Asian Week Foundation

Established in 1954, The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works towards the development of the Asia-Pacific region. It supports programs in Asia that help improve governance, law and civil society; women's empowerment; economic reform and development; and international relations. The foundation collaborates with private and public partners to support leadership and institutional development, exchanges and policy research. It has a number of donors, including Bank of America, The Boeing Company, The McConnell Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, GE Foundation and Hewlett-Packard. In addition, governmental agencies also provide funds to the organization that include Asian Development Bank, British Council, the United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. Congress and the World Bank. Headquartered in San Francisco, it operates more than 15 offices throughout Asia.

History The Dui Hu a Foundation was established in April 1999 and began operations in August of that year with a few staff members, a small home office, and an inspired mission ' to improve human rights in China and the United States through a "dialogue" based on equality and mutual respect. Since that time, Dui Hua has grown tremendously on every level and earned an international reputation for its advocacy for political and religious prisoners in China and promotion of rule of law worldwide. The work of Dui Hua has its roots in May of 1990, when businessman John Kamm made his first intervention on behalf of a Chinese prisoner and embarked into the world of human rights. Kamm, who would become Dui Hua's founder and executive director, used his trusted relationships to conduct a dialogue with the Chinese government. He also pioneered a tool in human rights diplomacy: lists of prisoner names submitted to Chinese officials as a way to inquire about individual cases. Prisoner lists have since been used by several countries and organizations that raise prisoner cases with China as part of their own human rights dialogues. The Dui Hua Foundation has been resilient in negotiating many obstacles to discussing human rights issues, such as the SARS outbreak in China and changes in the geopolitical climate after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Dui Hua created new opportunities during those challenging times and has continued to implement and expand programs in line with its mission. G ranted "special consultative status " by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 2005. Hosted the first-ever delegation of judges from China's Supreme People's Court to study the juvenile justice system in the United States. Read more about the early work of John Kamm and Dui Hua in the cover story "John Kamm's Third Way" from The New Yo rk Times Sunday Magazine