More than 500 political and civil leaders, Nobel Laureates and pro-democracy institutions have signed an open letter to defend democracy, warning that the freedoms we cherish are under threat from governments that are using the crisis to tighten their grip on power. 

The coronavirus pandemic poses serious threats to democracy. Many governments around the world have assembled emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance, often disregarding legal constraints, checks and balances, and timeframes for restoring constitutional order.  

That is the key message in “A Call to Defend Democracy,” an open letter initiated by the Stockholm-based International IDEA and the Washington-D.C.-based National Endowment for Democracy and supported by 70 pro-democracy institutions including the International Republican Institute (IRI), as well as political and civic leaders around the world, including 13 Nobel Laureates and 62 former heads of state and government. 

The letter is aimed at raising awareness and mobilizing citizens and policymakers to protect democracy – recognizing that this is the most effective system for handling global crises while protecting the rights of all citizens, particularly minorities and vulnerable groups.    

“The current pandemic represents a formidable global challenge to democracy. Authoritarian leaders around the world see the COVID-19 crisis as a new political battleground in their fight to stigmatize democracy as feeble and reverse its dramatic gains of the past few decades,” the letter states.

“Democracy is under threat, and people who care about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it. At stake are the freedom, health, and dignity of people everywhere.” 

While it is unsurprising that authoritarian regimes are using the crisis to tighten their grip on power, some democracies have also introduced emergency powers without the necessary safeguards to ensure measures can be rolled back, the letter says.

“This unprecedented demonstration of global solidarity is a sign that democracy, while threatened, is also resilient,” says Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, and one of the signatories. 

The pandemic and the global movement for racial equality have shown that democracy is more important than ever. 

Democracy allows for civil society to mobilize, for inequalities to be confronted, for policy issues to be openly debated, for trustworthy information to freely flow, and for governments to be accountable to citizens—all essential tools for successfully dealing with the current public health emergency and its consequences.  

“Now is the time when all of us must stand up for democracy. We need to make it clear to everyone what is at stake and that we will not allow leaders with authoritarian tendencies to use this or other crises to increase their power and decrease our rights. We need to defend democracy—whether in the ballot box, in the media or on the streets. This is what the letter is about,” says Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General of International IDEA.

The full letter and list of signatories follows.

A Call to Defend Democracy

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens more than the lives and the livelihoods of people throughout the world.  It is also a political crisis that threatens the future of liberal democracy.

Authoritarian regimes, not surprisingly, are using the crisis to silence critics and tighten their political grip.  But even some democratically elected governments are fighting the pandemic by amassing emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance without regard to legal constraints, parliamentary oversight, or timeframes for the restoration of constitutional order.  Parliaments are being sidelined, journalists are being arrested and harassed, minorities are being scapegoated, and the most vulnerable sectors of the population face alarming new dangers as the economic lockdowns ravage the very fabric of societies everywhere.

Repression will not help to control the pandemic.  Silencing free speech, jailing peaceful dissenters, suppressing legislative oversight, and indefinitely canceling elections all do nothing to protect public health.  On the contrary, these assaults on freedom, transparency, and democracy will make it more difficult for societies to respond quickly and effectively to the crisis through both government and civic action.  

It is not a coincidence that the current pandemic began in a country where the free flow of information is stifled and where the government punished those warning about the dangers of the virus—warnings that were seen as spreading rumors harmful to the prestige of the state.  When voices of responsible citizens are suppressed, the results can be deadly, not for just one country but for the entire world.

Democracy is not just a cherished ideal.  It is the system of government best suited to addressing a crisis of the magnitude and complexity of COVID-19. In contrast to the self-serving claims of authoritarian propaganda, credible and free flows of information, fact-based debate about policy options, the voluntary self-organization of civil society, and open engagement between government and society are all vital assets in combating the pandemic.  And they are all key elements of liberal democracy.

It is only through democracy that societies can build the social trust that enables them to persevere in a crisis, maintain national resilience in the face of hardship, heal deep societal divisions through inclusive participation and dialogue, and retain confidence that sacrifice will be shared and the rights of all citizens respected.

It is only through democracy that independent civil society, including women and young people, can be empowered to partner with public institutions, to assist in the delivery of services, to help citizens stay informed and engaged, and to bolster social morale and a sense of common purpose.

It is only though democracy that free media can play their role of informing people so that they can make sound personal and family decisions, scrutinize government and public institutions, and counter disinformation that seeks to tear societies apart.

 It is only through democracy that society can strike a sustainable balance between competing needs and priorities – between combatting the spread of the virus and protecting economic security; and between implementing an effective response to the crisis and protecting people’s civil and political rights in accordance with constitutional norms and guarantees.

It is only in democracies that the rule of law can protect individual liberties from state intrusion and constraint well beyond what is necessary to contain a pandemic.

It is only in democracies that systems of public accountability can monitor and circumscribe emergency government powers, and terminate them when they are no longer needed.

It is only in democracies that government data on the scope and health-impact of the pandemic can be believed.

Democracy does not guarantee competent leadership and effective governance.  While democracies predominate among the countries that have acted most effectively to contain the virus, other democracies have functioned poorly in responding to the pandemic and have paid a very high price in human life and economic security.  Democracies that perform poorly further weaken society and create openings for authoritarians.

But the greatest strength of democracy is its capacity for self-correction.  The COVID-19 crisis is an alarming wake-up call, an urgent warning that the freedoms we cherish are at risk and that we must not take them for granted.  Through democracy, citizens and their elected leaders can learn and grow.  Never has it been more important for them to do that.

The current pandemic represents a formidable global challenge to democracy.  Authoritarians around the world see the COVID-19 crisis as a new political battleground in their fight to stigmatize democracy as feeble and reverse its dramatic gains of the past few decades.  Democracy is under threat, and people who care about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it.  At stake are the freedom, health, and dignity of people everywhere.

