that have been in discussion and will be showcased um in in march When we when we get together. I think one of the other interesting points that um that march will bring is um that You know in this hybrid format more people will be able to participate And I think that will be a really interesting strength Both from civil society perspective as well as from a government perspective Yeah, best of luck with that hybrid events as we know Are very used to it now. Yeah, but um that's that's really um that That's that's really um Good like strong side of it usually but can also bring challenges, but um, yeah, I'm sure everyone will will manage with that I think we had one more question from the audience Um, and and then we'll we'll conclude Hi, I'm Christopher from the global forum for media development I just I have actually two questions the first has to do with uh media and journalists media and journalism. So I was wondering how Um, what state commitments have been around questions to do with press freedoms Um, independent media and stuff like that and how the summit is sort of following through Uh on those commitments. Um, I mean the fight against impunity towards journalists support for independent media and all sorts of these sorts of things my second question is How are summit organizers sort of ensuring balanced representation between civil society organizations from the global north and those from the global south and How are we sort of ensuring that there is an exchange of I don't know because democracy is also under threat in European countries in the united states. So I wonder if there's like an exchange of of lessons learned between um Western civil society organizations and and those from the global south and how is sort of the summit trying to have that Ensuring that exchange Thank you. Misty or maybe you would like to take this Let me start I think if you look at the co-hosts right there, you see, um, you know, regionally diverse group of actors also In in different stages and different forms of democracy Um, you know, we as as you pointed out united states has also this is an important Point and an inflection point for us as well. And I think that we approach the summit of democracy not as Um A country that has all the answers but a country that has a lot of questions um, and so we're really looking at our global partners and And those that are participating in the summit for democracy to really come together to help answer these questions I think, you know on your question on supporting free and independent media Um, this is something that's very near and dear to my heart I know it's very near and dear to my ambassador's heart ambassador gittinstein We have partnered with the check presidency on on some of their efforts During this presidency, but I think, you know, um, paul's work too on on Financial transparency and integrity. I think is very crucial when we're looking at free and independent media And making sure that we have not only free independent, but also pluralistic media Throughout and I think and this is, you know Something that the eu is very committed to when you look at the media freedom acts and the work That has been happening in the commission That has also been something that we have worked together Whether we, you know, we have supported human rights defenders including journalists In this in this work, but I also want to give others on the panel who have been very involved in in this work I I really enjoyed hearing from from our colleague from zambia about the importance of electoral Observation and in independence in that realm as well. And so I'll give the floor to others Would someone want to add on that and then we'll have to be concluding. Yeah, and that's specifically I think on the I think which is very interesting that you need a mix of of voices Whether it's government and civil society or different countries to really understand this, right? I think the most important thing where it comes to Strengthening democracy in democracy in action is actually that um That honest realization like you you were just sharing that this is something not just you can do abroad You have to do it at home as well. And if you have that mindset, I think then you become a Trustworthy and an authentic partner in this work. Um, there's some of the strongest Examples I've seen in ogp of of peer learning is not the traditional north to south But it's actually south to south or south to north I think that mindset that you can learn something from everyone Is a really important part of of this process of strengthening democracy? Yeah, definitely so. Um, thank you everyone so much for your contributions for your questions And it's it was really great to hear about everything happening right beyond and and around and also as a result of the summit for democracy process um, I think one of the key takeaways, um that we heard today from the discussion was that The taking the country focused and not the government focused approach is is really essential for strengthening the global work in in promoting democracy. It's also about having the The civil societies from the autocratic Governments at the table, but of course not limited to that. It's in general We heard a lot about the need to strengthen the civil society involvement in the summit for democracy process, but also beyond also very importantly nationally, of course that Because they are a very important player not only as As the interest group, right, but also as a resource group who also has a lot of international engagement and And knowledge and the the expertise thanks to the international partners such as ogp and the global coalition And it's also remarkable to generally hear the the the processes that have been beyond the the monitoring suggestions from the civil society coalitions presented by elisenda and There are really a lot of things that civil society coalitions in a broader sense can offer to the process can support government swiss It's not only about being the the watchdogs or working dogs as Unfortunately, they are perceived sometimes and as as paul mentioned hard to talk to right, but it's also about actually Digging into the resource that they are happy to provide to come up Later in the process was better more ambitious and more implementable and implemented commitments in the summit and it was great to hear from zambia that they're also working already on including the civil society in the process And in the event and we are hoping that this is also going to happen worldwide in all the other Countries committed already to the summit and joining The second edition of it as well I'm happy to thank everyone all the speakers. Thank you so much for your great contribution and great discussion. It was a pleasure and Thank you, let's move to the next panel by ambassador So I think as we are a little already behind schedule We should start also more as one of our Panelists who is online will have to leave us a bit early. So I think it's it's time to to start this session on basically looking trying to look a little bit beyond The next summit and and see how this initiative will Have an impact over time, but before looking into the crystal ball I think it's it's worth remembering where where this summit is coming from and if we go back two years in time the idea of this summit came out in President's biden campaigns pledge and then the 6th of january event took place and defense of democracy in support to democracy became A domestic and a diplomatic top priority for the us and and meanwhile the imperative to Work on democracy resilience has only got stronger the first summit and now the preparation of the second summit are taking place under the backdrop of persistent democratic erosion and Continuous tendency towards more to question the world this was very well documented by the report released by international idea two weeks ago on state of democracy in the world in 2022 And all regions of the world all types of of countries under undergo some some kind of pressure on democratic norms and we are The impression that we have is that we are finding ourselves in a global environment That is taking us back to three 1989 levels in terms of democratic prevalence And it makes it as crucial as ever to continue with efforts to defend democracy and build resilience As it seems that we are now at some kind of inflection point in in the struggle between democracy and authoritarianism Two years ago. I think there were perhaps some interrogations on the summit for them for democracy concept Because it was new because it resembles nothing else It has a global coverage with more than 110 countries involved in the process. It is a very diverse process also with Countries with different paths to democracy different levels of achievement each with its own story to tell and None regarded as superior to the over It is also original in that it it it embraces the summit for democracy process embraces both domestic efforts And there is a lot of homework to do by everybody An international cooperation to support democracy And then there is this dimension of inclusiveness, which was underlined the previous panel with participation of civil society the private sector academia alongside governments So I think that the summit for democracy feels a gap in a much needed global effort to strengthen coalition amongst those committed to democracy But because it is it is like it is a nothing It is like nothing else initiative This makes the democracy the summit for democracy process a rather complex and I just want to To put in place and it is in fact, I think my impression is that it's something that Invents itself as it is moving forward And it is requiring some time to to settle in So to submit is not too too many I think to set this process in motion And and and kudos to the US to to use their convening power to do that and trying the challenge MS I would like to underline that the EU and member states have