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.
A Call to Defend Democracy
25 June 2020
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.
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Keep democracy alive amid COVID-19
Organizations 
- African Movement for Democracy
- African Network of Constitutional Lawyers (ANCL)
- Alianza Universitaria Nicaraguense (AUN)
- Al-Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center
- Alliance of Democracies Foundation
- American Russian-speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights (ARA)
- Asia Democracy Network
- Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL)
- Association Béninoise de Droit Constitutionnel (ABDC)
- Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT)
- Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
- Christian Democratic International Center
- Coalition for Dialogue in Africa (CODA)
- Colectivo Ciudadano Ecuador
- Council for Global Equality
- Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
- Defend Democracy
- Democracy International
- Democracy Reporting International (DRI)
- European Endowment for Democracy
- European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP)
- European Partnership for Democracy
- Forum 2000
- Freedom House
- Fundación Nuevas Generaciones
- Fundación Paraguaya de Cooperación y Desarrollo
- Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social (FUSADES)
- Human Rights Campaign
- Human Rights House Foundation
- Institute for Democratic Governance
- Instituto para Democracia Multipartidária
- Instituto Venezolano de Estudios Sociales y Políticos (INVESP)
- International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL)
- International IDEA
- International Republican Institute
- JuventudLAC
- Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)
- National Democratic Institute
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD)
- Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy El Salvador
- Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy Guatemala
- Olof Palme International Center
- Parliamentary Center of Canada
- Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA)
- PAX for Peace International
- PEN America
- Political Parties of Finland for Democracy – Demo Finland
- Prague Civil Society Centre
- Program on Democratic Resilience and Development, IDC Herzliya
- Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
- Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe por la Democracia (REDLAD)
- Solidarity Center
- Swedish International Liberal Center (SILC)
- Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
- The Carter Center
- The Center Party's International Foundation (CIS)
- The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA)
- The Foreign Policy Centre
- The George W. Bush Institute
- The Inter American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH)
- The International Democrat Union (IDU)
- The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
- The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Organization
- The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation
- The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)
- The McCain Institute for International Leadership
- The Nadav Foundation
- The Oslo Center
- The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida
- Transparency International
- Unión de Partidos Latinoamericanos (UPLA)
- V-Dem Institute
- West Africa Centre for Democracy and Development
- West Africa Civil Society Institute
- Westminster Foundation for Democracy
- World Movement for Democracy
- World Uyghur Congress
- World Youth Movement for Democracy
Individual Signatories
| Surname | Name | Affiliation | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abat Ninet | Antoni | Professor of Constitutional Law, the University of Copenhagen | Denmark |
| Abente Brun | Diego | Former Senator and Minister of Justice and Labor of Paraguay | Paraguay |
| Abiola | Rinsola | Advocate for gender equity and youth inclusion in politics; Member of the Board of Directors of Young Women in Politics Forum | Nigeria |
| Abramowitz | Michael | President, Freedom House | USA |
| Aden-Osman | Souad | Executive Director, Coalition for Dialogue in Africa (CODA) | Ethiopia |
| Adomenas | Mantas | Member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania | Lithuania |
| Adrian | Tamara | Member of National Assembly of Venezuela | Venezuela |
| Aflecailor | Alina | Human Rights Educator, Greenpeace Romania | Romania |
| Agrell | Edvard | Secretary-General, Christian Democratic International Center | Sweden |
| Aguayo | Sergio | Professor, Colegio de Mexico, Visiting Scientist, Harvard University | Mexico |
| Aivo | Federic Joel | Chair, Association Béninoise de Droit Constitutionnel (ABDC) | Benin |
| Akwetey | Emmanuel | Executive Director, Institute for Democratic Governance | Ghana |
| Alam | Shahidul | Photojournalist and social activist | Bangladesh |
| Al-Bahadli | Fatima | Executive Director, the Iraqi al-Firdaws Society | Iraq |
| Albanez de Escobar | Ana Vilma | Former Vice President of El Salvador | El Salvador |
| Albright | Madeleine | Former United States Secretary of State | USA |
| Alexander | Paige | CEO, The Carter Center | USA |
| Alexievich | Svetlana | Nobel Laureate in Literature | Belarus |
| Alieva | Leila | President, Center for National and International Studies | Azerbaijan |
| Al-Jarba | Abdalaziz Younis | Chairman, Al-Tahreer Association for Development | Iraq |
| Almagro | Luis | Secretary-General, Organization of American States | Uruguay |
| Alonso | Laura | Former Member of Chamber of Deputies; Former Executive Director, Poder Ciudadano; Former Head of Argentine Anti-Corruption Office | Argentina |
| Al-Rantawi | Oraib | General Director, Al Quds Center for Political Studies | Jordan |
| Altmann | Josette | Secretary-General, FLACSO | Costa Rica |
| Ängeby | Martin | Secretary-General, Swedish International Liberal Center (SILC) | Sweden |
| Anggraini | Titi | Executive Director, Perludem | Indonesia |
| Ansari | Mohammad Hamid | Former Vice President of India; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations | India |
| Antholis | William J. | Director, the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia | USA |
| Arias Sanchez | Oscar | Nobel Peace Laureate; Founder, Grameen Bank | Costa Rica |
| Arteaga Serrano | Rosalía | Former President of Ecuador | Ecuador |
| Assiri | Yahya | Founder, ALQST | Saudi Arabia |
| Atkinson | Rick | Journalist | USA |
| Atwood | Brian | Former USAID Administrator | USA |
| Avineri | Shlomo | Professor, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities | Israel |
| Axworthy | Lloyd | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Chair, World Refugee Council | Canada |
| Ayotte | Kelly | Former United States Senator; Board Member, International Republican Institute | USA |
| Bader-Blau | Shawna | Executive Director, Solidarity Center | USA |
| Balcerowicz | Leszek | Former Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and Minister of Finance | Poland |
| Balkenende | Jan Peter | Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands | Netherlands |
| Banbury | Anthony | President and CEO, The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) | USA |
