The Carter Center’s peace programs strengthen freedom and democracy in nations worldwide, securing for people the political and civil rights that are the foundation of just and peaceful societies. Follow the links below to hear some of their stories.
The Carter Center has a hard-earned reputation as a fair, impartial observer of elections overseas. It brought its electoral expertise to a U.S. election for the first time by observing Georgia’s post-election risk-limiting audit in 2020, and its domestic focus has grown ever since. Learn more »
Helping countries control or eliminate diseases is no easy feat — helping them do so when they’re in the midst of armed conflict is exponentially more challenging. Learn more »
In July 2023, Carter Center donors were invited to send messages of gratitude to human rights defenders, expressing appreciation for their courage and dedication. Over 1,275 supporters sent heartfelt notes of thanks and encouragement. Learn more »
I met Gary Mason right after the violent 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville that shocked the country: “Tom, this looks terribly familiar, so it does,” he said in his Belfast accent. “What can we do?” Learn more »
With a boost from the Carter Center’s Inform Women, Transform Lives project, the city of Washington, D.C., threw a big baby shower in the spring of 2023 to connect moms with agencies that can help make their lives a little easier. Learn more »
“Human rights are the foundation of everything that The Carter Center does,” Susan Marx said. “This program is the moral voice reminding us why we’re doing all of this: It’s because of dignity. Everybody has the right to dignity.” Learn more »
Published by Tonya Wichman, director of the Board of Elections in Defiance County, Ohio.
I am an election official in rural Defiance County, Ohio. The way politics are in America right now, my job is very challenging much of the time. Last year, I almost quit. I needed a fresh perspective. Learn more »
The Carter Center observed or prepared to observe elections in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Liberia this year and continued to work on improving the political atmosphere in the United States. Learn more »
I recently returned from a visit to the nation of Chad, the central point of our fight against Guinea worm disease. As you may know, The Carter Center has been working to eradicate this devasting parasitic disease since 1986, when cases around the world numbered almost 3.5 million a year. Learn more »
Laetitia Muabila Bangu-Bangu wants to help women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo find their voices. Learn more »
The Carter Center recently sent election teams to the United States, Tunisia, and Brazil. Each situation was different, each required a distinct approach, and each had a unique result. Learn more »
By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center
The announcement in February that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the Carter Center’s co-founder, was entering hospice care touched my heart. It prompted reflections on how the Center has grown and evolved while remaining true to our founders’ original vision. Learn more »
Emmanuel Zulu is a young political activist in Zambia with strong convictions and sturdy shoes. In November 2021, Zulu embarked on a nine-day, 255-mile walk from his hometown of Chingola to the capital city of Lusaka to raise awareness about government accountability; transparency; and inclusion of youth, women, and people with disabilities in civic decision-making. Learn more »
Abeer Pamuk had just started her sophomore year at the University of Aleppo when the Syrian civil war erupted.
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Written by Jennifer Roberts, North Carolina Democracy Resilience Network
Many thanks to the League of Women Voters of North Carolina for recognizing the work of the bipartisan N.C. Trusted Elections Tour, organized by myself and Bob Orr and funded by The Carter Center. Our close partnership with the League of Women Voters in this endeavor guaranteed its success and helped pave the way for safe, secure, and peaceful elections in our state in 2022. Learn more »
The Carter Center has a long history in Sudan — in fact, 70% of the country’s population hadn’t even been born when we started working there. Learn more »
The Carter Center is the official observer of Mali’s peace agreement, keeping track of the steps each side takes to implement the pact. From our archives, meet two women in Mali who sent their children far away to keep them safe until lasting peace comes to their land.
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The Carter Center is inviting the public to send messages of peace and comfort to President Carter and his family via an online portal, and the response is overwhelming. As of 2 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 21), more than 7,919 messages had been published, with waves of them continuing to arrive. Learn more »
Sometimes doing the right thing makes people uncomfortable. When Regina N. Bee, a Carter Center youth information ambassador in Bong County, Liberia, told students that the country’s freedom of information law gave them the right to ask their principal about the status of their ID cards, the principal accused her of brainwashing them. Learn more »
Last week, logic and accuracy testing of tabulation or counting equipment took place in all 15 Arizona counties ahead of the court-mandated recount of races for attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, and state representative of Legislative District 13 in Maricopa County. Learn more »
By Michael Scholtens, data analyst, Democracy Program
The turmoil at Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover has shaken the foundation of the global social media landscape. As one of social media’s pillars veers toward possible collapse, some of its users and content are scattering across the internet. It’s too soon to say whether Twitter will be unseated as one of the giants of social media, but users are searching for alternatives at a higher rate than at any point since the platform’s founding. Learn more »
By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center
This fall has been an exciting time at The Carter Center. We celebrated the anniversary of our founding 40 years ago, President Carter celebrated his 98th birthday, and we dedicated a 200-year-old Japanese bell on our campus. Learn more »
Grab your lunch and join us for 10-minute interviews with election experts on some of the most pressing U.S. election issues.
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By Johnny Ndebe, a national dispute resolution monitor for The Carter Center in Liberia
Last year, I was notified that a crowd of protesters had blockaded a bridge a few hours from Monrovia, Liberia, where I work as the national dispute monitor with The Carter Center. Learn more »
If you had a huge, stinking, bloated animal carcass—say, a horse or a buffalo—blocking the main street in your neighborhood, you probably could figure out who to call to do something about it. Learn more »
If you had a huge, stinking, bloated animal carcass—say, a horse or a buffalo—blocking the main street in your neighborhood, you probably could figure out who to call to do something about it. Learn more »
Municipal and regional elections don’t usually attract much interest outside the country where they’re taking place, but when Venezuelans went to the polls last November to choose their next governors and mayors, the world was paying close attention. Learn more »
By Nicole Kruse, Interim Vice President of Development
A family reunion of sorts took place last month in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was the annual Carter Center Weekend, when a limited number of friends and supporters gather to catch up with each other, hear from Center leadership and staff, and take part in various fun activities, including silent and live auctions. Learn more »
By Jason Carter, chair of the Carter Center Board of Trustees
Jason Carter met with Col. Assimi Goïta to discuss actions taken toward the Mali Peace Agreement created in 2015 and eradication efforts of Guinea worm disease. Learn more »
By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center
We at The Carter Center are horrified by the devastation in Ukraine. As we have helped other nations to rebuild after wars, we will continue waging peace. Learn more »
Analysis by Hari Prasad, Program Associate, Conflict Resolution Program
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has had obvious effects on Ukraine and Eastern Europe, but its current and potential destabilizing effects in Syria are not receiving the attention they desperately need. Learn more »
Barbara Smith, vice president of the Carter Center’s peace programs, says she was born to her line of work. Her mother is from Germany and taught her the value of international perspectives. Her father was in the military and ingrained in her the importance of service. Learn more »
By Hampton Stall, Senior Program Associate, The Carter Center
After the Mozambique civil war ended in 1992, demining experts needed 23 years to clear the 86,000 unexploded weapons left behind. A just-released Carter Center report suggests that there could be more than three times that amount of unexploded ordnance in Syria, where demining efforts have yet to begin. Learn more »
By Sarah E. Morris, head of instruction and engagement at the Emory University Libraries
The war in Ukraine is a terrible situation that is keeping many of us glued to our devices, looking for updates and ways to help Ukraine. Unfortunately, large amounts of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda are swirling around, creating confusion and disruption. Learn more »
Russia has long treated Ukraine as a proving ground for testing its novel and destructive cyberweapons. In 2015, Russia launched a cyberattack on the power grid in Ukraine, plunging 230,000 civilians into darkness and cutting off power to homes, hospitals, and schools in the dead of winter. Repairs took months to complete. Two years later, Russia launched another attack that crippled government, financial, and energy institutions, shut down nuclear safety monitoring systems, and permanently erased public and private data. The attack spilled over Ukraine’s borders, disrupting private-sector entities such as Maersk, FedEx, and Merck and costing an estimated $10 billion. Learn more »
Fact checkers have a term for media sources that repeatedly share false or misleading content: misinformation repeat offenders. The Carter Center’s Digital Threats team studied the prevalence of misinformation repeat offenders in right- and left-leaning Facebook groups during the 2020 U.S. election cycle and published its findings in October in a report titled, "The Big Lie and Big Tech." Learn more »
Josh Griffin, a young consultant in the Carter Center’s Human Rights Program, participated in the 2020 March on Washington for racial justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Standing at the foot of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Griffin heard inspiring words from several speakers, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s son Martin III and 12-year-old granddaughter Yolanda Renee King. Learn more »
Two and a half years ago, recognizing that things that take place in the online world were increasingly having real-world consequences, The Carter Center launched the Digital Threats to Democracy Project.
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By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center
President Carter frequently reminds us of his high school teacher’s words of wisdom: “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.” At The Carter Center, we practice this precept by holding fast to our founding commitments to defend human rights and relieve human suffering while continually seeking new and improved ways to accomplish our humanitarian goals. Learn more »
On Oct. 25, 12 days after this story was published, members of Sudan’s military seized control of the government. The Carter Center issued a statement condemning the coup and is now monitoring developments there. It remains committed to supporting the people of Sudan. Learn more »
Josh Griffin, a graduate assistant with the Carter Center’s Human Rights Program, participated in the 2020 March on Washington for racial justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Standing at the foot of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Griffin heard inspiring words from several speakers, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s son Martin III and 12-year-old granddaughter Yolanda Renee King. Learn more »
This interview with President Carter was conducted in Spring 2020 and originally published in the Bush China Foundation’s 2019/2020 Annual Report. Learn more »
By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs, and Barbara J. Smith, vice president, peace programs
Back in the turbulent 1960s, there was a popular poster — today it would be a meme on social media — that said, "War is not healthy for children and other living things." Learn more »
Grab your lunch and join us for 10-minute interviews with election experts on some of the most pressing U.S. election issues.
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When new CEO Paige Alexander first saw the cafeteria in the Carter Center’s Atlanta office, paper shamrocks and pots of gold adorned the walls to mark St. Patrick’s Day. Only it wasn’t March. It was June 2020. Learn more »
By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer
When new CEO Paige Alexander first saw the cafeteria in the Carter Center’s Atlanta office, paper shamrocks and pots of gold adorned the walls to mark St. Patrick’s Day. Only it wasn’t March. It was June 2020. Learn more »
In November, the state of Georgia undertook the largest hand tally of election ballots ever performed in the United States. And The Carter Center had a front-row seat.
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The 2020 U.S. election was like none before it. Polarization was at an all-time high, with many on both sides mistrusting each other and the process itself. The pandemic introduced further complications, challenging election officials to find ways to ensure accessibility while keeping voters safe. Because of this, The Carter Center chose to do something it had never done before—get involved in a U.S. election.
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In 2005, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III joined forces to chair the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform.
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Marthaline Nuah is determined to get a college education. There is no university in her village in northeastern Liberia, so she left home and moved in with an aunt who lives in Saniquellie, which is the capital of Nimba County and home to a community college. Her aunt gave her the money to pay for college entrance exams, which she passed, and for the college’s admission fees. But there wasn’t enough left over for courses.
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By Laura Neuman, director, Rule of Law Program
Laura Neuman, senior advisor to The Carter Center, discusses the Inform Women, Transform Lives campaign, what it’s all about, and why it matters. Learn more »
Liberians now have a new, easy way to file complaints – or compliments – about police officers. With support from The Carter Center, a Liberian company has developed the Find Officer app, part of a larger effort to build trust in the police by increasing accountability. Learn more »
The United States was not the only country in the midst of election season this fall; many countries around the world held or will soon hold elections, and The Carter Center worked on three of them.