Individuals

Antoni Abat Ninet Professor of Constitutional Law, the University of Copenhagen, Denmark	Diego Abente Brun Former Senator and Minister of Justice and Labor of Paraguay, Paraguay
Rinsola Abiola Advocate for gender equity and youth inclusion in politics; Member of the Board of Directors of Young Women in Politics Forum, Nigeria	Mantas Adomenas Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Lithuania
Tamara Adrian Member of National Assembly of Venezuela, Venezuela	Alina Aflecailor Human Rights Educator, Greenpeace Romania, Romania
Sergio Aguayo Professor, Colegio de Mexico, Visiting Scientist, Harvard University, Mexico	Shahidul Alam Photojournalist and social activist, Bangladesh
Fatima Al-Bahadli Executive Director, the Iraqi al-Firdaws Society, Iraq	Ana Vilma Albanez de Escobar Former Vice President of El Salvador, El Salvador
Madeleine Albright Former United States Secretary of State, USA	Svetlana Alexievich Nobel Laureate in Literature, Belarus
Leila Alieva President, Center for National and International Studies, Azerbaijan	Abdalaziz Younis Al-Jarba Chairman, Al-Tahreer Association for Development, Iraq
Luis Almagro Secretary-General, Organization of American States, Uruguay	Laura Alonso Former Member of Chamber of Deputies; Former Executive Director, Poder Ciudadano; Former Head of Argentine Anti-Corruption Office, Argentina
Oraib Al-Rantawi General Director, Al Quds Center for Political Studies, Jordan	Josette Altmann Secretary-General, FLACSO, Costa Rica
Titi Anggraini Executive Director, Perludem, Indonesia	Mohammad Hamid Ansari Former Vice President of India; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, India
William J. Antholis Director, the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, USA	Oscar Arias Sanchez Nobel Peace Laureate; Founder, Grameen Bank, Costa Rica
Rosalía Arteaga Serrano Former President of Ecuador, Ecuador	Yahya Assiri Founder, ALQST, Saudi Arabia
Rick Atkinson Journalist, USA	Brian Atwood Former USAID Administrator, USA
Shlomo Avineri Professor, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Israel	Lloyd Axworthy Former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Chair, World Refugee Council, Canada
Kelly Ayotte Former United States Senator, IRI Board Member, USA	Leszek Balcerowicz Former Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and Minister of Finance, Poland
Jan Peter Balkenende Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Netherlands	Line Bareiro Founder, Centro de Documentación y Estudios (CDE-Paraguay); Former Member, the United Nations Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Paraguay
Abdoulaye Bathily Former Member and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Senegal; Former United Nations Under-Secretary General, Senegal	Sanjaasuren Bayaraa Former Mongolian Ambassador to India ; Special Advisor to the Zorig Foundation in Mongolia, Mongolia
Christine Bell Founder and Director, Global Justice Academy; Professor of Constitutional Law and Assistant Principal, University of Edinburgh, Ireland	Carol Bellamy Former Executive Director, UNICEF, USA
Mokhtar Benabdallaoui Professor of Islamic Studies, Hassan II University, Morocco	Antoine Bernard Deputy Director General, Rapporteurs Sans Frontier (RSF), France
Tom Bernstein Chair, the Human Freedom Advisory Council of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, USA	Rob Berschinski Senior Vice President for Policy, Human Rights First, USA
Ales Bialiatski Founder, The Human Rights Center “Viasna”, Belarus	Carl Bildt Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Sweden
Valdis Birkavs Former Prime Minister of Latvia, Latvia	Sonja Biserko Chair, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Serbia
Sergio Bitar President, the Chilean Council for Strategy and Foresight, Chile	Dennis C. Blair Admiral; Former United States Director of National Intelligence, USA
E. Gyimah Boadi Executive Director, AfroBarometer, Ghana	Adam Bodnar Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland, Poland
Enrique José Bolaños Geye Former President, Nicaragua (2001-2006), Nicaragua	Kjell Magne Bondevik Former Prime Minister of Norway; Founder and Executive Chair, the Oslo Center, Norway
Gerardo Bongiovanni President, Fundacion Libertad, Argentina	Nazanin Boniadi Artist; Board Member, the Center for Human Rights in Iran, Iran
Ladan Boroumand Co-founder, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in Iran, Iran	Tanja A. Börzel Professor of Political Science, Freie University, Berlin, Germany
Catalina Botero Dean, the Law School of the University of Los Andes, Bogotá; Former Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Inter American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), Colombia	Emine Bozkurt Former Member of the European Parliament, Netherlands
Marcus Brauchli Former Editor, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, USA	Laurens Jan Brinkhorst Former Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Netherlands
Joel Brito Executive Director, the International Group for Corporate Social Responsibility in Cuba, Cuba	Darko Brkan President, CA Why Not, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Elmar Brok Former Member of the European Parliament; Former Chairman, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, Germany	John Bruton Former Prime Minister of Ireland; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former EU Ambassador to the United States, Ireland
Vern Buchanan Member, U.S. House of Representatives; Co-Chair, House Democracy Partnership, USA	Patricia Bullrich Former Minister of Security, Argentina, Argentina
Andreas Bummel Executive Director, Democracy Without Borders, Germany	Gianni Buquicchio President, Venice Commission for Democracy, Italy
William J. Burns Former United States Deputy Secretary of State, USA	Jeb Bush Former Governor of Florida, USA
Martin Butora Honorary Chairman, Institute for Public Affairs, Slovakia	Jerzy Buzek Member of the European Parliament and Former Prime Minister of Poland, Poland
Micheline Calmy-Rey Former President of the Swiss Confederation; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former President of the Council of Europe, Switzerland	Santiago Cantón Secretary of Human Rights for the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Andrew Card Chairman, the National Endowment for Democracy, USA	Fernando Henrique Cardoso Former President of Brazil, Brazil
Thomas Carothers Senior Fellow, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA	Sean Carroll President and CEO, Anera and Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, USA
Johnnie Carson Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, USA	Jean-Claude Casanova Former President, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, France
Jorge Castañeda Former Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Mexico	Julieta Castellanos Former Rector of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Honduras