| Baran | Yaroslav | Vice-Chair, the Parliamentary Centre of Canada; Managing Partner, Earnscliffe Strategy Group; Fellow, Clayton Riddell School of Political Management, Carleton University | Canada |
| Bareiro | Line | 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 |
| Bathily | Abdoulaye | Former Member and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Senegal; Former United Nations Under-Secretary General | Senegal |
| Batres | Susan | Executive Director, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy Guatemala | Guatemala |
| Bayaraa | Sanjaasuren | Special Advisor, the Zorig Foundation; Former Ambassador of Mongolia to India | Mongolia |
| Bell | Christine | Founder and Director, Global Justice Academy; Professor of Constitutional Law and Assistant Principal, University of Edinburgh | Ireland |
| Bellamy | Carol | Former Executive Director, UNICEF | USA |
| Benabdallaoui | Mokhtar | Professor of Islamic Studies, Hassan II University | Morocco |
| BERMAN | Howard | Former U.S. Member of Congress | USA |
| Berman | Thijs | Executive Director, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) | Netherlands |
| Berman | Howard | Former Congressman; Former Chairman, the House Foreign Affairs Committee | USA |
| Bernard | Antoine | Senior Advisor, Reporters sans frontières (RSF); Faculty, PSIA/SciencesPo | France |
| Bernstein | Tom | Chair, the Human Freedom Advisory Council of the George W. Bush Presidential Center | USA |
| Berschinski | Rob | Senior Vice President for Policy, Human Rights First | USA |
| Bialiatski | Ales | Founder, The Human Rights Center “Viasna” | Belarus |
| Bildt | Carl | Former Prime Minister of Sweden | Sweden |
| Birkavs | Valdis | Former Prime Minister of Latvia | Latvia |
| Biserko | Sonja | Chair, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights | Serbia |
| Bitar | Sergio | President, the Chilean Council for Strategy and Foresight | Chile |
| Bjornlund | Eric | President, Democracy International | USA |
| Blair | Dennis C. | Admiral; Former United States Director of National Intelligence | USA |
| Boadi | E. Gyimah | Executive Director, AfroBarometer | Ghana |
| Bodnar | Adam | Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland | Poland |
| Bolaños Geye | Enrique José | Former President of Nicaragua | Nicaragua |
| Bondevik | Kjell Magne | Former Prime Minister of Norway; Founder and Executive Chair, the Oslo Center | Norway |
| Bongiovanni | Gerardo | President, Fundacion Libertad | Argentina |
| Boniadi | Nazanin | Artist; Board Member, the Center for Human Rights in Iran | Iran |
| Boroumand | Ladan | Co-founder, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in Iran | Iran |
| Börzel | Tanja A. | Professor of Political Science, Freie University, Berlin | Germany |
| Botan | Igor | Executive Director, Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) | Moldova |
| Botero | Catalina | 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 |
| Bozkurt | Emine | Former Member of the European Parliament | Netherlands |
| Brauchli | Marcus | Former Editor, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal | USA |
| Brinkhorst | Laurens Jan | Former Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands | Netherlands |
| Brito | Joel | Executive Director, the International Group for Corporate Social Responsibility in Cuba | Cuba |
| Brkan | Darko | President, CA Why Not | Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| Brok | Elmar | Former Member of the European Parliament; Former Chairman, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee | Germany |
| Bromley | Mark | Executive Director, Council for Global Equality | USA |
| Bruton | John | Former Prime Minister of Ireland; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former EU Ambassador to the United States | Ireland |
| Buchanan | Vern | Member of the United States House of Representatives for Florida | USA |
| Bullrich | Patricia | Former Minister of Security of Argentina | Argentina |
| Bummel | Andreas | Executive Director, Democracy Without Borders | Germany |
| Buquicchio | Gianni | President, The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe | Italy |
| Burns | William J. | Former United States Deputy Secretary of State | USA |
| Burt | Martin | Executive Director, Fundación Paraguaya de Cooperación y Desarrollo | Paraguay |
| Bush | Jeb | Former Governor of Florida | USA |
| Butora | Martin | Honorary Chairman, Institute for Public Affairs | Slovakia |
| Buzek | Jerzy | Member of the European Parliament and Former Prime Minister of Poland | Poland |
| Calmy-Rey | Micheline | Former President of the Swiss Confederation; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former President of the Council of Europe | Switzerland |
| Cantón | Santiago | Secretary of Human Rights for the Province of Buenos Aires | Argentina |
| Card | Andrew | Chairman, the National Endowment for Democracy | USA |
| Cardoso | Fernando Henrique | Former President of Brazil | Brazil |
| Carothers | Thomas | Senior Fellow, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | USA |
| Carroll | Sean | President and CEO, Anera and Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid | USA |
| Carson | Johnnie | Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs | USA |
| Casanova | Jean-Claude | Former President, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques | France |
| Casas-Zamora | Kevin | Secretary-General, International IDEA | Sweden |
| Castañeda | Jorge | Former Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico | Mexico |
| Castellanos | Julieta | Former Rector of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras | Honduras |
| Caxton | Ateki Seta | Chair, African Movement for Democracy | Cameroon |
| Çetin | Hikmet | Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan | Turkey |
| Chachava | Ketevan | Executive Director, Center for Development and Democracy | Georgia |
| Chalker | Lynda | 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 |
| Chamorro | Carlos Fernando | Editor, Confidencial | Nicaragua |
| Chamorro | Cristiana | Founder, the Violeta Chamorro Foundation | Nicaragua |
| Changachirere | Glanis | Founding Director, Institute for Young Women Development | Zimbabwe |
| Chen | Ketty W. | Acting President, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy | Taiwan |
| Chertoff | Michael | Former Second United States Secretary of Homeland Security; Chairman, Freedom House | USA |
| Chinchilla | Laura | Former President of Costa Rica | Costa Rica |
| Chissano | Joaquim Alberto | Former President of the Republic of Mozambique; Chairperson, the Joaquim Chissano Foundation | Mozambique |
| Chukwuma | Innocent | Founder, the Center for Law Enforcement Education | Nigeria |
| Clark | Charles Joseph | Former Prime Minister of Canada; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | Canada |
| Clark | Helen | Former Prime Minister of New Zealand; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former Deputy Prime Minister; Former Administrator of the UNDP | New Zealand |
| Coomaraswamy | Radhika | Former Under Secretary General and the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict | Sri Lanka |
| Corell | Hans | Former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations | Sweden |
| Corke | Susan | Executive Director, Transatlantic Democracy Working Group, German Marshall Fund | USA |