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By Ben Spears, senior program associate, Conflict Resolution Program
This is an exciting time in Sudan. After 30 years, a period marked by civil war in Darfur and other areas of the country, Omar al-Bashir was forced from power in a revolution led largely by young women and men. Now Sudan is working out a new identity as it transitions to peace and democracy, and young people can lead the way. Learn more »
By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer, The Carter Center
I don’t need to tell you what a strange and challenging year 2020 has been. A pandemic has forced us to avoid close human interactions, but The Carter Center has been fortunate and is taking advantage of the opportunities that technology brings to keep moving forward with our mission to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope. Learn more »
By David Carroll, director, Democracy Program
Engaging in the U.S. is more complicated than in other countries because we don’t have a centralized election administration – we have a patchwork of about 10,000 jurisdictions across 50 states. (That, by the way, is one of several areas in which the U.S. falls short of international election standards.) Learn more »
The Carter Center is partnering with Cure Violence Global and Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative on a project to mitigate violence that could erupt in some U.S. communities in the days before and after the November election. Learn more »
Even as conflict in many areas of Syria subsides, dangers still remain – including abandoned or unexploded weapons that could kill or maim unsuspecting civilians as they try to rebuild their lives. Learn more »
When North Dakota Democrats held their caucus in March, residents of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation – which stretches over six counties and nearly a million acres – had just one designated spot to drop off ballots.
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When the Carter Center team arrived in the northern Mali town of Gao one warm, blustery afternoon in February, tensions were running high. Two days earlier, a high-ranking general had been assassinated while tending his animals just outside of town. The killing cast a pall over a major achievement that took place earlier that morning: the deployment of the first 240 soldiers in the newly reconstituted Malian army, made up of combatants from three different elements that fought against each other during Mali’s civil war.
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In the Democratic Republic of Congo, young artists with ties to The Carter Center are giving their time and talent to create paintings and songs that encourage people in their communities to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Nine years have passed since the conflict in Syria began. In recent months, as opposition strongholds have fallen and frontlines have shifted, the map of territorial control suggests that the conflict is entering its endgame.
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By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
At this time of great challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been deeply moved by the commitment of our Carter Center staff to our mission to help the world’s poorest people. Indeed, our aim to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope has never been more urgent than it is today. Learn more »
Even as governments across the globe rush to protect their citizens from the deadly effects of COVID-19, some are using the coronavirus as an excuse to violate human rights laws and expand their powers. Learn more »
On March 2, citizens of Guyana went to the polls for what the country was calling “the mother of all elections.” Every election is important, of course, but this one was deemed especially so because five years ago, Exxon discovered massive amounts of oil off the coast of Guyana. The first barrels hit the market in January. Now this small, poor nation is poised to become a very rich one. And the country’s two major political parties – which are divided largely along ethnic lines – desperately want to control the coming wealth.
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Thirteen years ago, The Carter Center opened the Human Rights House in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is home to a small team of staffers who perform a large amount of work – providing training and assistance to more than 100 local civil society organizations working on issues related to human rights, supporting a protection network that helps keep human rights defenders safe, and overseeing a variety of projects designed to spark youth engagement in democracy and human rights.
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By Laura Neuman, director, Rule of Law Program
Selima Begum, 28, is the mother of a 7-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. They live in Tuker Bazar Union, Sylhet Division, Bangladesh. Since her divorce, Begum has struggled to provide necessary medical care for her son, at times having to forgo routine medical treatments because of a lack of money. Though she works as a housecleaner when she can, it often does not pay enough to meet all her family’s needs. Learn more »
By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
In 1982, President and Mrs. Carter created a new kind of post-presidential institution, not a think tank, but an organization acting to alleviate suffering and advance human rights for the world’s poorest people. Ever since, innovation has been part of the Center’s DNA. Learn more »
Human rights activists and scholars from 28 countries gathered at The Carter Center recently for the 12th Human Rights Defenders Forum. This year’s theme was “Building Solidarity toward Equality for All,” and topics included global protection for activists, challenges for women defenders and peacemakers, and the importance of mutually supporting civil, economic, political, and social rights. Defenders talked about their struggles and frustrations but also offered words of wisdom and hope. Learn more »
Aisha Ahmed and Safi Inorano go about their daily tasks with holes in their hearts. While they work as cleaners on the U.N. base in Kidal, Mali, their daughters live with relatives hundreds of miles away in cities that – unlike their own – have functioning schools.
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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter discuss how the Center wages peace and fights disease to build hope for millions around the world. They also take questions from the audience. Learn more »
Leaders and everyday citizens in central Mali seek solutions to tribal and political conflict that has disrupted their lives.
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One bright morning in mid-June, a U.N. convoy rolls through the small, dusty town of Kidal in Mali’s northern desert. The temperature is already well on its way to a high of 114, and few people are on the street to witness a Carter Center staffer in a blue flak jacket and helmet clamber out of the back of an armored personnel carrier (what a civilian might call a tank) into the brutal heat.
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Selima Begum, 28, is the mother of a 7-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. They live in Tuker Bazar Union, Sylhet Division, Bangladesh. Since her divorce, Selima has struggled to provide necessary medical care for her son, at times having to forgo routine medical treatments because of a lack of money. Though she works as a housecleaner when she can, it often does not pay enough to meet all her family’s needs.
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By John Goodman, associate director in the Conflict Resolution Program
The Carter Center's John Goodman, associate director in the Conflict Resolution Program, spoke recently to Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque in Bamako, Mali, about ongoing violence and instability in Mali and how the people there have seen few, if any, dividends from the peace agreement signed four years ago. Learn more »
By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
The Carter Center operates dozens of initiatives addressing a range of challenging peace and health issues. Some of them seek to end human rights abuses and promote sustainable peace, while others help improve the health of at-risk people in remote places. Learn more »
Just a few years ago, ISIS controlled giant swaths of Syria – its combined lands totaled more than 34,000 square miles, just a little less than you’ll find in the state of Indiana. Today, it has lost all that territory. But that doesn’t mean it is no longer a threat to the people of Syria. Individuals and groups with ties to ISIS continue to carry out attacks, even as the nature and number of those attacks change. Learn more »
In the spring of 2019, staff members in the Carter Center’s Latin America and Caribbean Program traveled to Mérida, capital of Mexico’s Yucatán state, to present a report about Mexico’s human rights system.
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Laura Olson jumped at the chance to work at The Carter Center because of the opportunity to work directly with communities in other countries. “What spoke to me was that The Carter Center really listens to people. We are there to facilitate the changes they want to see and not to tell them what they should do. I also like that we help build local capacity so that communities can independently accomplish their goals.” Learn more »
The Carter Center, with the support of UK Aid, helped prepare a range of voter education materials for the March 31 municipal elections in Yangon, Myanmar. A coalition of 10 civil society organizations, coordinated by our partner New Myanmar Foundation, is using the materials in its street campaign. These are Yangon’s first elections with universal suffrage, so many women and youth will be voting for the first time. Learn more »
By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
The Center’s work is never easy, even in the best of times, when the world seems eager to embrace the efforts you help make possible in seeking peace, health, and hope for people in need. Learn more »
Their ancestors were the first to live on the land that came to be known as America, and yet many still have trouble exercising the most basic of American rights – the right to vote. Native Americans face a variety of barriers on their way to the polls, some of which seem almost unbelievable in 2019.
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The Carter Center's China Program looks back at President Carter’s 1979 decision to normalize relations with China, and is publishing academic papers to commemorate the anniversary. Learn more »
In July, The Carter Center brought together nearly 70 activists, peacemakers, and religious and community leaders from 36 countries for the annual Human Rights Defenders Forum.
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The Carter Center is commemorating the 40th anniversary of normalizing diplomatic relations with China with a symposium on Jan. 17-19 that will feature dozens of experts on U.S.-China relations. You can read more about this diplomatic feat on this page, which features a Q&A with President Carter, a timeline of key moments in the China Program, and a President Carter-penned op-ed on the future of U.S.-Sino relations that recently ran in The Washington Post.
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Key moments in the Center’s decades-long relationship with the People’s Republic of China.
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From the personal to the political, President Carter reflects on our nation’s – and his own – relationship with China. Excerpt from the Shanghai Institute of American Studies' "Forty People, Forty Years" series commemorating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic normalization between the United States and China.
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If you missed the Carter Center's original webcast of "Harmonizing Religion and Human Rights," an archive version of the panel discussion can be watched below. Learn more »
Building a peaceful world involves more than ending war. A peaceful world is one in which justice thrives, everyone’s rights are respected, and people have access to essentials. The Carter Center has dozens of programs and projects dedicated to making the dream of peace a reality. This slide show explores a handful of them.
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By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
At The Carter Center, we believe people can improve their own lives when they have the right skills, knowledge, and access to resources. I’d like to introduce you to a few people who are making a real difference in their communities. Learn more »
Reverend Esther Ibanga is the senior pastor of Jos Christian Missions International and the president and founder of Women Without Walls Initiative (WOWWI), an organization established to address the persistent ethno–religious conflicts in Plateau state. Under her leadership, WOWWI has provided a platform for women across different ethnic and religious groups to activate their voices in the call for peace. Learn more »
In case you missed “A Conversation with the Carters” on Sept. 11 at The Carter Center, an archived version of the webcast can be viewed below. Learn more »
Information has the power to transform lives. But only if you can access it. In 2014, the Carter Center’s Global Access to Information program conducted a study that found that women in Guatemala have a harder time than men accessing information to which they’re entitled. This includes information about things that could make enormous differences in their lives – information about government benefit programs, about laws that protect them, about business and educational opportunities.
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Meet Penda Mbaye, program manager for Tostan in Senegal, where the international nonprofit works to empower women and girls and create positive social change. As an attendee of the Carter Center’s Human Rights Defenders Forum, Mbaye shared her expertise in human rights education and community outreach. Learn more »
Theodosia Borbor may not be a lawyer, but she knows Liberian law. And she’s passionate about making sure others do, too. Borbor is a community justice advisor with the Carter Center-supported Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. She provides free mediation services and organizes community awareness sessions for the people of Margibi County, which sits about an hour from Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
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Mongia Nefzi Souahi, a professor at Zitouna University in Tunisia, knows what draws young people to violent extremism. She spent much of the past year trying to insulate 100 at-risk young people in the town of Kasserine – which CNN has called “the Tunisian town where ISIS makes militants” – from the lure of jihadis.
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The 40-year-old mother of four is the first female driver for the Carter Center’s Access to Justice Project in Liberia – and one of the country’s few female professional drivers, period.
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By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
It’s no secret that this world is full of problems—some big and terrifying, some small and trivial. It may seem overwhelming at times, but it doesn’t have to be paralyzing. Learn more »
In 2014, The Carter Center launched what is now called the Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Extremism Project. Staff first conducted an in-depth analysis of Daesh’s recruitment propaganda and then began training religious and community leaders to develop messaging to counteract extremist propaganda in all forms, whether it comes from Daesh or Islamophobic hate groups.
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Sometimes, something as simple as a radio message can change lives. Olivia Stewart, a resident of New Georgia Estate, a mostly low-income community on the outskirts of Liberia’s capital city of Monrovia, was washing up one afternoon in 2015 when she heard a public notice for government grants for projects empowering women and youth.
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Last year, a Liberian woman named Beatrix decided she wanted to run for a seat in Liberia’s House of Representatives. But when she told her husband of her plan, he told her that she couldn’t, because she was a woman. Learn more »
By Laura Neuman, director, Carter Center Global Access to Information Program
Access to information is a transformative human right. Enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, access to information is foundational not just for the exercise of other rights, but also for economic empowerment and meaningful participation in public life. And yet, a large portion of the world’s population is unable to enjoy this right. Learn more »
In Kenya in the early years of this century, young men in Nairobi’s Mathare slum were dying one by one at the hands of police and security officers. Sometimes it happened out of sight in custody, sometimes in broad daylight in the street. Other youths simply disappeared, their fates never determined.
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Play our puzzle! Find peace, health, and hope words in the Carter Center’s Word Search below. Learn more »
The year 2017 was a historic one for Liberia. “For the first time in most of their lives, Liberians saw power transfer from one democratically elected president to another,” said Jordan Ryan, vice president of the Carter Center’s peace programs. “This is something that hasn’t happened in Liberia since the 1940s. Other presidents were forced from power, died in office, or murdered in coups.
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On Aug. 8, the Kenyan people stood for hours in long lines to cast their votes in presidential, parliamentary, and local races.
Despite their patience and determination, the underlying mood was tense.
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Every day in the weeks leading up to Liberia’s Oct. 10 election, scores of women wearing white t-shirts and blue-and-white skirts gathered in an open-air tent set up in a field in the capital city of Monrovia.
