Vance Center Participates in the Summit of the Americas

The Human Rights and Access to Justice Program participated in the IX Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles, California, through the Civil Society Forum, contributing to the presentations at the summit’s conclusion.

The Summit of the Americas is a gathering of the heads of state and government in the Western Hemisphere to discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values, and commit to concerted actions at the national and regional level to address continuing and new challenges faced in the Americas. This year’s Summit,  “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future”, focused on  five thematic pillars: (a) Health and Resilience in the Americas, (b) Our Green Future, (c) Accelerating the Clean Energy Transition, (d) Digital Transformation and (e) Democratic Governance.

As part of the Summit, the Vance Center participated in two thematic working groups organized under the thematic pillars in the months leading up to the Summit: Democratic Governance; and Digital Transformation. As part of these working groups, the Vance Center team made specific contributions on digital justice, specifically that regulatory frameworks and processes must be generated that guarantee human rights in the context of digital justice mechanisms, and on the need for governments to engage with the private sector and civil society in transparency and anti-corruption efforts; both of these contributions were presented directly to the States, including to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the final working group statements.

Additionally, civil society, including the Vance Center, had the chance to participate in the Summit through a forum convened in the days prior to the governmental gatherings. The Civil Society Forum provided the opportunity to exchange ideas, best practices, and lessons learned on the specific themes of the Summit, as well as to prepare recommendations on the thematic pillars to present at the Dialogue between Civil Society, Social Actors, and High-Level Government Representatives.