Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University after his defeat in the 1980 United States presidential election. The center is located in a shared building adjacent to the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum on of parkland, on the site of the razed neighborhood of Copenhill, two miles from downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The library and museum are owned and operated by the United States National Archives and Records Administration, while the center is governed by a Board of Trustees, consisting of business leaders, educators, former government officials, and philanthropists.
The Carter Center's goal is to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering. The center has projects across 80 countries including election monitoring, democratic institution-building, conflict mediation, and human rights advocacy. It also leads efforts to treat neglected tropical diseases, spearheading the campaign to eradicate dracunculiasis, as well as treating onchocerciasis, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis, and malaria.
In 2002, Jimmy Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work "to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development" through the Carter Center. In 2007, he wrote an autobiography entitled Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope, which chronicles the first 25 years of The Carter Center.
History
The center was founded in 1982 and dedicated in 1986 with William Foege as its executive director.In 1993, John Hardman was appointed executive director, and during the 1990s the center received several multimillion-dollar donations to fight Guinea worm disease and to prevent blindness.
In 1994, the center launched an initiative called "Not Even One" to fight child death by firearm. They decided to expand the program on March 25, 1997, effective April 1 of the same year.
On October 2, 1995, The Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum was held at The Carter Center.
Governance
The center is governed by a board of trustees, which oversees the organization's assets and property and promotes its objectives and goals. In November 2015, Jason Carter, grandson of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, became Chair of the board of trustees.A community advisory group – the Board of Councilors – includes public and private-sector leaders who support The Carter Center and its activities in their communities and organizations. Members attend quarterly presentations on the center's work.
The CEO of The Carter Center is Paige Alexander, appointed on June 16, 2020. Her predecessor was Ambassador Mary Ann Peters who served in the position since 2014.
Center-based councils of eminent persons who offer guidance to or participate in center activities include: the Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas, the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, and the Mental Health Task Force. The Carter Center also collaborates with other public and private organizations.
Peace programs
Observing elections
The Carter Center performs election monitoring, sending teams of observers to determine the legitimacy of 115 elections in 40 countries since 1989. Scholars of election monitoring consider the Carter Center to be a "high-quality" election monitor. The Carter Center played an important role in the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observers, which codifies rules of best practices for election monitors.Carter Center observers analyze election laws, assess voter education and registration processes, and evaluate fairness in campaigns. The presence of impartial election observers deters interference or fraud in the voting process, and reassures voters that they can safely and secretly cast their ballots and that vote tabulation will be conducted without tampering.
Teams typically include 30–100 highly qualified impartial observers – regional leaders, political scientists, regional specialists, and election observation professionals.
The Carter Center sends observers only when invited by a country's electoral authorities and welcomed by the major political parties. Observers do not interfere in the electoral process and do not represent the U.S. government.
The center's endorsement of the electoral process in the 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum has been disputed by the Center for Security Policy. Fox News' Doug Schoen told Michael Barone of U.S. News & World Report, "Our internal sourcing tells us that there was fraud in the Venezuelan central commission. The Carter Center looked into the allegations and released a paper and statistical analysis reaffirming their original conclusions.
The center played a key role – with the U.N. Electoral Assistance Division and the National Democratic Institute – in building consensus on a common set of international principles for election observation. It is also leading the effort to develop effective methodologies for observing elections that employ new electronic voting technologies.
In the 2020 US election, the Carter Center observed parts of the process at home for the first time in the history of the United States. In this context, the center conducted information campaigns in advance to strengthen confidence in the election process. On November 13, 2020, the center announced that it would monitor the hand recount in Georgia to "help bolster transparency and confidence in election results.
Strengthening democracy beyond elections
The Carter Center supports the growth of democratic institutions to ensure that there is a respect for rule of law and human rights, that government decisions are open and transparent, and that everyone can have adequate resources to compete fairly for public office.For example, the center is supporting the efforts of civic leaders in Ethiopia to convene discussions about the most pressing and contentious political and social issues facing the country, and in the Palestinian Territories, it maintains a small presence in Ramallah focused on the ongoing monitoring and analysis of critical issues of democratic development.
Democratic initiatives in Latin America include support for regional access-to-information programs, creation of an inter-American support network, and reform of political campaign financing. The center-based Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas plays an important role in accomplishing these objectives.
The Carter Center also promotes the dissemination to emerging democracies and regional organizations of models, lessons, and best practices for democratic governance. The goal is to empower those in transitioning countries who are trying to build stronger democratic institutions and practices.
Advancing human rights
The Carter Center believes all people are entitled to basic human rights. These rights include political rights, such as peace, freedom, and self-governance, as well as the social rights of health care, food, shelter, and economic opportunity.The center actively supports human rights defenders around the world. In partnership with Human Rights First and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Center holds an annual human rights defenders policy forum hosted by President Carter in Atlanta.
President and Mrs. Carter have intervened with heads of state on behalf of human rights defenders and victims for more than 20 years. They often take their human rights concerns to heads of state in personal meetings and through letters.
The center and President Carter are strong supporters of the U.N. Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court. Both oppose the death penalty and urge its abolition in the U.S.
Mediating conflict
Recalling President Carter's success in the White House negotiating the long-lasting peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, groups in conflict turn to The Carter Center to help them prevent and resolve conflict. Lacking any official authority, the center has become a trusted broker for peace, serving as a channel for dialogue and negotiation.Recent examples include:
- President Carter's mission to North Korea in 1994, which paved the way for a U.S.-North Korea pact on nuclear issues.
- Assisting unofficial Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in designing a model agreement for peace – called the Geneva Accord – in 2002 and 2003.
- Negotiation of the Nairobi Agreement in 1999 between Sudan and Uganda
- President Carter's mission to Haiti in 1994 with Senator Sam Nunn and the then former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell to avert a U.S.-led multinational invasion and restore to power Haiti's democratically elected president.
- President Carter's historic trip to Cuba in 2002 to seek improved U.S.-Cuban relations
- Negotiation of a cease-fire in 1995 in Sudan to allow humanitarian groups treat Guinea worm disease and river blindness and immunize children.
- Holding summits in Egypt and Tunisia in 1995 and 1996 to address violence in the Great Lakes region of Africa
- An agreement on the restoration of low-level diplomatic relations between Colombia and Ecuador under a deal brokered by the former president, as announced by the Carter Center on June 8, 2008.
Assisting China village elections