Joint Letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell
Freedom House
March 22, 2002

Secretary of State Colin Powell
U.S. State Department

Dear Secretary Powell:

We applaud the recent State of the Union address in which President Bush spoke eloquently about America “stand[ing] firm for the non-negotiable demands of human freedom: the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women, private property, free speech, equal justice, and religious tolerance.”

Democracy and human rights programs advance the full range of US national interests and embody America’s most cherished values.    These times call for a far-reaching and innovative global effort to promote human freedom.   Any effective long-term strategy to combat terrorism and other extremist violence must place democratic governance, accountability, transparency, rule of law, human rights, a robust civil society, civic education and regular competitive elections at its core.      

We are writing to urge you and the Congress to consider a substantial increase in the resources dedicated to democracy and human rights programs as part of the overall increase in funding levels for foreign assistance and foreign operations.

The organizations and individuals listed below are committed to promoting democracy and human rights around the world. Many have worked closely with the Administration to advance our shared goals.   In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11^th, there is widespread determination to redouble our efforts to strengthen democratic institutions, processes and values, and respect for rule of law and human rights.   Substantially increased funding is essential not only in critical regions such as the Middle East, South and Central Asia but elsewhere across the world, where civil society has taken up the democratic challenge and/or where nascent democratic regimes remain fragile.

We recommend that funding for democracy and human rights programming be increased to at least $1 billion, from its current base of approximately $700 million.   We note that increases in funding for democracy and human rights programs are proposed for FY 2003 as part of Development Assistance but believe considerably higher levels are warranted for programs supported by this key account.   We are also concerned that adequate support for democracy also come from the Economic Support Funds, Freedom Support Act (FSA) and Support for Eastern European Democracies   (SEED) accounts.

Political extremists live in a symbiotic relationship with non-democratic regimes, exploiting the discontent that they create. Expanded programs in the area of economic development and democracy promotion can address these long-term fundamental threats to our national security in a cost-effective way and are an essential complement to diplomatic, defense and intelligence efforts.  

We look forward to working together with the Administration and the Congress to ensure the requisite increases in funding for effective democracy and human rights programs. Thank you for your consideration.  

Respectfully,

Mort Abramowitz, Board Member, International Crisis Group

David Anable , President , International Center for Journalists

Ned Bandler, Vice-Chairman, Freedom House

Kurt Bassuener , Co-Director, Democratization Policy Institute

Nina Bang-Jensen , Executive Director , Coalition for International Justice

Bette Bao Lord, Chairman Emeritus, Freedom House

Joel Barkan, Professor, Iowa State and Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center

Susan Blaustein, Coalition for International Justice

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Board Member, Freedom House

Daniel Brumberg, Georgetown University

Thomas Carothers , Vice President for Studies , Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Robert Chase, Vice President, World Learning

Jim Denton

Larry Diamond , Professor , Hoover Institute, Stanford University

Anthony Garrett, Vice President for Policy and Development, Internews Network

Morton H. Halperin, President, Open Society Policy Center

John Heffernan, Board Member, Coalition for International Justice

James Hooper, Managing Director, Public International Law and Policy Group

Scott Horton , President , International League for Human Rights

Todd Howland, Director, Center for Human Rights of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial

Robert Hunter , Chairman , Council for a Community of Democracies

Dennis Jett , Dean of the International Center , University of Florida

Douglas Johnson, Executive Director, Center for Victims of Torture

Harry Kamberis, Executive Director, American Center for International Labor Solidarity

Max Kampelman, Chairman Emeritus, Freedom House

Adrian Karatnycky , President , Freedom House

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

Stephan Klingelhofer , President , International Center for Not-for-Profit Law

Tony Lake , Former National Security Advisor

Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch

Jay Mazur, Board Member, Freedom House

Edward McMahon, Director, Center in Democratic Performance, Binghamton University

Gay McDougall, Executive Director, International Human Rights Law Group

Tom Melia, Georgetown University

Diana Negroponte, Board Member, Freedom House

Sarah Newhall , President and CEO, PACT

John Norton Moore, Board Member, Freedom House

Joe Onek

P.J. O’Rourke, Board Member, Freedom House

Mark Palmer , Former Ambassador to Hungary

Mark G. Pomar, President, IREX

Walt Raymond , President , Council for a Community of Democracies

Bill Richardson , Chairman , Freedom House

Stephan Rickard, Director, The Nuremberg Legacy Project

Leonard Rubenstein, Executive Director, Physicians for Human Rights

Eric Schwartz

David Tolbert , Executive Director , American Bar Association – CEELI

Nicolas van de Walle, Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University

Jennifer Windsor , Executive Director , Freedom House

Eric Witte, Co-Director, Democratization Policy Institute

Kenneth Wollack, President, National Democratic Institute

David Yang , Institute for Global Democracy