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The Carter Center and Emory University celebrate an amazing 35-year partnership in 2017, a rare and productive union between a nongovernmental organization and a leading institution of higher education. Together, our reach has improved the lives of millions of the world's poorest people through disease prevention, conflict resolution, and the strengthening of human rights and democracy. Learn more »
By Jason Kibiswa Bulambo, technical trainer
The Human Rights House operates three neighborhood Youth Houses, or Maisons des Jeunes — two in Kinshasa and one in Goma — where we work to encourage the positive and constructive participation of youth in public affairs. We provide a free space for debate, which encourages the free exchange of ideas on participatory democracy. Learn more »
Walking home from his office in Kakata, Liberia, Victor Tuazama stumbled upon a confrontation between a police officer and a citizen. When it became clear that the citizen was about to be arrested because he owed a man the equivalent of about US$30, Tuazama, who works as a community justice advisor for the Carter Center-supported Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, intervened.
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By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs
Over the course of six recent posts, I shared some of the approaches to waging peace that that The Carter Center and its founder, former President Jimmy Carter, have developed or learned over many years. Learn more »
Tigist Astale, an epidemiologist for The Carter Center in Ethiopia, has faced down angry dogs, runaway cattle, and crocodile-filled rivers. She supervises extensive field work in far-flung locations all over the Amhara region of Ethiopia, a region with a considerable burden of trachoma. Because of her commitment to gathering quality data, the trachoma control program continues to implement effective interventions to help reduce blindness in Amhara.
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By Houda Abadi, associate director, Conflict Resolution Program
Hate crimes in the U.S. against Muslims or people who look as if they may be Muslim are at an all-time high. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, from 2015 to 2016 the number of anti-Muslim hate groups in the U.S. grew 197 percent and anti-Muslim hate crimes surged 67 percent. From January to July 2017, there were 63 attacks on mosques. Learn more »
By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs
The Carter Center’s motto is “Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope.” In these times, the task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »
Before the Taliban, before the war, before women were banned from positions of power, Najla Ayubi was a judge in Afghanistan. Extremists forced her out of her courtroom and eventually out of her country.
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For nearly three years, 83-year-old Blanca Nieves Valdez didn’t exist. She was living in a cozy house in the small town of San José la Arada, Guatemala, doing all the things that real people do —eating, sleeping, chatting, chores — but as far as the government of Guatemala was concerned, she was a non-person. The official record book containing her information was destroyed, so when the government changed its ID system, it didn’t issue her a new ID card.
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By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs
The task for peacemakers today is urgent. Learn more »
Abeer Pamuk had just started her sophomore year at the University of Aleppo when the Syrian civil war erupted. She was studying English literature and dreaming of a career as a humanitarian worker in South Sudan. But when the Al-Nusra Front terrorist group occupied the street behind her house, her plans were derailed.
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When Kenyans go to the polls Aug. 8 to choose their next president, election observers expect tensions to be running high. The race is a virtual repeat of the 2013 contest, again pitting challenger Raila Odinga against Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the last round by the narrowest of margins.
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By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs
In these times, the task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »
By Tye Tavaras
Until 1924’s Indian Citizenship Act, American Indians did not have the legal right to vote. Learn more »
By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs
The Carter Center’s motto is “Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope.” In today’s world, the task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »
Human rights defenders from around the world met at The Carter Center in May 2017 to teach, learn from, network with, and encourage one another under the theme Freedom from Fear: Securing Rights in Challenging Times. At the closing session of the forum, they issued a unified statement, excerpts of which accompany the following images.
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Jennie Lincoln’s career in the Carter Center’s Latin America and Caribbean Program has allowed her to be part of some incredible moments.
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The Carter Center’s Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Extremism initiative has issued a paper that analyzes how the Islamic extremist group targets children in its recruitment materials and uses them in its operations. Learn more »
In case you missed “Waging Peace in Turbulent Times” on April 13, 2017, an archived webcast of this event can be viewed below. Learn more »
By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs
In today’s world, the task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »
In Liberia’s Nimba County, many women are raising their children on their own. Fathers often contribute little or nothing to their care, even if the mothers take them to court. Judges may side with the women and order the men to pay child support, but too often the men make a payment or two and then slip off to some other part of the country, never to be heard from again.
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By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs
In this time of extreme polarization, when violence seems to be the “new normal,” we face a threat of escalating conflict at home and abroad. The task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »
Going to university changed Huda Shafig. Until then, she said, she had “kind of lived in a bubble,” mostly unaware of the impact of the conflict raging in parts of Sudan outside of her hometown of Khartoum.
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By Jimmy Carter, co-founder, The Carter Center
After leaving the White House, Rosalynn and I searched our hearts for ways to use our unique position to help those less fortunate around the world. We knew that two issues were of paramount importance: advancing peace and preventing human suffering. Learn more »
In the mid-1990s, Monica McWilliams spent two years at negotiating tables sitting next to the leader of an armed group that had tortured and killed her best friend during the Northern Ireland conflict known as The Troubles.
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By Jake Turner, intern, Latin America and Caribbean Program
As an intern in the Latin America and Caribbean Program, I had the opportunity to be part of Colombia’s domestic election observation to witness Colombians voting abroad on Oct. 2 in a plebiscite to approve the peace accord between the government and the Marxist rebel group FARC. Our assignment was to observe the vote at the consulate in Atlanta. Learn more »
One afternoon last summer, a 14-year-old boy from China turned up at The Carter Center bearing a check for $451. Leo Hu and his schoolmates in Xi-an raised the money by charging admission to a play they wrote about Syrian refugees, and he flew all the way to across the Pacific to deliver it in person. Learn more »
In 2016, The Carter Center convened dozens of human rights defenders from around the world to explore how to avoid violence while advocating for change. We asked several defenders to explain what human rights means to them.
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In case you missed “Observing U.S. Elections” on Oct. 13, 2016, an archived webcast of this event can be viewed below. Learn more »
Members of the League of Women Voters of Ohio learn about election observation from Carter Center staff.
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In advance of the U.S. presidential election of 2016, which will take place on Nov. 8, Davis-Roberts and Carroll answered questions on election observation in the United States. Learn more »
On Sept. 15, members of the Center’s Americas Program traveled to Bogotá, Colombia, for the launch of Trayectoria Institucional de los DDH en Colombia: Retos para Tiempos de Paz, a new publication produced by The Carter Center. Learn more »
In case you missed “A Conversation with the Carters” on Sept. 13, 2016, an archived webcast of this event can be viewed below. Learn more »
For more than 50 years, Colombia has been plagued by civil war. The fighting forced more than 5 million people from their homes and claimed the lives of more than 200,000, according to most reports. But finally, after four years of negotiations, peace is at hand. The Carter Center has been working behind the scenes in Colombia to help prepare for life after war. Learn more »
As the Democratic Republic of Congo edges toward its next national election — slated for November, though the timing is in question — one thing is clear: The nation’s young people will play an important role.
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Every year, thousands of people leave their home countries and travel to Syria or Iraq to join Daesh, also known as ISIS. Why? What compels these people — most of them young, most of them men — to leave their families and the relative comforts of their homes to fight and die in places where they have no ties? How can we stop others from following in their footsteps? Learn more »
This month, the United Nations turned over the responsibility for Liberia’s security to the Liberian government. It’s the first time in 13 years that the government has been solely in charge of keeping the peace. Learn more »
Jordan Ryan, vice president for peace programs, may be relatively new to The Carter Center, but his connection to President and Mrs. Carter dates back to the ’70s.
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Welcome to the Carter Center’s new website which embraces new tools, new technology, and new servers. The result? A new and improved website with an updated look. Learn more »
By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer, The Carter Center
The Carter Center operates under the firm conviction that people are capable of solving their own challenges, and our role is to provide them the tools and training to do it. Learn more »
ELMO (short for Election Monitoring) is a Carter Center created electronic data collection and analysis system. Since its introduction in 2011, ELMO has gradually rendered paper checklists obsolete. Equipped with ELMO, observers can submit their checklist data — with more detail than ever before — to headquarters in real time using touchscreen tablets or smartphones. Computers continuously aggregate the data for staff to analyze.
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By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
During my 18 months at The Carter Center, I’ve been struck repeatedly not only by the frequency of our successes, but also by the chance to appreciate them on two vastly different scales. Learn more »
Posted by the U.S. State Department to Moscow during the Mikhail Gorbachev era, Mary Ann Peters had an up-close view of the Soviet system. "The isolation and repression of the people were palpable," said Peters, a former U.S. ambassador and now chief executive officer of The Carter Center. "We in the embassy knew that talking to people on the streets would get them in real trouble, so we refrained for their sakes." Learn more »
It's election day in Georgetown, Guyana, and taxi driver Kirk Embrack can't stop smiling. "I'm always an optimist," he says. "I would like to see Guyana be back to the days of old, when it was the breadbasket of the Caribbean."
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By Nandi Vanka, program assistant, Democracy Program
Impartial election observers help build confidence in the integrity of the voting process, and their assessments and recommendations help protect voters’ rights. Learn more »
By Chris Hale, associate director, Global Access to Information Program
“Information is power” is a refrain most of us have heard before. The work of The Carter Center’s Global Access to Information Program rests not only on a firm belief that information is power, but that the right to access information is the basic currency for democratic participation and an active and full exercise of citizenship. Learn more »
The world’s two great superpowers could achieve more progress if there were less suspicion and more cooperation between them, participants in a series of bilateral Carter Center forums say. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter received back-to-back honors this week in appreciation of his efforts to promote peace and human rights. Learn more »
In case you missed “Stories from 100 Elections” at The Carter Center on Dec. 2, 2015, an archived webcast of this Conversations at The Carter Center event can be viewed below. Learn more »
For five years, Christophe Kabwita has been trying to reclaim what is rightfully his while also trying to keep his family sheltered, fed, and healthy.
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By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer, The Carter Center
Carter Center founders Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have been an inspiration for our work for more than three decades. With President Carter’s recent announcement that he is in treatment for melanoma, many of our friends have asked what the plans are for Carter Center programs without the Carters. Learn more »
The people of Myanmar took a major step in moving their country toward democratic rule, turning out in large numbers to cast their ballots in November 2015 elections. Learn more »
Last May in Guyana, The Carter Center celebrated its 100th election observation mission. In this Q&A, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who led the Center’s first election mission to Panama in 1989 and 38 of the 99 that followed, discusses three decades of elections, remembering ones that made history, ones that put his life in danger, and one that brought tears to his eyes. Learn more »
After more than 50 years of oppressive military rule, the southeast Asian nation of Myanmar is emerging from isolation and taking its first tentative steps toward democracy. Learn more »
In case you missed “Syria: In Search of Solutions” at The Carter Center on Oct. 13, 2015, an archived version can be viewed below. Learn more »
In case you missed “A Conversation with the Carters” on Sept. 15 at The Carter Center, an archived version of the webcast can be viewed below. Learn more »
Peru's media landscape was shaken last year when El Comercio — one of Peru's oldest and most influential newspapers — acquired a majority stake in the media company Epensa. In response, El Comercio's biggest rival, La República, filed a lawsuit alleging monopolistic practices.
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At a recent TEDWomen 2015 conference, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter spoke out against violence directed toward women and named abuse of women and girls as the number one human rights violation in the world. Learn more »
In poverty-stricken, mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo, The Carter Center advocates for mining reform and human rights.
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The Carter Center launched its fourth election observation mission in Guyana at an important time in the country's history.
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The chanting started soon after Jennie Lincoln and her partner entered the school in the Chiriqui province in Panama on May 7, 1989.
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Over a decade ago, Laura Neuman attended a gathering in one of India's poorest states to watch colleagues read public documents aloud to villagers.
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By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer, The Carter Center
Passion and courage abound at The Carter Center. These two valuable resources compel and sustain expatriate staff and hundreds of in-country employees and volunteers who work to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope. Learn more »
David Carroll, director of the Carter Center’s Democracy Program, has been in the field for about 40 of the Center’s election observation missions and helped manage another 30 or so from headquarters in Atlanta. On the eve of the Center’s 100th election mission, which will take place in Guyana on May 11, he sat down to explain how election observation works and how the field has changed since 1989, when the Center began its election work. Learn more »
Twenty-six years ago, in May 1989, The Carter Center sent its first-ever team of election observers to Panama, where their work exposed General Manuel Noriega's scheme to falsify tally sheets to swing the elections in favor of his handpicked candidate. It established The Carter Center as a leader in what was then the still relatively new field of election observation.