played ball with the US They are very they've been very active in the first summit for democracy. They are very active in the follow-up process Being actively engaged In the main tool the democracy cohorts designed to deliver on the promise of the first summit The ES and the commission are Co-leading a number of cohorts on part in particular on delivery to democracy and on on youth and you will hear more about that later today Looking at the panelists today We have sweden which is co-leading on gender equality We have Czech republic who is leading on civil space and the Netherlands who are co-leading on media freedom in fact 10 out of 16 cohorts to date Are co-led or led by EU governments and also involve many European CSOs. So I think this demonstrates a high level of commitment and engagement by the Europeans into the summit for democracy process And now we submit for democracy number two is round the corner The cohorts are going full steam concept notes. I've been I've been I've been done launching events. I've taken place The the desired Or expected outcome of these of these cohorts are being are being developed And and what what is clear to us is that all this investment should not be lost It's it's not it's imperative not to lose The momentum that has been created And and sure that these multi stakeholders Coalition will have an impact beyond summit for democracy number two And this is also because the trends That we are witnessing in the world of democracy erosion Are not going to go away anytime soon These are long-term phenomena And they require persistent engagement and effort to counter them And in this respect, I see the fact that The u.s. Have called For countries to co-host the second summit for democracy as as an indication of Of the desire to see these efforts initiated under this process Continue to exist and to bear fruit after after match next year And also to show that Defending democracy is a shared responsibility requiring a collective action and collective ownership And and I think the balance regional approach struck by the u.s. Is the global remit of the summit for democracy and And I think the summit Can can bring the global attention That the challenge requires So the summit for democracy is not just a u.s. Initiative or western initiative and it should not be seen as A one-shot initiative. So I think said all that Now I'd like to hear from our panelists What their country have achieved so far and under the under the process How they prepare how they prepare going into the second summit and maybe how they see what is lying in the head So we have three distinguished panelists today with us to discuss that Ambassador Cecilia Rostrom-Royne who is ambassador for human rights democracy and the rule of law for sweden ambassador Zame Nakova Who is a psc ambassador for check republic? and Stiggs with the director for multilateral institutions and human rights at the Netherlands MFA so Miss Rostrom-Royne will have to leave us a bit earlier. So maybe I will start with her and and give her the floor I think you are muted Can you unmute yourself? Yes, it looks good. Thank you. Can you hear me now? Yes, perfect. Thank you Oh, sorry So, uh, thank you very much moderator and thank you to international idea and the organizers for providing us with this important opportunity Sweden will take over the presidency of the european Council at a very challenging point in time for human rights for democracy for the rule of law Worldwide and I am really glad to say that We have a very strong and continued commitment to place those issues at a very Top on of of our agenda in many ways We see also that the european union has Crucial role to play when it comes to defending The values that we all stand for so that will be guiding our presidency to mention Three main priorities for us in the presidency which are clearly linked to the to the summit for democracy process One is strengthening the european union as a global democracy actor Where of course the midterm review of the eu action Plan on human rights and democracy will take place During our presidency and we very much look forward to an inclusive and And a very constructive process focusing on strengthening the implementation of the action plan And in that regard as has been mentioned Sweden has commissioned international idea To conduct a civil society consultation a compile a report with recommendations on EU external democracy and action Which we hope will also inform a very inclusive and active Discussion on how the european union can strengthen its its role This report will be presented at a launching conference in brussels on january 31st A second strong priority concerns human rights defenders And a third promoting work on anti-corruption Which is also contributing to strengthening respect for human rights democratic principles and the rule of law As for the summit process Sweden initially Very much welcomed the initial initiative by the the u.s. Biden administration and we remain Strongly committed to the process We are ourselves engaged in many ways, but one is through Co-leading the cohort for gender equality as a prerequisite for democracy Together with romania and georgetown University georgetown university institute for women peace and security and where again international idea is serving as a secretariat So again, thank you. Thanks to idea for that That role it is obviously very important that the second summit coincides in time with our presidency And also with the regional Meeting that will be hosted by the netherlands so We see it as very important Where the successful process an inclusive process a successful outcome And where as has been mentioned inclusion of civil society is one one important key to success We see that this is Need to contribute also to ews work on on human rights and democracy and moderator As you mentioned, I am very very sorry, but I have to leave due to Engagements with very very important human rights defenders this year's Laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize Will be received in parliament in a few minutes where I I am tasked to moderate the discussion in a in a live debate So I will have to leave and and will not be able to take part in the in the ongoing discussion But I thank you for the opportunity Thank you ambassador And thank you for taking the time to to be with us this morning in spite of your type schedule So no, I will I will give the floor to ambassador Isna Minakova Czech Republic Please Yeah, thank you very much For having me today to the audience present here and to colleagues online as well I was quite pleased to hear Swedish ambassador Because She just echoed The priorities the Czech Republic had In terms of support of human rights and democracy in the council this Semester this half year And very glad to hear that Sweden will will continue with the work we under Undergo this semester Let's say that support to civil society support to human rights defenders and last but not least imposing costs And it was already said corruption sanction regime was Or have been started to discuss under the Czech presidency and You know the the talks are not very easy and Glad to hear that it will continue and under the suites and And they are willing to take the file forward. So Before I focus on a summit of democracies Let me spare a few words on what we exactly done During this half year It's it seems really like You know yesterday when I presented in June the Czech priorities in terms of democracy and human rights and we here we go we are In the second half of December and close to the end So of course it's up to you to to tell us if we succeed or not, but let me flag what We we tried to achieve of course I will start mentioning that in terms of Into the EU The progress report on the European media freedom act Was done and president presented in November in the council and Especially In terms of democracy human rights and support of human rights defenders We did a lot of events here in Brussels and in Prague as well Needless to say that since Beginning of November we decided to have a Czech presidency Month for human rights It's it actually ended with the 10th december human rights day and during This this month We try to promote Civil society support human rights and and democracy In the council and In Brussels very I would commend the cooperation with the US We done One special event on democracy and media support with them late october very successful and Would be great if it it's mirror itself in a summit of democracies as well and in In upcoming presidency Then of course Presidency what's up? How else derelux? We do it every year, but this one was really special And to name just a few more Last friday we did The breakfast on human rights with human rights women defenders from iran and kyrgyzstan again, all of that wrapped in cz 2022 for human rights our our special month and Just to flag that it was my pleasure to to work with all the NGOs and the institutions During this semester what we also done Was to to focus a bit on our neighborhood because we believe that western balkans and eastern partners needs to be let's say Encouraged to do more so in park civil society From western balkans met they they had a round table and one major event From beginning of december on Eastern partnership media conference. It used to be a tradition to have one Each year but was interrupted by kovit. So here we go again and media From our eastern partners gathered In in the park Beside that On bilateral basis, we continue with Let's say our transition promotion program Of course Out of record, but we help Human rights defenders and civil society With some really concrete technical details like like visa On summit for democracies You know that for for checks, it's really important not Only because of the legacy of our former president wasav havel Which is actually a bit behind our Whole concept of check presidency this half a year his ideas and