The United States continues to put human rights at the center of our foreign policy. The Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative - launched at the first Summit for Democracy as part of the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal - is a multilateral effort intended to counter state and non-state actors' misuse of goods and technology that violate human rights. During the Year of Action following the first Summit, the United States led an effort to establish a voluntary, nonbinding written code of conduct outlining political commitments by Subscribing States to apply export control tools to prevent the proliferation of goods, software, and technologies that enable serious human rights abuses. Written with the input of partner countries, the Code of Conduct complements existing multilateral commitments and will contribute to regional and international security and stability.
In addition to the United States, the governments that have endorsed the voluntary Code of Conduct are: Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Kosovo, Latvia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The Code of Conduct is open for all Summit for Democracy participants to join.
The Code of Conduct calls for Subscribing States to:
- Take human rights into account when reviewing potential exports of dual-use goods, software, or technologies that could be misused for the purposes of serious violations or abuses of human rights.
- Consult with the private sector, academia, and civil society representatives on human rights concerns and effective implementation of export control measures.
