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Recap of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit

10-11 May, 2021

CREATING AN ALLIANCE OF DEMOCRACIES 

We kicked off the Summit by discussing the need to protect and secure democracy and the rule of law with presidential statements by Zuzana Caputova, President of Slovakia and Dr. Tsai Ing-wen, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and two panels on protecting democracy from authoritarianism delved deeper into the topic by providing perspectives from parliamentarians in Europe and the Asia-Pacific parliamentarians.

Nico Jespers, CEO of Latana, also presented the latest results of the 2021 Democracy Perception Index.

FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY 

We were delighted to have Jeppe Kofod, Foreign Minister, Denmark open the discussion on fighting for democracy and honored to host democracy leaders from around the world, including Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Nathan
Law, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Burmese activist Wai Wai Nu, Interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido among many others.

Another discussion focused on making tech work for democracy with Vera Jourov, Vice-President, European Commission for Values and Transparency  and Vijaya Gadde, Head of Legal, Public Policy, and Trust & Safety, Twitter.

FUTURE OF US GLOBAL LEADERSHIP 

We concluded the first day of the Summit by discussing the role of the United States in securing and ensuring global democracy. We hosted a two-part series with H.R. McMaster, Retired United States Army Lieutenant General and United States National Security Advisor, Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Adam Schiff, U.S. Representative for California’s 28th congressional district, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and heard from Lisa Peterson, Acting Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of State. 

GLOBAL VOICES FOR DEMOCRACY 

Town Hall Session

We hosted a global brainstorm and input session for Biden’s Global Summit for Democracy, which offered a unique opportunity for democratic forces around the world. Democracy leaders discussed questions such as: who should attend the Summit; how can civil society make its mark; how can the Summit promote the frontline work of democracy activists; and what should be the balance between standing up to authoritarianism and work to repair institutions
inside established democracies?

INVESTING IN DEMOCRACY TECH

The Fellowship Showcase 

Starting off the second day of the Summit, we invited the six  Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellows from Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova to Copenhagen to present their solutions to problems facing democracies. 

  • Artur Gurau, Voteme App (Moldova) 
  • Artur Mija, Anttscamp (Moldova) 
  • Nino Macharashvili, Quack Hunter (Georgia) 
  • Temur Chichua, QartNLP (Georgia) 
  • Nikita Lukianets, OpenEthics (Ukraine) 
  • Regina Bondarenko, Pravoman (Ukraine) 

BUILDING A GLOBAL COALITION TO DEFEND DEMOCRACY IN THE DIGITAL AGE

We dedicated the second day of the Summit to a series of special hearings to discuss election integrity, disinformation and social media regulation in partnership with the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and Data Privacy (IGCD) and featured a range of policymakers and experts including journalist Maria Ressa, Co-founder and CEO Rappler, Philippines, Laura Chinchilla, Former President of Costa Rica and members of our Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity added their expertise to these discussions.

Watch the first hearing on The Global impact of the New Platform Regulation “Made in the West”

We also heard from Katharina Gellein, Director & Producer of People You May Know,” and Larissa Rhodes, Producer of “The Social Dilemma,” both of whom discussed expanded upon these issues in a special producer’s cut conversation on their respective films.

Continue to #DefendDemocracy with us!

  • Don’t forget to check out the latest results from our annual  2021
  • Democracy Perception Index.
  • During the Summit, we were delighted to launch The Copenhagen Charter for an Alliance of Democracies. Learn more and sign up here