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National Endowment for Democracy     News and Information     Fall 2001 Newsletter

Most Americans hear about human rights abuses in China through international campaigns on behalf of victims of this serious problem. At the center of these campaigns is Human Rights in China (HRIC), an organization that NED has supported for the past nine years. Founded by Chinese scholars and scientists in March 1989, its mission has been to facilitate and strengthen the activities of human rights advocates and to publicize human rights violations in China. HRIC, with offices in Hong Kong, New York and Paris, has worked with human rights activists inside China, Chinese students and scholars in the West, Chinese groups overseas and international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

When the International Olympics Committee decided last July to hold the 2008 Games in Beijing, HRIC started to explore ways of utilizing the promotion of the Games to enhance human rights efforts.

Says HRIC’s executive director and founder, Xiao Qiang: “We want to approach athletes, journalists, corporate sponsors and others to have a big public relations campaign, riding on the International OlympicCommittee’s promotion of the Beijing Olympics. We want to link labor rights and transparency with the construction projects for the Games. ”HRIC will also advocate free access to information and participation in the Games themselves.

NED’s relationship with HRIC began in 1992 when the Endowment supported a project that provided legal advice and aid for prisoners of conscience and victims of political persecution. The project also enabled HRIC to produce materials informing Chinese citizens about their rights within Chinese law.

“By all accounts, HRIC is the most immediate source of reliable, accurate information on the human rights situation in China and on individual human rightsviolations,” says China specialist Kyna Rubin, in a recent evaluation of the organization. Rubin also attributes HRIC’s success to Xiao Qiang’s “diplomacy, good political instincts and commitment to the human rights cause.”

Among the Chinese groups working with HRIC is the Tiananmen Mothers, a network of those affected most personally by the June 1989 assault on peaceful demonstrators in Beijing. HRIC has been working closely with Ding Zilin, the mother of a 17-year-old killed during the demonstration and founder of the network, in providing legal advice, translating and publishing the network’s newly collected findings on the event, and drawing worldwide attention to the need for justice and accountability. The Second Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy held in Brazil last year recognized the work of the Tiananmen Mothers Network, awarding the group one of five Democracy Courage Tributes. HRIC will continue to coordinate with the Mothers to formulate strategies for follow-up on their legal petition for an official investigation of the events of Tiananmen Square. In its campaigns, HRIC relies heavily on local and international media as well as its own quarterly magazine, China Rights Forum, and a Web site, (http//www.hrichina.org).The organization’s successes may be linked to its readiness to adapt strategies to address prevailing conditions. For instance, in 1995, following growing concerns within China over the plight of workers, HRIC widened its human rights scope to include labor rights.

As Xiao acknowledges, the Olympic project is quite ambitious. It will require the cohesion of a strong team to make some headway. But HRIC is determined to assemble and lead that team of individuals and organizations from around the world to the Olympics. “We see the 2008 Beijing Olympics as an extraordinary opportunity for the international community, using these games as a leverage, to promote human rights in China,” he says.

The events of September 11 triggered a vast spontaneous outpouring of expressions of sympathy, support and solidarity from friends of the National Endowment for Democracy representing every region of the world. In addition to voicing the horror over the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians, all of these individuals in one way or another articulate a strong determination to carry on the work of building peaceful, democratic societies, which is the ultimate solution to the scourge of terror. The following excerpts are taken from a sampling of hundreds of messages received by NED soon after the tragedy:

We Understand the Pain “ As victims of terrorism for the past 27 years in Afghanistan, we under stand the pain and agony that this nation is going through. May God be with those who are no longer with us as a result of this heinous act of terrorism, and may God help us to uproot the seeds of terrorism anywhere in the world.” –Afghanistan

American Spirit and Value Will Prevail “We believe that the American people will overcome this tragedy based on their spirit and on the values of their society. Our feelings and thoughts are with them.” –Albania

Total Support “We express to you our total support and our compassion over this misfortune which touches you.” –Algeria