| Cormier | Thomas | CEO, Parliamentary Center of Canada | Canada |
| Cotler | Irwin | Founder and Chair, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights | Canada |
| Couchepin | Pascal | Former President of the Swiss Confederation; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former President of the Ministerial Assembly of the World Trade Organisation | Switzerland |
| Crnjanski | Vukosava | Director, Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability | Serbia |
| Crocker | Chester A. | Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | USA |
| Cseh | Katka | Member of the European Parliament; Co-founder, Momentum Movement | Hungary |
| Cyrille Touré (aka Thiat) | Cheikh Oumar | Co-founder of Y’en a Marre | Senegal |
| Dahle | Maria | Director, Human Rights House Foundation | Norway |
| Daly | Tom Gerald | Director, Democratic Decay & Renewal (DEM-DEC) | Australia |
| Dammert | Lucia | Professor, University of Santiago of Chile | Peru |
| Dan | Wang | Founder and Executive Director, Dialogue China | China |
| Danby | Michael | Former Member of Parliament; Chair, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee | Australia |
| Darmanovic | Srdjan | Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro | Montenegro |
| Darusman | Marzuki | Former Attorney General of Indonesia and Member of the House of Representatives; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | Indonesia |
| Daschle | Thomas | Former United States Senate Majority Leader | USA |
| Davidson | Charles | Co-founder, The American Interest | USA |
| de Bethune | Sabine | Baroness and Member of the Senate of Belgium | Belgium |
| de Klerk | F.W. | Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of South Africa; Founder, the Global Leadership Foundation | South Africa |
| de la Calle | Humberto | Former Vice President of Colombia | Colombia |
| de la Fuente | Gloria | President, Fundacion Chile 21 | Chile |
| De Riz | Liliana | Professor, Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo | Argentina |
| De Silva | Ravindra | Co-founder and Executive Director, AFRIEL Youth Network | Sri Lanka |
| Dean | Howard | Former Governor of Vermont; Chair, DNC | USA |
| Debeuf | Koert | Writer and Editor in Chief, EUobserver | Belgium |
| Deibert | Ronald | Director, Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto | Canada |
| Deo | Neelam | Director, Gateway House Mumbai | India |
| Diamond | Larry | Senior Fellow, Stanford University Hoover Institution & Freeman Spogli Institute | USA |
| Dijsselbloem | Jeroen | Former Minister of Finance of the Netherlands; Former President, Eurogroup | Netherlands |
| Djakupova | Cholpon Idinovna | Director, Legal Clinic “Adilet” | Kyrgyzstan |
| Djakupova | Cholpon Idinovna | Director, Legal Clinic “Adilet” | Kyrgyzstan |
| Dobrev | Klara | Vice President of the European Parliament | Hungary |
| Donahoe | Eileen | Executive Director, Stanford Global Digital Policy Incubator | USA |
| Dongfang | Han | Executive Director, China Labor Bulletin | China |
| Dunne | Michele | Director, Middle East Program, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | USA |
| Đurić | Ivan | Coordinator, the World Youth Movement for Democracy | Serbia |
| Dutkiewicz | Rafal | Former Mayor of Wroclaw | Poland |
| Dutour | Nassera | President, Federation Against Enforced Disappearances (FEMED) | Algeria |
| Ebadi | Shirin | Nobel Peace Laureate; Founder, Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran | Iran |
| Edelman | Eric | Former United States Under Secretary of Defense for Policy | USA |
| Ehrt | Julia | Program Director, The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Organization | Switzerland |
| Eisen | Norman | Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution | USA |
| Ejigu | Bilen Asrat | Executive Director, Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Forum | Ethiopia |
| Engesland | Bjørn | Secretary-General, Norwegian Helsinki Committee | Norway |
| Eoseewong | Nidhi | Historian and Recipient of the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prize | Thailand |
| Ertürk | Yakin | Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women | Turkey |
| Escobar Mejia | Claudia | Former Judge, Legal Specialist on Anti-corruption Policies | Guatemala |
| Espada | Joao Carlos | Director, the Institute of Political Studies, Catholic University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| Espinal | Rosario | Professor, College of Liberal Arts, Department of Sociology, Temple University | Dominican Republic |
| Essex | Aleksander | Associate Professor of Cybersecurity, Western University | Canada |
| Evans | Gareth | 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 |
| Evgenidze | Nino | Executive Director, Economic Policy Research Center | Georgia |
| Fahrenkopf | Frank J. | Founding Member, the International Republican Institute; Co-chair, the Commission on the Presidential Debates | USA |
| Fajemirokun | Ayodeji | Chair, West Africa Civil Society Institute | Ghana |
| Farouk | Ahmad | Founder and Director, the Islamic Renaissance Front (IFR) | Malaysia |
| Feinstein | Lee | Former Ambassador to Poland | USA |
| Feltman | Jeffrey | Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs | USA |
| Ferguson | Niall | Historian and Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University | USA |
| Fernández | Leonel | Former President of the Dominican Republic; President, the World Federation of United Nations Associations | Dominican Republic |
| Ferreira Rubio | Delia | Chair, Transparency International | Argentina |
| Fischer | Jan | Former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic | Czech Republic |
| Fishere | Ezzedine Choukri | Writer and Academic | Egypt |
| Fontaine | Richard | CEO, Center for a New American Security (CNAS) | USA |
| Franco Gómez | Federico | Former President of Paraguay | Paraguay |
| Franssen | Cindy | Member of the European Parliament | Belgium |
| Fréchette | Louise | Former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | Canada |
| Freedberg | Jean | Deputy Director, Human Rights Campaign | USA |
| Freidenberg | Flavia | Professor, the Institute of Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) | Argentina |
| Fücks | Ralf | Former Deputy Mayor and Senator for Urban Development and Environmental Protection; Founder, Zentrum Liberale Moderne | Germany |
| Fukuyama | Francis | Director, the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University | USA |
| Funabashi | Yoichi | Chairman, Asia Pacific Initiative; Award Winning Journalist and Author | Japan |
| Fussner | Chris | Assistant Chairman, International Democratic Union; Board Member, International Republican Institute | USA |
| Gabel | Chelsea | Chair, Indigenous Well-Being, Community Engagement and Innovation Research Canada | Canada |
| Galston | William A. | Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution | USA |
| Garcé | Adolfo | Professor, the Political Science Institute, Universidad de la República in Montevideo | Uruguay |
| Garton Ash | Timothy | Professor of European Studies, Oxford University and Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University | United Kingdom |
| Gascon | Chito | Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights | Philippines |
| Gatsha | Dumiso | Founder, Success Capital Organisation | Botswana |