Ateki Seta Caxton Chair, African Movement for Democracy, Cameroon	Hikmet Çetin Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, Turkey
Ketevan Chachava Executive Director, Center for Development and Democracy, Georgia	Lynda Chalker Baroness; Former Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Founding Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Founder and President, Africa Matters Limited, United Kingdom
Carlos Fernando Chamorro Editor, Confidencial, Nicaragua	Cristiana Chamorro Founder, the Violeta Chamorro Foundation, Nicaragua
Glanis Changachirere Founding Director, Institute for Young Women Development, Zimbabwe	Michael Chertoff Former Second United States Secretary of Homeland Security; Chairman, Freedom House, USA
Laura Chinchilla Former President of Costa Rica, Costa Rica	Joaquim Alberto Chissano Former President of the Republic of Mozambique; Chairperson, the Joaquim Chissano Foundation, Mozambique
Innocent Chukwuma Founder, the Center for Law Enforcement Education, Nigeria	Charles Joseph Clark Former Prime Minister of Canada; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation, Canada
Helen Clark Former Prime Minister of New Zealand; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former Deputy Prime Minister; Former Administrator of the UNDP, New Zealand	Radhika Coomaraswamy Former Under Secretary General and the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Sri Lanka
Susan Corke Executive Director, Transatlantic Democracy Working Group, German Marshall Fund, USA	Pascal Couchepin Former President of the Swiss Confederation; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former President of the Ministerial Assembly of the World Trade Organisation, Switzerland
Vukosava Crnjanski Director, Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, Serbia	Chester A. Crocker Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation, USA
Katka Cseh Momentum Movement, Hungary, Hungary	Cheikh Oumar Cyrille Touré (aka Thiat) Co-founder of Y’en a Marre, Senegal
Tom Gerald Daly Director, Democratic Decay & Renewal (DEM-DEC), Australia	Lucia Dammert Professor, University of Santiago of Chile, Peru
Wang Dan Founder and Executive Director, Dialogue China, China	Michael Danby Former Member of Parliament; Chair, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Australia
Srdjan Darmanovic Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro, Montenegro	Marzuki Darusman Former Attorney General of Indonesia and Member of the House of Representatives; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation, Indonesia
Thomas Daschle Former United States Senate Majority Leader, USA	Charles Davidson Co-founder, The American Interest, USA
Sabine de Bethune Baroness and Member of the Senate of Belgium, Belgium	F.W. de Klerk Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of South Africa; Founder, the Global Leadership Foundation, South Africa
Humberto de la Calle Former Vice President of Colombia, Colombia	Gloria de la Fuente President, Fundacion Chile 21, Chile
Liliana De Riz Professor, Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo, Argentina	Ravindra De Silva Co-founder and Executive Director, AFRIEL Youth Network, Sri Lanka
Howard Dean Former Governor of Vermont; Chair, DNC, USA	Koert Debeuf Writer and Editor in Chief, EUobserver, Belgium
Ronald Deibert Director, Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, Canada	Neelam Deo Director, Gateway House Mumbai, India
Larry Diamond Senior Fellow, Stanford University Hoover Institution & Freeman Spogli Institute, USA	Jeroen Dijsselbloem Former Minister of Finance of the Netherlands; Former President, Eurogroup, Netherlands
Cholpon Idinovna Djakupova Former Member of Parliament, Kyrgyzstan	Klara Dobrev Vice President of the European Parliament, Hungary
Eileen Donahoe Executive Director, Stanford Global Digital Policy Incubator, USA	Han Dongfang Executive Director, China Labor Bulletin, China
Michele Dunne Director, Middle East Program, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA	Ivan Đurić Coordinator, the World Youth Movement for Democracy, Serbia
Rafal Dutkiewicz Former Mayor of Wroclaw, Poland	Nassera Dutour President, Federation Against Enforced Disappearances (FEMED), Algeria
Shirin Ebadi Nobel Peace Laureate; Founder, Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran, Iran	Eric Edelman Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, USA
Norman Eisen Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution, USA	Bilen Asrat Ejigu Executive Director, Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Forum, Ethiopia
Bjørn Engesland Secretary-General, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Norway	Nidhi Eoseewong Historian and Recipient of the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prize, Thailand
Yakin Ertürk Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Turkey	Claudia Escobar Mejia Former Judge, Legal Specialist on Anti-corruption Policies, Guatemala
Joao Carlos Espada Director, the Institute of Political Studies, Catholic University of Lisbon, Portugal	Rosario Espinal Professor, College of Liberal Arts, Department of Sociology, Temple University, Dominican Republic
Gareth Evans Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia and Leader of the Government in the Senate; President Emeritus, the International Crisis Group; Former Dean of Australian National University, Australia	Nino Evgenidze Executive Director, Economic Policy Research Center, Georgia
Frank J. Fahrenkopf Board Member, IRI, USA	Ahmad Farouk Founder and Director, the Islamic Renaissance Front (IFR), Malaysia
Lee Feinstein Former Ambassador to Poland, USA	Jeffrey Feltman Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, USA
Niall Ferguson Historian and Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, USA	Leonel Fernández Former President of the Dominican Republic; President, the World Federation of United Nations Associations, Dominican Republic
Jan Fischer Former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic	Ezzedine Choukri Fishere Writer and Academic, Egypt
Richard Fontaine Chief Executive Officer, Center for a New American Security, USA	Cindy Franssen Member of the European Parliament, Belgium
Louise Fréchette Former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation, Canada	Flavia Freidenberg Professor, the Institute of Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Argentina
Ralf Fücks Former Deputy Mayor and Senator for Urban Development and Environmental Protection; Founder, Zentrum Liberale Moderne, Germany	Francis Fukuyama Director, the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University, USA
Yoichi Funabashi Chairman, Asia Pacific Initiative; Award Winning Journalist and Author, Japan	Chris Fussner Assistant Chairman, International Democrat Union; Board Member, IRI, USA
Chelsea Gabel Chair, Indigenous Well-Being, Community Engagement and Innovation Research Canada, Canada	William A. Galston Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution, USA