Democracy support it's really you know steering the whole Check presidency So We are committed Of course to participate at The next summit As you know, the check republic leads A part on a civic space joined with Norway and Just let me reassure that we are committed to to continue From Practical point of view we had one meeting of the cohort in october the second one is planned for 14th december, which is tomorrow And of course there is a work Work plan towards The summit We still think that Summit for democracies is an excellent idea which provides space actually to talk about Particle issues Which was already i will not give you the the comprehensive list it was already Much was said one point to really Assure you of the check commitment Yesterday at the foreign affairs council My minister actually Demanded a point on human rights To to have it as a symbol and a signal that we really as a council care About human rights Being actually violated on daily basis In In in so many countries, especially in iran Right now, so he Intervene during the council on On human rights issues. He Mentioned exactly Iran case, but also Russia Belarus and And other examples And To end a bit on our check Pet projects We focus a lot on Support of Free media I mentioned already The media Is in partnership media conference, but in general we really think and we support The the free media or what Left of it In in Russia and other regimes Therefore for us is quite important what's going on in other parts of the council You might know about the the femi toolbox for in interference manipulation and formation And Let's say it's another word for doesn't well countering this information And It's it provides a space for free media support as well, but At the same time it provides space for imposing costs and let me Say a few words on that one too We Right now There is A discussion in town Um, you know, where is the the the fragile balance between imposing costs on This information uh and propaganda and freedom of speech. I think that we we we got clear examples In recent month, especially in terms of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the strong pro Russian propaganda, which we can see in In media and believe me as as a russian speaker. I I can assure you that that's it's really Sometimes painful to to hear and and tweet So We managed To ban several russian tv's channels in in the EU and I believe We should that it's the right track and we should focus more on propaganda I really hope that the ninth sanctions package will be Agreed Soon as possible Because there are there are some more so this is just one part countering this information imposing costs and propaganda and of course strategy communication of the european values european Way of life which is democratic to our Partners abroad and especially to to global south one last word from my side The role of presidency in terms of You know supporting democracy and and human rights. I think that It the role is um indisputable is there and Uh, the the main Point I would I would say is to rising the visibility to speak up for For those who can't and to to rise The points The council itself so the democracy can be really Hurt I stop here and thank you very much for your attention Thank you very much ambassador. Perhaps Before giving the floor to mr. Stakes, I like to have a follow-up question to you already um, if we if we look at the eu Internal agenda on democracy and it's it's external agenda as well We see that there are many things that resonate very much with a Summit for democracy process and priorities. You've mentioned the media freedom act But there are also issues regarding Respect for human rights online containing the digital services act As you know present von der leyen as as announced also a new Defense of democracy package that will be tabled next year They would be also some some kind of anti corruption package We are in the middle of assessing our Human rights on democracy action plan when it comes to the To the external side of our action in support to democracy So seeing all this How do you think that EU Presidencies can use that and can build on on that to contribute to Global effort such as a summit for democracy To advance the democracy priorities. How can we can we generate more momentum? Seeing that there is this convergent of priorities between between a process like the summit for democracy and our own democracy priorities Yeah, thank you the first I think that came to my mind When you posted that question almost to really push The files in the council It was the case of of course median action plan, but it it it is a case of FIMI toolbox, but there are other files. So I think that Presidency can be the driving force For those And I I'm pretty sure that the suites will continue In that but beside that I think it's really important To to speak with partners because EU doesn't stand alone So to really You know Connect with like minded partners to to to work together Towards the the summit of But At the same time to speak To countries which are not So like minded And believe me in terms of let's say The the european narrative and the european democratic values We should focus more on our outreach Towards global south and please don't take it As a as a cliche because you can hear it Maybe too much sometimes now in brussels, but We should really you know step up explain and Let's say to live the the EU Narrative and to show it To our to our partners sometimes um, you know There's a need for tailored Mate approach You you cannot approach with the same strategy communication south africa and I don't know Some asian countries but I think it's worth trying You know to to put more efforts on on promotion And and outreach Thank you ambassador and no turning to Mr. Stiggs So Flow is used maybe you can tell us a little little more about what the neverlands are doing under the Current summit process in in particular in the area of media freedom And maybe you can lift a little bit some of the mystery about what you will be Doing as a as a co-host for the second summit. So mr. Stiggs You know, thank you very much. I hope everybody can hear me Yes Okay, then I did I'm muting successfully. Well, thank you very much for the opportunity Thank you for moderating this and also thanks to the fellow panelists and idea To give this opportunity to talk a little bit more about how we are preparing for the second summit for democracy Um, uh, indeed, uh, we are honored that we are going to be co-hosting together with south korea costa rica and zambia um our part of that will be the Organizing of an event in the Netherlands To our event that will Be basically centered around media freedom And why media freedom, uh, this is one of the cohorts in The summit for democracy that we are co-chairing together with canada And we feel that this is also a very relevant subject for keeping and that's the overall purpose keeping democracy strong healthy and forward-looking Over the past years the threats to democracy and journalism have proliferated We've seen in the 2021 world press freedom index Of reporters without borders that journalism was completely or partly blocked in 70 percent percent of 180 countries that were ranked that is positively disquieting Independent media outlets are being blocked the number of internet shutdowns is increasing and this information is very rapidly spreading physical digital and legal attacks on the media and journalists are Commonplace digital technology is also creating new channels for oppression and abuse with women journalists at particular risk Of online harassment and violence The impunity rate for crimes against journalists remains shockingly high This is an alarming trend as i said As media freedom and access to independent information are vital Particularly in the context where human rights democracy and the rule of laws are already under pressure Freedom for expression is a precondition for stable prosperous societies and democracies Uh, they cannot survive and flourish without free independent and pluralist media So journalists and media workers play a key role in exposing these violations protecting vulnerable groups impelling governments to take responsibility And in order to perform their democratic function Journalists, of course, must be able to carry out their work in safety without fear of threats harassment and detention arrest or violence Due to the growing complexity all of all of this It is of paramount importance that all of society is included in tackling these issues and defending media freedom And the safety of journalists as a cornerstone of democracy therefore we have Been co-hosting this summit for democracy With multi stakeholder events on media freedom convening government representatives civil society organizations renowned journalists human rights defenders and academia But also the private sector and other stakeholders We are also supporting our work in the summit for democracy by being part of the Anti-corruption cohort. This was started by Canada In the context of the first summit But during the first half of the year Canada Ecuador and the Netherlands came together and held initial consultations with government officials experts from civil society international organizations academics and other key stakeholders And that was all done to facilitate the integration of a wide range of perspectives In the form of a higher level round table These initial consultations resulted in a large number of draft recommendations on anti-corruption And they were discussed in june of this year with about 15 states and 15 external stakeholders at a property meeting in vienna Then recently on november 28 and 29 here in the Hague Canada Ecuador and the Netherlands Hosted a two-day high level round table at the ministerial level the round table Had sessions with 14 participants that literally came from all over the world And a fully one day of non ministerial sessions on tuesday 