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In case you missed “Peace in Liberia, 10 Years Later” at The Carter Center, an archived version of the webcast can be viewed below. Learn more »
As the Ebola epidemic escalated in Liberia last fall, the nation's ministries and international public health agencies asked The Carter Center to help mobilize communities to identify cases of the disease and prevent its spread.
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Many times, the best way to learn something is by doing it. That's why Cyrille Ebotoko and Marie Danielle Luyoyo Pwenika left their homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in November to serve as Carter Center short-term observers in Tunisia's presidential elections.
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On Feb. 10, 2015, three human rights defenders joined President Carter for a discussion on protecting the rights of women and girls, with a special emphasis on women and peacemaking and on the role religious leaders can play in this effort. Learn more »
By Yawei Liu, director, China Program
The relationship between the U.S. and China is an incredibly important one. In the 36 years since former U.S. President Jimmy Carter normalized relations between the two superpowers, the countries have developed a productive and mutually beneficial relationship. But suspicion and mistrust still exist. Much of the Carter Center’s work in China in the last few years has involved advancing U.S.-China relations, in part by nurturing the next generation of leaders in both nations. Learn more »
The Forum on Women, Religion, Violence & Power will connect activists across the globe, host roundtable video discussions among them and the general public, highlight success stories, and serve as a resource library and archive.
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When student protesters took to the streets in Tunisia at the beginning of the Arab Spring, 55-year-old Kalthoum Kannou was by their side.
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By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
Long before I joined The Carter Center as its chief executive officer in August, I knew of its amazing work as an action-oriented nongovernmental organization improving the lives of people worldwide. It is a great honor to join this mission-driven group that pursues with such vigor and effectiveness the vision of President and Mrs. Carter for peace and global human rights. Learn more »
When Tunisians took to the polls on Sunday, Nov. 23, to elect a president of their choice in a genuine democratic election, a Carter Center team of 85 were on hand to observe the election process and report on its fairness. Learn more »
On Nov. 5, 2014, in partnership with The Elders, The Carter Center produced a live webcast of the Conversations event “Building a Lasting Peace: Where are the Women?” Learn more »
On Sunday, Nov. 23, Tunisians will do something they've never done before: go to the polls to elect the president of their choice in a genuine democratic election.
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By Dr. John Stremlau, vice president, peace programs.
Last week, I was in Mozambique to observe the country’s fifth national election since the end of a bitter civil war that raged for 15 years following the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975. The election was mostly peaceful and far more competitive, transparent, and inclusive than earlier ones we observed. Learn more »
By Dr. John Hardman, chief executive officer.
In September, I will step down as president and CEO of The Carter Center after more than 20 tremendously fulfilling years. I have been awed, inspired, and challenged by the way founders Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have used their influence to make a difference in the world. Learn more »
By Jay Beck, coordinator, Carter Center Weekend.
This year, we moved our annual Carter Weekend fundraiser from February to late June where we gathered amid the majestic mountains of Vail, Colorado, for a weekend of shared laughs and adventures, culminating in an auction to benefit the Center’s work to advance peace and health worldwide. Learn more »
The Carter Center thanks CAF – Development Bank of Latin America – for renewing its support of our Americas Program work to strengthen peace, dialogue, democracy, and human rights in the Western Hemisphere.
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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will provide remarks at an exhibit of Chinese paintings to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the normalization of U.S.-China relations on Thursday, July 17, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Center’s Cecil B. Day Chapel. The exhibit is co-sponsored by The Carter Center and the Chinese Artists Association, which is China’s premier art institution with 6,000 members. Learn more »
Mahendra Gwacha stood with pride as he listened to his supervisor's instructions at the Bagh Bhairab Temple in Kirtipur, Nepal, and then he and his fellow temporary police officers, or myadi prahari, got to work carrying tables and chairs from a nearby elementary school to transform the 900-year-old holy site to a polling place for the next day's constituent assembly election.
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By Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director, Americas Program.
Panama’s elections were full of contradictions and tensions. Defying the polls, the winning candidate, Juan Carlos Varela, was the sitting vice president estranged from the president and running in opposition. With the possibility of the governing party continuing in office for the first time since the ouster of Manuel Noriega in 1990, fears of a growing concentration of power contributed to Panamanians rejecting the party that had led the highest economic growth rates in the hemisphere and a president with over 60 percent approval ratings. Learn more »
The Carter Center’s community justice advisors (CJAs) are bringing free legal services – and awareness of how the law should work – to urban slums in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. Learn more »
Former President Jimmy Carter appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” on March 25 to discuss his new book, “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power.” Learn more »
The suffering of women and girls can be alleviated when individuals take forceful actions, which can impact larger society, asserts President Carter in his new book “A Call to Action.” Political and religious leaders share a special responsibility, but the fact is that all of us can act within our own spheres of influence to meet these challenges. Learn more »
"A Call to Action," a new book by President Carter available March 25 (Simon & Schuster), urges the end of discrimination and abuse against women, calling it the number one challenge in the world today.
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Chris McNaboe knows his Syrian opposition armed groups. For the current conflict, he can tell you exactly when a particular brigade formed from previously separate battalions around Aleppo, Syria; how many people are in the brigade; their reason for forming; and what weapons they have. The primary source for this top-level insider info? Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Learn more »
A former political prisoner, Dr. Siwakoti now is one of Nepal's most prominent human rights advocates. His passion for human rights stems from his personal knowledge of what happens when a country lacks democracy and an open society.
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By Dr. John Hardman, chief executive officer.
The Carter Center is pioneering the use of today’s newest technologies in our efforts to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope in the most isolated and inaccessible places on earth. As a result, we are helping people improve their lives more efficiently and cost-effectively than ever before. Learn more »
By Dr. John Stremlau, vice president, peace programs.
The Carter Center was pleased to partner with the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa for a joint election observation mission to Madagascar’s Dec. 20 legislative and second-round presidential elections. Former Mauritius President Cassam Uteem, EISA Executive Director Dr. Denis Kadima, and I co-led the delegation. Learn more »
After casting her ballot this morning in Bhaktapur, 33-year-old Sangita Shrestha felt joy, but the feeling was tempered by a stern message she had for those who will be elected to Nepal's new constituent assembly, "Do your job properly and draft a new constitution as soon as possible."
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Voter turnout was high as Nepalis defied strikes and scattered violence leading up to Nepal's Nov. 19 constituent assembly election. The Carter Center, which has maintained a team of election observers in Nepal since 2007, deployed 66 observers from 31 countries to provide an independent and impartial assessment of this election process and ensure voting was transparent, credible, and fair.
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Carter Center expert David Pottie explains the importance of Nepal’s upcoming election and the role of Carter Center observers. Learn more »
The geographic lines dividing Sudan and South Sudan “are completely blurry, so we focus on the lines that connect us,” Professor Jok Madut Jok, undersecretary in South Sudan’s Ministry of Culture, said during a “Conversations at The Carter Center” on Oct. 15. Learn more »
Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Robert Pastor and his wife, Margy, a fellowship is now available to support the work and study of a summer fellow in the Carter Center’s Americas Program. The founder and former director of the Americas Program, Dr. Pastor was advisor for Latin American affairs on the National Security Council in the Carter White House. Learn more »
In rural Liberia, the formal justice system often is not yet working or accepted, and many communities lack legal resources such as a police station or magistrate. They turn instead to village chiefs and elders to keep the peace. Learn more »
By Laura Neuman, manager, Global Access to Information Program
In celebration of International Right to Know Day on Sept. 28, 2013, The Carter Center and local partners in Liberia hosted a series of activities to raise awareness of the value of freedom of information and to encourage the use and full implementation of the country’s 2010 Freedom of Information Act. Learn more »
The Nobel Peace Prize, the playwright Henrik Ibsen, the pop group A-ha — this was pretty much the extent of my knowledge about Norway until recently. But this summer, The Carter Center was invited by the Kingdom of Norway to observe their Internet voting trials in connection with this year’s parliamentary elections, which took place on Monday, Sept. 9. With a first visit in July, I have since learned a great deal more. Learn more »
On Aug. 19-22, the Carter Center’s Access to Justice Project, in collaboration with Liberia’s ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs, trained 30 youth leaders in Kakata on conflict resolution skills and knowledge of the rule of law. Learn more »
Watch the Carter Center’s Far Western Region team observing voter registration for upcoming national and local elections in Nepal and discussing their work. Since 2009, The Carter Center has monitored and reported on issues related to Nepal’s peace process. The Center’s long-term observers are deployed throughout the country and often travel to remote communities to gain an understanding of local perspectives. Learn more »
When Liberian high school student George Toddy failed the math and science sections of his college entrance exam, he was disappointed but not surprised — he had heard that his region had a very high failure rate compared to other parts of the country. Learn more »
Top religious leaders, activists, and religious scholars representing more than 15 countries and over 35 faith-based organizations, universities, and religious bodies, who are committed to making concrete gains in women's rights gathered at The Carter Center June 27-29 for the conference "Mobilizing Faith for Women: Engaging the Power of Religion and Belief to Advance Human Rights and Dignity.".
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Prominent leaders from Sudan and South Sudan have come together twice this spring to discuss how to strengthen peace and create a lasting understanding between the two countries.
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In 2008, Audrey Kasandi remembers traveling to school in a convoy escorted by armed police for safety, and seeing burned down shells of houses and tent villages stretched across fields full of internally displaced people in Kenya's Rift Valley as the country recoiled from post-election violence. Yet when opportunity arose to serve as deputy presiding officer of a polling station in March 2013, she jumped at the chance despite her fears.
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By Ben Dunant, Carter Center election observer, Nepal
We sat within walls of mud and thatch that warped gently into corners that flaked at the seams, cross-legged on thick carpets with woven Tibetan patterns. Our hosts in the village of Sikles presented us with local food that arrived in portion after portion, all accompanied by steamy hot glasses of raksi, the milky-colored spirit distilled from harvested millet. Learn more »
The Carter Center is working to enable Tshiamilemba and other local Congolese mining communities to seek redress for such human rights violations and to demand changes moving forward from both mining companies and government.
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Carter Center election observers in Kenya reported longs lines outside many polling stations on March 4, some nearly a kilometer long, and voters waited in lines for up to six hours or more.
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It was hard to feel the chill of winter in San Diego, Calif., as donors and supporters from around the world came together for the Carter Center’s annual Winter Weekend fundraiser at the Hotel Del Coronado on Feb. 20-24. Now in its 21st year, the Winter Weekends have raised more than $19 million to support the Center’s work. Learn more »
By Ellen Lust, a Carter Center political analyst in Jordan
Jordan’s Jan. 23 parliamentary elections are taking place in a climate of uncertainty, due to dissatisfaction with the pace of electoral reform and frustration with the state of the economy. In late-November there were demonstrations against the monarch, sparked by a sharp increase in gas prices. Learn more »
“In all of these countries, the path to democracy is full of challenges,” said Hrair Balian, director of the Conflict Resolution Program at the Center. “The successful outcome will depend on the level of inclusiveness and tolerance of the new orders being created.”
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In early 2010, remote Baimiao Township in Sichuan Province, China, was dubbed the "naked government" when local officials posted its budget online, reportedly disclosing everything from salaries to the cost of notebooks and paper cups.
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While other voters squeezed into polling stations and stood for hours in the Sierra Leone heat to cast ballots in the country's Nov. 17 general election, John Mussa moved straight to the head of the line. One advantage to having only one arm, he said, "is you don't have to wait in the queue to vote."
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The Nov. 17, 2012, presidential and parliamentary elections were the first self-administered elections to be conducted in Sierra Leone since the end of the civil war in 2002, representing an important test for the country's democratic consolidation.
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By Nick Jahr, long-term observer
Sierra Leone’s last election was a historic one: the first time the country’s opposition took power more or less peacefully. This also will be a landmark of another sort: the first election conducted solely …</p> Learn more »
Former U.S. President and Carter Center Founder Jimmy Carter is answering questions from the public via Facebook, Twitter, and this blog starting Oct. 19, 2012, as part of a year-long commemoration of the Center’s 30th anniversary waging peace and fighting disease worldwide. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has been named the 2012 recipient of the CDC Foundation’s Hero Award. The foundation honored President Carter for three decades of visionary leadership focused on saving lives, reducing suffering, and providing hope for millions of the world’s poorest people, as well as for his commitment to achieving a more peaceful and healthy world for us all. Learn more »
In Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), thousands of children spend their days digging, breaking stones, and transporting and washing minerals, risking exposure to dangerous levels of radiation, potential pulmonary diseases, and physical and sexual abuse by peers and adults.