| Gaviria | Cesar | Former President of Colombia | Colombia |
| Gbowee | Leymah R. | Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of Costa Rica | Liberia |
| Gedmin | Jeffrey | Editor-in-Chief and CEO, The American Interest | USA |
| Gejdenson | Sam | Former Congressman | USA |
| Gephardt | Richard | Former House Majority Leader; Former Chairman, NED | USA |
| Gere | Richard | Founder, the Gere Foundation; Chairman, The International Campaign for Tibet | USA |
| Gershman | Carl | President, National Endowment for Democracy | USA |
| Ghali | Amine | Director, Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center | Tunisia |
| Gigauri | Eka | Executive Director, Transparency International Georgia | Georgia |
| Gil | Laura | Journalist and Director, Dialogos and Estrategias | Colombia |
| Gísladóttir | Ingibjörg Sólrún | Director, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland | Iceland |
| Glinski | Dmitri Daniel | Co-Chair Board of Directors, American Russian-speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights (ARA) | USA |
| Glover | Audrey | Chairman of the Board of Trustees, The Foreign Policy Centre | UK |
| Godfrey | Ken | Executive Director, European Partnership for Democracy | Belgium |
| Goiz | William | Regional Coordinator, Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) | Philippines |
| Goldfield | David | Former Board Member, the Parliamentary Center of Canada | Canada |
| Gomes | Ana | Former Member of the European Parliament | Portugal |
| Gonzi | Lawrence | Former Prime Minister of Malta; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | Malta |
| Goodman | Nicole | Director, the Centre for e-Democracy; Associate Professor, Brock University | Canada |
| Gorriti | Gustavo | Journalist and Director, IDL-Reporter | Peru |
| Gozman | Leonid | President, Union of Right Forces (SPS) | Russia |
| Green | Mark | Executive Director, McCain Institute for International Leadership | USA |
| Green | Mike | Former Senior Director, National Security Council | USA |
| Gudziak | Borys | President, the Ukrainian Catholic University | Ukraine |
| Guéhenno | Jean-Marie | Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations | France |
| Gusenbauer | Alfred | Former Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria | Austria |
| Gustavsson | Eva | Managing Director, The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation | Sweden |
| Habib | Adam | Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg | South Africa |
| Halvorssen | Thor | President, the Oslo Freedom Forum | Norway |
| Hamada | Maxine Tanya | Corporate Secretary, iLEAD | Philippines |
| Hamati | Juela | President, European Democracy Youth Network | Albania |
| Hamzawy | Amr | 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 |
| Han | Sung-Joo | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Chairman, Asan Institute for Policy Studies | Republic of Korea |
| Hannig Nunez | Sascha | Journalist; Author; Researcher, Fundacion Para el Progreso | Chile |
| Haqqani | Husain | Director, South and Central Asia, The Hudson Institute; Former Ambassador to the United States | Pakistan |
| Haraszti | Miklos | Former OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media; Resident Fellow, Center for Media, Central European University | Hungary |
| Hardh | Robert | Member, Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy | Sweden |
| Harper | Stephen | Former Prime Minister of Canada | Canada |
| Hart | Gary | Former United States Senator | USA |
| Harutyunyan | Haykuhi | Chairperson, Corruption Prevention Commission | Armenia |
| Harymurti | Bambang | Former CEO and Editor in Chief, Tempo Magazine | Indonesia |
| Hassan | Bahey | Director, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies; Human rights advocate | Egypt |
| Hautala | Heidi | Vice President of the European Parliament; Former Minister of International Development of Finland | Finland |
| Havel | Ivan Miloš | Researcher and Former Director of the Center for Theoretical Studies | Czech Republic |
| Helgesen | Vidar | Former Secretary-General, International IDEA | Norway |
| Heyzer | Noeleen | 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 |
| Hijazi | Aya | Founder, Belady foundation for Street Children | Egypt |
| Hoff | Rachel | Policy Director, Ronald Reagan Institute | USA |
| Hojsik | Martin | Member of the European Parliament | Slovakia |
| Hole | Theodore | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Benin; Former President of the Constitutional Court | Benin |
| Holland | Agnieszka | Film Director | Poland |
| Holtz | Uwe | Professor of Political Science, University of Bonn; Former Member, the German Bundestag and Chairman, Parliamentary Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development; Former Member, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe | Germany |
| Hřib | Zdeněk | Mayor of Prague | Czech Republic |
| Hurtado | Osvaldo | Former President of Ecuador | Ecuador |
| Hwangbo | Seung-hee | Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea | Republic of Korea |
| IBRAHIM | Dato Seri Anwar | President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party), Parliament | Malaysia |
| Ibrahim | Jibrin | Senior Fellow, Center for Democracy and Development Abuja | Nigeria |
| Ichihara | Maiko | Associate Professor of International Relations, Hitotsubashi University | Japan |
| Iglesias | Hasler | Youth Coordinator, Voluntad Popular | Venezuela |
| Ilves | Toomas Henrik | Former President of Estonia | Estonia |
| Insulza | Jose Miguel | Member of the Senate of the Republic of Chile; Former Secretary-General, the Organization of American States | Chile |
| Isa | Dolkun | President, World Uyghur Congress | Germany |
| Isakovna Otunbayeva | Roza | Former President of Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyzstan |
| Isakovna | Catherine | Secretary-General, The Center Party's International Foundation (CIS) | Sweden |
| Ismail | Gulalai | Founder and Chairperson, Aware Girl | Pakistan |
| Ismayilova | Khadija | Former Political Prisoner and Investigative Journalist | Azerbaijan |
| Itodo | Samson | Executive Director, YIAGA and Initiator of the Not Too Young to Run campaign | Nigeria |
| Jácome | Francine | Executive Director, Instituto Venezolano de Estudios Sociales y Políticos (INVESP) | Venezuela |
| Jahanbegloo | Ramin | Director, Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Peace, Jindal Global University | Iran |
| Jahjaga | Atifete | Former President of Kosovo | Kosovo |
| Jämtin | Carin | Director-General, The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida | Sweden |
| Jarle Rode | Finn | Executive Director, The Oslo Center | Norway |
| Jarquín | Edmundo | Former Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Nicaragua; Former Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidate of Nicaragua; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | Nicaragua |
| Jarwolo | Eddie D. | Executive Director, Naymote Partners for Democratic Development | Liberia |
| Jerez | Max | Political Coordinator, Alianza Universitaria Nicaragüense (AUN) | Nicaragua |
| Ji | Seong-ho | Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea and North Korean defector | Republic of Korea |
| Jianli | Yang | Founder and President, Citizen Power Initiatives for China | China |