29 november attended by some 40 countries and about 20 external stakeholders There are now preparations being made for the third meeting in keto And this will involve multilateral organizations and looking at the international framework to combat grand corruption and and and take anti-corruption to the next level We will present all of these Results at the second summit for democracy in 2023 Then a third cohort that we're part of Is concerning civic space. This is of course of paramount importance for healthy and flourishing democracies It is why we will make sure that meaningful participation of civil civil society Will be in place for our own co-hosted event We are also participating as I said in the democracy cohort on civic space by norway Where we will focus on multilateral civil society participation Socializing the DAC recommendation on enabling civil society. And then we will also have attention for the un declaration on h rd This is a little bit where we stand now When I try to respond to your question about what is this co-host event exactly exactly going to be We are in the early stages, of course. We have just put together a project team We are now looking at a hybrid event that will include as I said different sections of our democracies and That includes also civil society private sector and of course some governmental representation as well The event will be kicked off by our prime minister margaret And around the event we are also planning to have a wider civil society event Here in the Hague at the same time For the rest we are still very much in the early planning stages We only received further guidance of the US expectations on co-hosted events last sunday So we're still putting the whole package together But of course i'm ready for any questions comments or recommendations that you might have Thank you Thank you, mr. Stakes and and congratulations on your Impressive engagement in the summit for democracy process through this work in many cohorts If I think it's already a surprise coming from a country which has always been a champion of democracy support may may I ask you in light in the light of All these are work that you are putting into the cohorts How you can use the the current momentum in the cohorts And ensure their sustainability beyond the second summit. Do you do you see This cohort the work that is that is putting in that Continuing after 2022 and and how Yeah, I think when it comes to Freedom media, we are also part of the freedom the free media coalition As you know, that is an ongoing effort I understand that we are not going to abandon the summit for democracy also after the second Edition so that will also continue and we will continue to try and make headway with Uh making sure that journalism that media are able to do their work in sustaining democracy That that is a given we've been doing this for a long time. We will continue with that We make partnerships with different countries. We have financial assistance for media That are operating sometimes as in the case of russian language media from the netherlands in order to keep on Doing their job even when they are not able to do it in their own country so these these kinds of activities we will try to home and at Bring further and and uh, well Make them ever more effective, of course Although I have to admit also I do hope that we will have fewer and fewer countries in which they are going to be necessary But uh looking at the world today. I'm not quite sure that that expectation is is warranted When it comes to anti-corruption We are really looking forward to Enabling the existing structure to fight corruption. As you know, grand corruption really is a huge threat to a democracy Particularly grand corruption. It's damaging. It costs lives. It destroys democratic structures It eats away the credibility of a democratic rule of law And we are going to build on the present structure And see where we can find gaps that make it possible for culprits who engage in grand corruption to escape their responsibility So that would mean that we are Looking at possible new mechanisms that we can develop Prosecutor offices that are able to internationally assist countries that want to prosecute particular groups or entities that engage in grand corruption but also assistance to build capacity in country situations As well as help investigative forces to find out what exactly has been going on. So all these things are subject of further discussion As I said, we are going to have a Meeting in keto where we take a good look at the value that The multilateral institutions can bring to the table there Um, and I hope that in that way we can indeed do more and more to to push back grand corruption as a threat to societies to democracy And as far as the civic space cohort in which we participate Concerns led by norway We will continue to fight for civic space. It is sometimes part of legislative efforts Making sure that they have a reason Or the ability to exist Sometimes it's also assistance on the ground to enable civil society to Indeed Do their work in a proper way we have a quite large program in the ministry of foreign affairs under the development cooperation part And we will continue to make our contribution to sustaining the role of civil society in making democracy healthy and to A job. Thank you Thanks a lot. And can I also add another question to you? In this fresh New role as a summit cohort. I understand that you're very much focused currently on what to do on the 30th of march next year that could I ask you to speculate about What kind of follow-up you would foresee on your side After the second summit, maybe it's I realized it's a little bit early to ask But maybe it's already part of your conversation of with the us of how to follow up after March of 2022 so 2023 sorry, so maybe you have some Some ideas that you would share with us on that Yeah, we're still we're still working out all the kinks in How we're going to do this particular second summit but I imagine that we will continue our cohorts and that that will be the continuity of of the summit of for democracy as such going towards Probably indeed a third summit That that will come after the second But truth be told we have not specifically addressed this either domestically or in our conversations with the us administration but but my Almost sure assumption is that the cohorts will continue also beyond and that the cohorts will continue to be action oriented Make a difference on the ground all the cohort meetings. I've attended so far are To a large extent very practical also Looking for things that we can actually do to make whatever the subject requires indeed happen And bring the issue forward. So these cohorts is my Sincere conviction will continue in that action oriented way Thanks a lot and maybe now there is a there are questions from from the audience here Joining to Yes here Hi, um, I'm julia code. Can I work with the international idea? Um, I had a quick question actually to the Netherlands one of the things that we've heard from the previous panel is that the global coalition Has put together a series of recommendations towards the second summit and one of those recommendations is to create some inclusive process With support of civil society and that's something that you've mentioned as well that civil society engagement is something That's really really important And to the Netherlands in co-hosting the the second summit. So my question is will this inclusion of civil society go beyond To include civil society of countries that haven't been invited to participate in the second summit You know, you really come to the tricky questions right away. I must admit We have we are aware of the fact that there are issues there and We have not yet taken The issue to a conclusion. This is also something we want to discuss with partners But We'll keep you informed as we progress in the decision making on this I can't tell you anything more at this stage. I'm sorry And thank you. Thank you first of all to the Netherlands for shouldering and co-hosting this and your your role there All the three Topics are are are really important and I believe that as european commission. We will definitely be able to support And we can continue that bilaterally One thing springs to mind. We are coming forward with the new Instrument and mechanism for early warning and monitoring for the enabling environment of civil society with A very substantial program. So happy to continue on on on this practical Conversation, but more the question I had this Is a bit continuing on on on the colleague from international idea how to ensure that the summit is inclusive enough And as you might know, we we put a lot of importance in ensuring also that within civil society the youth cohort So the young people Can have a role and really participate And not only in a tokenistic way really, you know being able to to see it at the table So I wonder whether there is Also an interest on your side to to to build this In uh in the in the summit itself in the panel sessions, etc a very good question, uh, and it really also ties in with uh, our long-standing tradition of of enabling youth representatives to travel with dutch delegations to UN meetings and other meetings that are relevant for for their perspective So we will continue that engagement also with the preparations that are underway now for our co-hosting of the second summit I mentioned also that looking forward we can Take a already note of the fact that there is going to be the summit of the future in 2024 Which will indeed address a wide spectrum of issues that are important to future generations I imagine that whatever we tackle we do that also with a particular perspective on That the summit of the future and how that is going to indeed help future generations Safeguard a world that's worth living in so yes, we will engage definitely also with the youth and young generations Thank you We'll