We are With You “We feel a great sense of shock and disbelief at what has happened and sorrow that these actions have been taken against so many innocent people. Having experienced tragic events ourselves in our own country we can understand how people in the US must be feeling, and we would like you to know that we share those feelings at what has happened” –Bosnia-Herzegovina

The Attack Touches Everyone “This horrible attack touches every single person on earth as it casts a pall of death over the world...We hope that this tragedy will also present an opportunity for all people and governments to advance civilization and freedom throughout the world.” – China

Terror Threatens Global Peace “The truth is that international terrorism threatens global peace, foreign and domestic security of our respective countries. This is the time for a renewed global action against terrorists and terrorism.” –Nigeria

Human Value was Violated “We realize that these unprecedented violent terrorist acts are directed not only against citizens of the U.S.A. but against all people who stand up for the value of the human being.” –Russia

You Will Overcome This Tragedy “We believe the United States will soon be able to overcome this present tragedy.” –Tibet

Americans are Courageous “We are sure that the courageous American people will overcome the profound grief and will emerge from this crisis even more powerful and firm in protecting absolute humane values.” –Ukraine

We Join Efforts for Peace “ We condemn all types of terror attacks and we join all the efforts asking for peace, freedom and prosperity.” –West Bank

Vicente Fox, the President of Mexico, received the National Endowment for Democracy’s 2001 Annual Democracy Award September 5 at a festive Capitol Hill ceremony in Washington. The NED Board of Directors chose to honor Fox in recognition of his historic election to Mexico’s highest office, ending more than seven decades of single-party rule. NED views the honor as a tribute to the people of Mexico for the change they embraced by choosing a more open and democratic future for their country. Fox himself articulated similar sentiments in his acceptance speech.

About 400 people, including Mexico’s First Lady, Martha Sahagun de Fox, and Congressional leaders attended the ceremony. Speakers included Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., Vice-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. A Mexican democracy and human rights activist, Sergio Aguayo, a1995 recipient of the award, also addressed the gathering.

“Today, the National Endowment for Democracy proclaims Vicente Fox one of the heroes of democracy, one who embodies the new democratic spirit of the country (Mexico), and to whom we are proud to present the 2001 Democracy Award, ”said NED Chairman Vin Weber in presenting the award to President Fox.

In his acceptance speech, President Fox said the greatest credit must go to the people of Mexico, who on July 2000, calmly and peacefully embraced a new vision for their country’s political life. Fox said the elections were the first step in a process of strengthening democratic institutions and making a strong democracy a day-to-day goal for every Mexican.

“It is now required that we not only deepen the values that are part and parcel of democracy, but also promote a form of economic development that serves all and benefits all,” Fox said. “Thus, political change must translate into tangible economic progress and the gradual eradication of poverty. My government is keenly aware of its social responsibilities and will seek to fulfill them within the framework of responsible economic management.”

The presentation ceremony coincided with Fox’s trip to Washington September5-7, the first official State visit by a foreign head of state for the Bush White House. NED and its four Institutes (the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the Center for International Private Enterprise, and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity) have been active in Mexico for a number of years, supporting groups that promote democratic reforms. Today, NED grantees are working with the Fox government to tackle critical issues such as corruption, reform of the judiciary, and freedom of information.

When the Cold War ended, there were some on Capitol Hill– thankfully a small minority – who questioned whether we still needed a National Endowment for Democracy. After all, the argument went, with freedom’s triumph now inevitable, there was no longer a role for an organization whose sole function was to advance the spread of democracy.

How far we have come from that innocent time! While it is true that more countries than ever before have democratic forms of government, many are only democracies in the most superficial sense, with regular elections masking concentrated government power, corrupt administration, and widespread disregard for fundamental human rights.

As the example of Mexico so dramatically illustrated last year with the election of Vicente Fox, such countries should never be written off. After accepting the Endowment's 2001Democracy Award, President Fox graciously reminded us that the award belonged not to a single individual but to all the people of Mexico, whose sustained peaceful struggle over the years played the critical role in moving the country toward genuine democracy. He also wisely acknowledged the important work that remains to be done. The Endowment will be there to support this work, as it did the reforms that were so instrumental in bringing about Mexico’s democratic breakthrough.

