for dr. robert caleb to be commissioner of the fda before the senate health labor and pensions committee. the impact of the coronavirus pandemic before the senate commerce, science and transportation committee. watch this week on the c-span networks or you can watch our full coverage on c-span now, our new mobile video app. also head over to c-span.org for scheduling information or to stream video live or on-demand anytime. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> next, discussion about promoting global democracy posted by the center for strategic and international studies. this is an hour and a half. >> the center for strategic and international studies. i marti flacks construct of human rights initiative here at

csis and i'm delighted to be cohosting this roundtable on civil society organizations promoting democracy with my colleague from the csis americas program and the congressional government relations office. it's appropriate to kickoff the sum of for democracy week that we begin to elevating the voices of activists from countries not invited to the summit. even as we focus on urgent need toto address democratic backsliding in fragile and established democracies including our own, we cannot lose sight of the place were democracy is yetet to be achiev. while the summer for democracy process works to buildor strongr coalitions among democratic countries, it should also a a working to expand the number of countries included in its rank including one day the countries represented at today's event. so today will have an opportunity to hear from four to much and human rights activist on the front line of this difficult work for grinding it out every day trying to make

progress against what may seem like impossible odds. promote human rights, democracy under an credit lead difficult and often dangerous circumstances -- under incredibly difficult and often dangerous circumstances. -- as a result of they were doing and thousands more were subject to arrest, detention, physical attacks, online and off-line harassment and smear campaigns and expensive lawsuits designed to stop them from doing their work. inevitably, the speakers we have with us today are present only a fraction of the activists from dozens of countries around the world, working on these issues. i hope they can give us a glimpse to the challenges they and their peers face. in particular, the ways the united states and like-minded countries as well as the center for democracy itself can support them. the u.s. government deploys many

tools and resources from ongoing technical support to public and private advocacy and financial support in times of crisis. i'm sure we'll hear about some of those strategies and their effectiveness over the course of today's discussion. i was glad to see the state department updated guidance on how to best support the work of human rights defenders around the world. on capitol hill, support for this work has already gender -- has always generated bipartisan support. we are honored that we will have two numbers of congress to address today's event. later we will hear from a senate -- later we will hear from a congressman burr from delaware but we will kick off today's calm -- conversation with a congressman from texas who worked as the making member of the house foreign affairs committee and a longtime supporter and advocate for pro-democracy and human rights advocates around the world. we appreciate him taking the time for us today.

>> thank you for allowing me to speak at this important event with the center for strategic and international studies. next thursday and friday, the biden administration is hosting the summit for democracy. this is supposed to be a launching point for the united states and our allies and partners to actively work to promote and defend democracy and human rights around the world. this summit will be an opportunity for the biden administration to bring our allies and partners together to counter the greatest threats to freedom that we face today, the chinese commonest party. right now, the ccp poses its greatest geopolitical, economic and military threat to the united states and our allies, whether through the belt and road initiative for their brutal oppression of hong kong, or the looming threat they pose to taiwan or the genocide they are committing against the ethnic and religious minorities.

the ccp is successfully spreading maligned influence around the world and they are using technology, technology they have often stolen from the united states to expand their power. this is especially true with emerging technologies like 5g and artificial intelligence. these emerging technologies will continue to have increasingly profound consequences on geopolitics and military kit abilities, -- military capabilities. we already know the ccp is using 5g to infiltrate networks of other countries. we have proof they are using ai to assist in their genocide. that is why i sent a letter to president biden this week along with 18 other house republicans urging him to prioritize cooperation with our democratic allies on these critical emerging technologies. also why i am urging the biden administration to use this democracy summit to establish frameworks for the development

of ai and other emerging technologies in a manner that is adequate -- ethical and consistent with our democratic and moral values. to establish credit ability with our allies, use our shared influence in international standard-setting bodies like the international telecommute occasion -- telecommunication union. we want them to assist our democratic allies in establishing their own bodies like the committee on foreign investment that we have here, to review foreign transactions and prevent the transfer of technologies to authoritarian states, and to coordinate with allies and partners on a data framework to protect sensitive data of u.s. citizens, such as to netiquette information. -- such as genetic information. leverage emerging technologies -- we must work with our allies

to offer a better alternative. i hope the by demonstration does not squander this opportunity. we need to see real progress, with concrete actions and not just rhetoric. thank you again for hosting this important event, and for having me and allowing me to participate. i want to thank csis for all of their great work. it is one of the best pieces we have written on cybersecurity, and it was a pleasure working with csis. i appreciate the great work you do. thank you. >> i want to thank congressman the call for his remark -- congressman mccaul, and specifically the spotlight he put on the role of technology and adopting practices to prevent the misuse of technology for the abuse of human rights and the attack of human rights activists. thank you so much.