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In Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), thousands of children spend their days digging, breaking stones, and transporting and washing minerals, risking exposure to dangerous levels of radiation, potential pulmonary diseases, and physical and sexual abuse by peers and adults. Learn more »
For the first time, former U.S. President and Carter Center Founder Jimmy Carter will answer questions from the public via Facebook, Twitter, and this blog, as part of a year-long commemoration of the Center’s 30th anniversary of waging peace and fighting disease worldwide. Learn more »
Ahead of key Oct. 7 presidential elections in Venezuela, The Carter Center is conducting an independent study mission to follow the campaign, with political and electoral analysts interviewing political actors and technical experts on the ground. The Carter Center also will send a small group of experts for an informal presence on election day to interview political actors and voters. Learn more »
During Egypt's January 2011 revolution, human rights researcher and blogger Fatma Emam demonstrated for change in Tahrir Square day after day with thousands of other men and women. Post-revolution though, she found women's rights left behind.
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The Carter Center is encouraging less partisan and more professional media reporting on Venezuela's electoral process through a series of workshops ahead of the country's Oct. 7 presidential election, offering one of the few spaces where journalists from diverse media participate together in the polarized society.
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Today marks an important milestone in President Carter’s life—he has had the longest post-White House career of any president. That’s 31 years of waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope since he left office in January 1981, which the former President says has been some of the most rewarding work of his life. Learn more »
Since President Carter's groundbreaking efforts in the White House to place human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy, the goal of securing human rights for all — civil, political, social, and economic rights — has driven the Carter Center's work to advance peace and health in more than 70 nations. Learn more »
Since President Carter's groundbreaking efforts in the White House to place human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy, the goal of securing human rights for all — civil, political, social, and economic rights — has driven the Carter Center's work to advance peace and health in more than 70 nations.
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The Carter Center’s China Program recently launched a “China in Africa” website to feature original content from African contributors expressing their views on China’s impact in their respective communities. The project aims to bridge the gap of understanding between Chinese decision-makers and African communities about China’s impact on the African continent. <p>China Program Director Yawei Liu explains the project.…</p> Learn more »
For residents of Bor Town, Grand Bassa County, Liberia, a trip to the nearest magistrate's office to solve a dispute isn't just an expense that many in this subsistence-farming community cannot afford; it is also a major trip — eight hours walking by footpath, one way.
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The Carter Center is pioneering new technology that allows observations from polling stations across a country to be transmitted to headquarters immediately, allowing a richer picture of an election to emerge in real time – key to being able to determine quicker if an election is credible. Learn more »
In June, Egyptians chose the first democratically elected president in the country's history, and despite the challenging circumstances of the process, many voters still felt the moment's importance.
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A limited Carter Center mission witnessed the June 16-17 runoff election for Egypt's president, with 90 witnesses from 36 countries deployed to follow polling, counting, and those parts of the tabulation processes to which the Center had access. Learn more »
A chain of 1,000 origami paper cranes, each painstakingly created by members of the Carter Center’s fall 2011 intern class, was recently hung in the Children’s Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, Japan, in honor of President and Mrs. Carter. Learn more »
Voting began Wednesday in Egypt, where more than 50 million registered voters may choose the first genuinely democratically elected president in the country’s history. In the Al-Sayeda Zeinab and Al-Sayeda Aisha neighborhoods of Cairo, hundreds of people lined up outside polling stations ahead of poll opening at 8 a.m. Learn more »
The Carter Center has deployed 22 international election witnesses to Egypt's upcoming May 23-24 presidential elections and will send a larger delegation of 80 witnesses from over 35 nations several days before the election, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Many of the Center's witnesses have been with The Carter Center in Egypt since November 2011 and have witnessed the lower and upper house parliamentary elections too.
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In view of the pace of change in political events taking place in the Middle East and North Africa, it’s not surprising that the context of an interview completed on April 6 would already be slightly outdated just weeks later. Learn more »
The Carter Center's peace programs have retained a presence in South Sudan after observing the 2011 referendum on independence in the hopes of contributing to a lasting peace and the establishment of strong democratic foundations.
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During 2012, The Carter Center celebrates three decades of waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope. This is the first in a series of anniversary features highlighting the Center's global impact since its founding.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director, Carter Center Office of Public Information
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter joined a 40-member Carter Center delegation to witness the third phase of Egypt’s parliamentary elections Jan. 10-11. The delegation, deployed in Egypt since mid-November for the three-phase election, represents 21 countries. Learn more »
Read firsthand accounts from two of the Center's witnesses in Egypt - Nedra Cherif and Matt Hall - who were deployed to Alexandria and Fayoum governorates during the first round of voting.
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On Oct. 23, Haythem, 28, wrapped himself in a Tunisian flag, stood for four hours in a line that spanned as far as the eye could see on a street in downtown Tunis, and cast a vote for the first time in his life.
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On Nov. 28, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is holding its second democratic multi-party national elections since gaining independence in 1960, and the first to be administered solely by the country’s election commission. Elections in 2006 were overseen by the United Nations. Learn more »
At The Carter Center, we are thankful for all that has been accomplished over the last year: historic elections in Sudan and Tunisia; the end of Guinea worm disease in Ghana; the first graduating class of mental health workers in Liberia; and so much more. Learn more »
By Max Lockie, Carter Center long-term observer
Carter Center long-term observer Max Lockie is based in Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Center established an office in Kinshasa in August and deployed 10 long-term observers to seven provinces: Kinshasa, Bas-Congo, Oriental Province, North Kivu, South Kivu, Katanga, and Kasai Oriental. In September, the Center deployed another 10 long-term observers to the remaining provinces. Learn more »
The Carter Center is partnering with the Consulate General of France in Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology as part of “France-Atlanta 2011,” a series of 15 events being held Oct. 26-Nov. 12, designed to strengthen ties in the fields of science, economics, culture, and humanitarian work. Learn more »
In Congo, a lack of transparent and equitable management of natural resources has excluded most citizens from the benefits of the country’s vast mineral reserves. To address these inequalities, The Carter Center is working to advance economic justice by gathering and publishing information about the mining sector to be used by civil society to support reform in mining practice and policy.
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Long lines of Tunisians waited for hours to vote on Sunday to choose 217 members of a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution – many casting a ballot for the first time in their lives – in the country's first open and competitive election in decades.
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The Carter Center will observe the Oct. 23 vote in Tunisia - the first Arab Spring country to hold elections - for a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. A selection of questions submitted online are answered below by Carter Center observers on the ground in Tunisia.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center.
Deborah Hakes, assistant director of the Carter Center's Office of Public Information, reports from Liberia, where the Carter Center's international election observation team monitored the country's Oct. 11 elections. Learn more »
Presidential and legislative elections in Liberia on Oct. 11 will be a critical test for the country's transition from war to democratic and constitutional government. A Carter Center delegation will observe those elections, led by His Excellency General Dr. Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria's former head of state.
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A group of former leaders and human rights experts serve as a watchdog to threats against democratic stability in the Americas and as a voice to strengthen, promote, and protect democracy and human rights. The group aims to bolster the effectiveness of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, approved on Sept. 11, 2001. Learn more »
By Marwa Alkhairo, a Carter Center long-term election observer in northwest Tunisia and Bizerte
Marwa Alkhairo is a Carter Center long-term election observer in northwest Tunisia and Bizerte. "La bas alaik" and "ca va," means "are you well," one phrase said in Arabic, and one in French. These two greetings are indicative of the complexity that one immediately notices upon reaching northwest Tunisia. Learn more »
Like many Liberian women, Ruth Saye has faced violence, subjugation, and loss as a result of her country's devastating civil war, but she was determined to empower women and help them to heal.
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Misunderstandings and tensions between Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) and the United States are common, and often reinforced or made worse by charged, politicized reporting in media stories related to these countries. Learn more »
Peace is more than the absence of war. There is an inner peace that comes from personal security and personal freedom. Peace also includes the sense of a mother and father that their children will live, that they’ll have food for them to eat, and that they won’t be subject to a lifetime of suffering that could have been prevented. Learn more »
Planned gifts are an excellent way to ensure that The Carter Center continues to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope far into the future, while also offering financial benefits to donors. The new Carter Center planned giving website offers a wealth of information and interactive tools to help potential donors find a plan that fits their goals. Learn more »
As the sun rose across Juba on Jan. 9, Lulogo Market area resident Ibrahim, 33, had already waited in line for hours to be among the first to vote in Southern Sudan's historic referendum on self-determination. He clutched a small radio with antenna pointed toward the sky to hear news fragments from BBC and local stations about the referendum.
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Philomena Bloh-Sayeh is surrounded by mounds of documents in boxes stacked on shelves. "These are marriage documents," she says. "You'll see gaps in the years where some of them were lost during the war."
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Ratna Osman, acting executive director of Malaysia’s Sisters in Islam, was one of a diverse group of 72 human rights activists and religious scholars from 22 countries to attend the Carter Center’s human rights defenders forum this week in Atlanta. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter urged religious communities to promote, not hinder, women’s rights during his opening remarks at the 2011 Human Rights Defenders Forum taking place at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga., April 3-6. The remarks were a follow up to a speech he gave to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 2009. Learn more »
From April 3-6, human rights leaders and scholars will gather at The Carter Center to discuss the key challenges that women's rights activists face and ways to work with religious, traditional, and government institutions to advance the protection of these rights. Learn more »
The Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum, a citizens' forum created to identify and contribute solutions to multilateral problems and tensions among the Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) and the United States, has issued a report outlining a common agenda to improve cooperation among the nations. Learn more »
Carter Center observers witnessed the birth of what is expected to be the world's newest nation, following Southern Sudan's Jan. 9-15 referendum on self-determination, with an overwhelming majority--a reported 98.9 percent--voting for secession from Sudan.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Carter Center observers remain deployed across Sudan and in out-of-country voting locations as voting continues in the referendum on the self-determination of Southern Sudan. Here are images from across Juba on days one and two of voting. Learn more »
By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
More than 100 Carter Center observers will be deployed across Sudan and in eight out-of-country voting locations to witness voting in the referendum for the self-determination of Southern Sudan, as part of one of the Center’s largest observation missions. Most observers are currently being briefed in Juba, Sudan. Learn more »
The people of South Sudan will vote beginning Jan. 9 to decide whether they wish to remain unified with the North or to form a separate country. Hear more about the significance of the upcoming referendum, the challenges ahead, and the Carter Center's contribution to the process. Learn more »
For veteran journalist Raúl Novillo Alarcón, navigating the streets of La Paz, Bolivia, is easier than keeping pace with the country's political roadmap. "This is a difficult time for journalism in Bolivia," he said.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Outside a polling station in north Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, hundreds of people waited behind closed gates for voting to begin. Women and the elderly sat on chairs they had brought or on the ground. By the time our team of observers arrived at 10 a.m., three hours after polling should have begun, voters were growing anxious in the baking sun. Some had gotten there at 4 or 5 that morning. Learn more »
The Carter Center is the only American nongovernmental organization observing the historic presidential elections in Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, and among the handful of international observers present, we have been deployed longer and more extensively than anyone else. These elections represent the first openly competitive contests for both nations since the end of French colonial rule a half-century ago. Learn more »
For Carter Center officer Pewee Flomoku, bringing justice to the citizens of Liberia is personal.
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On August 27, American teacher Aijalon Gomes was reunited with his family in Boston after being imprisoned seven months in North Korea. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had embarked on a humanitarian mission to obtain Gomes’ release after he was arrested last January and subsequently sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined about $600,000. Learn more »
Jimmy Carter has for years worked behind the scenes to secure the release of political prisoners. But this week he had to do it in person and in the public spotlight, traveling to North Korea to bring an American home.
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After seven months imprisoned in North Korea, American teacher Aijalon Gomes was reunited with his family this afternoon at Boston Logan Airport. The Carter Center delegation's plane landed at 2 p.m. today. President Carter embarked last Tuesday on a humanitarian mission to obtain Gomes release after he was arrested last January and subsequently sentenced. Learn more »
Quietly recalling the memory of people jumping from stadium walls to save their lives, and others falling like flies from the gunfire of soldiers, Bademba Diallo remembers thinking in the chaos of that afternoon: "you only die once."
