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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SPOTLIGHT ON CHINA

Nineteen years after the massacre of democracy activists in Tiananmen Square, China’s hosting of the Olympics in August 2008 might have been an opportunity for Chinese leaders to advance human rights inside the country and expand media freedoms in order to illustrate that China has become a modern, responsible state that keeps its promises. Instead, China has back-pedaled on its commitments to host an “open” Olympics and improve human rights. 

The seven recipients of NED’s own 2008 Democracy Award are prime examples of this trend. Chinese religious  freedom activists Li Baiguang and Li Heping, who met with President Bush when in Washington to receive NED's award, were recently prevented from meeting with US Congressmen Chris Smith and Frank Wolf, who had traveled to China to discuss human rights concerns. Li Baiguang and Teng Biao, another NED honoree, were both detained by authorities to prevent the meeting with the US lawmakers. [view the 2008 Democracy Award]

China’s Olympic promises were also the topic of a June 19 event cosponsored by NED and Human Rights Watch highlighting the publication of China's Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympic Human Rights Challenge, edited by Minky Worden. Several NED grantees contributed to the volume, including Han Dongfang of China Labour Bulletin and Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China – featured below.
                                                                                                               view this event

GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT
Longtime NED Grantee Human Rights in China (HRIC) is one of the most effective overall monitors of human rights.  HRIC’s “Incorporating Responsibility 2008” Olympics campaign has advocated on behalf of individuals in detention, promoted systemic reform, encouraged corporate responsibility, and expanded information flow into and out of China. [read more about HRIC]

New DemocracyDigest Blog is a Must-Read
If you are looking for the best source of news and opinion about democratic developments worldwide, subscribe to NED’s new blog, DemocracyDigest.  Recent posts by editor Michael Allen include:

• China’s ‘bifurcated authoritarianism’: Olympic athletes should support dissidents – Havel, et al
• Egypt’s bloggers and labor activists make common cause
• Islamists gain from Mideast turmoil and democratic deficit
• Club Med - for ’smart authoritarians’?
• Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai’s leadership more tragic than magic

Empowering Independent Media: U.S. Efforts to Foster
Free and Independent News Around the World
The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA)’s 2008 Inaugural Report provides an in-depth assessment of U.S. international media development efforts, both public and private, and calls on future efforts to be more long-term, comprehensive, and need-driven. The U.S.,through government and private sector initiatives, spends at least $142 million annually on media development efforts in countries around the world.
[read the report / see all other CIMA reports]

Islamist Parties and Democracy
Several articles from the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Democracy are now freely available online, including: Islamist Parties and Democracy: Three Kinds of Movements, by Tamara Cofman Wittes, and Islamist Parties and Democracy: Going Back to the Origins, by Husain Haqqani and Hillel Fradkin.  On July 21, NED held a discussion featuring authors Fradkin, Wittes, Laith Kubba, and  Amr Hamzawy  that examined the longstanding debate surrounding Islam and democracy and assessed the implications of the rise of Islamist parties for the future of democracy in the Middle East. [view this event]

The table of contents and abstracts of all articles in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Democracy can also be found at www.journalofdemocracy.org.

NED President Carl Gershman gave remarks on "Democracy and Human Rights" at the Universidade Catolica Portugesa on June 28 on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [read more]

Fighting Impunity: High Stakes in the East and Horn of Africa
The June 7 assassination of grantee Nasteh Dahir Farah, vice president of the National Union of Somali Journalists, was sadly just the latest incident in a deadly campaign of violence and intimidation against independent journalists in Somalia. On June 26, NED hosted a roundtable discussion featuring Hassan Shire Sheikh, chairman of NED grantee East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRDN), which is working to protect the brave journalists of East Africa, as well as other endangered  human rights and democracy activists in the region. Hassan Shire Sheik addressed the human rights situation in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan as well as approaches to establish independent accountability mechanisms and institutions. [view this event / read more about the work of EHAHRDN]

NED honors Max Kampelman and Tom Lantos with Service Medal
On June 17, NED honored the life-long contributions of one of the US Congress’ most stalwart supporters of human rights, the late Tom Lantos (D-CA), with the presentation of its Democracy Service Medal. The Medal was presented by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman as part of the proceedings of NED's Annual Democracy Award, which this year focused on Heroes of Human Rights and Democracy in China. [read more / view this event]

On May 22, NED presented its Democracy Service
Medal to Ambassador Max Kampelman in recognition of his lifetime achievement in advancing the principles of freedom, human rights, and democracy at an event at the Department of State, which included tributes by John Negroponte, James Billington, Paula Dobriansky and Senator Joseph Lieberman among others.  [read more / view this event]

Pakistan: Advancing Democracy and Security was the topic of a May 5 forum at NED.  Parliamentarians and civil society leaders were joined by regional experts to discuss what institutional reforms and strategies can help Pakistan beat the odds and build an effective and stable democracy.  U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte gave a keynote luncheon address. [read remarks / view this event]

Securing and Expanding Press Freedom through New Media
CIMA hosted an event entitled “Securing and Expanding Press Freedom through New Media” on Capitol Hill on April 30, 2008, in advance of World Press Freedom Day. The discussion explored journalists’ use of new media and the importance of new information technologies in expanding press freedom in closed societies. [read more/ view this event]

 World Movement for Democracy meets in Ukraine
The World Movement for Democracy's Fifth Assembly was held from April 6 to 9 in Kyiv, Ukraine, on the theme "Making Democracy Work: From Principles to Performance." The Assembly brought together over 400 democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and others engaged in democracy promotion. The Assembly also featured the presentation of the World Movement's Democracy Courage Tribute to the legal community of Pakistan, the journalists of Somalia, and the monks of Burma. [read more]

Recent Presentations by Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows:

• Subjecting Power to Rules: Constitutionalism and Democratic Survival - Dr. Susan Alberts (United States) [read more / view this event]

• The Business Community and the Color Revolutions of Georgia and Ukraine - Dr. Gia Areshidze (Georgia) [read more / view this event]

• The Alienation of British-Born Muslims from Democratic Processes - Dr. Thomas Gallagher (United Kingdom) [read more / view this event]

• Liberalization and Authoritarianism in Contemporary China: From the Growth of Grassroots Liberty to Nationalist Furor over Tibet - Dr. Kate Zhou (China) [read more / view this event]
  

2007 Annual Report
NED's 2007 Annual Report, highlighting the work of democracy activists in over 80 countries around the world, is now available online. [read more]

New Directions for Democracy Promotion
A new paper co-authored by Kenneth Wollack and Lorne Craner, the presidents of NDI and IRI respectively, makes the case for America’s continuing engagement in democracy programs abroad and the opportunities and challenges that presents for the next administration. The authors will discuss their findings at a panel discussion on Aug. 7. [read the paper / see event details]

Le Quoc Quan, former NED Reagan-Fascell fellow from Vietnam, was honored by Human Rights Watch with the Hellman/Hammett award. [read more]

As part of the New York Democracy Forum lecture series, classical pianist and North Korean defector Kim Cheol-woong gave a special performance in New York on May 21 and spoke about his experience escaping from North Korea to pursue his musical career. [read more]

On April 15, the European Union launched the European Foundation for Democracy through Partnership (EFDP). The Foundation will ensure that democracy assistance becomes a "permanent pillar of EU foreign policy," said former Czech President Vaclav Havel. [read more]