have a last question from from the audience because we are already eating at the coffee break time So please Thank you very much Fabrice. I just wanted to to share a To share a feedback from the youth participation cohort in line with the the questions that julia raised Julia was wondering if CSOs from countries that were not participating states in the summit for democracy would be involved Actually within the youth participation cohort There are some CSOs and grassroots and youth led organization from countries Which are not participating states which are included in the youth participation cohort first of all and secondly Amongst the various events that were taking place in the framework of the youth participation cohort We had some events which were organized by idea the this the the current program the state program We also had other events which were organized by edin the european democracy youth network Which is supported by usa id and di iri and one of the events was taking place in budapest And we of course it was funded by usa id It was not a governmental event, but it was a cso and And also political parties representatives from eastern europe mainly also from gana We also had gana gana and youth representative from the youth leadership parliament of gana who joined the event But just just to to share that It was more inclusive than expected. Maybe thank you very much Thank you. I think I think we have to Conclude here. It's it's great to see all this work that is going into The summit follow-up and and the and the preparation I think as I said earlier, it's very much learning by doing process in the beginning I think there was going to be one summit and then it became Two summits and then now it is a summit co-hosted with we've for over Countries, so We see that the concept is evolving and and I really do hope that it would continue to evolve over time because I think the visibility that the summit gives to the the Need to support democracy is is very important And i'm sure that everybody is always focused on what's going to happen Next week or next month that I think as we will be Getting closer to the second summit the the conversation will also look into what's what's next And it will be very interesting to see how this initiative will unfold in the future So thanks a lot for the panelists. Thanks a lot for your time and your your insights And and we conclude this session now. Thank you Okay, I think we can start again I think we can start. Yeah, great Um, hi, I'm Julia Coetken. I'm the program manager for the supporting team Europe democracy program And and as part of this with thanks to the support from the european commission And we're actually working on on the summit for democracy And as we've heard multiple times this morning One of the things that we anticipate or hope will stay out of the the summit process for sure is the cohorts And as already was mentioned this morning the cohorts are these multi stakeholder initiative which focus on different issues And these issues go beyond the three main pillars of the summit which are human rights anti-corruption and authoritarianism fighting authoritarianism And it's one of course of the great achievements of the summit for democracy process um, and one of the things is that we do I mean Still in the end have very little knowledge about the summit For democracy cohorts achievements in particular And so this is the opportunity this morning to look at three of these At the moment there's 19 cohorts That exist and focus on on their achievements And especially what they've done in terms of tracking commitments That countries have made on the summit for democracy They've also been focusing quite a bit on advocacy campaigns And looked at how to galvanize support around these issues that they're focusing on And so we'll be also looking at the working mentalities of these cohorts and some of the big issues which are around funding Because some of the the criticism we hear is that civil society hasn't quite been able to participate in the way that they would hope for Because it does still take quite a bit of Support on on their side as well So it's important that we make sure that the investments that are provided through the cohorts are not lost Um And and so moving forward we'll hear from these three cohorts today The first one is the tech for democracy cohort Which actually was one of the the very first one established because it was one of the first one that held its first Meeting very early actually in the the summer It's headed by stonia the uk and uh on the cso side access now We'll hear about the deliberative frustration cohort On the cso side, it's headed by the new democracy foundation in australia The european commission and and ireland and they have put together a global Marshall plan for democracy and we'll hear more about that In a second and they've been doing quite a bit of work around advocacy actually as well And then from the youth political and civic engagement cohort Headed again by the european commission the governments of nipo and gana the european partnership for democracy activists And the european democracy youth network who will speak today on behalf of the cohort And they have something particular that despite very little commitments Maybe that were made around to youth political participation They've really been able to reimagine a vision for what these kind of commitments should look like In countries, so they'll speak more about that And so without further ado I'd like to pass on the the floor to ambassador Meena lina lint She's the ambassador for human rights at the ministry of foreign affairs of estonia And me now lina the floor is yours Thank you very much. Thank you for giving me the floor And warm greetings. Well a little bit cold outside, but still warm greetings from london Where I have just landed And made it here through various snowstorm And but it is very pertinent to the topic we're discussing now since we will have another of our cohort meetings today here in london and i'm in the meta office and I am i'm i'm really happy to be part of this conversation and i'm really thankful also to idea for for arranging it Apologies that I cannot be there but from from looking also from idea side that Estonia joined just a year ago and we have been very very happy with all the work idea is doing and also in connection with the summit for democracy and and tracking various Commitments. So as I said, I'm the ambassador for human rights I've been in this position for two years And before that I've been posted twice to our mission in new york And then in between I was also the spokesperson of them of the foreign ministry but I said and as we know the The state of democracy is Is very bad in the world and I think for that everybody who has Sorry, who has made commitments should contribute in the way That they know best and I think For that reason also Estonia was very glad that we were offered as I said also early on already in april To become one of the co-leads of the tech for democracy Sorry cohort and Together with united kingdom and access now we've been having meetings since april and Sorry, um, it's it's been um, it's been in that sense A good mix of online meetings and in-person meetings But I think the best part of it has been that we have had a lot of civil society engagement and also tech sector Activity because I think that's what we are after and that's also what What the second summit should be all about? Multi stakeholder everybody bringing in what they what they know the best Uh, we had the actual launch of the tech for democracy cohort together with our ministers in october in estonia when we had the talent digital summit already, um A summit which has been taking place for quite many years And also on these very similar topics but What we had also discussed from the beginning with our Co-leads is that we do not want to duplicate Any actions already happening On the same front So we wanted to more bring them together and make it also that it would have an impact after The the second summit So estonia has really gained a lot from different e solutions and the governance Solutions, I mean it it is in all areas of of life We know that it has a great impact on fighting corruption, but also it makes a civil Civic participation much easier So we wanted to bring in what we know and the best and what has definitely helped us in the past few decades to to have a very very Very modern and and very Text-oriented country What we have been discussing in three working groups as it has been set up Also our colleagues from uk have been leading two of them and estonia the the third one We have see we have tried to also identify what has already been happening in these fronts and how we can bring A little bit more change or or maybe contribute in a way that that it Will have a wider impact So we are tracking or some internet shutdowns and that might be also something that we will be focusing on Um as a result of the of the cohorts when it will be time end of march to present them We are also wanting to feature the stories of various human rights defenders also on the front of of who are fighting internet shutdowns and What estonia has been chipping in is also on digital public goods as well as e governance and e solutions for good governance And in this regard we we are also trying to put together now A toolbox of various best practices and tools what can be used to to Make democracy and better in in various parts of the world and as said, I think the main um what what we have Gained most from is the civil society participation. We have over 80 CSOs participating in our cohort And we have also since day one being together with our colleagues and various various CSOs trying to deliver So we have taken all decisions together and as said also we would like to engage the tech sector Which is important that we will have our meeting today the in-person and hybrid meeting of the