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During a stopover at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, President and Mrs. Carter viewed, for the first time, the exhibit “Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son.” The Carters met with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and airport officials and enlightened a growing crowd with personal memories and behind the scenes insights. Learn more »
A groundbreaking project to identify and foster concensus on common standards for what constitutes a genuinely democratic election is the focus of a recently-published article in Democratization by Carter Center Democracy Program Assistant Director Avery Davis-Roberts and Director David Carroll. Learn more »
For the past two years, Carter Center observers have traveled around the country, assessing progress and reporting their findings as Nepal has undergone major transformation. Within the last five years, the Asian country has gone from monarchy to electing a constituent assembly charged with drafting a constitution.
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Public Radio International's “The World” examines Liberia's struggle with land disputes, as citizens return home after the war to find others living on land they claim as their own, in a story aired Aug. 3. The story also features the Carter Center’s John Hummel, who explains the country’s need for both a modern legal system and tribal justice system. Learn more »
The National Traditional Council of Liberia (NTC) recently honored Carter Center efforts in the country at a farewell ceremony for the Center’s outgoing country representative, John Hummel. Hummel was gowned in traditional clothing as a show of appreciation to him and The Carter Center for “its good will to the Liberian people,” describing him as “a son whom they will always miss.” Learn more »
The next time you are waiting for a flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, visit a president, and get to know “Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son.” This large exhibit flanks both sides of the corridor between Security and Concourse T and is packed with rare photos, art, and artifacts giving viewers a snapshot of President Carter’s life as a peanut farmer, a romantic, a politician, a president, a humanitarian, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Learn more »
By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Through the open second-story window of a mayor’s office outside Conakry, Guinea, came the sounds of hundreds of people passing by, some blowing on whistles and shouting for candidates, others riding in or on cars with horns and speakers blaring. Learn more »
By Peter Blair, a long-term observer for the Carter Center’s election observation mission in Guinea
Peter Blair is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center’s election observation mission in Guinea. Blair graduated with a degree in politics from the University of Nottingham, interned with the Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program, and worked as a media and communications assistant for Oxfam Ireland. Learn more »
The Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum met in Lima, Peru, on June 1-2 to develop a common agenda to address problematic issues among the represented countries. The forum, which consists of influential citizens from a variety of sectors within each country, is designed to provide crucial support and reinforcement of diplomatic efforts through a civil society process. Learn more »
The Carter Center's new initiative to help Liberia’s indigenous leaders manage local disputes was recently featured by Voice of America. The Center’s efforts follow a 15-county consultation on the rule of law with traditional leaders in 2009, and a request from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Traditional Council for help strengthening the capacity of local leaders. Learn more »
By Avery Davis Roberts, assistant director, Carter Center Democracy Program, and Amber Davis, assistant project coordinator, Carter Center Democracy Program
The Carter Center deployed a limited observation mission to observe the use of voting technology to the Philippines’ May 10 election as part of its Democratic Election Standards project, which includes addressing the challenges of observing electronic voting technologies. Learn more »
Impact from the Carter Center’s African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information, held in Ghana in February, is still being felt around the African continent as stakeholders work to advance the right and foster communication about remaining challenges. Learn more »
In Ghana, where the government is currently debating the passage of a right to information bill, Nana Oye Lithur coordinates the campaign to ensure the proposed law will conform to international standards and enhance transparency and accountability.
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Cheng Li, director of research and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center, was part of a small Carter Center delegation that traveled to China in March to advance the Center's programming efforts there.
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More than 140 Ambassadors Circle members and friends are gathered at The Carter Center in Atlanta for the 2010 Annual Executive Briefing and Presidential Reception today. The two-day event, featuring firsthand updates from the Center’s peace and health experts, kicked off with an opening evening reception April 22 followed by Conversations at The Carter Center, “Improving the Lives of Women." Learn more »
By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
In Sudan, people across the country began voting on Sunday. Here are images from the first two days of balloting. This is the 78th election observed by The Carter Center. Learn more »
By Deborah Hakes, assistant director, Communications Department
Sudan’s historic elections, the country’s first in 24 years, begin on Sunday and will include nearly one week of voting and counting the ballots. The Carter Center deployed approximately 70 observers to Sudan’s 25 states. Campaigning officially ended today, and in Khartoum, election materials were packed up. Learn more »
Carter Center long-term observers in Sudan, who have been deployed since August 2009, will soon be joined by a full delegation to observe the country's April elections. In teams of two, long-term observers have assessed pre-election developments, including voter registration in December.
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The Carter Center announced today that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Algerian Foreign Minister and member of the Elders Lakhdar Brahimi, Judge Joseph Warioba, and Carter Center President and CEO Dr. John Hardman will lead the Center’s international election observation delegation to observe Sudan’s elections, which are scheduled to begin on April 11. Learn more »
Recent political events in Cote d’Ivoire introduced a serious disruption, hopefully temporary, of election preparations and demonstrated how easily the West African country could slide back into conflict. Elections there have been delayed several times; The Carter Center has been the only international election observation group present during the entire process and has deployed teams of observers for different phases. Learn more »
The Carter Center, long at the forefront of the election observation field, is working with students at Georgia Tech University to take the field forward again – using smartphone technology to streamline the observation process and compile the findings of observers in a fast, efficient, and transparent way.
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Merekaje Lorna can't wait to vote. A domestic election observer trained by The Carter Center in Sudan, she believes she and other young Sudanese have a responsibility to contribute to credible elections for the sake of the next generation, and as her country approaches its first multi-party elections in 24 years, she looks forward to being able to choose her leaders.
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A small Carter Center delegation is in China this week to advance the Center’s programming efforts there. The Center has worked to help standardize the vast array of electoral procedures taking place in local communities and foster better governance for more than a decade, at the invitation of the Chinese government. Learn more »
A series of experts, including Carter Center Americas Program Director Jennifer McCoy and former Latin American leaders, will convene on March 15 at Georgia State University (GSU) to analyze recent democratic crises in the region, including the Honduran coup and recent events in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Learn more »
The Carter Center's annual Winter Weekend auction, held Feb. 27 at Port St. Lucie, Fla., raised $1,322,300 — the second-highest amount raised in the event's history — to benefit the not-for-profit Center’s initiatives to advance peace and health worldwide. The highest bid items at the fundraiser were two original paintings by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, which sold for $290,000. Learn more »
For the past two days at The Carter Center, influential nongovernmental participants from the United States and the five Andean countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia have gathered for a dialogue aimed to strengthen the historically difficult U.S.-Andean relations and cooperation. Learn more »
Working with monitors from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), The Carter Center supports legal advice services in marginalized rural communities through a network of 32 Community Legal Advisors (CLAs) in eight counties. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with Sudanese officials to urge peace and stability in the nation as it prepares for its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April, which the Carter Center's international election observation team will monitor. Learn more »
On the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from a South African prison, Carter Center Vice President for Peace Programs John Stremlau writes for CNN.com that “Mandela must continue to embody the roles for South Africans that Washington, Lincoln, and King serve in protecting and advancing democracy in America. Learn more »
The African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information began Sunday in Accra, Ghana. More than 130 participants arrived from 20 African countries as well as Mexico, Canada, India, Australia, and the United States. Learn more »
The Carter Center has deep roots in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and one plagued by poisonous politics. Jimmy Carter’s 1978 visit was the first time a U.S. president visited an African state. The Carter Center has worked there since 1988 to eradicate or control neglected diseases like Guinea worm and river blindness. Learn more »
Olawale Fapohunda believes that the proposed African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) will enable African citizens to more fully participate in the electoral process and advance protection of human rights by African governments. And, in places like his home country of Nigeria, he feels the need for its ratification is vital. Learn more »
Listen to Laura Neuman, associate director for the Americas Program at The Carter Center and the access to information project manager, discuss the upcoming conference. Learn more »
China Elections and Governance Online, a project of the Carter Center's China Program, has received top honors from two major Chinese publications. Learn more »
As the only foreign organization monitoring Bolivia's voter registration process, Carter Center long-term observers are witnessing a historic convergence of technology with indigenous cultures in one of South America's most diverse countries.
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For Jordan Bracho, editor-in-chief at Telesur TV in Venezuela, attending The Carter Center "Journalism Beyond Print" workshop in August 2009 led to an immediate improvement in his work and allowed him to develop relationships with colleagues that he wouldn't have otherwise been able to in Venezuela's current media environment.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Carter Center Bolivia Field Office Director Nicolás Fernández Bravo talks about the Center’s findings on election day and the challenges ahead for Bolivia. Learn more »
Carter Center Bolivia Field Office Director Nicolás Fernández Bravo talks about the Center's findings on election day and the challenges ahead for Bolivia
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Marcelo Varela, associate director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program, talks about election day in Bolivia. Learn more »
Marcelo Varela, associate director of the Carter Center's Americas Program, talks about election day in Bolivia.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Listen to Carter Center observers Daniel Barnes and Angela Lederach talk about the reception they have received so far as election observers in Bolivia. Learn more »
Listen to Carter Center observers Daniel Barnes and Angela Lederach talk about the reception they have received so far as election observers in Bolivia.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Watch Barnes and Lederach as they talk about the day's activities and their preparation for election day. Carter Center observers Daniel Barnes and Angela Lederach deployed this morning to Cochabamba, a city that has …</p> Learn more »
Carter Center observers Daniel Barnes and Angela Lederach deployed this morning to Cochabamba, a city that has grown immensely in recent years as people have immigrated from rural areas to find employment.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
In La Paz, Bolivia, colorful election graffiti and signs may be found on most available spaces along the winding road that leads upward to the city of El Alto. President Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, enjoys overwhelming popularity in La Paz. He is running for a second term in office, courtesy of an article in the country’s new constitution approved by referendum in January that allows him to seek re-election. Learn more »
By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Today, on the last official day of campaigning before Sunday’s elections, rallies were held throughout Bolivia. Drummers and dancers (video), joining thousands of supporters (photos, below), show their enthusiastic support during a large rally in El Alto for Evo Morales. Learn more »
Marcelo Varela, associate director of the Carter Center's Americas Program, talks about the unique role of the Center's mission to observe Bolivia's elections on Sunday, Dec. 6.
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Today, on the last official day of campaigning before Sunday's elections, rallies were held throughout Bolivia.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Watch a brief video of Carter Center long-term observers talking about their work in Bolivia and the country’s new biometric voter registration process. Learn more »
Carter Center observers are gathering in La Paz, Bolivia, to be briefed ahead of their deployment to observe Sunday's presidential and legislative elections. Election results will determine who will implement and enforce the new constitution, approved by referendum in January 2009 Learn more »
Join the Carter Center's Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information, on the ground in Bolivia, as she blogs daily through Dec. 7 about the presidential and legislative elections, their importance for the Latin American country, and the Carter Center's role in the process. Learn more »
South American neighbors Ecuador and Colombia have a contentious recent history because of strains along their shared border, but seeing the other's point of view has become easier for key citizens participating in the Carter Center's dialogue process between both countries. Learn more »
As the only foreign organization monitoring Bolivia's voter registration process, Carter Center long-term observers are witnessing a historic convergence of technology with indigenous cultures in one of South America's most diverse countries.
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After seven years online, the Carter Center sponsored-website www.chinaelections.org is one of the most visible platforms in China for the dissemination of democratic awareness and civic culture. Learn more »
For 30 years, Henrietta Gayflor* endured ongoing physical abuse from her partner. After he assaulted her in her front yard one day, Gayflor decided to take action.
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A family of four waits outside Rita Jimenez Huancollo's wood-paneled office at the Integrated Justice Center (CIJ) in La Paz, Bolivia, husband and wife with eyes cast down, he folding and unfolding papers and she glancing sideways every so often to quietly encourage their children to sit patiently.
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In Bolivia, political disputes often escalate to the brink of conflict. One of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, Bolivia's ethnic and cultural diversity, as well as struggles over natural resources, fuel strong social and economic tensions.
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KINSHASA....The initial vision for the Carter Center's Human Rights House was to provide both a space and forum for human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, building on the momentum of the 2006 elections.