Adolfo Garcé Professor, the Political Science Institute, Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay	Timothy Garton Ash Professor of European Studies, Oxford University and Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, United Kingdom
Chito Gascon Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights, Philippines	Dumiso Gatsha Founder, Success Capital Organisation, Botswana
Cesar Gaviria Former President of Colombia, Colombia	Leymah R. Gbowee Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of Costa Rica, Liberia
Jeffrey Gedmin Editor-in-Chief and CEO, The American Interest, USA	Sam Gejdenson Former Congressman, USA
Richard Gephardt Former House Majority Leader; Former Chairman, NED, USA	Richard Gere Founder, the Gere Foundation; Chairman, The International Campaign for Tibet, USA
Amine Ghali Director, Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center, Tunisia	Eka Gigauri Executive Director, Transparency International Georgia, Georgia
Laura Gil Journalist and Director, Dialogos and Estrategias, Colombia	Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir Director, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, Iceland
Ana Gomes Former Member of the European Parliament, Portugal	Lawrence Gonzi Former Prime Minister of Malta; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation, Malta
Nicole Goodman Director, the Centre for e-Democracy; Associate Professor, Brock University, Canada	Gustavo Gorriti Journalist and Director, IDL-Reporter, Peru
Leonid Gozman President, Union of Right Forces (SPS), Russia	Mark Green Executive Director, McCain Institute for International Leadership, USA
Mike Green Former Senior Director, National Security Council, USA	Borys Gudziak President, the Ukrainian Catholic University, Ukraine
Jean-Marie Guéhenno Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, France	Alfred Gusenbauer Former Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Austria
H.R. McMaster Former United States National Security Advisor; Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Member of Board of Directors, the Atlantic Council, USA	Adam Habib Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Thor Halvorssen President, the Oslo Freedom Forum, Norway	Maxine Tanya Hamada Corporate Secretary, iLEAD, Philippines
Juela Hamati President, European Democracy Youth Network, Albania	Amr Hamzawy Former Member of the People’s Assembly of Egypt; Senior research scholar, the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, Egypt
Sung-Joo Han Former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Chairman, Asan Institute for Policy Studies, Republic of Korea	Sascha Hannig Nunez Journalist; Author; Researcher, Fundacion Para el Progreso, Chile
Husain Haqqani Director, South and Central Asia, The Hudson Institute; Former Ambassador to the United States, Pakistan	Miklos Haraszti Former OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media; Resident Fellow, Center for Media, Central European University, Hungary
Robert Hardh Member, Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy, Sweden	Stephen Harper Former Prime Minister of Canada, Canada
Gary Hart Former United States Senator, USA	Haykuhi Harutyunyan Chairperson, Corruption Prevention Commission, Armenia
Bambang Harymurti Former CEO and Editor in Chief, Tempo Magazine, Indonesia	Bahey Hassan Director, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies; Human rights advocate, Egypt
Heidi Hautala Vice President of the European Parliament; Former Minister of International Development of Finland, Finland	Ivan Miloš Havel Researcher and Former Director of the Center for Theoretical Studies, Czech Republic
Vidar Helgesen Former Secretary-General, International IDEA, Norway	Noeleen Heyzer Former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations; Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid ; Former United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Timor-Leste, Singapore
Aya Hijazi Founder, Belady foundation for Street Children, Egypt	Rachel Hoff Policy Director, Ronald Reagan Institute, USA
Martin Hojsik Progressive Slovakia, Slovakia	Theodore Hole Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Benin; Former President of the Constitutional Court, Benin
Agnieszka Holland Film Director, Poland	Zdeněk Hřib Mayor of Prague, Czech Republic
Osvaldo Hurtado Former President of Ecuador, Ecuador	Seung-hee Hwangbo Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea
Jibrin Ibrahim Senior Fellow, Center for Democracy and Development Abuja, Nigeria	Maiko Ichihara Associate Professor of International Relations, Hitotsubashi University, Japan
Hasler Iglesias Youth Coordinator, Voluntad Popular, Venezuela	Toomas Henrik Ilves Former President of Estonia, Estonia
Jose Miguel Insulza Member of the Senate of the Republic of Chile; Former Secretary-General, the Organization of American States, Chile	Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva Former President of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan
Gulalai Ismail Founder and Chairperson, Aware Girl, Pakistan	Khadija Ismayilova Former Political Prisoner and Investigative Journalist, Azerbaijan
Samson Itodo Executive Director, YIAGA and Initiator of the Not Too Young to Run campaign, Nigeria	Ramin Jahanbegloo Director, Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Peace, Jindal Global University, Iran
Atifete Jahjaga Former President of Kosovo, Kosovo	Edmundo Jarquín Former presidential and vice presidential candidate, Nicaragua , 2006 and 2011, Nicaragua
Eddie D. Jarwolo Executive Director, Naymote Partners for Democratic Development, Liberia	Seong-ho Ji Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea and North Korean defector, Republic of Korea
Yang Jianli Founder and President, Citizen Power Initiatives for China, China	John John Shattuck Former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; President Emeritus, the Central European University, USA
Jerry Jones Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, ACXIOM; Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, USA	Oh Joon Former South Korean Ambassador to the United Nations, Republic of Korea
Ivo Josipovic Former President of Croatia, Croatia	Marina Kaljurand Member of the European Parliament; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Estonia
Natasa Kandić Founder, Humanitarian Law Center, Serbia	Vladimir Kara-Murza Chairman, Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, Russia
Nils Karlson President and CEO, the The Ratio Institute, Sweden	Tawakkol Karman Nobel Peace Laureate; Founder, Women Journalists Without Chains, Yemen
John Kasich Former Governor, Ohio, USA	Garry Kasparov Chairman, Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI); Chairman, the Human Rights Foundation; Former World Chess Champion, Writer, and Political Activist, Russia
Hisham Kassem Political Commentator and Former Chairman, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Egypt	Tae-Sup Keum Ranking Member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly, Republic of Korea
