FY 1998-1999 Human Rights and Democracy Fund Projects

DRL's Human Rights and Democracy Fund (HRDF), which is DRL's allocation of the Economic Support Fund (ESF), is used to fulfill the Bureau's mandate to monitor and promote human rights and democracy worldwide. HRDF supports innovative programming designed to uphold democratic principles, support democratic institutions, promote human rights, and build civil society in countries and regions of the world that are geo-strategically critical to the U.S. The following are programs that have been or are currently being supported through the fund.

1998-1999 ESF Funds ($7,820,000)

Middle East

·      Advance Communal and Ethnic Tolerance in Lebanon ($55,000) – Support local efforts to advance communal and ethnic tolerance in Lebanon through technical assistance and infrastructure-building. 

Europe

·      Training for Bosnian Legal Professionals ($500,000) – Train Bosnian legal professionals in the Bosnian Criminal Code as well as international law standards. 

·      Rule of Law in Albania ($250,000) – Strengthen rule of law in Albania by implementing a criminal law technical assistance and training program for prosecutors and judges in Albania. 

·      International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ($1,250,000) – Support the rapid build-up of the capabilities of the tribunal to promptly bring cases to trial.

·      International Commission on Missing Persons ($2,000,000) – Fund operations of the ICMP under the new chairmanship of former Senator Bob Dole.

·      Support for Human Rights Commission of Bosnia ($1,250,000) – Support activities of the Human Rights Commission established under Annex Six of the Dayton Agreement.

East Asia

·      Election Assistance in Indonesia ($1,500,000) – Support for Indonesian presidential elections held in 1999. 

Worldwide/Regional

·      International Forum of New Democracies ($150,000) – Support a three-day international forum of democratic states held in Yemen.

·      Developing Educational Tools for a Civic Culture of Lawfulness ($262,000) – Support for a G-8 democracy initiative for which experts in crime and corruption would work with civic education experts to develop methods and materials to be used to instill a sense of lawfulness.

·      Defining an Enabling Environment for a Free and Independent Media ($226,000) – Support a USAID initiative to develop guidance on what constitutes a legal enabling environment for a free and independent media and how to assist the development of the environment. 

·      Capacity Building for Anti-Sweatshop Organizations ($202,000) – Establishment of a pilot initiative to verify factory compliance with international labor standards and corporate codes of conduct.  The initiative would focus on developing a training program and manual for one Asian and one Latin American country.

·      Democracy Workshop ($100,000) – Support for a democratization workshop to be held in La Paz, Bolivia.

·      OSCE Conference on Minorities ($75,000) – USG contribution to support OSCE conference on minorities.