NED Annual Report - Fiscal Year 1994 Programs in Asia

NED 1994 Annual Report - Programs in Asia

The priority areas in Asia for the Endowment in 1994 were the remaining authoritarian countries. The region includes the largest remaining Communist power, China, as well as several of the last remaining closed countries of the world: Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and North Korea.

NED support for programs targeted at these countries increased in 1994, with a large proportion of overall Asia programming concentrated on China. Support was provided for numerous publications and advocacy programs as well as several projects designed to spread democratic and free-market ideas. In Burma, NED supported a daily short-wave broadcasting program, training for democratic party leaders, human rights-oriented youth groups, and advocacy work including a newsletter and video production. NED also continued its civic education and human rights programs in Laos and Vietnam. The severity of the isolation of North Korea continued to block all attempts to develop viable programs there.

In the fragile and emerging democracies of South and Southeast Asia, NED supported a wide variety of programs designed to consolidate newly-won democratic systems, primarily support for civic participation programs, for the development of civil society, and for fostering pluralism through trade union and private sector development.

NED also increased its involvement in region-wide efforts. FTUI carried out initiatives focusing on worker rights, including child labor issues. NED supported an unprecedented forum of prominent democratic leaders in the region, as well as increased NGO coordination on the issue of the universality of human rights.

A list of all Endowment grants approved by the NED Board for programs in Asia in 1994 are listed in the following posts.