Zafarullah Khan CEO, Civic Concerns, Pakistan	Mikhail Khodorkovsky Former Political Prisoner and Opposition Leader, Russia
Jean-Pierre Kingsley Former Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Canada, Canada	Dismas Kitenge President, LOTUS Group, Republic of Congo
Arnold Chung Chin Kiu Founding Member, Demosisto, Hong-Kong	Bassma Kodmani Former Executive Director, the Arab Reform Initiative, Syria
Jim Kolbe Former Member, U.S. Congress; Board Member, IRI, USA	Ernest Bai Koroma Former President of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone
Milica Kovacevic President, Center for Democratic Transision, Montenegro	David J. Kramer Senior Fellow, Vaclav Havel Program on Human Rights and Diplomacy, Florida International University ; Board Member, IRI, USA
Ivan Krastev Chairman, the Centre for Liberal Strategies; Founder, the European Council on Foreign Relations, Bulgaria	Enrique Krauze Historian and Editor, Letras Libres, Mexico
Peter Kreko Director, Political Capital Institute, Europe’s Futures Fellow, IWM/ERSTE Stiftung, Hungary	William Kristol Director, Defending Democracy Together, USA
Andrius Kubilius Former Prime Minister, Lithuania, Lithuania	Joshua Kurlantzick Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, USA
Aleksander Kwasniewski Former President of Poland, Poland	Celso Lafer Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil; Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Brazil to the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, Brazil
Zlatko Lagumdzija Former Prime Minister of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bosnia & Herzegovina	Karl-Heinz Lambertz Speaker of the Parliament of the German-Speaking Community; Former President of the European Committee of the Regions; Former Minister-President of the German-Speaking Community of Belgium, Belgium
Bolivar Lamounier Director, Augurium Consultores and Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, Brazil	Pragya Lamsal Development professional and women’s rights activist, Nepal
Vytautas Landsbergis Former President of Lithuania, Lithuania	Arthur Larok Director, Federation Development, ActionAid International, Uganda
Greg Lebedev Chairman, the Center for International Private Enterprise, USA	Cheuk-Yan Lee Former Member of the Legislative Council; Secretary-General, Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, Hong-Kong
Martin Lee Founder, Democratic Party, Hong-Kong	Hong-koo Lee Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea
Sook Jong Lee President, East Asia Institute, Republic of Korea	Enrico Letta Former Prime Minister of Italy; Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, Paris, Italy
Bernard-Henri Lévy Member, Jcall Advocacy Group, France	Sarunas Liekis Chair, The Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis, Lithuania
Alexander Likhotal Professor, the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations; Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid; Former President, Green Cross International, Russia	Tod Lindberg Senior Fellow, the Hudson Institute, USA
Xia Liu Artist and Widow of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, China	Claudio Lodici Coordinator, Biennial Conference on the State of Democracy, Loyola University Chicago, USA
Graca Machel Founder, Graca Machel Trust; Executive Chair, Mandele Institute for Development Studies in Johannesburg, South Africa	Mauricio Macri Former President, Argentina, Argentina
Thuli Madonsela Former Public Protector of South Africa; Founder, Thuma Foundation for Democracy Leadership and Literacy, South Africa	Bálint Magyar Former Minister of Education of Hungary, Hungary
Susana Malcorra Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina; Former Chef de Cabinet to the Executive Office at the United Nations, Argentina	Aagon Maliqi Program Director, Sbunker, Kosovo
Cecilia Malmström Former Member of the European Commission; Visiting Professor, the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden	Anar Mammadli Chairman, the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center; Former Political Prisoner; Recipient of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize of the Parliamentary Center of the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan
Cristina Manzano Director, esGlobal, Spain	Giorgi Margvelashvili Former President of Georgia, Georgia
Rafael Marques de Morais Founder, Maka Angola, Angola	Catherine Marshall Director, the Agora Research Center, CY Cergy Paris University, USA
Mel Martinez Former Member, U.S. Senate, USA	Myroslav Marynovych Vice-rector, the Ukrainian Catholic University, Ukraine
Mohammed Masbah Director, Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis, Morocco	Radwan A. Masmoudi Executive Director, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy; Civil society activist, Tunisia
Cliff May President, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, USA	Penda Mbow Historian and President, Mouvement Citoyen, Senegal
Cindy McCain Chairman of the Board, McCain Institute for International Leadership, USA	Michael McFaul Director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, USA
Don McKinnon Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand, New Zealand	Matteo Mecacci Former Member of Parliament; President, International Campaign for Tibet, Italy
Markus Meckel Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of the Bundestag, Germany	Rexhep Meidani Former President of Albania, Albania
Stefan Meister Director, South Caucasus Office, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany	Thomas Melia Washington Director, PEN America; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, USA
Rigoberta Menchú Nobel Peace Laureate, Guatemala	Dan Meridor Former Deputy Prime Minister of Israel and Minister of Finance, Israel
Beatriz Merino Former Prime Minister & Ombudsman, Peru, Peru	Carlos Mesa Former President of Bolivia, Bolivia
Barbara Mikulski Former United States Senator, USA	Goran Miletic Director for Europe, Civil Rights Defenders, USA
Robert C. Miller President, the Hurford Foundation, USA	Daniel Mitov Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Bulgaria
Walter Mondale Former Vice President of the United States, USA	Carlos Alberto Montaner Writer and Journalist, Cuba
Leonidas Montes Director, Centro de Estudios Públicos, Chile	Davood Moradian General Director, Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, Afghanistan
Leonardo Morlino President, the International Center on Democracy and Democratisation (ICEDD) and Emeritus Professor of Political Science, LUISS University in Rome, Italy	Marwan Muasher Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jordan, Jordan
Giorgi Muchaidze Executive Director, Atlantic Council, Georgia, Georgia	Vipul Mudgal Director, Common Cause, India
Thomas Mulcair Former Member of Parliament; Senior Fellow, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Canada	Akere Muna Chair, International Anti-Corruption Conference Council, Cameroon
