Russia

How It Started

The Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation was created in 1986 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and French-American philanthropist Dominique de Menil to promote the protection of human rights worldwide. A $100,000 prize was awarded periodically to individuals or organizations for their outstanding efforts on behalf of human rights.

Our Work and Methods

• In 1986, the Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize was awarded to Soviet physicist and dissident Yuri Orlov. Orlov’s human rights activism led to his seven-year imprisonment and exile before he was allowed to emigrate to the U.S.
• At the prize ceremony, President Carter cited Orlov as “a wonderful hero who exemplifies those hundreds of people still imprisoned in the Soviet Union because of their outspoken condemnation of human rights abuses.”

Impacts

• The award focused global attention on human rights issues and enabled activists to continue their work.

The awards program ended in 1994.

How It Started

In the Soviet Union of the late 1980s, the media was going through revolutionary changes as part of sweeping political reforms initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev. Acknowledging the vast power of broadcast media to reach audiences worldwide about vital topics, The Carter Center founded the Commission on Radio and Television Policy in 1990.

• The goal was to encourage development of free and responsible media, focusing first on Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union and eventually expanding to include Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.

Our Work and Methods

• The Commission on Radio and Television Policy, based at Duke University, organized international policy development conferences and offered media fellowships.
• The international conferences brought together media leaders, subject matter experts, and policymakers to promote stronger democracies through worldwide development of broadcast media free from undue political and economic constraints.

Impacts

• The commission issued several groundbreaking publications, including “Television & Elections,” a guidebook for broadcast journalists that was translated into a dozen languages.
• The guidebook has been used by policymakers across Eastern and Central Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and parts of Africa.