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The initial vision for the Carter Center's Human Rights House was to provide both a space and forum for human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, building on the momentum of the 2006 elections. Learn more »
When she began work as a job counselor almost 10 years ago in Atlanta with refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Valerie Harden never imagined she would one day play a role in the restoration of their war-torn country.
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Dr. Jennifer McCoy, Director, Americas Program, takes your questions. Learn more »
From the roof of his family's home in East Jerusalem within the walls of the Old City, Raed Sa'id points to the golden Dome of The Rock, which is glowing in the late-afternoon sun.
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Lama Naja represents hope for Lebanon's political future. A politically independent young person in a country full of strong political passions and fierce party loyalties, she instead voted on June 7 for the people she thought may keep their campaign promises.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
A multinational Carter Center delegation observed Lebanon’s June 7 parliamentary elections, monitoring polling sites throughout the country’s 25 qadas (districts). Led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Yemini Prime Minister Abdulkareem Al-Eryani, the 60 member delegation included elected officials, electoral and human rights experts, regional specialists, and political and civic leaders from more than 20 countries in North America, Africa, Europe, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. Learn more »
Election Day in Lebanon: Carter Center Observers Monitor Polling Sites
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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visits Syria, Israel, West Bank, and Gaza. Learn more »
By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Deborah Hakes is assistant director of public information for The Carter Center. For the past week and a half (and for weeks before I arrived), the Carter Center office for the elections was a scene of constant intense activity at all hours of a day. Learn more »
For the past week and a half (and for weeks before I arrived), the Carter Center office for the elections was a scene of constant intense activity at all hours of a day. Now the field staff has returned to their regular office outside the hotel, and Atlanta-based staff are flying home or to another field project.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
I’ve been sharing my experiences with you from Lebanon for the past week and thought it was also important to share a few of the many other voices whose hard work made the election observation mission possible. Learn more »
Lebanon held successful parliamentary elections on June 7, 2009, the results of which were accepted peacefully by both sides. The Carter Center deployed 60 observers from 23 countries to assess voting, counting, and tabulation processes, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Prime Minister of Yemen Abdul-Kareem al–Eryani.
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2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections - Deborah Hakes Blogs From Carter Center Election Observation Mission
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Things are wrapping up here for this phase of the Carter Center’s election observation mission to Lebanon. Our long-term observers will remain deployed to monitor the post-election processes. Learn more »
2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections - Deborah Hakes Blogs
From Carter Center Election Observation Mission
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
The long lines surprised all of us. They wound down stairs and through the hallways of elementary schools, municipal buildings, and other polling sites where we visited. It made walking from polling station to polling station a very crowded affair. The voters seemed in good spirits though, often cheering and yelling “Jimmy Carter!’ when they realized just which international observers were there. Learn more »
Lebanon Parliamentary Elections 2009- Deborah Hakes Blogs From Carter Center Election Observation Mission
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
It is the eve of Lebanon’s parliamentary elections and things seem quiet. Our observers were deployed yesterday, and they continue regular check-in calls to let us know that they are safe. Meanwhile, the core staff in Beirut are finalizing preparations for tomorrow – election day Learn more »
It is the eve of Lebanon's parliamentary elections and things seem quiet. Our observers were deployed yesterday, and they continue regular check-in calls to let us know that they are safe.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Today, I headed south to Lebanon’s border with Hrair Balian, the director of the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center, to be briefed by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and to see what the pre-election environment was like there. Learn more »
Today, I headed south to Lebanon's border with Hrair Balian, the director of the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center, to be briefed by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and to see what the pre-election environment was like there.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Across Lebanon today, more than 11,000 polling station workers could cast their ballots early for the parliamentary elections. I traveled to Baabda, a town in the mountains southeast of Beirut, to watch the process. Baabda has six seats being contested in these elections, and per Lebanon’s complicated distribution of parliamentary seats by religion, three will be filled by Maronite Christians, two by Shia Muslims, and one by a Druze. Learn more »
2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections - Deborah Hakes Blogs From Carter Center Election Observation Mission
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
I’ve only been in Beirut, Lebanon, for 24 hours, but I can already tell that the parliamentary elections to be held this coming Sunday are going to be a fascinating process, and I am thrilled to be a part of it. The world is watching what happens here, and I will get to see it firsthand. I’ll do my best to share what I see with you. Learn more »
Join the Carter Center's Deborah Hakes, in Lebanon with the multinational Carter Center delegation, as she blogs daily about the sights and sounds "on the ground" and the importance of these elections for the country and region.
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I've only been in Beirut, Lebanon, for 24 hours, but I can already tell that the parliamentary elections to be held this coming Sunday are going to be a fascinating process, and I am thrilled to be a part of it. The world is watching what happens here, and I will get to see it firsthand. I'll do my best to share what I see with you.
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A multinational Carter Center delegation will observe Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary elections, monitoring polling sites throughout the country's 25 qadas (districts). Learn more »
New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof recently traveled to Liberia to explore progress against sexual and gender violence there and the impact of the Carter Center's rule of law project.
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With accreditation from Lebanon's Ministry of the Interior and Municipalities, The Carter Center dispatched six long-term observers to Lebanon in March to monitor the electoral process leading to parliamentary elections on June 7, 2009.
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Marwa Alkhairo is a long-term observer in the Carter Center's election observation mission in Lebanon. This is her first election mission. She graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service with a master's degree in Arab studies in 2008 and certificate in refugee and humanitarian studies. She has had expansive experience in international NGOs, research institutes, film, and advocacy work as related to issues in the Arab world.
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Although about one half of all the countries in the Americas now have some form of access to information legislation, and almost all of the remaining countries are considering establishing a statutory right to information, there remain a number of critical challenges. In many countries, implementation and enforcement of the law has been weak. In other places there are signs of backsliding where once vibrant laws are now politicized or ineffectual; and in all cases there is a need to broaden and deepen the usage of the right to information.
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Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director of the Carter Center's Americas Program, is traveling with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as a member of the Carter Center delegation to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil from April 27 to May 4, 2009. Read more about the trip and read her blog entries below.
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Long-term election observers Whitney Haring-Smith and Eunsook Jung have been deployed in Aceh since March 2009 as part of the Carter Center's mission to observe Indonesia's April 9, 2009 parliamentary elections.
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Until recently, police officers in Kimbasneke, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), investigated case files at a music bar or other public space because they didn't have office space. When it rained, they carried the papers under their shirts to preserve the files.
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As the sun rose on Ghana's second election day in two weeks, Alice Appoh had already stood in line for hours to wait for voting to begin, her two-year-old child sound asleep on her back.
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More than 50 Carter Center observers witnessed Ghana's Dec. 7 elections, the results of which will determine the country's next president and parliament.
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Fifty–seven Carter Center observers witnessed Ghana's Dec. 7, 2008, presidential and parliamentary elections. Overall, the Center’s observers visited more than 300 polling stations on election day, witnessing the opening, voting, and closing of voting across the country.
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A Chinese delegation hosted by The Carter Center is studying today's U.S. election in the San Francisco and Washington, D.C., areas to learn more about election procedures and reduce misperceptions by the Chinese of the American democratic system.
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Hrair Balian, director, Conflict Resolution Program, joined The Carter Center in 2008. Balian oversees the program’s efforts to monitor conflicts around the world and coordinates the Center’s cross-program efforts in the Middle East. He is also an adjunct professor at the Emory University Law School, teaching an advanced international negotiations seminar. Learn more »
The Carter Center Conflict Resolution Program works to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts by monitoring early warnings in fragile states and through timely, targeted, and impartial interventions. When possible and appropriate, rapid-response interventions--negotiations, mediations, or facilitation--are accomplished through the personal involvement of President and Mrs. Carter, with the support of program staff. In other instances, senior staff conduct interventions with support from senior diplomats around the world. We also engage in sustained post-conflict peacebuilding to promote reconciliation and the restoration of the rule of law. Additionally, the program targets challenging contemporary issues of international peace and security not addressed by other institutions. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter led a mission to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan April 13-21, 2008, as part of the Carter Center's ongoing effort to support peace, democracy, and human rights in the region. Accompanying him were former First Lady Rosalynn Carter; son Jeffrey Carter; former U.S. Congressman Stephen Solarz; Dr. Robert Pastor, senior Carter Center advisor; and Hrair Balian, director of the Center's Conflict Resolution Program.
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Involved with Liberia since 1991, when invited by West Aftican leaders during the country's first civil war to assist in the peace process, The Carter Center works to strengthen the rule of law.
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The Carter Center and the African Union (AU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on July 29, 2008, at the AU Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The MOU will enable the Center to work closely with the AU in areas such as election monitoring, human rights, and strengthening democracies. Carter Center Vice-President for Peace Programs John Stremlau signed on behalf of The Carter Center while Department of Political Affairs Commissioner Julie Joiner signed on behalf of AU Commission Chairperson H.E. Jean Ping.
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The Carter Center works toward the collective protection and promotion of meaningful democracy in the Western Hemisphere. The Center strives to enhance the quality of democracy and its ability to improve the lives of individuals in three areas: Learn more »
Roger Bryant is a long-term observer in the Carter Center's election observation mission in Lebanon. After a career in the British Navy, Roger worked with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina for a number of years before becoming involved in election work abroad as administrator and then as a long-term observer. Roger was a member of the Carter Center's observation mission to Nepal in 2007-8.
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Gazans gather, above, to watch the April 21 Jerusalem press conference of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Click here, or on images above, to view video footage of the press conference and the Palestinian observers in Gaza.
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Websites sponsored by The Carter Center have become an important portal for political reform in China, engaging their audiences with news articles translated into both Chinese and English and offering a platform to debate current affairs in a traditionally closed society.
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The Carter Center’s international election observation delegation to Nepal’s April 10, 2008, elections, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and Dr. Surakiart Sathirathai, former deputy prime minister of Thailand, included 62 observers from more than 20 nations.
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Carter Center election observers witnessed a historic vote in Nepal on April 10 creating a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution for the country that will likely abolish the 240-year-old monarchy.
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The Carter Center and the African Union (AU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on July 29, 2008, at the AU Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The MOU will enable the Center to work closely with the AU in areas such as election monitoring, human rights, and strengthening democracies. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter led the Carter Center's international election observation delegation to Nepal's historic constituent assembly elections, co-led by Dr. Surakiart Sathirathai, former deputy prime minister of Thailand.
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The constituent assembly election is a central feature of Nepal’s ongoing peace process and was agreed to by all parties in the Nov. 21, 2006, Comprehensive Peace Accord. The elections will create a representative body charged with drafting a new constitution for Nepal and give the people of Nepal their first opportunity to speak out and express their views on the future direction of the country. Learn more »
The constituent assembly election is a central feature of Nepal's ongoing peace process and was agreed to by all parties in the Nov. 21, 2006, Comprehensive Peace Accord. The elections will create a representative body charged with drafting a new constitution for Nepal and give the people of Nepal their first opportunity to speak out and express their views on the future direction of the country. Learn more »
The Carter Center conducted a conflict–related development analysis in two towns along the Ecuador northern border. The analysis focuses on development in the border zone, including access to justice and human rights, citizen security, and youth and social inclusion, and will serve as input for the creation of public policies for development in the northern border zone by Ecuador’s government.
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Buenaventura Morales has a kind face worn weary from life, and friendly eyes that hide the depression plaguing him since he fled his native Colombia after massacres to his village in 2004. His wife died along the way, and he said he feels unable to support his four children by himself; he can't find a job in this poor border region of Ecuador. He plans to rent a small plot of land nearby to grow rice and trade it among the large refugee community here. Life on the border between Ecuador and Colombia is tough, and complicated.