cohort in the meta office here in in london And then to see Who can contribute with what? We are also happy that we are just today joined by our newest member state georgia who just joined today the cohort And we are of course still open and happy to welcome Other countries and participants although we have some sort of End came in mind, but we know that we want to also pursue past that time. So, um, I think We we are still working as said on these various areas and what we want to also achieve in the end is to have Connections with various cohorts and we will now hear from from others too But we know that they have already interlinkages with the information integrity also with media freedom, but also With fighting corruption. So there are various ways we can enhance And as Tonya from each part as was also mentioned the funding issue We have tried now to secure enough funding for the cohort outcomes. So I think we we have We have the financial solutions to to have actually the Outcomes what we would like to have and I think it's very important And also we have also tried to have the civil society participating as much as possible also in person in various various meetings thankfully our Co-lead access now is very well represented all over the world. So they have been able to also participate But also they were able to travel and to dial in when we had the digital summit So I think that is very important part and we will try to enhance it them further So, um, I would leave it at that at the moment and I would be happy to answer some questions. Thank you Thank you very much for This great State of play of the the tech cohort at at the moment a lot has been done actually Already and it's it's really great to hear and I now want to turn to the Next panelist, uh, mrs. Gaetan Ricard Njoul she works at the european commission and is actually co-leading the the deliberative participation cohort Mrs. Ricard Njoul the floor is yours Yes Hello everyone and Very happy to be here to talk about this cohort that was that that came to life Maybe a bit later than than than the other one. We just heard about Which is called the cohort on deliberative democracy and citizen assembly It's a very much NGO driven cohort, but that as you rightly said the the european Commission, so in the NGO you mentioned the new democracy foundation But it's also called co-led by the european commission and islands Because both of them have had pioneering roles in this kind of Um deliberative democracy experiments and I I will come back to that but of course there are many other States many other places in the EU or in the in the world where these kind of deliberative democracy and citizens assemblies are being Used and and tested So what is it? Why did we want to bring this this topic to to the table? It comes from this very strong Um intention to to reinforce Our representative democracies, which are as we know confronted to to many challenges and and the evolution of society and not to be of course The issue of the access to to information So it's about Really creating more deliberative spaces where we can stimulate active citizens here In between elections So it's this idea that nowadays citizens need this feeling that they can impact policymaking decision-making in between election And therefore feel also closer to to to the institutions We have a specific focus on on citizens assemblies because we believe now this is a Um method that has been used and tested in in at many levels at local levels for decades A bit more recently at national level and even more recently at at pan european level And this is what I was mentioning The pioneers that island was at national level with citizens assemblies on on many issues Including difficult one like abortion and more recently at transnational level As you as you may know the the european union promoted the conference of the future of europe Which was really an unprecedented experiment of participatory and deliberative democracy at at european level With including four randomly selected citizens assemblies So why do we believe these citizens assembly are as a strong asset now? In the in our democracy to reinforce our democracies because they are Bringing these three D's the key words the first one is the diversity of the people who attend these citizens assemblies they are randomly selected and then we constitute a panel, which is representative of geographical and sociological diversity and so you have people talking to each other who in our present democracies Don't talk to each other so much from very different socioeconomic or geographical background We have the second D which is really the peaceful dialogue that is being Established between the citizens who have to reach consensus together And who have to be open to different kind of viewpoints Including when we do it at transnational level also different cultural and linguistic Look on on policies And the third D which is extremely important is the deliberation. It's informed deliberation It's a long term informed deliberation. For example, the european citizens panels met for three times Three weekends long weekends before they reached and it's very important as well collective recommendations So these citizens assembly also work together With very diverse people to reach collective recommendation and increase the increasingly individualized society This collective aspect is also extremely important um, so who is involved in that forward? I've already mentioned it so uh beyond Island european commission a lot of NGOs experts And with some specific work also being done on central and eastern europe Um, and what do we do what we are aiming at? We have a draft declaration that we hope that those Who joined the cohort could could sign up to with the main principle and the main reason why we Promote this idea of deliberative democracy and and citizen assemblies There will be a letter very soon sent to all participating Governments to see whether they would like to join this cohort with the launching event also In mid-january and in addition to this draft declaration We also have a series of model commitments that that can be picked up Not all of them Of course, necessarily there are some quite ambitious ones some also lower and in fruits that can be chosen by by the The government or actors For which this topic is relatively new or for those who are already advanced some more ambitious Commitment so This is something we are very exciting to excited to bring to the table and I will be very eager to answer more questions on this if there are any. Thank you Thank you very much I'd like now to turn to the next speaker who's Michael Kovac He is the executive director of the European democracy youth network And he will be speaking about the youth political and civic engagement cohort So, please tell us a little bit more about what you guys have been doing and and how this has been a successful initiative in and supporting democracy Thank you for the invitation And and thank you for also for the opportunity. It's an honor to represent the youth participation cohort I see some of my colleagues in the auditorium particularly John. So thank you for giving me the The chance to speak a little bit about what we have achieved As it was already introduced. We are a very diverse cohort by design Uh when it comes to the governmental participation, it is a It is a cohort led by the european commission, but all together with the governments of nipal and gana And when it comes to the ngo participation or cso participation It would be us as the european democracy youth network the european partnership for democracy and also afric activists So we really wanted to in in our like daily work That started in september Yes, in september and we have been doing since then So we were trying to avoid at this focus on the Western world or whatever we call it And we we started with a few Initiatives that came out of of the the cohorts thinking Some of them were planned Before that i need to be super transparent about that but the cohort enriched The plans that our institutions already had so we were able to organize More than 19 that i were able to count 19 events and campaigns That took place in in brussels and belgium but also in modova slovakia kenya paraguay hongary nipal And we were also able to Invite people from other countries from other organizations to participate in these in these activities This wouldn't have been possible with Without a cohort So we really tried to live up to the promise that we will become a place to to share exchange ideas and and learn from each other But in addition to that We are now working closely with the ebd and with your commission to put together a handbook of youth participation So basically we don't want to lose all this experience that the other organizations have We want to comprise it into into a publication that provides recommendations and kind of enabling factors That states and and cso can learn from and apply For the sake of more youth participation in the public life Uh, so this will be Kind of a major publication of ours but also in a very interesting endeavor is is the Is an effort to create so-called like index of youth participation So we would like to measure to what extent the countries are able to To to embrace the youth and and and allow it to be represented and in institutions in public life in politics We were also looking at the commitments. So we were able to cluster 29 commitments that That the states made into into four areas These would be like the prioritizing of youth voice in government support for youth running for the office as well as support for Support youth freedom of expression and promoting a culture of youth political participation so this we can maybe talk a little bit later about the the commitments and and and and what they Actually entail when we go more into detail. I believe what is super important to talk about Maybe even more is how we can