The horrifying events of September 11 also serve to remind us what a critical role we have to play in this new period. The forces of terror arrayed against the West do not speak for those societies in which they operate. To the contrary, many of the people in these societies have themselves been intimidated and victimized by the terrorists, who are often harbored by regimes that oppress their own people.

The hundreds of expressions of solidarity that the Endowment has received from our grantees and other friends from every region of the world – including, most notably, the Middle East – remind us that the yearnings for democracy are voiced in many different languages across a variety of cultures and religions.

While our country and its allies move ahead to fight the urgent battle against terrorism, the Endowment will redouble its efforts to lend a hand to all those courageous individuals who share our values.

Changing Strategies to Promote Human Rights in Muslim Societies

As Islam continues to be inseparable from public life and influential in many Muslim countries, there is a growing consensus among democrats and human rights activists that in order to promote democracy and human rights in Muslim societies, it is necessary to derive support from Islamic texts and Muslim traditions. Moreover, Muslim democrats argue that political Islam is not monolithic.

In response to calls from groups throughout the Middle East, NED has increased its support to programs which synthesize democracy, human rights and Islam, in Lebanon, Morocco and Iraq. The program in Lebanon empowers women at the grassroots level in the conservative Shia suburb of Beirut by raising their awareness of basic human rights within Islam. A dedicated group of women human rights activists won the support and cooperation of a local network of girls schools, run by the Philanthropic Amlieh Association (PAA).The Amlieh schools agreed to incorporate women’s rights education in the curriculum of religion classes and host human rights training programs for teachers and students based on two manuals which were developed specifically to present information about women’s rights in away that is culturally sensitive to Islam.

With NED funding, the PAA continues to implement effective, sustainable activities that target Lebanese Shiite women and develop training modules on human rights, civic education and women’s empowerment that are sensitive to, and respectful of, religious and cultural traditions. Recently, the PAA recruited a known religious Sheikh and judge of the Shiite Court to receive referrals and provide advice to women victims of violence. As a respected member of the clergy and advocate of the importance of women’s awareness, the Sheikh’s support inspired PAA to develop an emergency program to curb violence against women in cooperation with the Shiite religious court.

In northern Iraq, NED supports another human rights awareness program in close cooperation with religious centers. The Badlisy Cultural Center runs human rights training sessions and disseminates relevant literature through the ministry of religious affairs and with the consent of the imams at local mosques. The Badlisy Center has developed literature which specifically deals with the human rights in Islamic teaching. The center worked with imams at 200 mosques in the three Kurdish provinces of Erbil, Sulyaminia and Dahok to incorporate human rights principles into the Friday prayer sermons. The Center has also arranged for Muslim scholars to brief the imams on the necessity to emphasize the sanctity of human rights in Islam.

NED also supports regional publications produced by liberal Muslims. In north Africa, NED funds a forum of distinguished writers, academics, business men and publishers who seek to highlight and synthesize pluralism and democratic values with Islamic culture and tradition. The group publishes Prologues, a quarterly journal which debates trends in culture, religion and contemporary thought. The Magrebian Circle for Studies and Publications, which produces the journal, has a distinguished editorial board of 13 Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian writers. Prologues, which is published in Arabic and French, has become a leading intellectual forum on Islam and democracy in north Africa.

The International Forum for Islamic Dialogue (IFID), a network of liberal Islamists in the Middle East, also gets NED support. Until recently, isolated individuals, most of them advanced scholars, expressed disagreement over the way Islamic dogmas and laws are invoked and used in the political arena. IFID has reached out to liberal islamists and provided them with a forum to articulate an agenda that synthesizes Islam and democracy. IFID is now recognized as an authoritative voice on liberal Islam and has also demonstrated that islamist democrats can express themselves with clarity. Its publicationIslam21, published in both Arabic and English, attracts a wide range of islamists who advocate democracy, pluralism and human rights.

