COVID-19 Crisis Threatens Democracy, Leading World Figures Warn
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) |