| John Shattuck | John | Former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; President Emeritus, the Central European University | USA |
| Jonen | Ryota | Director, World Movement for Democracy | USA |
| Jones | Jerry | Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, ACXIOM; Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid | USA |
| Joon | Oh | Former South Korean Ambassador to the United Nations | Republic of Korea |
| Josipovic | Ivo | Former President of Croatia | Croatia |
| Juvonen | Anu | Executive Director, Political Parties of Finland for Democracy – Demo Finland | Finland |
| Kadima | Denis | Executive Director, The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) | South Africa |
| Kaljurand | Marina | Member of the European Parliament; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia | Estonia |
| Kandić | Natasa | Founder, Humanitarian Law Center | Serbia |
| Kara-Murza | Vladimir | Chairman, Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom | Russia |
| Karlson | Nils | President and CEO, the The Ratio Institute | Sweden |
| Karman | Tawakkol | Nobel Peace Laureate; Founder, Women Journalists Without Chains | Yemen |
| kasich | John | Former Governor of Ohio | USA |
| Kasparov | Garry | Chairman, Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI); Chairman, the Human Rights Foundation; Former World Chess Champion, Writer, and Political Activist | Russia |
| Kassem | Hisham | Political Commentator and Former Chairman, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights | Egypt |
| Keum | Tae-Sup | Ranking Member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly | Republic of Korea |
| Khan | Zafarullah | CEO, Civic Concerns | Pakistan |
| Khodorkovsky | Mikhail | Former Political Prisoner and Opposition Leader | Russia |
| Kingsley | Jean-Pierre | Former Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Canada | Canada |
| Kitenge | Dismas | President, LOTUS Group | Republic of Congo |
| Kiu | Arnold Chung Chin | Founding Member, Demosisto | Hong-Kong |
| Klepal | Jakub | Executive Director, Forum 2000 | Czech Republic |
| Kodmani | Bassma | Former Executive Director, the Arab Reform Initiative | Syria |
| Kolbe | Jim | Former Congressman; Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States; Board Member, International Republican Institute | USA |
| Koroma | Ernest Bai | Former President of Sierra Leone | Sierra Leone |
| Kovacevic | Milica | President, Center for Democratic Transision | Montenegro |
| Kramer | David J. | Former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Senior Fellow, Vaclav Havel Program on Human Rights and Diplomacy, Florida International University; Board Member, International Republican Institute | USA |
| Krastev | Ivan | Chairman, the Centre for Liberal Strategies; Founder, the European Council on Foreign Relations | Bulgaria |
| Krauze | Enrique | Historian and Editor, Letras Libres | Mexico |
| Kreko | Peter | Director, Political Capital Institute, Europe’s Futures Fellow, IWM/ERSTE Stiftung | Hungary |
| Kristol | William | Director, Defending Democracy Together | USA |
| Kubilius | Andrius | Member of the European Parliament; Former Prime Minister of Lithuania | Lithuania |
| Kurlantzick | Joshua | Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations | USA |
| Kwasniewski | Aleksander | Former President of Poland | Poland |
| Lafer | Celso | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil; Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Brazil to the World Trade Organization and the United Nations | Brazil |
| Lagumdzija | Zlatko | Former Prime Minister of Bosnia & Herzegovina | Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| Lambertz | Karl-Heinz | 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 |
| Lammert | Norbert | Chairman, The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) | Germany |
| Lamounier | Bolivar | Director, Augurium Consultores and Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid | Brazil |
| Lamsal | Pragya | Development professional and women's rights activist | Nepal |
| Landsbergis | Vytautas | Former President of Lithuania | Lithuania |
| Larok | Arthur | Director, Federation Development, ActionAid International | Uganda |
| Lebedev | Greg | Chairman, the Center for International Private Enterprise | USA |
| Lee | Cheuk-Yan | Former Member of the Legislative Council; Secretary-General, Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions | Hong-Kong |
| Lee | Hong-koo | Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea | Republic of Korea |
| Lee | Martin | Founder, Democratic Party | Hong-Kong |
| Lee | Sook Jong | Trustee, East Asia Institute; Professor, Sungkyunkwan University | Republic of Korea |
| Letta | Enrico | Former Prime Minister of Italy; Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, Paris | Italy |
| Lévy | Bernard-Henri | Philosopher, Author, Filmmaker, Activist | France |
| Liekis | Sarunas | Chair, The Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis | Lithuania |
| Likhotal | Alexander | Professor, the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations; Advisor, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid; Former President, Green Cross International | Russia |
| Lindberg | Tod | Senior Fellow, the Hudson Institute | USA |
| Lindberg | Staffan I. | Director, V-Dem Institute | Sweden |
| Liu | Xia | Artist and Widow of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo | China |
| Livardjani | Mana | Executive Director, European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP) | Belgium |
| Lloyd | Lindsay | Bradford M. Freeman Director of the Human Freedom Initiative, The George W. Bush Institute | USA |
| Lodici | Claudio | Coordinator, Biennial Conference on the State of Democracy, Loyola University Chicago | USA |
| Machel | Graca | Founder, Graca Machel Trust; Executive Chair, Mandele Institute for Development Studies in Johannesburg | South Africa |
| Macri | Mauricio | Former President of Argentina | Argentina |
| MacKay | Peter | Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, National Defence, Justice and Attorney General | Canada |
| Madonsela | Thuli | Former Public Protector of South Africa; Founder, Thuma Foundation for Democracy Leadership and Literacy | South Africa |
| Magen | Amichai | Director, Program on Democratic Resilience and Development, IDC Herzliya | Israel |
| Magyar | Bálint | Former Minister of Education of Hungary | Hungary |
| Malcorra | Susana | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina; Former Chef de Cabinet to the Executive Office at the United Nations | Argentina |
| Maliqi | Aagon | Program Director, Sbunker | Kosovo |
| Malmström | Cecilia | Former Member of the European Commission; Visiting Professor, the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg | Sweden |
| Mammadli | Anar | 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 |
| Manzano | Cristina | Director, esGlobal | Spain |
| Margvelashvili | Giorgi | Former President of Georgia | Georgia |
| Marques de Morais | Rafael | Founder, Maka Angola | Angola |
| Marshall | Catherine | Director, the Agora Research Center, CY Cergy Paris University | USA |
| Martinez | Mel | Former United States Senator | USA |
| Marynovych | Myroslav | Vice-rector, the Ukrainian Catholic University | Ukraine |