cooperate with the other cohorts and and what we Would like to do beyond the beyond the summit Because all of our members I mean somewhere able to participate more some less but actually all identify the same Issue that we need to figure out funding and we need to figure out very concrete areas Where we stay in touch. I mean we created this database of experts We will have the commitments. We will have the handbook But there needs to be there need to be partners who will ensure that It's happening after the the summit and I believe that we are one of the cohorts where we have really like the hope That there is also a financial mechanism that hopefully we'll put into practice And and and we establish some contacts that may help us You know go beyond the march 2023 I think it will be still focused on exchange of the best practice and And maybe we'll keep working on the handbook and the index But also where I believe we can help each other is advocacy Because we are advocating for very similar Democracy actually Mission and and we can learn from each other when it comes to implementation like how to advocate how to help the Governments accountable probably it will not be the government the other governments Holding the the other governments responsible that maybe the cso can play a crucial role In in tracking the promises and monitoring the implementation of the of the commitments I need to say there need to be some support for this for the cso doing so But we have quite quite high hopes for for this coming to fruition later on and I think the question was also like how we can cooperate and among ourselves I believe the main thing is that the youth needs to be present in all the cohorts like structurally It is it is necessary as of now because of where we are to think about like youth participation as a self-standing element And we will present some ideas in that regard But also we need to kind of avoid this youth mainstreaming where youth has something separate So we have countries where youth Constitutes more than half of the population So we would also like to maybe work closer with the other cohorts to have the young people and young experts represented in their work And I know it's happening actually as a matter of fact as we are speaking but also We would like to to learn from from from the other cohorts When it comes to the process and what they have Planned beyond the the summit maybe also in terms of funding how they were able to To to establish a good base for for the implementing CSOs or governments So this would be the the two main areas that that I would be keen to examine more Thank you very much, Michael. Um So maybe going back to to Minnalina and and to Gaetan afterwards. I think answering the question of of michael Is what do you think in terms of your? cohort what are the kind of model initiatives or Types of collaboration that you see emerging from the work that you've done And that can be brought forward in the second summit for democracy Milalina maybe Yes, um, thank you. Um As I already also mentioned in the in the opening statement That was our main goal that whatever we achieve by by the second summit now by end of march Would actually have a much longer standing impact than just now And that's why I think the idea what we how the cohorts have been put up With various stakeholders participating. It is a good thing that there are there are various let's say pushers in that in that Um process who would take different things Forward or remind others that you know, we we should take this forward But we have seen also as I said from our experience with the civil society participation is that It is the driving force and they know also what is mainly What is mainly needed and what is um, what actually will help, uh, let's say the world So I think I cannot of course speak for my other colleagues, but I think from our perspective We would definitely want to have this kind of cooperation going forward I mean, we are already cooperating with uk on these matters anyway and we are trying to also like formalize some of the things but But we would like to take it forward. Um, and also I think I loved also the youth perspective We should also think about it also structurally more which would definitely help also In our case, I think we have done it but Case by case but not structurally as such and and Amongst the cohorts, we know that there has been a Meeting also set up by the by the u.s for the cohort leads uh, I think It might be a much longer process actually of identifying the different Cooperation ways between the cohorts because as we have seen and and as as came out We have been working on this since april, which of course in big terms. It's not a long time, but still We have been working on and I feel every day. We are getting to some new outcomes. We can see new ways So I think it's going to be actually a much longer process so I hope that However, these cohorts would feature in the next summit and I think this is still unclear We would continue doing what we are doing also Substantially but also from the communication side To make sure that whatever we achieve will have a longer impact just Just Until the end of march. Thank you Thank you very much and in terms of the deliberative democracy cohort I've heard from some of your colleagues also before that the summit is really only one of the milestones, but then That really there is Much planning going beyond the second summit Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Yeah, I think I was saying there is this drug declaration and this list of model commitments They are of the varied nature, but some of them in but we've tried to be as concrete as possible If you if you have a look at the At the list So some of them indeed are about creating funds that will allow the financing of deliberative Experiments and in citizens assembly where they are at national or global level some it's about creating structures internally Or training I don't know something like an A workshop for elected representative on explaining what what it is about, you know things things like that It's also About potentially Committing to organize yourself a citizen assembly at national level. There's an idea also for one at global level And But it's also as I say some low hanging fruits for those who start in the in the field by committing to Existing standards guidelines and principles such as the one of the mcd in the field of deliberative democracy so there's a bit for for everyone for those who are newcomers in the in the field or those that are already Quite advanced and have had a lot of experience for example of Of citizens assemblies, but everything in this is is conceived as very concrete and something that can Go beyond the summit as you were saying Thank you very much to the three speakers. I would like to now open up the floor for any questions or comments No questions comments. Well, it seems like everybody Everything has been very clear from my side, I mean what I take out of this This panel is that Obviously what we've heard already before is that the cohorts are really the active part of the summit for democracy They are really the arm that makes things very very concrete And and what's been really great in terms of the the establishment of the cohorts as we've heard before is is the civil society Involvement has really been a driving force in the cohorts And they've also been thinking quite a bit about the impact beyond the the second summit and What's really been quite Innovative, I think is is kind of everything that they've worked on. We've heard about declarations truckings of Internet shutdowns different stories that come out toolboxes handbooks Looking at model commitments events that the youth cohort has organized Indexes on youth political participation the creation of funds and structures for deliberative democracy These are only examples of everything that these cohorts have already done in a very very short time frame I think moving beyond Into the next month I think what we've heard from from the three of you is is the need to keep cooperating with each other Not just to put youth for example In terms of The youth presence as part of all the cohorts But also looking at how you can learn from each other and collaborate with each other and it's great to hear that the summit organizers Already going in that direction and organizing a meeting as you did tell us about How those different cohorts can Collaborate and also can present themselves during the the second summit for democracy so I'd like to thank all of the the panelists for This great contributions today and we look forward to hearing about everything that you have done in three months I guess in three months time There will be even more and we will hear from a lot more of the the cohorts as well So thanks very much for for your participation today. Thank you Thank you very much. Have a lovely day All the best Thank you, uh, Marilyn Will happen to have you doing the concluding remarks Marilyn is program manager at our office here in national idea Thank you very much for that and I have the difficult task because as Julie already Mentioned there were so many brilliant ideas that were mentioned and I am keeping you from lunchtime as well I know that the sessions Have been serious and long so I won't keep you too long but What I wanted to say as a recap of our discussion today is that all of the speakers showed that the summit for democracy process Provides this unique International forum and that allows to both strategize plan on democratic defense on formulating narratives But also on making progress So I of course don't need to convince you that the moment is there to defend democracy And not either that EU institutions and EU member states have a critical role to play And that partnerships beyond the governments are needed to achieve summit for democracy goals and achieve on all of them So we hope that you will take away from