Section: Documents on Democracy

January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a statement by Cuban dissidents entitled “All  United”; a letter by former dissidents of the Soviet  bloc to the so-called “Group of Four” critics of the Castro regime in Cuba; an address delivered by the Commonwealth’s outgoing secretary-general Chief Emeka Anayaoku;  the “Seoul Statement” on human rights in North Korea; Abdurrahman Wahid’s speech…

October 1999, Volume 10, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the “Sana’a Declaration” and remarks by Yemeni prime minister Abdul Karim Al-Eryani from the Emerging Democracies Forum; Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri’s remarks; remarks from South African president Thabo Mbeki; the “Rio de Janiero Declaration.”

July 1999, Volume 10, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution on the “Promotion of the Right to Democracy”; remarks by Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of Burma’s National League for Democracy; the “Casablanca Declaration of the Arab Human Rights Movement”; Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo’s inaugural speech. 

April 1999, Volume 10, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a founding document from the inaugural assembly of the “World Movement for Democracy”; South Korean President Kim Dae Jung’s opening address at a conference entitled “Demcoracy, Market Economy and Development”; the interim report of Nigeria’s Transition Monitoring Group.

January 1999, Volume 10, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the forward of the final report of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Chairperson Archbishop Desmond Tutu; a letter to the Vietnamese National Assembly deploring corruption in the Community Party by four Party veterans; an address on democratization in Burma by Kyaw Kyaw of the Thailand-based All Burma Student’s Democratic Front; former…

October 1998, Volume 9, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo’s annual address; Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan’s opening statement at a ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; a statement by Panamanian president Ernesto Pérez Balladares; a speech by Romanian president Emil Constantinescu addressed to a joint session of the U.S. Congress. 

July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: imprisoned Chinese dissident Wang Dan’s first press conference; the Declaration of Santiago; “Strategic Initiatives of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Fundamentals for a New Beginning”; speeches on “Human Rights and Asian Values” given at the 54th session of the UN Commission on  Human Rights; a postelection statement by Martin Lee, leader of the…

April 1998, Volume 9, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: remarks and homily of Pope John Paul II given during his visit to Cuba; South Korean president Kim Dae Jung’s inaugural address. 

January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng’s opening statement; Chinese president Jiang Zemin’s statement; Organization of American States Charter amendment; Iranian president Mohammad Khatami’s inaugural address; National Endowment for Democracy president Carl Gershman’s keynote conference speech. 

October 1997, Volume 8, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León’s state of the Union and the lower chamber president Porfirio Muñoz Ledo’s response; a communique of the June 1997 Summit of Eight; “The Homeland Belongs to Us All” by four Cuban human rights activists.

July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the acceptance speech of Martin Lee, Democracy Award recipient; Saudi prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saoud’s opening address at the Second Conference of Arab NGOs; Angolan National Assembly chairman Roberto de Almeida’s speech; Czech president Václav Havel’s statement.

April 1997, Volume 8, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the acceptance speech of José Ramos-Horta, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize; Guatemalan president Alvaro Arzú’s speech on the occasion of the signing of a comprehensive peace accord.

January 1997, Volume 8, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Romanian presidential candidate Emil Constantinescu’s remarks; victory statement by Nicaraguan presidential candidate Arnoldo Alemán.

October 1996, Volume 7, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: testimony delivered at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; remarks by National Endowment for Democracy president Carl Gershman; remarks delivered at a reception marking the opening of Mongolia’s new parliament.

July 1996, Volume 7, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui’s inaugural address; a ten-point declaration of a summit of more than a dozen Nigerian prodemocracy groups; an “Inter-American Convention Against Corruption”; resolutions adopted by Burma’s National League for Democracy.

April 1996, Volume 7, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Sergei Kovalev’s letter of resignation from the President’s Human Rights Commission in Russia; Haitian president René Préval’s inaugural address; the initial declaration of the Cuban Council (Concilio Cubano). 

January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the statement of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a critic of the Nigerian government, shortly before his execution; interview with Cambodian prince Norodom Sihanouk; petition by 15 dissidents to China’s legislature demanding freedom for political prisoners; Pope John Paul II’s address for the UN’s fiftieth anniversary.

October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech in Rangoon; human rights advocate Harry Wu’s remarks before the U.S. House of Representatives on China’s labor camps; “Our Global Neighborhood,” presented at the World Economic Forum.  

July 1995, Volume 6, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a petition by forty-five prominent Chinese intellectuals calling for increased political tolerance; the inaugural speech of Julio María Sanguinetti, the president of Uruguay; remarks by You Ching, country magistrate of Taipei, Taiwan. 