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What struck me most about the country is not how the people have changed: it is how the government has changed because of people. The government seems to be more keenly aware of the people’s needs, of the growing gap between the rich and the poor, of the international pressure on China to change its policies on issues such as environmental pollution, global warming, energy saving, and of its own source of legitimacy. Learn more »
What struck me most about the country is not how the people have changed: it is how the government has changed because of people. The government seems to be more keenly aware of the people's needs, of the growing gap between the rich and the poor, of the international pressure on China to change its policies on issues such as environmental pollution, global warming, energy saving, and of its own source of legitimacy. Learn more »
In this Q&A, the Carter Center's Laura Neuman, assistant director of the Americas Program and Access to Information Project manager, shares her insights. Learn more »
Access to public information matters to the average citizen: it is a human right with the power to make a difference in both individual lives and in the life of a community. Although great advances have been made worldwide over the last decade, countries still face important challenges in the implementation and enforcement of access to information laws. Learn more »
Access to information is a fundamental right. Allowing people to seek and receive public documents serves as a critical tool for fighting corruption, enabling citizens to more fully participate in public life, making governments more efficient, encouraging investment, and helping persons exercise their fundamental human rights. For this reason, The Carter Center is actively involved with governments and civil society. Learn more »
At the invitation of the Government of Liberia, the Carter Center's "Strengthening the Rule of Law and Combating Impunity" project, begun in October 2006, is filling critical gaps in the delivery of justice in rural Liberia.
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"Frankly, I would like to see Liberia at the apex of the continent, on top. I believe very strongly and very sincerely that in spite of what we've been through-the devastation and degradation and all of the other negatives that we can think of-we still have the propensity to rise highly and rigorously." Learn more »
Tiawan S. Gongloe, solicitor general of Liberia, knows his country's justice system from both sides of a jail cell. As a student activist in the late 1970's, he was imprisoned and beaten for speaking out against the government of then-president William Tolbert, and later for speaking out against President Charles Taylor.
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Mama Tumeh, leader of the country-wide Traditional Women for Peace – a Carter Center partner — is regarded as the spiritual leader of women throughout Liberia. Her work is bringing a message of hope and empowerment to women who are survivors of the country's 14-year civil war.
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The Modia Drama Club, based in Gbarnga, Liberia, is a Carter Center partner in the rule of law public education and awareness campaign. Members travel to Liberia's most remote villages by foot, motorcycle, and four-wheel drive, to educate entire communities – often gathered in open-air settings – through skits, music, and interactive dialogue on Liberia's new laws.
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Although the country's decades of violence are over, Liberia's women continue to face their own private wars: marital rape, domestic abuse, poverty. The Carter Center, at the invitation of Liberia's Ministry of Justice and in partnership with community-based organizations in the West African country, is helping close the violence gap through local education programs and governmental capacity building.
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The Carter Center, since 2003, has warned of the dangers that autocratic leaders would take advantage of the “war on terror” to suppress legitimate political opposition and basic human rights. What General Musharraf has done is to try to wipe away the results of decades of effort by human rights and judicial leaders to restrain the powers of executive authority in Pakistan, which for half of the country’s history has been in the hands of the military. Learn more »
The Carter Center, since 2003, has warned of the dangers that autocratic leaders would take advantage of the "war on terror" to suppress legitimate political opposition and basic human rights. What General Musharraf has done is to try to wipe away the results of decades of effort by human rights and judicial leaders to restrain the powers of executive authority in Pakistan, which for half of the country's history has been in the hands of the military. An independent judicial system has been built with hard-won gains of dedicated jurists and those who have risked their lives to bring human rights into the court room. Learn more »
In 2007, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wrote "Beyond the White House," about his post-presidency work with The Carter Center. In it, he reflected on a number of election observation missions, including the Center's first to Guyana, in 1992. An excerpt from the book, published by Simon and Schuster, is reprinted here.
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Nepal has undergone tremendous changes in the past year. A 2006 peace agreement ended a decade of fighting between government forces and the Maoists, and the country's king gave up all power other than his ceremonial status.
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The Carter Center observed Nepal’s constituent assembly elections, which were delayed from the scheduled Nov. 22, 2007, date. The Center’s long-term observers (LTOs) have been deployed throughout the country since March 2007. Currently the only international observation mission in Nepal, the Center’s well–established reputation for professional and impartial observation enables it to gather a wide range of information from diverse actors.
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Jason Katz is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center's election observation mission in Nepal. Katz previously worked at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington, D.C., and served as an election monitor during both rounds of elections in Peru in 2001.
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Stefanie Gross was a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center's election observation mission in Nepal from March-December 2007, and wrote her reflections during this time. Originally from Germany, Stefanie completed her undergraduate degree in political studies and her postgraduate degree in conflict resolution in the United Kingdom before interning at The Carter Center in 2006.
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After Iraq's 2006 elections, the United States and other Western governments celebrated that country's move toward democracy. But as Karin Ryan knows from her 20 years with The Carter Center, an election is only a small step on the long road toward a true democratic government.
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In the following Q&A, panel members from “Two Palestines? What is Risked by a ‘West Bank First’ Policy?” held at The Carter Center in July 2007, answer audience questions that remained following the event. Learn more »
In the following Q&A, panel members from "Two Palestines? What is Risked by a 'West Bank First' Policy?," held at The Carter Center in July 2007, answer audience questions that remained following the event. Learn more »
President Chávez announced that he would deepen the Bolivarian Revolution and establish "21st century socialism." He draws on Simón Bolívar's 19th century ideas of South American integration, and on a new approach to socialism based on a mixed economy with majority state control, distribution of oil revenues, worker participation in businesses, and greater popular participation in political decision-making.
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Final report of the Carter Center's election observation team on the 2006 Nicaragua elections. Held November 5, 2006, this was the fourth national election in Nicaragua observed by The Carter Center since 1990.
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Many of the governments and nations sustained by Cold War patronage are now facing internal opposition as they attempt to adapt to the new world order. While several of the current conflicts cross borders and involve multiple state actors, these conflicts also often have ethnic, religious, and/or other identity-based roots. Learn more »
When Liberia's first female president won in 2005, her opponent charged that the election results were tainted. But Carter Center Democracy Program Director David Carroll knew otherwise.> Learn more »
The Carter Center deployed a 62-member delegation to observe Nicaragua’s 2006 election. Carter Center observers David Evans and Sandra Flores, a French citizen, were based in Rio San Juan, which shares its river and border with Costa Rica. They arrived in the region via small plane on a muddy landing strip.
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Kinshasa....A 45-member international Carter Center delegation led by former Prime Minister of Canada Joe Clark observed the Democratic Republic of the Congo's presidential runoff elections Oct. 29. Carter Center Peace Programs Associate Executive Director John Stremlau was co-leader of the delegation.
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Dr. John Stremlau views the recent elections held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as both triumphant and tragic. "It was quite moving to see the Congolese people turn out to vote," he said. "At the same time," he added, "it was depressing to see how the country and its people have suffered so greatly."
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Marcel Wetsh'okonda fights for human rights laws to be passed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country where 1,000 people die each day from disease, hunger, and violence. It is no easy task.
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The afternoon sun catches Yayu Zonveni's face near the door of her otherwise shadowy home in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). She sits in a blue plastic chair waiting for customers to buy the soda and beer she sells from her house; 200 Congolese francs for a Coke, 400 for a beer. It takes her a day and a half to sell a case of 24 bottles, for which she receives a profit of 400 FC, or almost $1US.
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Looking across the many rows of wood-and-mud shacks that house more than 12,000 people in a camp for displaced persons in Margibi County, Liberia, Jacob Lablah knows he still has work to do. The scene inside the camp varies little from day to day. Women sit patiently next to stands selling combs, seasonings, and rice while children carry toys made from tin cans and old plastic bottles, their shirts in tatters and hanging off their shoulders. Men play checkers on a splintered wooden board for hours. People here have no jobs, no means to improve their lives, and no real place to call home. Learn more »
One of the most important democratic experiments of the last 25 years has been the movement in 600,000 villages across China toward competitive elections, allowing 75 percent of the nation's 1.3 billion people to elect their local leaders. The Carter Center has worked with the Chinese government to help standardize the vast array of election procedures taking place in this new democratic environment and to foster good local governance.
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In this Q&A, Dr. Shelley McConnell, senior associate director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program, discusses the groundbreaking media mapping project: its impetus, implementation, and hoped-for impact on democratization in the Americas. Learn more »
A new Human Rights Council for the United Nations was adopted March 15 by the U.N. General Assembly, replacing the Commission on Human Rights, originally established in 1946. In this Q&A, Karin Ryan, senior advisor, Human Rights Program, discusses the Center’s key role in the Council’s passage and what the Council means for global human rights. The new Council plans to elect its first 47 members May 9 and hold its first meeting June 19, after the Commission is disbanded June 16. Learn more »
Former President Jimmy Carter will lead a team of 80 observers today in monitoring legislative elections in the Palestinian territories. The team hopes to provide “an impartial and accurate report” on elections that are as significant as they are controversial. One development that has raised eyebrows in the West: the political participation of Hamas, a group the United States considers a terrorist organization. Learn more »
Although election observation has existed for many decades, the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s triggered a dramatic expansion in the number of election observation missions. Hear from Carter Center's David Carroll who manages the Democracy Program's projects on election observation, civil society strengthening, and promotion of the rule of law. Learn more »
The Carter Center observed Liberia’s historic presidential and legislative elections on Oct. 11, 2005. Only two years earlier, Liberia had emerged from 14 years of civil warfare, which had left over a million people displaced and the country’s infrastructure destroyed. More than 1.3 million people registered to vote, which was estimated to be 90 percent of the eligible population.
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Liberians, their country devastated by years of civil war, head to the polls in October 2005 in the most promising opportunity the country will have to establish a fragile, post-conflict democracy. Liberia's destroyed infrastructure, pervasive poverty, 85 percent illiteracy rate, and bitter electoral history are compounding the challenges of providing civic education and making technical arrangements for the election process.
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Governments have had a difficult time addressing the needs of the people, particularly low-income and marginalized peoples. As a result, satisfaction with democratic performance is eroding, even while support for the principles of democracy remains strong. High crime rates, poor public services, corruption, and chronic unemployment have made the promises of strongmen and populist candidates attractive to many voters. Learn more »
In this Q&A, the Carter Center’s Laura Neuman, senior program associate, Americas Program, shares her insights. Access to information is one of the keys to democracy. Allowing people to seek and receive public documents serves as a critical tool for fighting corruption, enabling citizens to more fully participate in public life, making governments more efficient, encouraging investment, and helping persons exercise their fundamental human rights. Learn more »
At the conclusion of the Carter Center’s work to help resolve Venezuela’s political crisis, Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director of the Center’s Americas Program, traveled to Caracas Feb. 24, 2005, to present the Center’s final report on the presidential referendum process. Before leaving, she and former Carter Center Caracas Representative Francisco Diez talked about the Center’s work there for the past two and a half years and the future of Venezuela. Learn more »
A Palestinian woman places her vote inside the ballot box. Despite a boycott by Hamas and impediments to voters, the turnout was about 65 percent, and there was no serious violence either by the Palestinians or Israelis.
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A Q&A with Dr. David Carroll, interim director of the Democracy Program, and Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director of the Americas Program on the 2004 U.S. Elections. Learn more »
Looking across the many rows of wood-and-mud shacks that house more than 12,000 people in a camp for displaced persons in Margibi County, Liberia, Jacob Lablah knows he still has work to do.
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Twenty-five years ago, then U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed the landmark U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act into law, making it illegal for American companies to bribe or pay excessive "fees" to conduct business in another country. Today, the Emory University-affiliated Carter Center continues his work through its Council for Ethical Business Practices. Learn more »
Helping to break the cycle of violence that has plagued previous elections in Jamaica, The Carter Center in October observed the island nation's second relatively peaceful election.
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The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court came into force July 1, 2002, some 50 years after the United Nations first called for the establishment of a world tribunal. The Carter Center and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter have been strong advocates for the ICC. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter made history in May 2002 as the first United States president, former or sitting, to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959. Among those accompanying him on The Carter Center delegation was Dr. Jennifer McCoy (pictured at left with Cuban healthcare workers), director of the Americas Program at The Carter Center and associate professor of political science at Georgia State University. A special trip de-briefing with Dr. McCoy follows. Learn more »
The following is an excerpt and translation from the Cuban Newspaper, Granma. President Carter’s comments are a direct transcription from a videotape of his speech to faculty and students at the University of Havana, Cuba, on May 14, 2002. Where President Carter’s comments were inaudible, a translation of the interpreter’s translation was substituted. Therefore, it is important to note that this re-translation may result in some variation from what President Carter actually said. Learn more »
A Carter Center delegation traveled to China in June to help its government establish a data collection system for village elections and standardizing procedures nationwide. Their visit is the result of a landmark agreement signed by the People's Republic of China and the Center this spring.
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