| Masbah | Mohammed | Director, Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis | Morocco |
| Masmoudi | Radwan A. | Executive Director, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy; Civil society activist | Tunisia |
| May | Cliff | President, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies | USA |
| Mbow | Penda | Historian and President, Mouvement Citoyen | Senegal |
| McCain | Cindy | Chair, Board of Trustees of the McCain Institute for International Leadership | USA |
| McFaul | Michael | Director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies | USA |
| McKinnon | Don | Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand | New Zealand |
| McMaster | H.R. | Board Member, International Republican Institute | USA |
| Mecacci | Matteo | Former Member of Parliament; President, International Campaign for Tibet | Italy |
| Meckel | Markus | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of the Bundestag | Germany |
| Meidani | Rexhep | Former President of Albania | Albania |
| Meister | Stefan | Director, South Caucasus Office, Heinrich Boell Foundation | Germany |
| Meléndez | Juan | Executive Director, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy El Salvador | El Salvador |
| Melia | Thomas | Washington Director, PEN America; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor | USA |
| Menchú | Rigoberta | Nobel Peace Laureate | Guatemala |
| Meridor | Dan | Former Deputy Prime Minister of Israel and Minister of Finance | Israel |
| Merino | Beatriz | The President of the Council of Ministers of Peru and National Ombudswoman | Peru |
| Mesa | Carlos | Former President of Bolivia | Bolivia |
| Meyer-Resende | Michael | Executive Director, Democracy Reporting International (DRI) | Germany |
| Mikulski | Barbara | Former United States Senator | USA |
| Miletic | Goran | Director for Europe, Civil Rights Defenders | USA |
| Miller | Robert C. | President, the Hurford Foundation | USA |
| Mitchell | Derek | President, National Democratic Institute | USA |
| Mitov | Daniel | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria | Bulgaria |
| Mondale | Walter | Former Vice President of the United States | USA |
| Montaner | Carlos Alberto | Writer and Journalist | Cuba |
| Montes | Leonidas | Director, Centro de Estudios Públicos | Chile |
| Moradian | Davood | General Director, Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies | Afghanistan |
| Moreno | Wilson | President, Colectivo Ciudadano Ecuador | Ecuador |
| Morlino | Leonardo | President, the International Center on Democracy and Democratisation (ICEDD) and Emeritus Professor of Political Science, LUISS University in Rome | Italy |
| Muasher | Marwan | Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jordan | Jordan |
| Muchaidze | Giorgi | Executive Director, Atlantic Council, Georgia | Georgia |
| Mudgal | Vipul | Director, Common Cause | India |
| Mulcair | Thomas | Former Member of Parliament; Senior Fellow, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights | Canada |
| Mulhovo | Hermenegildo | Executive Director, Instituto para Democracia Multipartidária | Mozambique |
| Muna | Akere | Chair, International Anti-Corruption Conference Council | Cameroon |
| Mungiu-Pippidi | Alina | Democracy Chair, Hertie School of Governance | Romania |
| Munshi | Surendra | Sociologist | India |
| Muravchik | Josh | Author and Adjunct Professor, The Institute of World Politics | USA |
| Murunga | Godwin | Executive Secretary, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) | Senegal |
| Nafisi | Azar | Former Fellow, the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS); New York Times Best-Seller Author | Iran |
| Naim | Moises | Senior Fellow, the Carnegie Endowment for Peace | USA |
| Nanuashvili | Ucha | Director, Democracy Research Institute (DRI) | Georgia |
| Natsios | Andrew | Director, Scowcroft Institute of international affairs, Bush School of Government, Texas A&M University | USA |
| Nayyem | Mustafa | Former Member of Parliament | Ukraine |
| Nemtsova | Zhanna | Co-founder, Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom; Journalist and Social Activist | Russia |
| Nevzlin | Leonid | Founder, The Nadav Foundation | Israel |
| Newman | Constance | Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs | USA |
| Ngombet | Andrea | Director, Anti-Kleptocracy Strategy of Sassoufit Collective | Republic of Congo |
| Nodia | Ghia | Chairman, Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development | Georgia |
| Norris | Pippa | Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University | United Kingdom |
| Nosov | Andrej | Founder, Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) | Serbia |
| Nossel | Suzanne | CEO, PEN America | USA |
| Novak | Ray | Vice Chair, The International Democrat Union (IDU) | Germany |
| Nu | Wai Wai | Executive Director, Women’s Peace Network; Rohingya Human Rights Activist | Burma |
| Nuland | Victoria | Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs | USA |
| Nwankwo | Clement | Founding Chairman, the Transition Monitoring Group | Nigeria |
| Nwauche | Enyinna | Chair, African Network of Constitutional Lawyers (ANCL) | South Africa |
| Obasanjo | Olusegun | Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria | Nigeria |
| Obe | Ayo | Legal Practitioner and Former Chairperson, Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy | Nigeria |
| Obiglio | Julián Martín | LPresident, Fundación Nuevas Generaciones | Argentina |
| Okail | Nancy | Former Director, the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy | Egypt |
| Opiyo | Nicholas | Excutive Director, Chapter Four | Uganda |
| Ortiz | Óscar | President, Unión de Partidos Latinoamericanos (UPLA) | Chile |
| Pachano | Simón | Professor, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) | Ecuador |
| Palacio | Ana | Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain | Spain |
| Palous | Martin | Director, Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy, Florida International University | Czech Republic |
| Panek | Simon | Director, People in Need | Czech Republic |
| Parello-Plesner | Jonas | Executive Director, Alliance of Democracies Foundation | Denmark |
| Pastrana | Andres | Former President of Colombia | Colombia |
| Patterson | P.J. | Former Prime Minister of Jamaica; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Former Chair of the United Nations Security Council | Jamaica |
| Pavilionis | Zygimantas | Deputy Chair, European Affairs Committee of the Parliament | Lithuania |
| Paya | Rosa Maria | President, the Latin American Youth Network for Democracy | Cuba |
| Peeters | Kris | Member of the European Parliament; Former Minister-President of Flanders and Former Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium | Belgium |
| Piccone | Ted | Chief Engagement Officer, World Justice Project | USA |
| Pilip | Ivan | Former Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic; Former Vice President, the European Investment Bank | Czech Republic |
| Pinto-Duschinsky | Michael | Founder Governor, Westminster Foundation for Democracy | United Kingdom |
| Piontkovsky | Andrei | Writer and Visiting Fellow, the Hudson Institute | Russia |
| Piri | Kati | Member of the European Parliament | Netherlands |
| Plattner | Marc | Coeditor Emeritus, Journal of Democracy | USA |
