At the end of the first edition of the Summit of Democracy, the United States asked the Brazilian government to broaden the democratic inclusion of blacks and indigenous peoples and to expand law enforcement.
“We continue to encourage the Brazilian government to promote social inclusion across its rich and diverse culture, including Afro-Brazilians, indigenous peoples and other groups through sustainable development, environmental protection and expanded law enforcement,” said Uzra Zeya, Undersecretary of Civil Security, Democracy and Human Rights of the Joe Biden administration, shortly after the closing of the event.
The summit was held over three days and was attended by representatives from around one hundred countries. Leaders were asked to make commitments for the coming year on how to improve political participation and ensure fair elections. The statements were shown in recorded videos, throughout Thursday (9) and Friday (10).
In his speech, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) ignored scandals and said that the country has not registered cases of corruption in the federal government for three years. Bolsonaro also stated that Brazil has adopted “the most ambitious and comprehensive anti-corruption plan in the country’s history” — the government launched on Thursday a mini-package on the subject at an event in BrasÃlia, which aims to regulate lobbying, increase transparency in the public agenda of authorities and guaranteeing protection to the server that reports irregularities.
“Brazil is the second largest democracy in the hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world. So Brazil can share a unique perspective on the challenges of making democracy deliver [resultados] in the Western Hemisphere and the Global South,” commented Zeya.
The undersecretary said that the summit acted as a starting point, and that 2022 will be “a year of action”, in which countries must put into practice the proposals made. Until this Friday afternoon, the US government had not released a list of commitments made by foreign governments, which should be related to fighting corruption and authoritarianism and protecting human rights.
Thus, the end of the meeting was marked by few announcements, without a joint final declaration. In his closing remarks, Biden repeated phrases he had said on Thursday about the importance of democracy, and gave as an example of an agreement a new alliance formed by Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, to strengthen their institutions and increase transparency.
So far, among practical steps at the meeting, the US government has announced a $424 million package for initiatives in five areas: supporting the independent press, fighting corruption, strengthening democratic reforms, adopting new technologies and advocating for elections. The exact destination of these funds, however, will still be defined in the coming months.
The US Department of State, on the other hand, created a Global Anti-Corruption Coordination, to integrate and expand actions and put into practice strategies to hinder the circulation of stolen public money around the world
In addition, an initiative was launched to curb the misuse of technology by governments, such as mechanisms to spy on citizens and censor content. The proposal, however, was endorsed only by Canada, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
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