i want to turn to isabel coleman, the deputy amid a straight or of the u.s. agency for international development of foreign policy and programming. she guides the u.s. crisis response, countering the influence of russia and china and supports efforts to address the root causes of regular migration. she has over 25 years of experience working in government, the private sector and nonprofits and we are delighted she is here to help open this important session. >> good morning. thank you for the opportunity to join you today. i would like to start by thanking the democracy activists who are with us, and the countless others around the world for their courageous commitment to democratic governance and human rights. thanks to csis for hosting this important summit and for its long-standing commitment to democracy and human rights. i would like to thank representative mccaul and

senator kunz for their work both at home and abroad. -- on the front lines in the battle for democracy around the world. amid rising authoritarianism, entrepreneurs, independent journalism, legal advocates are pushing back against efforts to manipulate the judicial system, undermine elections. these are the voices of accountability and reform. those working for democratic change in closed countries often do so under pressure, facing trial, prison, physical and doodle abuse and attacks against them and their family. despite the rising number of ngo laws designed to make democracy work -- civil societies persist. 21 countries have enacted restrictions on democracy programs since 2002, targeting support to civil society in particular. civil society organizations often rely on international

donor assistance to do democracy work. -- undermining national security. meanwhile, many advocates forced from their country continue their efforts in exile. the courage of these actors and the importance of their work demands worldwide attention. usa has a long history of supporting civil society advocacy. in the cuban republic, u.s. aid provides -- to combat misinformation as well as monitoring publications that require special attention from groups such as lawyers, fact checkers and -- globally, usaid's greater internet project provided -- to 25 civil society organizations in the first year to help respond cybersecurity incidents across multiple regions.

just last month, -- announced the launch of a global defamation defense fund to protect into independent journalists. through decades of programming, usaid has learned that long-term approach, long-term support to local civil society actors coupled with appropriate diplomatic and multilateral pressure can be effective in strengthening civil society organizations to advocate for democratic change. the early identification and quick action before the passage of repressive laws can help scale back such efforts. we know empowering local voices and strengthening domestic philanthropy are building blocks for expanding civil space. we also know the world has changed dramatically. the ripple effects of the covid-19 pandemic has in many cases allowed autocrats to clamp down further, and the plague of myths and disinformation eventuated by increasingly

sophisticated authoritarian regimes is a growing challenge. as we take stock of democracy this week, it is easy to lament an authoritarian -- limit authoritarian encroachment over the years. this problem is real but not the whole story. citizens are fighting for democratic rights all over the world, more than ever, even in the most repressive environments. it was reported just this month that in 2021, protests have continued an 82% of countries despite the pandemic. during the year of action, the next year leading up to the second, countries will have the opportunity to engage in a process with domestic and international civil societies to bolster commitments war democratic renewal. here at usaid, we will continue working to build networks with civil society activists by supporting following events and ad hoc support to help eliminate worst labor, promote migrant rights, free political

prisoners, work with individuals in exile and help with survival strategies. one of usaid's some announcer bowls is powered by the people, an initiative focused on forging connections so that they can share vital knowledge and practices with each other without direct involvement by the u.s. government. through initiatives like powered by the people, usaid will continue working to build networks of peaceful movements, raise awareness in countries with specific situations, share best practices and track progress on human rights work. we always need to learn from critics to rinse and we welcome any advice from fellow defenders of democracy working in the many closed or closing countries that are not presented here today. i thank you for your time, and i look forward to the presentation of our colleagues. >> thank you so much, for being with us today, and for all the work usaid does in this space. thank you for helping us frame our discussion both as a

question of what is working and what has worked in the past, as well as helping us looking forward to what we could be doing during this year of action and going forward. i want to thank our introductory speakers. i will now turn the discussion over to our senior vice president, it was going to moderate the conversation with our panelists -- who is going to moderate the conversation with our panelists. >> let me start with my ferret book on this topic -- my favorite book on this topic. i met the author, one of the great heroes of our time. there is a myth that that we love freedom, others don't, that our freedom and democracy and human rights and the rule of law are american values or western values. ours are not western values. they are universal values of the human spirit. anywhere, anytime, ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same. freedom, not tyranny. democracy, not dictatorship.

the rule of law, not the rule of secret police. this was quoted in the book, and also from former prime minister tony blair. it is not the property of any political camp. proponents cannot be neatly divided into left or right, democrat or republican or even american or european or others. it's detractors are equally diverse, coming from all sides of the political spectrum. democracy can ultimately win out. the folks who are here are witnesses to hope, that we need to support folks in these enclosed spaces. aid does incredible work in these enclosed spaces. we are happy to help aid and the network of folks they work with around the world, including the activists here. there are several questions i want to get at with this group. one is we are going to have this democracy summit.