Program Honoring President Reagan and Dante Fascell Established

The National Endowment for Democracy has announced the establishment of a fellows program in honor of two leading figures in the founding of NED, President Ronald Reagan and the late Dante Fascell, D-FLA. The funding of the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program is authorized by Congress and supported through a grant from the State Department’s Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

The program will enable democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to enhance their ability to promote democracy. Reagan-Fascell Fellows will be in residence at the International Forum for Democratic Studies, the research arm of NED, in Washington, D.C. The NED board has approved four fellowships for Fall 2001. The fellows include two practitioners: Mehrangiz Kar, a leading Iranian activist and human rights lawyer; Myroslava Gongadze, a Ukrainian activist who is also the widow of slain journalist, Georgiy Gongadze; and two scholars: Iranian Ramin Jahanbegloo and South Korean Chaihark Hahm.

The Forum will host 12–15 Reagan-Fascell Fellows every year for three to ten months each. The program offers a 3–5month practitioner track to improve techniques for building democracy and to exchange information with counterparts in the United States; and a 3–10 month research and writing track. Programs will depend on the fellow’s interests, professional background and duration of stay.

The Fellowship program is primarily intended for aspiring democracies, although distinguished scholars from the United States and other established democracies are also eligible to apply. Practitioners must have substantial experience working to promote democracy. Applicants interested in research and writing must have a Ph.D. or published works in their areas of expertise. The program is not designed to support students working toward a degree.

Each fellow will receive monthly stipends of $3,500 to $7,500 for living expenses, plus health insurance and reimbursement for travel to and from Washington. The deadline for Spring2002 applications is October 15, 2001.For fellowships beginning in Fall 2002,the application deadline is April 1, 2002.For more information, contact Program Assistant for the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program, at:

Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program
National Endowment for Democracy
1101 15th Street, N.W., Suite 802
Washington, D.C. 20005
Tel.: 202-293-0300
Fax: 202-293-0258
Email: fellowships@ned.org
Internet: http://www.ned.org/forum/reagan-fascell.html

Applications should be sent by airmail or e-mail.

Inside October 2001 Journal of Democracy

How democracy has fared in the “post-Soviet space” over the decade since communism fell and the USSR broke up. A distinguished group of authors, including the Russian democratic leader Grigory Yavlinsky and former U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, answer questions about “the sobering experience of the past ten 10 years.”

An essay on post-turnover Hong Kong by Dr. William Overholt of the Japan-based securities firm, Nomura International. While the orderliness of Hong Kong’s transition to Chinese rule and the preservation of civil liberties are laudable, argues Overholt, the city is showing signs of social, political, and economic malaise.

A reflection on the possibilities for democratic change in Burma by Andrew Reynolds, Alfred Stepan, Zaw Oo, and Stephen Levine examines what political scientists have learned over the years about the ways in which military regimes such as Burma’s withdraw from political power. An exchange of views on the role that the Organization of American States played in resolving the political crisis which broke out over the2000 presidential election in Peru. Coauthors Andrew Cooper and Thomas Legler maintain that the intra-Peruvian dialogue roundtable the OAS was able to organize proved crucial to the successful resolution of this crisis, which culminated in the resignation of President Alberto Fujimori.

Subscription orders can be placed by contacting the Johns Hopkins University Press, Journals Division, 2715 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4363; Tollfree phone 800-548-1784; Fax 410-516-6968. Further information plus selections from the Journal are available on-line at www.journalofdemocracy.org or http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy (for Project Muse subscribers only).

The World Movement for Democracy has just published its final report on the Second Assembly, which took place last November in São Paulo, Brazil. The World Movement is a global initiative launched by NED in 1999 to strengthen collaboration among those working to promote democratic values and institutions. The Assembly, entitled “Confronting the Challenges to Democracy in the21st Century,” brought together some 400 activists, practitioners and thinkers from more than 80countries. The previous assembly, held in New Delhi in 1999, concluded with a Founding Statement that called for re-convening the World Movement every two years.

