WASHINGTON (OSV News) ─ The U.S. presidency of the Group of 20, a forum for cooperation among the world's largest economies, is an opportunity to advance human rights, advocates said at a congressional hearing March 5.
The U.S. assumed the rotating presidency of the forum, sometimes called the G20, in December. The 2026 summit is scheduled to be held in Miami in December.
Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J. and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., both Catholics and co-chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission ─ an effort open to all members of Congress that aims to promote, defend and advocate for international human rights ─ hosted a hearing March 5 to examine ways in which the federal government can use the annual summit to advance that cause.
Smith praised an effort called the G20 Religion Forum, known as the R20, first established in 2022 when Indonesia led the forum, which features leaders of major religions from participating countries and was incorporated into the official program events.
"The R20 was organized by Indonesia's Nahdlatul Ulama, the world's largest Muslim organization, led by Yahya Staquf," he said. "Nahdlatul Ulama has undertaken significant efforts to promote a pluralistic and tolerant vision of Islam and to marginalize extremist ideologies that fuel violence and terror."
Witnesses at the hearing included Mary Ann Glendon, professor emerita of law at Harvard University and a former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
Glendon said "at a time when the very concept of universal human rights is faltering to the point where major human rights organizations have described it as actually in crisis" that formally incorporating interreligious dialogue into the event could help advance the cause.
"I would argue that the R20 at this particular moment would be a most valuable addition to the program of the G20," Glendon said, arguing that the forum would provide an avenue of dialogue that could help prevent "the use of religion as a pretext for violence and violence in the name of religion."
The R20, she said, "introduced deliberation by leaders of all the major religions, the religious community" on "factors that are incredibly relevant to economic growth and prosperity," such as preventing such violence.
"The R20 brought a group of major religious leaders to frankly admit and discuss with each other ways in which religion, concretely, can be part of the solution to the world's problems and not a contributor to the problem," she said.
McGovern noted that when Saudi Arabia held the G20 Presidency in 2020, it implemented what he called "limited reforms by the Saudi government to increase the freedom of women," but those reforms "did not translate into meaningful advancements in the ability of the Saudi people, men or women, to exercise the full spectrum of human rights."
"The Saudi example also reminds us that global forums can be used by governments to polish their image and whitewash serious human rights violations," he said.
McGovern urged the U.S. to undergo self-examination ahead of the summit to confront "real concerns about our own record."
Among his concerns, McGovern cited conversations with his parish priest that "a huge number of his parishioners are getting frightened to show up to Mass," a reference to widespread concern about immigration enforcement efforts near ─ or in ─ houses of worship.
A group of U.S. bishops, most from the U.S.-Mexico border region, issued a statement Feb. 24 shortly before President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address of his second term, urging several reforms to immigration enforcement. That statement argued that sensitive locations such as houses of worship, schools and hospitals should be protected from enforcement actions.
Glendon replied that "I think we would all agree that the United States should model compliance" with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a 1948 U.N. document which affirmed human beings' inherent dignity and inalienable rights.
Citing a 2020 report she worked on for the U.S. State Department that concluded the U.S. should not only serve as "a champion of human rights" in its foreign policy but also model them "with its own behavior," Glendon said she has "no disagreement with the idea that we ought to lead the world as champions of human rights at home."
"But the question here before the House is: How do we get to these results?" she asked. "I think a great start would be for the United States presidency of the G20 to showcase some of these ideas that we have been discussing."
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Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