today this forward-looking approach And that I on the process As we have casted it today And to those thinking that the summit for democracy process is remote and is one off I would say it is only remote until you and until we bring it alive And let it serve the purposes that it was intended for so we hope that we inspired Your active contributions also for the Let's serve the process towards the second summit, but also beyond that second summit Let me quickly recap also what has been said during the panel sessions And I think all of the speakers for their very valuable contributions there from the first panel And we took away that democracy is not only a noun, but definitely also a verb and the over 750 commitments The country commitments they make a good start, but they are not an end We also recall the many recommendations from that panel on specifically the summit process And also what we can learn from a country like Zambia that has had an impressive success during this year of action And so we are looking forward also to that co-hosting From Zambia and also other countries that will probably make the second summit even more richer than the first one was And then we also heard during that session that the democracy cohorts are actually the best what the summit has brought about We heard a few very concrete recommendations specifically towards the US government Among which first they need to clarify the process and the expectations for countries towards the second Summit to announce additional commitments. So to come with new commitments Then consider the inclusion of all countries and that does not necessarily mean all governments In the second summit as CSOs have proven to contribute very much And then the process can also be complimented by filling the gaps and I think it was Paul who mentioned that a way to do that is to connect The results the outcomes of all the work within the cohorts to existing platforms and make sure that they Keep alive and that they the follow-up can be sustained And then I'm already running into that next session We also heard there was that it is best not only to speak to like-minded countries We also need to speak to countries that are less Like-minded and make sure that we can have built convincing narratives and defend Democracy beyond the usual circles On the second panel, which was also a very interesting one and well led by by fabrice That session made it clear that it will be a very busy year for the upcoming swedish presidency There are several files that have been inherited from the check eu presidency who did a tremendous effort to Head off with with the number of initiatives and a number of them are on the way But have not been able to conclude and sweden is already announcing the priority on democracy. So The check presidency is sure that it will be in good hands later on there will be also a number of new initiatives and May I recall that one of those will be the conference that we are organizing on eu as an external democracy actor on the 31st of January together with sweden But then on the specific Uh takeaways and the specific recommendations on rendering the process sustainable We heard a few very concrete recommendations. First of all, we heard a lot of Sustainable initiatives being put up such as for instance the free media coalition in that respective Courts, there was a call to increase That work on taking sustainable initiatives That that will spill over for the next years Then also there was a call to develop new mechanisms in those cohorts. So use the cohort Collaboration to really think out of the box on the topics that are being discussed and make sure that perhaps for the future Good mechanisms are put in place to To Inside countries to come with commitments, but also to make progress on them And then there is also Of course the recommendation to Continue the cohort process. So many of the cohorts that we have heard the works on today They have the plan already to go beyond the second summit and that will be essential For the success. And so please I voice the call again To continue that work in this action oriented way as some already do And then lastly we heard the first hints towards a third summit We can only wait with impatience to see how the summit concretely Will have a legacy and and perhaps will be carried on by others Then perhaps very quickly on the last panel Which was inspiring to hear about the strategies and the plans of three very ambitious democracy cohorts And with that work plan continuing beyond You see that the model seems to work the model where countries are driving and taking initiatives But also being very open to civil society organizations. It brings about results that are More and going beyond the commitments that are actually being made. So we can only encourage them We have heard as as julia already mentioned like very good model initiatives coming out of that and One example is the estonian effort to lead on a digital democracy in this safe free and inclusive way And their upcoming toolbox that they have announced For practical solutions in this area The same on the youth cohort with the upcoming and the announced index on youth participation This will of course inspire many many around the world To take comparable initiatives that in other countries have proved Successful and then in terms of engaging citizens It was of course very interesting to hear and it's very good that the eu Is now taking that initiative in the deliberative democracy Cohort to share its experience of this very rich conference on the future of europe initiative You need to really integrate this has been A multi-year program with a lot of funding behind and with a lot of initiative Takers so it was not only the eu spurring the process But many of eu member states have taken their responsibility to make that Process work also in their country and one of the examples is the belgium who have has organized A very successful citizens panels as well and who plan during their upcoming presidency in 2024 to also take that forward And so one of the recommendations that I recall in particular from the eu was that it is very Good that you leave time for citizens panel facilitate then taking the time so that they can really come up with Collective recommendations because it's only when there is collective recommendations that policymakers later on are also inclined to take them seriously and To to move ahead with it and translating it in into real policy And that is of course again very important for the credibility of the process So through all of your respective engagements in those cohorts We very much hope that you can help multiplying this the number of country commitments and that Because they are of course providing this best window for concrete progress In the field, but also they inside partnerships and they inspire them So what we heard is the good recommendation to Cooperate also between the cohorts so not consider them as islands on their own, but also make sure That those practices are shared and and that perhaps corporations Intra cohort can can be made. So I thank you all For these good ideas for the good efforts And I'm sure that they will make the summit for democracy work Through our many consultations with civil society around the world over the past months at international idea We heard very often that democracy is an area that still is in need of a kind of multilateral space For encouragement but also for verification structures And so today we focused on how we can preserve the summit's value and the functionality over time and ensure that sustainable outcomes Can also be there both in terms of process and in concrete democratic wins So more analytical publications will come up They are in the making also in the framework of this supporting team Europe democracy process project with the EU But the previous one the unpacking summit for democracy commitments remains very relevant It asked for that permanent forum where countries can commit publicly and committing publicly To their domestic and international democracy agenda is very important. It is also one of the High added values of that summit for democracy That is that it incited countries to both work domestically and Internationally and that is for many countries. It has been a new thing Of course, it's that report also zoomed in on the important anti-corruption work of the summit and a concerted action Stemming from that and in that field And of course that we all know unfortunately has become very very relevant also at the bristles forum So i'm sure that also that space that area will will get High attention there Then importantly We encourage of course all the good initiatives putting up monitoring mechanisms And there we would like to refer again to the international id dashboard on commitments on summit commitments where Function has been added recently also to track those implementations However to track implementation. We need sources So therefore this is a call to all countries to self report and to actively Collaborate on that to send us your information so that we can put it up and that civil society is allowed and can be engaged To help monitoring but also to help you implementing those commitments In terms of action, of course, there is team europe democracy initiative also there that will Without any doubt will take further many of those commitments that have been weighed So there we are that is my conclusion the way is wide open for follow-up initiatives and From key partners around that table and it is sure it is clear that eu institutions That eu presidencies have a driving role in that together with civil society organizations Altogether we hope that you will bring the momentum and the urgency to the topic. Thank you Thank you very much everyone for your participation. Uh, there will be a Lunch or a networking lunch upstairs So up up the stairs and then the end of the corridor. So, um, we'll see you there sorry