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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NGOs detail threats to civil society at Casablanca Meeting
Regimes across the Middle East spout the rhetoric of democracy and reform while stifling civil society, using the pretext of anti-terrorism to curtail independent political activity. This was the message emerging from testimony by democratic and civil society activists—including several NED grantees—at a recent consultation in Casablanca, Morocco. [read more]

NED donates founding papers to Library of Congress;
Congressional leaders praise NED
On Thursday, June 7, NED officially donated its early papers to the Library of Congress and marked the occasion with a panel discussion and reception that included a wide range of speakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams. The event also commemorated the 25th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's Westminster Address to the British Parliament, in which he called upon the world's democracies to launch a "a global campaign for freedom" and proposed an initiative that led to the founding of the National Endowment for Democracy.
[read more / view this event]

Surviving the Democracy Backlash
June 8, 2007 Washington Post op-ed by NED President Carl Gershman.

Freedom's Prospects
June 5, 2007 National Review Online article by NED Vice President of Government & External Relations David Lowe.

The June 2007 local elections: Did Moldova pass the test?
On June 27, key members of Moldova's Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections ("Coalition 2007"), representatives of international monitoring groups, US diplomats and academics met to discuss the conduct and outcome of the recent elections in Moldova and their impact on country's progress toward democracy. [view this event]

Vietnam releases imprisoned lawyer Le Quoc Quan on bail
Human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan was released on bail on June 16 after spending over three months in prison. Quan was arrested shortly after returning home to Vietnam after completing a Reagan-Fascell Fellowship at NED. Quan's release came after sustained pressure from the U.S., including a letter from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Senator John McCain, and NED Chairman Vin Weber to the President of Vietnam. NED continues to follow Quan's case closely. [read more]

An Imperative to Innovate: Sustainable Journalism Training in Central and Eastern Europe
On June 20, NED's Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) hosted a presentation of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation report entitled "An Imperative to Innovate: Sustainable Journalism Training in Central and Eastern Europe." [read more / view this event / read the report]

Documentary details Serbian war crimes: "Scorpions, a Home Movie" shown in DC and New York
On June 14, NED held a screening of "Scorpions, a Home Movie", a documentary film about war crimes in Bosnia, with remarks and a Q&A session featuring Natasa Kandic, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC). The film was also shown on June 12 in New York by the New York Democracy Forum, sponsored jointly by NED, the Foreign Policy Association, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Institute. The film, produced by the HLC and directed by Lazar Stojanovic, brings viewers face to face with members of the notorious Scorpions militia unit through interviews, archival footage, and shocking video recordings made by the Scorpion members themselves. [read more]

Prague conference explores links between democracy and security
Václav Havel, José María Aznar, and Natan Sharansky were the leading figures at the Democracy & Security International Conference held on June 5 to 6 in Prague. Marc F. Plattner, co-editor of NED's Journal of Democracy, authored the background paper for the conference, which explored possible links between democracy promotion and strengthened security. [read more]

Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows presentations
The Spring 2007 class of Fellows include leading democratic activists and scholars from Burma, Costa Rica, Iran, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Russia, Tajikistan, and Tanzania. Recent presentations from Reagan-Fascell Fellows include:

• May 24 – Jose Luis ("Chito") Gascon: "The Congressional Elections in the Philippines: An Initial Assessment"
• June 6 – Nigina Bakhrieva: "NGOs and War: The Case of Tajikistan"
  
• June 7 – Diego Abente-Brun: "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Dilemmas of Democracy in Paraguay"

[read more]

Call for Applications: Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowships
The Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at the National Endowment for Democracy invites applications from candidates throughout the world for fellowships in 2008–2009. [learn more]

• The Karen Women's Organization has been awarded the 2007 Perdita Huston Human Rights Award which recognizes outstanding advocates for women's rights.


• In Somalia, the government has closed several leading radio stations, including NED grantee HornAfrik. The Somali government has also been criticized for raiding the offices of SAACID, another NED grantee focusing on the rights of women, children, and the poor.


• The work of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma was featured in the Boston Globe.


• A coalition of Iraqi women NGOs and activists, including the National Women's Coalition and the Baghdad Women's Association, sent a letter to the UN Secretary General expressing the urgent need to include women's rights in the revision process of the Iraqi Constitution.

Don't Give Up on Democracy
June 28, 2007 Washington Times op-ed by Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) chairman Greg Lebedev.

Activists mark 62nd birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi
On June 19, human rights activists in the U.S. marked the birthday of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past 17 years under house arrest in Burma, with a celebration hosted by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. [read more]

New memorial dedicated to the victims of communism
On June 12 in Washington, DC, a memorial was dedicated to the estimated 100 million victims of communist regimes. Sculptor Thomas Marsh created the ten foot tall "Goddess of Democracy" for the site and has also produced a smaller version since 1993 for NED's annual Democracy Award.