| Plokhii | Serhii | Professor of History, Harvard University | USA |
| Ploumen | Lilianne | Member of Parliament; Former Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands | Netherlands |
| Pokharel | Bhoj Raj | Former Chief Election Commissioner of Nepal | Nepal |
| Pollak | Peter | Member of the European Parliament | Slovakia |
| Pomianowski | Jerzy | Executive Director, European Endowment for Democracy | Belgium |
| Pradhan | Sanjay | CEO, Open Government Partnership (OGP) | India |
| Price | David E. | Member of the United States House of Representatives for North Carolina | USA |
| Przywara | Danuta | President, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights | Poland |
| Puddington | Arch | 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 |
| Pusić | Vesna | Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia | Croatia |
| Qiang | Xiao | 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 |
| Qisa'i | Ahmad | Program Director for Democratic Justice Governance and Regionalization, Kemitraan | Indonesia |
| Quang A | Nguyen | Chairman, the Civil Society Forum | Vietnam |
| Quintos-Deles | Teresita | Chairperson, INCITEGov | Philippines |
| Quiroga | Jorge | Former President of Bolivia | Bolivia |
| Quraishi | S.Y. | Former Chief Election Commissioner of India | India |
| Radicova | Iveta | Former Prime Minister of Slovakia | Slovakia |
| Rae | Bob | Former Member of Parliament; Senior Fellow, Forum of Federations and Professor, University of Toronto | Canada |
| Ramos-Horta | Jose | Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of East Timor | Timor Leste |
| Redmond | Fred | Vice President, United Steelworkers Union | USA |
| Ressa | Maria | CEO and Executive Editor, Rappler | Philippines |
| Rhodes | Benjamin | President, National Security Action; Former Deputy National Security Advisor | USA |
| Riabchuk | Mykola | Honorary President, Ukrainian PEN Center | Ukraine |
| Richardson | Bill | Former Governor of New Mexico; Former Ambassador to the United Nnations | USA |
| Rifkind | Malcolm | Former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | United Kingdom |
| Rincón | Rafael | Director, Fundación Para el Progreso | Chile |
| Rivarola | Milda | Member of the Academia Paraguaya de la Historia | Paraguay |
| Robertson | George | Lord and Former Secretary-General, NATO; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | United Kingdom |
| Rock | Allan | Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada; President Emeritus, the University of Ottawa | Canada |
| Rodriguez | Miguel Ángel | Former President of Costa Rica | Costa Rica |
| Rojas-Aravena | Francisco | Rector, the University for Peace (UPEACE) | Chile |
| Roman | Petre | Former Prime Minister of Romania | Romania |
| Roman | Jatzel | Executive Director, JuventudLAC | Dominican Republic |
| Romero | Gina | Executive Director, Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe por la Democracia (REDLAD) | Colombia |
| Roznai | Yaniv | Professor of Law at theRadzyner School of Law, IDC Herzliya | Israel |
| Rubinstein | Elyakim | Former Attorney General of Israel and Deputy President of the Supreme Court | Israel |
| Rubio | Marco | Senior United States Senator for Florida | USA |
| Rudd | Kevin | Former Prime Minister of Australia; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | Australia |
| Ruiz Massieu | Claudia | Former Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico | Mexico |
| Rupnik | Jacques | Professor, Center for International Studies at SciencesPo in Paris | France |
| Ruszkowski | Jean-Paul | Former President and CEO, Parliamentary Center of Canada | Canada |
| Rutzen | Douglas | President and CEO, International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) | USA |
| Saif | Ibrahim | Former Minister of Energy and Minister of Planning of Jordan | Jordan |
| Salem | Walid | Palestinian Intellectual | Palestine |
| Sandu | Maia | Former Prime Minister of Moldova | Moldova |
| Sangay | Lobsang | President, Central Tibet Administration | Tibet |
| Santos | Juan Manuel | Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of Colombia | Colombia |
| Sarlo | Beatriz | Journalist | Argentina |
| Saunders | Cheryl | Laureate Emeritus Professor, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne; Former Vice Chair of International IDEA Board of Advisors | Australia |
| Säve-Söderbergh | Bengt | Former Secretary-General, International IDEA | Sweden |
| Scheunemann | Randy | Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, the International Republican Institute | USA |
| Schrayer | Liz | President and CEO, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | USA |
| Sebihogo | Gilbert | Executive Director, Network of African National Human Rights Institutions | Kenya |
| Sedaca | Nicole Bibbins | Chair, Global Politics and Security Concentration; Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Georgetown University | USA |
| Segal | Hugh | Mathews Fellow in Global Public Policy, Queen's School of Policy Studies; Former Chair, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs | Canada |
| Selimbegovic | Vildana | Editor-in-Chief, Oslobodjenje | Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| Serour | Fatiha | United Nations Deputy Special Representative for Somalia; Co-founder, Justice Impact Lab; Member, the Africa Group for Justice and Accountability | Algeria |
| Sewanyana | Livingstone | Executive Director, the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative; UN Independent Expert on Promoting a Democratic and Equitable International Order | Uganda |
| Se-Yeon | Kim | Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea | Republic of Korea |
| Shahinian | Gulnara | Founder and Chair, Democracy Today | Armenia |
| Shamsulddin | Sarkawt | Member of Parliament | Iraq |
| Sharansky | Natan | Former Deputy Prime Minister of Israel and Minister of Housing and Construction | Israel |
| Shettima | Kole A. | Chairman, West Africa Centre for Democracy and Development | Nigeria |
| Shevtsova | Lilia | Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow, Robert Bosch Academy | Russia |
| Shifter | Michael | President, the Inter-American Dialogue; Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies, Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service | USA |
| Shin | Kak-Soo | 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 |
| Shire | Hassan | Chairperson, Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network | Somalia |
| Shire | Hassan | Chairperson, Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network | Somalia |
| Shoot | Rebecca | Senior Adviser for Democratic Renewal and Human Rights, Parliamentarians for Global Action | USA |
| Shuler | Liz | Secretary-Treasurer, the AFL-CIO | USA |
| Sierakowski | Sławomir | Director, Krytyka Polityczna | Poland |
| Sikorski | Radosław | Member of the European Parliament; Former Foreign Minister and Minister of Defence of Poland; Chairman, the EU-USA Delegation | Poland |
| Silverberg | Kristen | Former Assistant Secretary of State, Board Member, International Republican Institute | USA |
| Simán | Miguel Angel | President, Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social (FUSADES) | El Salvador |
| Skaggs | David | Former Congressman; ViceChair, the National Endowment for Democracy | USA |
