Across the globe, growing numbers of emboldened authoritarians—from Russia, China, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Egypt, Burma, and beyond—are waging a relentless campaign of repression against individuals, institutions, and movements on the frontlines of freedom. As authoritarian regimes intensify their crackdown on voices of opposition and freedom, increasing numbers of civic activists, journalists, political dissidents, human rights defenders, lawyers, artists, and others are forced to flee their homelands and seek safe haven abroad. Once they have left their countries, these brave democracy advocates at risk (DAR) confront a staggering set of challenges, including the need for urgent financial support, legal aid and immigration assistance, housing, psychosocial and medical recovery care, and family resettlement, to say nothing of the daunting challenge of getting back in their line of work or carrying on their democracy work from afar. Existing efforts to support activists in exile have struggled to respond at scale, and to innovate to the growing new demands for emergency assistance and resiliency support. Moreover, existing programming is ill-equipped to address the longer-term needs of these democracy advocates at risk, many of whom must remain in exile for prolonged periods.

It is incumbent upon the democratic world to work together to develop a comprehensive and coordinated system of response, support, and sustenance for democracy advocates at risk—to enable them to get back on their feet and on the frontlines of their democracy work. NED plays a convening role in marshaling a comprehensive response: helping sequence support over the short, medium, and long term, engaging and enlisting new allies to the effort, innovating new models and mechanisms of coordination, and working with a range of institutions to strengthen the global architecture of support for democracy advocates at risk.

Grantee Spotlight

Scholars at Risk is an international network of more than 650 higher education institutions and thousands of individuals across more than 40 countries dedicated to promoting academic freedom and defending the human rights of scholars worldwide. Scholars at Risk believes that academic freedom, free inquiry, and free expression, are fundamental aspects of a healthy and democratic society. Scholars at Risk promotes these values primarily through monitoring and advocacy on the state of academic freedom globally and by connecting scholars facing threats with teaching and research placements at higher education institutions where the scholars can continue their vital work in safety.

The core of Scholars at Risk’s work is its support for academics facing threats across the globe. Since launching its protection efforts in 2000, Scholars at Risk has arranged teaching and research placements for more than 2,000 scholars. With NED support, Scholars at Risk has also piloted a “practitioners at risk” program, which connects non-academic HRDs with teaching and research placements at higher education institutions. In an environment where finding even 3-6 month temporary relocations for at-risk HRDs can be challenging, the ability to connect HRDs with 1-2 year fellowship opportunities represents an incredible opportunity to address the overwhelming need for protection and relocation of at-risk HRDs.

Scholars at Risk’s flagship publication, the annual Free to Think report, summarizes the work conducted by the organization’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project. Scholars at Risk leverages this publication and their regular monitoring of the global state of academic freedom to advocate for the protection of academic freedom at international and regional fora. For instance, Scholars at Risk chairs the UN Working Group on Academic Freedom (WGAF), which published Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom in March 2024; the organization also regularly contributes to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review and academic freedom-related discussions within the European Union, European Higher Education Area, and Organization of American States.

NED’s Strategic Initiatives

Building Democratic Resilience to Authoritarian Influence

Advancing the Fight against Kleptocracy

Challenging Authoritarian Censorship and Protecting Free Speech

Addressing the Opportunities and Threats Posed by Technology

Supporting Democracy Advocates at Risk

Supporting Democracy Advocates at Risk

Grantee Spotlight

NED’s Strategic Initiatives

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