what is the homework assignment? there is this so-called year of action. give us specific homework assignments for the united states, for the west, for all entropy. that is one of the great organizing questions for us to have this discussion. we have a number of incredible people who are going to speak. i would like to first hear from the executive director of the cambodian center for human rights. the organization in cambodia was recognized by president obama in 2014. let me start with her please. >> thank you so much. greetings to everyone. it is my pleasure to join you today. looking at democracy in cambodia , it has become a word on paper

rather than a reality on the ground. -- democracy in cambodia. however, -- has been noted in these 10 years and cambodia has experienced -- to be accomplished -- while this represents a glimmer of hope for human rights and democracy in cambodia, -- a number of activists have been arrested, convicted, there has

been a massive crackdown on civil society actors in recent years. physical attacks and monitoring activities have become too common in cambodia. a new crackdown, so that the recommendation by the civil society actors organizations have fallen on deaf ears and we believe that stronger action is needed to promote democracy in cambodia. we hope that with the coming democracy summit, hosted by the united states, will include adoption of the -- that comes

with a concrete way to address human rights and democracy not just in cambodia but in countries where democracy is of concern. it is important for the united states to respect human rights back home as well so that it sets an example for others and have a powerful way to convey that in the region but also globally. -- we call on the u.s. and --

the authority and it is necessary to see this improvement in the cambodian landscape and i will count on your support. thank you so much. >> thank you. you inspire me. thank you for all you are doing. it is difficult work under difficult circumstances. i would love to hear from a researcher in law at the university of kent and the former chief of staff to the prime minister of zimbabwe. i would be so grateful, if i could hear from you in providing an african perspective on this. >> thank you very much.

i hope you can hear me. it is important to understand that a country like zimbabwe like many other countries around the world, countries which are suffering from an increasingly authoritarian system of government, the use of repressive laws, it is important for countries such as the u.s. and other countries that are promoters of democracy to really take up the challenge to try and support organizations and individuals that are living in these countries. what you often find is that in these countries, the ruling parties are very powerful, not only because they control the

levers of power but also they have huge access to resources, financial resources and another effect of that that should be taken into account is the influence of countries like china, which are coming up with a very different model of government, coming up and providing support to authoritarian regimes, and in the process, civil society organizations, civil society opposition, political parties and activists, they find themselves sandwiched between the authoritarian regime at home and authoritarian regimes abroad. the problem that you have is that pro-democracy movements in countries that have previously been supported of democratic movements in these countries have really been either lukewarm or relaxed in recent years and

that has given more power for these organizations which are authoritarian to become even more repressive. the example i was getting from cambodia and i have been listening to conversations with colleagues from other countries is very much the same that you would find in some bob way -- in zimbabwe, uganda, sudan, the increasing militarization of the state and of politics and that becomes very difficult. the other factor is the issue of institutional decay. institutions which are supposed to be political referees, i am very happy that you referenced the book that you cited in the beginning. one of my own greatest inspirations in recent years is a book by --, both political

scientists i'm sure many people here -- they wrote a book, how democracy dies, about three years ago and i found it fascinating in the way that it describes, the way things are going in the u.s. and what needed to be done in order to rescue the u.s., and ethic it is important because it is very important for the rest of the world. it is an example to many people who are watching, when things decay in one of the biggest democracies, then it becomes very difficult and even our own dictators, they celebrate and they say look at what you aspire to, and i found it fascinating because it also give a lesson on what needed to be done in order to promote democracy not just in america but also around the world, and i think a lot of people, those of us fighting for

democracy can learn a lot from that. we do face a serious challenge. the state is very powerful. it is backed by the military. they use both legal means and nonlegal means. they consume you until you are broke. they've been using legal instruments to basically disempower the opposition political party and when you ask them, they will tell you it is all legal. you go to court and try to challenge it and the court says it is all legal because the courts have been compromised. a lot of democracy advocates have nowhere to run. they are in their country trying to fight but they are fighting a system which is so thoroughly encapsulated, so taken up either regime, that there is not much space. right now if you look at zimbabwe, they are planning a

number of laws for private organizations, designed to give government more intrusive powers into civil society organizations. they are planning what they call a bill which is supposed to make -- because it is something that can be legislated and they also have a law to try and control social media activities, for reasons -- socialist -- social media has given a lot of space to democracy activists. you realize that the state is trying to control social media in order to stifle voices of democracy activists. we need a lot of help here, countries like the u.s., technology companies which are powerful and i know you have a question about technology.

i would like to say a little bit more about what i think technology companies can do when that moment comes, thank you. >> let me take advantage and give you a minute. give us one homework assignment that you want coming out of this democracy summit. >> i would like to see the u.s. government doing more to try and stop authoritarianism. both within the authoritarian regimes and also in the western countries. my good example is the role of pr firms and lobbying firms. these firms are basically wandering the reputations of authoritarian regimes. they need to be stopped and i think it is a waste of money, a waste of taxpayer money in authoritarian countries but also a waste of taxpayer money in the u.s. because the u.s. funds a lot of these countries to try

and promote health, education and the money that should be used in these countries is being used to pay these pr firms, these lobbying firms which are run by people who are already wealthy anyway and i think we need to see something being done. i would like to see more being done to promote the role of technology companies in promoting democracy but like i said, i will elaborate more when that time comes. >> i would love to hear now from the senior director at the human rights center in moscow. she's been fighting for human rights in russia since 2007, working with the international human rights movement. thank you for being here. i will turn the floor over to you. >> thank you organizers of the summit.

