Flash News

Posta e mëngjesit/ Me 2 rreshta: Çfarë pati rëndësi dje në Shqipëri

Schwarz-Schilling: We need a new policy for the Balkans

Spain records "hottest spring on record"

The hearing is scheduled for Vangjush Dako

Dako-Tahiri as Rama's 'back tango' with the Americans

Bota

US with $690 million in programs to strengthen democracy around the world

Politiko 2023-03-30 15:22:49

President Joe Biden opened the proceedings of the second Summit for Democracy, pledging that the United States will invest $690 million over the coming year to strengthen democracy programs around the world.

"We are changing the flow here. As we often say, we are here at a turning point in history, when the decisions we make today will affect the course of our world for at least several decades to come," said President Biden .

The White House noted that the United States particularly wants to make "technology work for democracy, not against it."

At the forum, the prime ministers of eight European countries signed an open letter to the heads of major social media companies calling on them to be more aggressive in blocking the spread of false information on their platforms. The letter was signed by the leaders of Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.

" Technology platforms like yours have become virtual battlefields, and hostile foreign powers are using them to spread false narratives that contradict fact-based news media reporting," the letter says. "Paid advertising and artificially amplifying the message on Meta Company's platforms, including Facebook, are often used to call for social unrest, cause street violence and destabilize governments. "

About 120 leaders from around the world are participating in the largely virtual meeting, an effort by President Biden to strengthen the positions of democracies at a time when autocratic governments are pushing ahead with their own agendas, such as Russia's 13-month-old attack on Ukraine and China's alliance with Moscow.

"President Biden has called the battle to strengthen democratic governance at home and abroad the defining challenge of our time," the White House declared. "This is because democracy, transparent and accountable governance to the people, remains the best way to achieve long-term peace, prosperity and human dignity."

Before the leaders gave their speeches about democracy in their countries, President Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a joint statement that "strengthening transparent and accountable governance, based on the adoption of governed is a fundamental principle of our times".

Shtëpia e Bardhë tha se financimi i ri amerikan, për të cilin do të duhet miratimi i Kongresit, do të përqëndrohet tek programet që mbështesin median e lirë dhe të pavarur, luftimin e korrupsionit, fuqizimin e të drejtave të njeriut, mbështetjen e teknologjive që përmirësojnë demokracinë, si dhe mbështetjen e zgjedhjeve të lira dhe të ndershme.

But the White House also acknowledged the United States' own shortcomings in terms of democracy, including the fact that President Biden has so far failed to win congressional approval of legislation aimed at expanding voting rights. However, the White House noted that the Department of Justice staff has been increased to enforce the right to vote and that legislation has been passed to clarify voting procedures in Congress during the process of counting electoral votes for the election of the president./VOA