The São Paulo Assembly was intended to lay the foundation for creating functional and regional networks focused on different areas of pro-democracy work. Accordingly, the Assembly featured nearly 40 individual workshops to maximize participation and to make the Assembly as productive as possible.

In addition to regional workshops, participants met to discuss such issues as: assisting democrats in closed societies; civil society work against corruption; overcoming barriers to economic participation in emerging democracies; using the Internet and other media to advance democracy; civil society strategies for potential breakthrough elections; the role of non-market institutions to secure workers’ rights; countering the corrosive effects of narco trafficking on democracy; diminishing the gap between human rights laws and their implementation; and advancing democracy education in difficult political and cultural environments.

Workshops were also organized to build networks in support of democracy research, increasing women’s participation in politics, local government, democracy assistance, the role of parliamentarians in the fight against corruption, the role of young democracy activists, and civic education. Many participants are now solidifying their ties with each other through their Web sites and e-mail communications and through their collaborative projects.

The assembly report is composed primarily of the observations, recommendations, and proposed initiatives resulting from the various workshops. The report also features excerpts from the keynote address delivered by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, entitled“ Democracy as a Starting Point,” greetings from other world leaders, and the presentation of the World Movement’s Democracy Courage Tributes. It also provides a list of the more than 400 participants. The report will soon be available in full text on the Web site(www.wmd.org), where it will be updated regularly with links and other information on follow-up work related to the numerous recommendations and initiatives.

The Web site also features links to regional and functional networks on democracy, many of which emerged from the Second Assembly, as well as a democracy research guide, a calendar of events, potential sources of support for democracy-related projects, a report on the First Assembly in New Delhi, and other material.

World Movement for Democracy Publishes Report on Second Assembly The report on the Second Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy held in São Paulo, Brazil in 2000 To obtain a copy of the report, write to the World Movement Secretariat at NED. E-mail: (world@ned.org). Fax: (202-223-6042)

Democratic Republic of Congo
Groupe Jeremie (GJ)
Groupe Jeremie will conduct human rights advocacy, education and training for people from every community, including students, market business women, NGO activists and members of various churches. Sessions will focus on the principles of human rights and their practical application in land right disputes, the functioning of the local justice system, the rights of women and the country’s family code.

Kyrgyzstan
Jalal-Abad Human Rights Organization “Spravedlivost.”
The Jalal-Abad Human Rights Organization Spravedlivost (Justice) will provide a democratic outlet for pursuing the human rights of the local population of Jalal-Abad, which lies in Southern Kyrgyzstan adjacent to the densely populated Fergana Valley, shared between Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It is an area of long-standing inter-ethnic dispute and increasingly the site of incursions by the extremist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

Venezuela
Education Assembly Civil Association (EACA)
EACA will promote democratic education in Venezuela and enhance its capacity as a credible, objective advocate. The group has been active since the mid-1990 s in efforts to reform the nation s schools, particularly in the areas of management, curriculum and teacher quality. EACA will organize grassroots groups to monitor education reform plans and produce draft legislation which will be debated by the National Assembly.

West Bank and Gaza
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group
The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group will enable Palestinian journalists as well as academics and organizations facing direct and indirect forms of self censorship to access objective information and create interactive networks. This will contribute to the strengthening of Palestinian civil society.

Ukraine
Youth Alternative’s “Students for Parliament”
This program, now in its fifth year of operation, will support interns in the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian national legislature. Students are selected from Ukraine’s leading universities based on an open competition, and placed in the offices of democratically minded legislators and parliamentary committees. This year, increased funding will allow the program to be opened to students from outside of Kyiv.

Yugoslavia (Serbia)
Radio Television B92
Radio and Television B92 will produce two one-hour documentaries examining major crimes committed during the disintegration of Yugoslavia. The first documentary will examine the still unresolved case of 19 Muslims abducted from a train in 1993 by Yugoslav soldiers in the Serbian entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The second documentary will focus on political assassinations in Serbia and will analyze the complex web of connections among top economic, political and criminal circles that helped perpetuate the Milosevic regime and fueled the wars in Yugoslavia.