i am very honored to be here. i was asked to present what it is like to be an activist in today's russia and i will try to do this. i am currently executive director for the human rights center. it is one of the legal entities for the very broad human rights and civil side t -- civil society movement in russia since 1988, and currently the two largest legal entities in service of this movement are facing the threat of liquidation, due to violent foreign agents in russia. we are seen -- this will be a very important gesture for civil society in the country and for us, it means that we won't be able to continue our work as we used to do.

most probably, the liquidation will come by the end of the year or in the beginning of the next year unless a miracle happens. these foreign agent legislation in russia as being very -- to put a very particular threat on the civil society, media and human rights organizations and journalists and also used to send a clear signal the rest of the society that whatever you want to do, you will be in danger and in order to save yourself from this danger, you should either leave the country or just shut up. it is not just the foreign agents legislation. we also have legislation for so-called undesirable organizations. also a bunch of other legislative -- which very vaguely used to repress

particular opposition leaders. -- randomly targeted. we have a list of political prisoners which involves more than 400 people and unfortunately the list continues to grow. after we are liquidated, it is a large question of who will be able to run such campaigns for recognizing political prisoners and the institution should be trustworthy. it is important to remember that in russia, it is quite dangerous to be an ngo activist or independent journalist, but also over the years, it became more and more dangerous to be working with the government to do business and be involved in a

huge share of political parties. we see the growing trend of members of elites being harassed, put behind bars and subjected to other kinds of repression and it is a very worrying trend, especially because you never know what can change the situation in countries like russia. political analysts say regimes like the one we have now in russia usually die when elite members understand it becomes dangerous for them so we are already at that moment right now. i would say that the recent years came even more challenging because of the covid situation and it happened not only in russia but everywhere. this is something for us to talk about later on. what can be done? what can be your work assignment? i think that you should keep all

the parties involved and the promotion of democracy, you should make sure that human rights and democracy in countries like russia are being kept the basis of all the business and political negotiations, that there can't be any decisions made without -- we also have a closed border with belarus and -- were guarding the situation in belarus also included with human rights defenders. we will see what society actors -- the situation in russia only gets worse and worse and at the same time, people in russia do not feel desperate as far as i can see and a lot of them look at the countries as some kind of example and i think especially

now, it is important to give those people some example and to keep those connections that already exist between russia and european countries and between the states and other foreign powers because it is important to illustrate the the situation can be different and there is so much that can be learned from other democrat states and i agree with alex that if you are a good example, it makes it easier to all of us to see what are the plots of democracy and what we are all fighting for. whenever we raise the question of the foreign agents legislation in russia, immediately everyone says take a look at the united states. they have the foreign agent registration act and we try to explain this is something completely different, not aimed to suppress independent voices but rather to name political lobbies and stuff like that, so probably if something could be done in the united states,

renaming it or readjusting the concept to a modern reality, that would be helpful, not just for civil society in russia but all the other countries where similar initiatives are taking place, because whenever this concept is introduced in the country, it became so successful that people actually buying it. technology is a large question but i would say it is not at the moment a huge challenge to russia. ethic it is rather the challenge to china, that we are afraid of but also the challenge that we all face all over the world, that social media companies and other companies are getting so much power that there is no one to negotiate with them on a particular issue and maybe there should be some kind of binding document or institution within those companies dealing with human rights and with the expression of minorities and similar issues which are the basis of democracy, that they

can somehow be addressed because we can say facebook is currently more powerful than certain states but they don't have any human rights document to obey to. i will stop here but i am happy to answer any questions. thank you. >> thank you. let me push a little bit more. i heard you say encourage ongoing ties and connectivity. you would be open to and supportive of more russians coming to study in the united states, right? >> yes, this is one example. i am a fellow of a fellowship included and i think that is what makes -- the regime in russia is currently going into -- phase which can be as long as possible but we all have to make sure that there will be someone

to lead the country when anything finishes. there is a similar program in ukraine with emerging leaders, so i think study programs, political exchanges, also for party leaders and all kinds of academia exchange would be really helpful, but please make sure that you also involve those people who are currently working for the government or who are somehow related to official projects because this will make them include it because they are the ones who need to get the message and they need to be educated as well. >> that is really interesting. thank you. that is helpful feedback. next is a political and indigenous rights activist from hong kong and a student of law at the university of hamburg. she is the digital rights research fellow at the hong kong democracy council.

