The Netherlands, together with the United States, and the governments of Costa Rica, Zambia and South Korea organised the second Summit for Democracy on March 29-30, 2023, bringing together representatives of the government, the private sector and civil society. The aim of the summit was to actively emphasise the importance of a well-functioning democracy and a free society that has access to reliable and independent information, and where press freedom and the safety of journalists are guaranteed.
Since the first Summit for Democracy in 2021, at which countries from around the world pledged concrete actions to advance democracy at home and abroad, governments and civil society groups have worked together to convene Democracy Cohorts. These Cohorts gathered broader commitments from a wider array of stakeholders and provided recommendations, evidence and best practices to the second summit.
The events in The Hague focused on the work of the Media Freedom Cohort – co-led by the Governments of Canada, the Netherlands and international media support NGO Internews.