The National Endowment for Democracy is a private, bipartisan foundation that works to strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. Since 1983, with support from the American people, NED has made thousands of grants to democratic nongovernmental groups in more than 100 countries, and has become a hub of activity, resources and intellectual exchange for activists, practitioners and scholars of democracy the world over.

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NED Reagan-Fascell Fellow Le Quoc Quan Arrested after Return to Vietnam
Le Quoc Quan, a Vietnamese lawyer who has recently been in residence at NED on a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship was arrested on March 8, only four days after his return from Washington, DC, to Vietnam. While at NED, Quan was pursuing independent research on the role of civil society in emerging democracies. In an interview with his wife, Radio Free Asia reports that he is being held at a temporary prison in Hanoi, where he is allowed no visitors. Le Quoc Quan's arrest is only one in a series of recent arrests, which Human Rights Watch reports is one of the worst human rights crackdowns in 20 years. [read more]

Václav Havel, activists discuss "Dissidents and the Fight for Freedom" at the Library of Congress
Human rights advocate and former Czech President Václav Havel gathered with eight dissidents and activists from around the world to discuss the struggle for human rights in Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The forum, titled "Dissidents and the Fight for Freedom," took place at the Library of Congress on February 20.

Speakers included:

• Oksana Chelysheva, Spokesperson, Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, Russia
• Min Zin, Journalist and Democracy Activist, Burma
• Ramon Humberto Colas, Founder, Independent Libraries Movement, Cuba
• Ales Mihalevic, Vice chairman, Belarusian Popular Front, Belarus
• Rebiya Kadeer, Democracy Activist/Uyghur Rights Advocate, East Turkistan/China
• Kim Seung Min, Founder, Free North Korea Radio, North Korea
• Ali Afshari, Democracy Activist, Iran
• Manouchehr Mohammadi, Democracy Activist, Iran
  

Photo courtesy of the Czech Embassy, Washington, DC.

[read more / view this event]

Christopher Cox speaks on democracy and free markets
Christopher Cox, chairman of the SEC and a member of the NED Board of Directors, addressed the New York Democracy Forum on March 14 on the topic of democracy and free markets. The event also featured the presentation of NED's Democracy Service Media to Emmanuel Kampouris. [read the transcript / view this event]

Activists brief the U.S. Congress on human rights issues in Burma
On February 2, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus Task Force for International Religious Freedom held a briefing and discussion on Human Rights Abuses and Religious Persecution in Burma.  The briefing, which included testimonies from a number of NED grantees, paid particular attention to the long list of human rights violations of the Chin and Kachin people of northern and western Burma and discussed implications and recommendations for U.S. policy. [read more]

Seymour Martin Lipset remembered by colleagues and friends
On February 28, NED, the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, and the George Mason University (GMU) School of Public Policy held a Memorial Tribute Program honoring the life and work of Seymour Martin Lipset. The program included remarks and remembrances by several of Lipset's colleagues and friends, including Francis Fukuyama, William Schneider, Irving Kristol, Karlyn Bowman, Don Kash, Max Kampleman, Marc Plattner, Tom Edsall, Michael Barone, and Larry Diamond. [read more / view this event]

NED welcomes new Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows
The new class of Reagan-Fascell Fellows at NED includes leading democratic activists, journalists, and scholars from Burma, Costa Rica, Iran, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Russia, Tajikistan, and Tanzania. [read more]

Human rights activist Dusko Kondor, one of the founders of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika Srpska, was murdered in his home in the northeastern Bosnian town of Bijeljina on February 22. Threats against Kondor's life had increased in the days before his death, but repeated requests for local police protection were ignored. Amnesty International is calling for an impartial investigation into Kondor's death. [read more]

Two longtime NED grantees in Nigeria, the Civil Liberties Organization and the CLEEN Foundation, said that a recent visit to Nigeria by the United Nations Rapporteur for Torture will positively impact the groups' efforts to reform pervasive tactics of torture currently employed by police. [read more]

Anyakwee Nsirimovu, director of the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) in Nigeria, was recently the victim of a violent assault. The attack and prior death threats are believed to be reprisals for an anti-corruption campaign led by Nsirimovu that criticized government officials in the Niger Delta. Human Rights Watch has called for an immediate investigation into the assault. [read more]

The Laogai Research Foundation has launched an appeal on behalf of a group of Chinese students imprisoned since 2003. The students were arrested after forming an informal study group to discuss the possibilities of democratic reform in China. [read more]

People in Need and Center for a Free Cuba created a photo-documentary that examines the lives of the wives and mothers of the 75 Cuban dissidents, activists, writers, and librarians arrested by the Castro regime in the spring of 2003. The photo exhibit was on display at the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC. Images from the exhibition can be viewed online. [read more]

NPR: Russia's New Dissidents Defend Human Rights
Part of a five-part series on NPR on the "Resurgence of Russia," this March 7 segment prominently features NED supported groups Memorial and the Moscow Helsinki Group. A separate segment on March 8 focuses specifically on the plight of another grantee, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society. [read more]

The Justice Seymour Simon Award has been given to the DLA Piper project that published Failure to Protect: A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in North Korea, a report commissioned by Václav Havel, Kjell Magne Bondevik, and Elie Wiesel. This new award is given to the DLA Piper pro bono project that best exemplifies a commitment to public service.