she was previous of the spokesperson of the nongovernment organization, keyboard frontline. would love to hear from you. -- we would love to hear from you. >> thank you very much. i am a pro-democracy advocate from hong kong living now in exile in germany. i am also studying law but i have been increasingly skeptical about my choice to focus on law because the national security law has trended to the judicial and court system and has been part of the regime of oppression since its adoption and since its induction, the situation in hong kong has shifted from a relatively free space where people hope to retain their way of life to an authoritarian police state and hong kong is now silent because they have no rights to freedom of expression and earlier this year, 47 pro-democracy politicians and activists were arrested and charged over the per dissipation in the litter state of counsel primaries and the majority of them were not allowed to extend

their bail which constitutes arbitrary detention on political opponents and i witnessed my friends arrested in prison. beijing has recognized the -- police and government are joined in unity under the law and any action could be interpreted to endangering national security. hong kong is still managing to demonstrate our desire for freedom. we are not giving up this fight because we want hong kong to become a place where we can all be free. in the context of these -- of this panel, there are a lot of things the government can do but i will only focus on one thing, and that is to be not directly or indirectly involved in human rights violations in hong kong. for example, the government's want to hold tech companies accountable.

are they practicing content moderation in a pub medic style that will hinder freedom of speech in hong kong? other turning over hong kong activists or data under the national security to government agencies because google has been recently found to breach their own policies and turnover data to the governments and other purchaser pitting in blocking access to certain technologies like apple is doing in china? they are blocking access to encrypted mitigation's -- to encrypted communications. hong kong really put into a black situation where information cannot come in or go out and is the government trying to avoid being indirectly or directly involved in human rights violations? for example, are they still importing goods from the region of china that has been increasingly involved in forced labor because according to

statistics, the u.s. has imported increasingly -- the import percentage has increased by 151% since last year. we are pushing for more renewable energy but are we aware the fact that -- 45% of the -- came from this region which is forced labor. on the context of technology, are we ready to do enough on data protection? that is prohibiting data transfer from a place like the u.s. or the eu to places where insufficient protection is offered because under current judgment issued by the european union, data transfer can take place between the eu and china under a standard contractual clause. which means my data as an activist which is being tracked by the government can be traced without -- can be transferred without me being able to stop it and it will be nearly impossible

to prevent the data from being sent outside to engage in different services. in general, i hope that western democracies will not take what they are enjoying for granted and always remain vigilant of the freedoms because all of these things can be taken away from us very quickly and hong kong is a lesson to learn from. it is a lesson that should never be repeated. >> so what is the homework assignment you want to come out of this democracy summit? >> it is to come up with concrete regulations and projects that will hinder big tech companies from involving themselves in human rights violations. hold them accountable if they are complying with authoritarian regimes, especially the situation in common -- in hong kong. if they facilitate a state of hindering access to certain technologies, they have to be held accountable because this is not a value that we should promote at all. we should always promote

democratic values. this is my expectation for the summit. >> thanks for all you are doing. luciano garcia is the president of an ngo working to promote a return to democracy in nicaragua. he has been living in exile in costa rica since 20 and continues to be a leader in the opposition to the regime. [speaking spanish] >> [speaking spanish]

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questions in english. i know we have a translator. i wrote a piece saying that the united states should reject as a farce the elections from last month in nicaragua, and they did that, and there were several things that i suggested. one was that we ought to kick nicaragua out of the central american free trade agreement and another was to cut off funding for the institutes -- i would be curious what are some steps that the net it states should be taking to respond to the terrible situation in nicaragua? it is outrageous. at least six or seven presidential candidates were arrested. all of the things you listed were outrageous. it is disgusting. i turn the floor back over to you.

. >> [speaking spanish]

>> thank you. i heard several things from the various speakers. the united states ought to be a good or better example. one is that there was a conversation we had about technology. another is that in small countries, whether it is belarus or nicaragua or small places like hong kong or cambodia, these places better, they are not just important in and of themselves but they -- but other countries are watching, russia

is wanting what is happening in belarus. china is afraid of what'll happen in hong kong. the venezuelan and cuban regime are watching what happens in nicaragua, and sees if they can get away with things. these things matter. also, there has been a negative role of russia and china that has been referenced in several of the russian regimes, the chinese communist party and vladimir putin's regime. those forces have been very negative and have contributed to backstopping authoritarians. let me move to the question of technology. 20 years ago, there was great hope. let me repeat this book. the case for democracy. it is the most important book in the democracy space. i want to hear from each of the

panels very briefly on technology. 20 years ago there was hope that technology was going to be only an enabler of freedom. it has turned out in the last 15 years to not necessarily be the case but in some cases it has. some of you have talked about technology being a force for good. could you talk up a bit about how you are using technology as a force for good and how we can potentially mitigate technology being a force for bad in the democracy space? let me go back to miss sopheap, please. >> it is very important, especially with the covid pandemic. we can see how useful technology has been with our panel across the globe. of course technology -- more

investment in technology and know-how is important. i think activists and organizations, we start to benefit from the tools. unfortunately, compared it the business sector, we are quite far behind, so i think more support is necessary. at the same time, i think technology -- when it comes to the technology, security is also important and therefore, it requires different stakeholders to take part, especially both for the private

sectors and with many platforms -- developers mainly in the u.s. and big block countries have to bear in mind that they have to allow their technology to be part of the democracy movement. -- like call out -- there has been a case when it comes to -- a lot of accusations or convictions against activists and the government trying to follow suit so it is important for a company like facebook or

others to understand that security and protection of the activists are core values. not through corporate endowments. -- on the ability of the activists. this is one example and i think some technology allows the government to surveilled ngo operations -- surveil ngo operations and therefore, the u.s. government and other like-minded countries can work with the private sector to ensure that they would not apply the technology-- that is the role to play.

