A grouping of largely oppressive and authoritarian world leaders and their envoys are flying to Washington for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s newly established Board of Peace.
The body was created to implement his vision for Gaza’s future after it was destroyed by Israel, but Trump has widened its scope, calling it “the most consequential international body in history”.
Global powers, including Washington’s traditional allies, fear the US-led body is an attempt to side-step the more democratic United Nations and replace it with a fee-paying members’ club run on the whims of a single man.
It is not clear how many of the more than 20 members of the Board of Peace, which Trump runs and chairs, will attend the first meeting on Thursday. As a workaround, several governments, including Italy and Greece, are sending observers.
What is clear is that many of the founding member countries are run as military regimes or dictatorships, while others joined to appease Trump. Here is a list of several confirmed attenders, and where their countries are placed in an annual ranking on political rights and civil liberties, compiled by the democracy watchdog Freedom House.
Middle East
Egyptian prime minister Mostafa Madbouly Freedom in the World Index score: (18/100) ‘Not Free’ View image in fullscreen Mostafa Madbouly.
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