April 1995, Volume 6, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the “Plan of Action” of the Summit of the Americas; the inaugural speech Mozambican president Joaquim Alberto Chissano; appeals for reform of the National People’s Congress by democracy advocates in China; a speech by former U.S. ambassador to Kenya Smith Hempstone. 

January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a speech by Secretary General of the Organization of American States César Gaviria-Trujillo, former president of Colombia; “Resolution on Democratization in the Asia-Pacific Region”; the inaugural address of Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León.

October 1994, Volume 5, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the statement of Wangarí Maathai, the founder and head of the Kenyan Greenbelt Movement; recommendations from the First International Conference on the Peoples of the Arab World and the Middle East and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Minorities.

July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: South African President Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech; Salvadoran president Armando Calderón Sol’s inaugural speech; a presentation speech by Yelena Bonner, the widow of Andrei D. Sakharov.

April 1994, Volume 5, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: speeches by ANC President Nelson Mandela and South African President F.W. De Klerk from the International Press Institute’s 43rd General Assembly; a UN General Assembly resolution criticizing the continuing denial of human rights and democracy in Burma (Myanmar). 

January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a peace accord between Israel and the PLO; “There is  Nothing Love Cannot Face,” a  message from the Conference of Cuban Catholic Bishops; a “Peace  Charter” from Chinese prodemocracy activists.  

October 1993, Volume 4, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: documents issued by Guatemala’s Court of Constitutionality and leaders of civil society; “The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action”; statement of Nigeria’s Civil Liberties Organisation; address of Dr. Sein Winn, leader of the exiled National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma; speeches by the South African recipients of the 1993 Liberty Medal. 

July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: speeches from the three recipients of the National Endowment for Democracy’s biennial Democracy Award; the inaugural address of the New Civic Forum, an Egyptian NGO; “Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Principle of Periodic and Genuine Elections”, a UN resolution; the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Moscow communiqué.

April 1993, Volume 4, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: speeches from El Salvador’s National Reconciliation Day ceremonies; the Mozambique’s General Peace Accord; South Korean president Kim Young Sam’s inaugural address; Chakufwa Chihana’s speech accepting the 1992 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.

January 1993, Volume 4, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Organization of American States resolutions on the “presidential coup” in Peru; the report of the Argentinian National Commission of Disappeared Persons.

October 1992, Volume 3, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: closing statements of a congress of diverse elements of the Iraqi opposition; a “Charter for American-Russian Partnership and Friendship”; Philippine president Fidel Ramos’s inaugural address; pastoral letter from the Roman Catholic Bishops of Malawi; the “Declaration of Caracas.” 

July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the Transitional Period Charter of Ethiopia; a pamphlet of the Free Trade Union of China; Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s declaration on Poland and Russia. 

April 1992, Volume 3, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: speeches delivered at the signing of the El Salvador peace agreement; an Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict; Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s address to the UN Security Council. 

January 1992, Volume 3, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a UN Third Committee Resolution on the human rights situation in Burma; Organization of American States (OAS) Resolution 1080; an OAS resolution Haiti; the inaugural speech of Zambian president Chiluba ; Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s; the “Agreement on the Creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States; “Fundamental Principles for the Establishment of Peace in…

Fall 1991, Volume 2, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: speeches and declarations issued in the course of the failed USSR coup; speeches presented at the First Ibero-American Summit; Charter 91, signed by more than 100 Iraqi expatriates.

Summer 1991, Volume 2, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement party program; the “Mexico Declaration” on the civil war in El Salvador; the manifesto of Kenya’s newly launched “National Democratic Party”;  Freedom House president Max Kampelman’s remarks on the Dalai Lama. 

Spring 1991, Volume 2, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the draft constitution of the Russian Republic; a letter from the mayor of Budapest, Hungary to the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania; the inaugural address Haitian president, Reverend Jean-Bertrand Astride.

Winter 1991, Volume 2, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the Madrid Declaration; Popular Movement of Ukraine (Rukh) party president Ivan Drach’s speech to the Congress; the Charter of Paris. 

Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

The complete text of the “Freedom Charter,” the basic statement of principles of the anti-apartheid African National Congress party of South Africa.

Summer 1990, Volume 1, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the statement of Chai Lin, a leader of the Beijing University Independent Student Union; Cameroon Bar Association president Bernard A. Muna’s speech on behalf of detained political activists; the final document of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe’s session.

Spring 1990, Volume 1, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the victory speech of Nicaraguan presidential candidate Violeta Barrios de Chamorro; South African president F.W. de Klerk’s speech opening Parliament; the platform of Lithuania’s pro-independence Sajudis movement.

Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a declaration by the Federation for a Democratic China; the preamble to the “guiding principles” of the Beijing Works Autonomous Federation; principles accepted by the South West People’s Association, a Namibian political party; a letter by Cardinal František Tomašek; a political program by the Czechoslovak Civic Forum; an announcement by the East German…