and enhance our capacity. we rely on the like-minded countries in this challenging time as well. >> thank you. alex, over to you. >> thank you so much. technology has been a very useful tool for many democratic activists in my country and many of the african countries too. they tightly control the state. everything is controlled by big brother. what social media has done is allow people to express

themselves in ways that they were not able to do before. there is nobody who is censoring the messages or comments you are making. we are beginning to see more evidence of violence and atrocities. everything was controlled by the state. but now, people can record. stick -- can record stay operators committing violence. and share on social media, providing evidence of what is going on. that is very important. we have seen in elections, at times, it is good to have election officials who have will stick capture conduct of what is going on. so that they are able to provide evidence of what is really happening in those polling stations.

this worked well for zimbabwe in 2008. because of lack of financial resources and technology, we have not been able to replicate that system. it would be really useful to do so. i used to, for example, extensively. i use facebook. i use my blog in order to respond instantly to any misinformation, to any issues that may arise. i think it is very helpful. however, they are beginning to catch up on this. >> whenever there's a protest that's organized on social media they're quick to shut down social media and that's immediately affects the protest movement if it's based on social media mobilization. we've also seen that they deploy people who are paid in order to come and attack pro

democracy movements. and another polling that i mentioned earlier, and i think that social media companies can really-- they tend to verify or give authenticity to people who are waiting for totalitarian regime, but they don't verify people who are wading on the pro democracy movement. these are the people who rely on suppressing other people's speech and keen to get verification from social media companies for their views and more can be done for countries that are on the social media companies. and to employ more people, living in communities or at least with good local knowledge of those communities in which they operate so they're able to pick up nuances where there's

hate speech and i think it would be good for them. thank you. >> thank you, alex. glacier, on technology. the movement that we've seen on media and on television, how it tends to be leaderless. that is protesters and participants at the movements were able to organize among themselves without a petition making body which made it very, very difficult for the government to have the movement while they were actively protesting on the streets because there was no specific body or people to go after. because there's no one telling participants what to do and people were enabled by the social media and internet and arrange among themselves so it's much more difficult to completely tee detroy destroy

the movement. and vulnerable in a way if we don't have knowledge to protect ourselves, for example, we have to engage in practices, which not all of the people were well hadden equipped to do that and there has been a lot of training put into that aspect in order to improve them. but when it comes to the content of the summit. it's proven that it will open up china with a way to be basically false and can they manage to have the internet and block a lot of access to technologies, and access to polls, so it can stabilize society in the way that it wants to, and cannot do it without the help of technology companies, from the u.s. basically. bans dozens of apps on the

chinese app stores, dating apps, homosexuals, it bans new york times, it bans washington post, bans access to different communications tools and recently banned-- enabled an on-line community when they are living in china. the task of the western world, how do you hold the accomplices of them responsible. how do we hold them accountable? are there laws and regulations holding them accountable? are there going to be hearings requesting them information why they're doing it and how they're operating and so on? apple has given up encryption in china and so that it's basically to have the keys in the hands of the chinese government. how could a u.s. company let that happen? because by law, they cannot be

sharing this kind of sensitive data with the government and these things all come back to the summit and take ak actions. and these prevent that from happening so companies will not be involved in human relations in the sense and the big tech companies should not be turning over all of this data. i'm sure that google knows more than what i know about myself and what if google turns over whole data to the hong kong government and i'm doomed in at that sense because they know so much about me which would be undesirable for anyone who is basically freedom loving and values democracy in general. so i do hope that this will be an issue that the summit will address. >> thank you. okay. anna, please. >> technology business. >> just to spend anymore time i would whatever glacier just

said and i think that china is the front line better feel for technology versus human rights and i think that just would like to support everything she said, and regarding russian countries and we use technology involved because it's a beautiful tool to use and all the challenges that have been mentioned and regarding international security, on-line protection and everything. let's do something. >> the issue of technology, how does it play in the nick ao -- nicaraguan context? [speaking spanish]

[speaking spanish] [speaking spanish]

[speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish]

[speaking spanish] >> thank you. so i would ask luciano, glacier, follow alex's example, one they think you wanted in the chat. and the senator is here and so pleased. the conundrum that the western has, the united states and europe has, the bad guys have gotten better being bad. and authoritarians have a better way of being authoritarian. and zimbabwe, i wrote an

article we should delay until they met some democratic promises. they said that's fine we'll just look east. right, alex, you remember this. and in luciano's case, nicaragua recognizes taiwan, i love taiwan and at the same time nicaragua gets a lot of help from russia. so the regime gets support from russia. in case of cambodia, the current regime gets support from china and one of the problems is that some of these-- the democracy space, human freedom space has become held hostage somewhat to great power competition where regimes can hide behind the financial support or the military support, the global support of the putin regime or the chinese communist party so i'd welcome

if each of you could talk about how should we handle this or grapple with it? let me start with you, alex, i remember this, the regime in zimbabwe saying, well, we'll just look east. and how should they respond, if i could call them threats? >> with he will, i think it's a big problem. i don't know what it is like in other parts of the world, but i think for people of zimbabwe and many others in africa, they seem to be caught up, you know, it's almost like the old cold war situation, you know? only back in this instance the other party has become very powerful and it has many carrots it continues to offer and of course at a very high cost as many people are beginning to see, especially the ordinary people. my view is that i think it's very important to--

for western democracies, for example, to really up the game as well. i mean, look at the situation with the covid-19 pandemic. we've been watching it with great fascination because china has come up and it's almost using vaccine diplomacy that way to try and worm its way, you know, in the hearts and minds of the regime, but we have a problem because i think that western could do more to try and give out more, help more. they seem to be actually willing to support the people in this many different countries. that's one point. the second point, in my opinion, i think that it's very important to try and promote, you know, i know in talking about people to people contact. you know, people coming from russia to the u.s., similar should be, you know, in

connection with african countries as well. i think that it will be good to have this cross-education system between the two. it's important because i know that when i came, for example, to the national endowment for democracy for my fellowship, i found is very interesting to see things that i probably would not have been able to see from my end of the world, but that was very, very important. i think more on that can be done to promote more awareness and knowledge. thank you. >> you know, i would love to hear from all the other panels, but i'm cognizant of the time and ask the panel please put additional thoughts in the chat. i apologize, but i need to pivot to senator coons and let him give remarks. senator chris coons here from the senate foreign operatings, an important committee that funds foreign diplomacy and

foreign funds. he's from the great state of delaware and i think you all know that president biden is from the great state of delaware and also the chairman of the senate foreign relations subcommittee on african affairs and senator coons has been a long time supporter of africa and in a person who works in a bipartisan way and he's an important person in the senate and glad that he took time out. senator, over to you, sir. >> oh, and i'm sure-- maybe we're having a tech issue. thank you, can you hear me and see me? >> i see you now. >> thank you for having me on and thank you to the panel, i've been listening to your deliberations and discussions over the last dozen minutes and frankly, daniel, i was trying to figure out how to tell you, don't interrupt everybody, i'm

happy to be listening. you've got more wisdom here and engagement in the fight for democracy than you'll hear from me, but thank you for the opportunity to join you. and daniel, let me just, in particular, thanks to csis, the center for strategic international studies for hosting this conversation today and i'm also grateful to my colleague, house foreign affairs committee ranking member mccall with whom i've traveled and to advance democracy. although we have differences in terms of our view in terms of american political policy issues, we're standing together in terms of the importance of continuing to invest in our work to help support and advance exactly the kind of difficult work and defense of democracy that our four panelists with us have been talking been and i'm grateful

for-- who was a part of this conversation. and daniel, in terms of your support, in laying the groundwork through this conversation for the upcoming biden administration hosted summit for democracy, i think this is one of many important panels and conversations that are happening before 110 countries convene virtually. the summit, the idea that we're delivering on this promise from the campaign of my friend and my predecessor in the senate and my fellow delawarion and yes, folks, that's the delaware flag over my shoulder, president biden. i'm going to join you in stating that can't just be a one-off event. convening heads of state and convening folks from different levels of governance from more than 100 countries for two days to discuss democracy and the ways in which authorit

authoritarianism-- authoritarianism is on the march, it has to begin a globalization and call for action and hope that it will conclude, god willing, the trajectory of the pandemic, for 2022. and the united states principally acting as convener, has to do so with some humility and transparency. obviously the incident of january 6th in which an angry mob stormed the capitol of the united states attempting to overturn the results of a free and fair election, was a very greatly concerning moment. both for those of us here in the united states and i think for those around the world who have thought of the united states as a democracy of some sustained promise, we also have to be transparent and humble about the ways in which our own

system has fallen short. we have it, as we know, ongoing grave inequalities based in the racialized history of slavery and oppression in this country and that's been manifested in a number of tragic events involving police action and black and brown communities, but more broadly in terms of education and credit and opportunity and the united states has hard work left to do and grateful for our leadership and look forward over this coming here, hopefully, to being able to report on real progress in democracy here in the united states. the agenda items that i hope we will focus on, in this coming year, are principally, how do we defend against authoritarianism as you were discussing a moment ago. folks around the world who are trying to develop and deploy

sharpened tools, data and movement and activities for those with avocates of democracy and we get to better look at those and those society in defense of democracy. second, we have to fight corruption and we have to push back on the enablers on authoritarianism and we have to push back on pr firms that help, you know, to pretty up authoritarian regimes and push back on banking and security transactions that help those with ill-gotten gains support themselves, their families and their regimes and we have to find ways to implement global standards, we are, i think, about to reauthorize, the sanctions which have been an important tool against the corrupt and corrupting. and last, we have to fight for and advocate for human rights

