US President Biden says protecting democracy is "challenge of our time"

Protecting democratic norms and values is the challenge of the current times, US President Joe Biden said in a virtual address to world leaders as he announced his ambitious Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal.

Washington: Asserting that protecting democratic norms and values is the challenge of the current times, US President Joe Biden, in a virtual address to world leaders on Thursday, announced an ambitious Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, under which his administration is planning to provide up to USD 424.4 million on a global democratic renewal strategy.

An initiative of Biden, the summit hosted by the White House was attended by leaders from more than 80 countries, including India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the virtual summit on Friday.

“In the face of sustained and alarming challenges to democracy, universal human rights and all around the world, democracy needs champions and I wanted to host this summit because here in the United States, we know, as well as anyone, that renewing our democracy and strengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort,” Biden said in his opening remarks to the first Summit for Democracy.

Sharing his thoughts on the challenges being faced by democracy, Biden said by outside pressure from autocrats, they seek to advance their own power, export and expand their influence around the world, and justify the repressive policies and practices as a more efficient way to address today's challenges.

“That's how it's shown. By voices that seek to fan the flames of social division and political polarisation, and perhaps most importantly and most worrying of all, by increasing the dissatisfaction of people all around the world with democratic governments that they feel are failing to deliver for their needs.

“In my view, this is the defining challenge of our time. Democracy: government of the people, by the people, for the people can at times be fragile, but it also is inherently resilient. It's capable of self-correction and it's capable of self-improvement. And yes, democracy is hard. We all know that,” the US president said.

It works best with consensus and cooperation, Biden said.

“When people and parties might have opposing views, sit down and find ways to work together, things begin to work. But it's the best way to unleash human potential and defend human dignity and solve big problems. And it's up to us to prove that. Democracies are not all the same. We don't agree on everything, all of us in this meeting today,” he said.

Biden told the world leaders that the US is going to lead by example, investing in its own democratic, supporting its partners around the world at the same time.

“From the earliest days of my administration, we pursued a broad-based agenda to prove that American democracy can still do big things and take on challenges that matter most,” he said.

Announcing the launch of the presidential initiative for democratic renewal, he said this will focus efforts across diplomacy and foreign assistance programmes, to bolster democratic resilience and human rights.

“Globally, working with our Congress, we're planning to commit as much as USD 224 million in the next year to shore up transparent and accountable governance, including supporting media freedom, fighting international corruption, standing with democratic reformers, promoting technology that advances democracy, and defending what a fair election is,” he said.

Biden said that free and independent media is the bedrock of democracy.

It is how the public stays informed and how governments are held accountable. And around the world, press freedom is under threat.

“So, we're committing critical seed money to launch a new multilateral effort or International Fund for Public Interest Media to sustain independent media around the world,” he said.

“The fund for democratic renewal and the partnership for our democracy programme is going to allow the State Department and the USAID to surge funds to support our partners working on democratic front lines around the world. My fellow leaders, members of civil society, activists, advocates, citizens, we stand at an inflection point in our history, in my view,” Biden added.

He vowed to spend USD 424 million on a global democratic renewal strategy that includes bolstering media freedom, fighting corruption, enlisting technology and defending free and fair elections.

PTI