| Smith | Anthony | Chief Executive, Westminster Foundation for Democracy | UK |
| Snyder | Timothy | Professor of History, Yale University; Permanent Fellow, the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna | USA |
| Soliman | Nagwan | Affiliate Scholar, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security | Egypt |
| Solís Rivera | Luis Guillermo | Former President of Costa Rica | Costa Rica |
| Sorman | Guy | President, France-Amerique | France |
| Soyinka | Wole | Nobel Laureate in Literature | Nigeria |
| Spasovski | Oliver | President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia | North Macedonia |
| Stein | Eduardo | Former Vice President of Guatemala and Minister of Foreign Affairs | Guatemala |
| Sumanop SASINGIAN | Serena | CEO, the Digicel PNG Foundation | Papua New Guinea |
| Sundström | Anna | Secretary-General, Olof Palme International Center | Sweden |
| Supriadi | Ichal | Secretary-General, Asia Democracy Network | South Korea |
| Sysykova | Zamira | Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Res Publica; Recipient of the Courage in Journalism Award of the International Women’s Media Foundation | Kyrgyzstan |
| Taekyung | Ha | Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea | Republic of Korea |
| Takasu | Yukio | Chairman, Japan Center for International Exchange; Former Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations | Japan |
| Tang | Audrey | Member of the Executive Yuan Council of Taiwan as Digital Minister | Taiwan |
| Tarasyuk | Borys | Director, Institute for EuroAtlantic Cooperation | Ukraine |
| Taubina | Natalia | Director, Public Verdict Foundation | Russia |
| Tawiah | Esther | Founder and Executive Director, Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED) | Ghana |
| Thae | Yong-ho | Member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea | Republic of Korea |
| Thomas-Greenfield | Linda | Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs | USA |
| Thompson | Joseph | Executive Director, The Inter American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH) | Costa Rica |
| Timmerman | Anna | General Director, PAX for Peace International | Netherlands |
| Tinatin | Tinatin | Former Minister of Defense of Georgia; Chairperson, Civic IDEA | Georgia |
| Tippenhauer | Hans | President, Fondation Espoir; Member, World Movement for Democracy Steering Committee | Haiti |
| Todorovid | Nevena | Coordinator, World Youth Movement for Democracy | Serbia |
| Tomawis-Gutoc | Samira | Founder, Ako Bakwit; Former Member of the Regional Legislative Assembly Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) | Philippines |
| Tsakhia | Elbegdorj | Former President of Mongolia | Mongolia |
| Tüttő | Kata | Deputy Mayor of Budapest | Hungary |
| Twining | Daniel | President, International Republican Institute | USA |
| Ulibarri | Eduardo | Journalist | Costa Rica |
| Ungphakorn | Jon | Former Member of the Senate of Thailand | Thailand |
| Usman | Maryam Garba | Executive Director, Center for Advocacy in Gender and Social Inclusion CAGSI | Nigeria |
| Usupashvili | Davit | Former Speaker of Parliament of Georgia | Georgia |
| Uteem | Cassam | Former President of Mauritius; Vice President, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid; Member, the Global Leadership Foundation | Mauritius |
| Valvoda | Rotislav | Executive Director, Prague Civil Society Centre | Czech Republic |
| Van Baalen | Hans | President, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe | Netherlands |
| Van Praagh | Peter | President, Halifax International Security Forum | USA |
| Vandenbeld | Anita | Member of Parliament | Canada |
| Vargas Llosa | Mario | Nobel Peace Laureate; President, The Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa | Peru |
| Vasquez | Gaddi | Former Ambassador and Former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture; Board Member, International Republican Institute | USA |
| Verhofstadt | Guy | Member of the European Parliament and European Parliament Brexit Coordinator; Former Prime Minister of Belgium | Belgium |
| Vernetti | Gianni | Former Italian Senator and Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs | Italy |
| Verveer | Melanne | Former United States Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues | USA |
| Vike-Freiberga | Vaira | Former President of Latvia; Founding Member, Club de Madrid | Latvia |
| Villalobos | Joaquín | Scholar | El Salvador |
| Villiger | Kaspar | Former President of the Swiss Confederation; Founding Member, the Global Leadership Foundation; Chairman, the UBS Foundation of Economics in Society | Switzerland |
| Vivanco | José Miguel | Human Rights Lawyer | Chile |
| Volker | Kurt | Former United States Ambassador to NATO and Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations | USA |
| Volski | Lavon | Musician and Activist | Belarus |
| Vondra | Alexander | Member of the European Parliament; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic | Czech Republic |
| Wałęsa | Lech | Nobel Peace Laureate and Former President of Poland | Poland |
| Wallström | Margot | Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden | Sweden |
| Watawala | Chandanie | Executive Director, Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL) | Thailand |
| Weigel | George | William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, the Ethics and Public Policy Center | USA |
| Wieseltier | Leon | Editor, Liberties | USA |
| Will | George | Writer and Columnist | USA |
| Wilson | Andrew | Executive Director, Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) | USA |
| Wollack | Kenneth | Former President, the National Democratic Institute | USA |
| Wong | Joshua | Founder, Demosisto | Hong-Kong |
| Wu | Joseph | Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China | Taiwan |
| Yun | Jeong-In | Research Professor, Korea University | Republic of Korea |
| Yunus | Leyla | Director, the Institute for Peace and Democracy | Azerbaijan |
| Yunus | Muhammad | Nobel Laureate for Literature; Founder, Grameen Bank | Bangladesh |
| Zaev | Zoran | Former Prime Minister of North Macedonia | North Macedonia |
| Zakharov | Yevgeniy | Founder, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group | Ukraine |
| Zakheim | Roger | Director, Ronald Reagan Institute; Former Commissioner, the Commission on the National Defense Strategy of the United States; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense | USA |
| Zakheim | Dov S. | Former Under Secretary of Defense | USA |
| Zalishchuk | Svitlana | Former Member of Parliament and Former Advisor to Prime Minister | Ukraine |
| Zambakhidze | Nino | Chairwoman, Georgian Farmers Association | Georgia |
| Zantovsky | Michael | Executive Director, Vaclav Havel Library | Czech Republic |
| Zedillo | Ernesto | Former President of Mexico | Mexico |
| Zhovtis | Yevgeniy | Director, the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law | Kazakhstan |
| Zimbardo | Philip | Founder, the Heroic Imagination Project | USA |
| Zingeris | Emanuelis | Chairman, Subcommittee on Transatlantic Relations and Democracy Development, Parliament of Lithuania | Lithuania |
| Zoltán | Kész | Former Member of Parliament; Honorary President, Free Market Foundation of Hungary | Hungary |
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