The Role of Business in Supporting Civic Space

Date and Time

March 7, 2023
2:00 pm-5:00 pm EST

Location

Washington, DC

Topic

Human Rights

Join us for a roundtable discussion on the role of business in supporting civic space on March 7, 2023 at 2-5 p.m. EST.

This roundtable is an invitation-only event, bringing business and civil society leaders together in the run-up to the 2023 Summit for Democracy, hosted by the United States, Costa Rica, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, and Zambia, on March 29-30, 2023. The Summit aims to strengthen democratic institutions, tackle corruption, and defend human rights around the world. To learn more about the State Department’s recent call to the private sector to advance democracy in the context of the Summit process, read the call or watch the launch webinar.

To inform discussions about the role of business in achieving these goals at the Summit, BSR and the CSIS Human Rights Initiative are convening a roundtable discussion on the private sector and civic space. The roundtable will explore how companies are supporting the enabling environment for democracy and core components of civic space, including political participation, freedom of expression/media freedom, and supporting human rights defenders, in order to identify effective tactics that business can carry out going forward. An anonymized synthesis of findings and recommendations will be drafted and shared with participants and will serve as an input into the Summit discussions.

Companies who are interested in participating in the civic space roundtable discussion, including sharing examples of how they are supporting civic space (e.g., political participation, freedom of expression/media freedom, and supporting human rights defenders) can email summitprivatesector@state.gov to flag their interest.