Coalition Letter Following Summit on Democracy

Dear Ambassador Rice and Mr. Sullivan:

We, the undersigned organizations, write to engage with the Biden Administration during this Year of Action following the Summit for Democracy to support democratic renewal at home and abroad. As the conversations shift from an international Summit to include more than one hundred unique, domestic conversations within each participating nation around each government’s’ commitments, the groups listed below urge the United States to lead by example with proactive and meaningful engagement with civil society at home and stand ready to actively participate.

A successful Year of Action for the United States should reflect not just its international leadership on the issues of democracy and human rights, but also a robust effort domestically to implement new policies and live up to commitments already made that address the Summit’s three pillars: strengthening democracy, fighting corruption, and promoting human rights. The extent to which the U.S. government works with its own civil society to craft and implement meaningful domestic commitments and demonstrate tangible steps toward a more democratic, transparent, and rights-respecting government and society will enhance the United State’s credibility as a voice for democratic renewal internationally.

2022 presents critical inflection points and significant opportunities to stem the tide of rising authoritarianism, to protect and promote universal human rights, and combat corruption. Domestic and international components of the Summit for Democracy must not be viewed in silos, but rather as mutually reinforcing components of a year of global action.

To maximize collaboration between civil society and the U.S. government during the Year of Action, we strongly recommend the following: