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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