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi Democracy Chair, Hertie School of Governance, Romania	Surendra Munshi Sociologist, India
Josh Muravchik Author and Adjunct Professor, The Institute of World Politics, USA	Azar Nafisi Former Fellow, the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS); New York Times Best-Seller Author, Iran
Moises Naim Senior Fellow, the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, USA	Ucha Nanuashvili Director, Democracy Research Institute (DRI), Georgia
Andrew Natsios Director, Scowcroft Institute of international affairs, Bush School of Government, Texas A&M University, USA	Mustafa Nayyem Former Member of Parliament, Ukraine
Zhanna Nemtsova Co-founder, Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom; Journalist and Social Activist, Russia	Connie Newman Board Member, IRI, USA
Andrea Ngombet Director, Anti-Kleptocracy Strategy of Sassoufit Collective, Republic of Congo	Ghia Nodia Chairman, Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development, Georgia
Pippa Norris Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, United Kingdom	Andrej Nosov Founder, Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), Serbia
Wai Wai Nu Executive Director, Women’s Peace Network; Rohingya Human Rights Activist, Burma	Victoria Nuland Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, USA
Clement Nwankwo Founding Chairman, the Transition Monitoring Group, Nigeria	Olusegun Obasanjo Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Nigeria
Ayo Obe Legal Practitioner and Former Chairperson, Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy, Nigeria	Nancy Okail Former Director, the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, Egypt
Nicholas Opiyo Excutive Director, Chapter Four, Uganda	Linda Ozola MP, New Conservative Party, Latvia
Simón Pachano Professor, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Ecuador	Ana Palacio Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Spain
Martin Palous Director, Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy, Florida International University, Czech Republic	Simon Panek Director, People in Need, Czech Republic
Andres Pastrana Former President of Colombia, Colombia	P.J. Patterson Former Prime Minister of Jamaica; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former Chair of the United Nations Security Council, Jamaica
Zygimantas Pavilionis Deputy Chair, European Affairs Committee of the Parliament, Lithuania	Rosa Maria Paya President, the Latin American Youth Network for Democracy, Cuba
Kris Peeters Member of the European Parliament; Former Minister-President of Flanders and Former Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium, Belgium	Ted Piccone Chief Engagement Officer, World Justice Project, USA
Ivan Pilip Former Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic; Former Vice President, the European Investment Bank, Czech Republic	Michael Pinto-Duschinsky Founder Governor, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, United Kingdom
Andrei Piontkovsky Writer and Visiting Fellow, the Hudson Institute, Russia	Kati Piri Member of the European Parliament, Netherlands
Marc Plattner Coeditor Emeritus, Journal of Democracy, USA	Serhii Plokhii Professor of History, Harvard University, USA
Lilianne Ploumen Member of Parliament; Former Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, Netherlands	Bhoj Raj Pokharel Former Chief Election Commissioner of Nepal, Nepal
Peter Pollak Member of the European Parliament, Slovakia	Sanjay Pradhan CEO, Open Government Partnership (OGP), India
David E. Price Member, U.S. House of Representatives; Co-Chair, House Democracy Partnership, USA	Danuta Przywara President, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland
Arch Puddington Distinguished Fellow for Democracy Studies and Former Editor, Survey of Freedom in the World, Freedom House; Writer with publications in Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, National Interest, and Journal of Democracy, USA	Vesna Pusić Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia, Croatia
Xiao Qiang Director, the Counter-Power Lab; Former Executive Director of Human Rights in China; Former Vice-chairman of the steering committee of the World Movement for Democracy, China	Nguyen Quang A Chairman, the Civil Society Forum, Vietnam
Teresita Quintos-Deles Chairperson, INCITEGov, Philippines	Jorge Quiroga Former President of Bolivia, Bolivia
S.Y. Quraishi Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, India	Iveta Radicova Former Prime Minister of Slovakia, Slovakia
Bob Rae Former Member of Parliament; Senior Fellow, Forum of Federations and Professor, University of Toronto, Canada	Jose Ramos-Horta Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of East Timor, Timor Leste
Fred Redmond Vice President, United Steelworkers Union, USA	Maria Ressa CEO and Executive Editor, Rappler, Philippines
Benjamin Rhodes President, National Security Action; Former Deputy National Security Advisor, USA	Mykola Riabchuk Honorary President, Ukrainian PEN Center, Ukraine
Bill Richardson Former Governor of New Mexico; Former Ambassador to the United Nnations, USA	Malcolm Rifkind Former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, United Kingdom
Rafael Rincón Director, Fundación Para el Progreso, Chile	Milda Rivarola Member of the Academia Paraguaya de la Historia, Paraguay
George Robertson Lord and Former Secretary-General, NATO; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation, United Kingdom	Miguel Ángel Rodriguez Former President of Costa Rica, Costa Rica
Francisco Rojas-Aravena Rector, the University for Peace (UPEACE), Chile	Petre Roman Former Prime Minister of Romania, Romania
Yaniv Roznai Professor of Law at theRadzyner School of Law, IDC Herzliya, Israel	Elyakim Rubinstein Former Attorney General of Israel and Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Israel
Marco Rubio U.S. Senator; Board Member, IRI, USA	Kevin Rudd Former Prime Minister of Australia; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation, Australia
Claudia Ruiz Massieu Former Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Mexico	Jacques Rupnik Professor, Center for International Studies at SciencesPo in Paris, France
Ibrahim Saif Former Minister of Energy and Minister of Planning of Jordan, Jordan	Walid Salem Palestinian Intellectual, Palestine
Maia Sandu Former Prime Minister of Moldova, Moldova	Lobsang Sangay President, Central Tibet Administration, Tibet
Juan Manuel Santos Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of Colombia, Colombia	Beatriz Sarlo Journalist, Argentina
Cheryl Saunders Laureate Emeritus Professor, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne; Former Vice Chair of International IDEA Board of Advisors, Australia	Bengt Säve-Söderbergh Former Secretary-General, International IDEA, Sweden
Randy Scheunemann Vice Chairman, International Republican Institute, USA	Liz Schrayer President and CEO, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, USA
Gilbert Sebihogo Executive Director, Network of African National Human Rights Institutions, Kenya	Hugh Segal Former Member of the Senate of Canada; Senior Fellow, Munk School of Global Affairs; Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto, Canada
Vildana Selimbegovic Editor-in-Chief, Oslobodjenje, Bosnia & Herzegovina	Fatiha Serour United Nations Deputy Special Representative for Somalia; Co-founder, Justice Impact Lab; Member, the Africa Group for Justice and Accountability, Algeria
Livingstone Sewanyana Executive Director, the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative; UN Independent Expert on Promoting a Democratic and Equitable International Order, Uganda	Kim Se-Yeon Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea
Gulnara Shahinian Founder and Chair, Democracy Today, Armenia	Sarkawt Shamsulddin Member of Parliament, Iraq
Natan Sharansky Former Deputy Prime Minister of Israel and Minister of Housing and Construction, Israel	Lilia Shevtsova Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow, Robert Bosch Academy, Russia
Michael Shifter President, the Inter-American Dialogue; Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, USA	Kak-Soo Shin Former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea; Fellow, Institute for Corean-American Studies; Former Ambassador; Former Deputy Permanent Representative at the Korean Mission to the United Nations, Republic of Korea
Hassan Shire Chairperson, Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network, Somalia	Azmi Shuabi Former Member of Parliament, Palestine
Liz Shuler Secretary-Treasurer, the AFL-CIO, USA	Sławomir Sierakowski Director, Krytyka Polityczna, Poland
Radosław Sikorski Member of the European Parliament; Chairman, the EU-USA Delegation, Poland	Kristen Silverberg Former Assistant Secretary of State, USA
David Skaggs Former Congressman; ViceChair, the National Endowment for Democracy, USA	Timothy Snyder Professor of History, Yale University; Permanent Fellow, the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, USA
Nagwan Soliman Affiliate Scholar, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, Egypt	Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera Former President of Costa Rica, Costa Rica
Guy Sorman President, France-Amerique, France	Wole Soyinka Nobel Laureate in Literature, Nigeria
Oliver Spasovski President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, North Macedonia	Eduardo Stein Former Vice President, Guatemala, Guatemala
Serena Sumanop CEO, the Digicel PNG Foundation, Papua New Guinea	Zamira Sysykova Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Res Publica; Recipient of the Courage in Journalism Award of the International Women’s Media Foundation, Kyrgyzstan
Ha Taekyung Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea	Yukio Takasu Chairman, Japan Center for International Exchange; Former Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations, Japan
Audrey Tang Member of the Executive Yuan Council of Taiwan as Digital Minister, Taiwan	Borys Tarasyuk Director, Institute for EuroAtlantic Cooperation, Ukraine
Natalia Taubina Director, Public Verdict Foundation, Russia	Esther Tawiah Founder and Executive Director, Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED), Ghana
Yong-ho Thae Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea	Linda Thomas-Greenfield Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, USA
Tinatin Tinatin Former Minister of Defense of Georgia; Chairperson, Civic IDEA, Georgia	Elbegdorj Tsakhia Former President of Mongolia, Mongolia
Kata Tüttő Deputy Mayor of Budapest, Hungary	Eduardo Ulibarri Journalist, Costa Rica
Jon Ungphakorn Former Member of the Senate of Thailand, Thailand	Maryam Garba Usman Executive Director, Center for Advocacy in Gender and Social Inclusion CAGSI, Nigeria
Davit Usupashvili Former Speaker of Parliament of Georgia, Georgia	Cassam Uteem Former President of Mauritius; Vice President, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation, Mauritius
Hans Van Baalen President, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Netherlands	Peter Van Praagh President, Halifax International Security Forum, USA
Anita Vandenbeld Member of Parliament, Canada	Juan Carlos Vargas President, Juventud LAC, Chile
Mario Vargas Llosa Nobel Peace Laureate; President, The Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, Peru	Gaddi Vasquez Board Member, IRI, USA
Guy Verhofstadt Member of the European Parliament and European Parliament Brexit Coordinator; Former Prime Minister of Belgium, Belgium	Melanne Verveer Former United States Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, USA
Vaira Vike-Freiberga Former President of Latvia; Founding Member, Club de Madrid, Latvia	Joaquín Villalobos Scholar, El Salvador
Kaspar Villiger Former President of the Swiss Confederation; Founding Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Chairman, the UBS Foundation of Economics in Society, Switzerland	José Miguel Vivanco Human Rights Lawyer, Chile
Kurt Volker Former United States Ambassador to NATO and Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, USA	Lavon Volski Musician and Activist, Belarus
Alexander Vondra Member of the European Parliament; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic	Lech Wałęsa Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of Poland, Poland
Margot Wallström Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Sweden	George Weigel William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, USA
Leon Wieseltier Editor, Liberties, USA	George Will Writer and Columnist, USA
Kenneth Wollack Former President, the National Democratic Institute, USA	Joshua Wong Founder, Demosisto, Hong-Kong
Joseph Wu Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, Taiwan	Leyla Yunus Director, the Institute for Peace and Democracy, Azerbaijan
Muhammed Yunus Nobel Laureate for Literature; Founder, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh	Zoran Zaev Former Prime Minister of North Macedonia, North Macedonia
Yevgeniy Zakharov Founder, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Ukraine	Roger Zakheim Director, Ronald Reagan Institute, USA
Dov S. Zakheim Former Under Secretary of Defense, USA	Svitlana Zalishchuk Former Member of Parliament and Former Advisor to Prime Minister, Ukraine
Nino Zambakhidze Chairwoman, Georgian Farmers Association, Georgia	Michael Zantovsky Executive Director, Vaclav Havel Library, Czech Republic
Ernesto Zedillo Former President of Mexico, Mexico	Yevgeniy Zhovtis Director, the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Kazakhstan
Philip Zimbardo Founder, the Heroic Imagination Project, USA	Emanuelis Zingeris Chairman, Subcommittee on Transatlantic Relations and Democracy Development, Parliament of Lithuania, Lithuania
Kész Zoltán Former Member of Parliament; Honorary President, Free Market Foundation of Hungary, Hungary

Institutions

Michael Abramowitz, President Freedom House	Souad Aden-Osman, Executive Director Coalition for Dialogue in Africa (CODA)
Edvard Agrell, Secretary-General Christian Democratic International Center	Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director Institute for Democratic Governance
Paige Alexander, CEO The Carter Center	Martin Ängeby, Secretary-General Swedish International Liberal Center (SILC)
Shawna Bader-Blau, Executive Director Solidarity Center	Anthony Banbury, President and CEO The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
Thijs Berman, Executive Director Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD)	Eric Bjornlund, President Democracy International
Igor Botan, Executive Director Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT)	Mark Bromley, Executive Director Council for Global Equality
Martin Burt, Executive Director Fundación Paraguaya de Cooperación y Desarrollo	Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General International IDEA
Ateki Caxton, Advisory Council Member African Movement for Democracy	Ketty W. Chen, Acting President Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
Irwin Colter, Chair Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights	Thomas Cormier, CEO Parliamentary Center of Canada
Maria Dahle, Director Human Rights House Foundation	Julia Ehrt, Program Director The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Organization
Ayodeji Fajemirokun, Chair West Africa Civil Society Institute	Jean Freedberg, Deputy Director Human Rights Campaign
Carl Gershman, President National Endowment for Democracy	Amine Ghali, Director Al-Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center
Dame Audrey Glover, Chairman of the Board of Trustees The Foreign Policy Centre	Ken Godfrey, Executive Director European Partnership for Democracy
William Goiz, Regional Coordinator Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)	Mark Green, Executive Director The McCain Institute for International Leadership
Eva Gustavsson, Managing Director The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation	Dolkun Isa, President World Uyghur Congress
Catherine Isaksson, Secretary-General The Center Party’s International Foundation (CIS)	Francine Jácome, Executive Director Instituto Venezolano de Estudios Sociales y Políticos (INVESP)
Carin Jämtin, Director-General The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida	Max Jerez, Political Coordinator Alinaza Universitaria Nicaraguense (AUN)
Federic Joel Aivo, Chair Association Béninoise de Droit Constitutionnel (ABDC)	Ryota Jonen, Director World Movement for Democracy
Anu Juvonen, Executive Director Political Parties of Finland for Democracy – Demo Finland	Denis Kadima, Executive Director The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA)
Jakub Klepal, Executive Director Forum 2000	Norbert Lammert, Chairman The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)
Staffan I. Lindberg, Director V-Dem Institute	Mana Livardjani, Executive Director European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP)
Lindsay Lloyd, Bradford M. Freeman Director of the Human Freedom Initiative The George W. Bush Institute	Amichai Magen, Director Program on Democratic Resilience and Development, IDC Herzliya
Michael Meyer-Resende, Executive Director Democracy Reporting International (DRI)	Derek Mitchell, President National Democratic Institute
Wilson Moreno, President Colectivo Ciudadano Ecuador	Godwin Murunga, Executive Secretary Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
Leonid Nevzlin, Founder The Nadav Foundation	Suzanne Nossel, CEO PEN America
Ray Novak, Vice Chair The International Democrat Union (IDU)	Enyinna Nwauche, Chair African Network of Constitutional Lawyers (ANCL)
Julián Martín Obiglio, President Fundación Nuevas Generaciones	Óscar Ortiz, President Unión de Partidos Latinoamericanos (UPLA)
Jonas Parello-Plesner, Executive Director Alliance of Democracies Foundation	Jerzy Pomianowski, Executive Director European Endowment for Democracy
Finn Jarle Rode, Executive Director The Oslo Center	Jatzel Roman, Executive Director JuventudLAC
Gina Romero, Executive Director Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe por la Democracia (REDLAD)	Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair Transparency International
Douglas Rutzen, President and CEO International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL)	Kole A. Shettima, Chairman West Africa Centre for Democracy and Development
Miguel Angel Simán, President Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social (FUSADES)	Anthony Smith, Chief Executive Westminster Foundation for Democracy
Anna Sundström, Secretary General Olof Palme International Center	Ichal Supriadi, Secretary-General Asia Democracy Network
Joseph Thompson, Executive Director The Inter American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH)	Anna Timmerman, General Director PAX for Peace International
Nevena Todorovid, Coordinator World Youth Movement for Democracy	Daniel Twining, President International Republican Institute
Rotislav Valvoda, Executive Director Prague Civil Society Centre	Chandanie Watawala, Executive Director Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL)
Andrew Wilson, Executive Director Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

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