and the u.s. foreign policy, forgive me, as an important part of what the u.n. has been all about and what all of you are fighting for. that means holding our government accountable for its respective human rights here and abroad and it means holding the government of the countries that presented here and elsewhere around the world accountable for the ways in which they violate fundamental human rights. we've got a panel of folks who put their lives on the line and time and energy into this and in the time i've had in the senate the last decade or more, and in my role as a founder and the co-chairman. senate human rights caucus, i really have been struck at just how many people around the world continue to believe that democracy is the best alternative, the best path forward for all of us and how many countries that fight has gotten tougher in the recent years. so, let me briefly talk, if i can, about some of the actions i'm taking today. i am introducing legislation

that the democracy in the 21st century act with republican senator lindsey graham. i'm the chairman, as you just heard a moment ago of the state and foreign operations appropriations subcommittee which is responsible for about $60 billion a year in state department and foreign assistance funding and senator graham is my ranking member, the most senior republican and this bill, if we can get it signed into law and i'm optimistic that we can, it would modernize the united states' tools, to left the voices of civil society and advocate for human rights around the world and increase our human investment by about $3 billion and provide increased support for journalists, for activists, for civil society workers and artists and writers and those at risk and oppressive society. and in this, discussed a few

moments ago, global and technological freedom that would allow activists it counter, the emerging digital threats that face you, and that would include counter surveillance and censorship tools that would defeat the authoritarian government whose voices threaten them the most. we have to do more to improve the social and economic conditions critical to sustained pro democracy movements. as mentioned a few minutes ago by alex, the united states has a role to continue playing as we try to come out of this pandemic. just to be clear, the united states has already donated more doses of vaccines than all other countries combined, but as china and russia engage in vaccine diplomacy and do a lot of trumpeting, their distribution of vaccines, which by the way are less effective and often come with strings

attached, the united states can and should do more to distribute the mechanisms of vaccines globally so countries like south africa and columbia might be centers of vaccine production going forward so that it's not all concentrated in the united states and in the eu, and second, to make sure that any advances or developments in vaccines, that are required, whether to deal with the omicron variant or others, are made available equitably globally. a key part of that is going through my subcommittee and something i've fought to prioritize and reduce the gross inequality of vaccine access around the world and one other bill i've recently mentioned, the global fragility act is a piece of legislation i've cristed some time ago. it's now law and i'm working with ranking member mccall through the global fragility

act to address the root cause of violence around the world. countries like mozambique, for example, growing instability in the far north and where there has to be a better organized, better coordinated regional strategy to promote transparency on the part of the government. and last, one of the bills signed into law by president biden which i'm proudest is the build act that developed a new international development finance corporation or the dfc which will allow the united states to engage in the financing of infrastructure projects in the developing world with greater standards of human rights, labor rights than is currently available from one of the world's leading financiers of infrastructure in the developing world. i think we have to have a competition so that if advocates and countries decide that instead of taking belt and road money which has got very little in terms of transparency

or accountability and a lot in terms of complicating strings that they have a alternative and that sovereign countries can make a decision that's in the better interest of the long-term of their people. so, it's been my honor to have the community on the ground to advocate for democracy and countries like zimbabwe and sudan in recent years and we rely on activists including on that call, but others around the world to inform us what more we can and should be doing. the united states doesn't have all the answers, but in looking with you towards the future that's more open, more tolerant, more inclusive and more just, there really is a chance that we can reverse the tide of authoritarianism around the world and move forward. so i'm looking forward to what bold and hopefully ambitious commitment, dozens and dozens of countries will bring to this week's summit and i look forward to participating in the hard work of defending democracy and advancing human

rights with all of you in the year ahead and i very much look forward to a continued conversation and engagement with csis and with this remarkable group that's joined us on this panel today. thank you very much. >> thanks, senator coons. i want to thank the panel, you are my heroes, you inspire me and inspire us at csis to thank you for all you do and thank you for taking the time to be with us today. we'll end it here. thank you all very much. thank you, and thank you, senator coons for all you're doing. >> at least six presidents recorded conversations and hear many of those on c-span's new podcast, presidential reportings. >> season one focuses on lyndon johnson, the civil rights act, the presidential campaign, march on selma and the war in vietnam. not everyone knew they were being

and certainly you'll also here some brunt talk. >> and with the number of people with kennedy and and go anywhere, and that's behind-- >> presidential recordings. go to c-span now's mobile app. c-span is your unfiltered view of government.

supported by companies including wow. >> it's the fast internet connection that no one can live without. wow is there through speed, reliability and now, more than ever it all starts with great internet. >> wow, supports c-span along with other providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> up next a hearing on internet safety, the house energy and subcommittee on consumer protection heard about the experts about the danger social media platforms pose to children and big tech companies unwillingness to fix the problem. this is about hours and 20 minutes.