Former political and cultural leaders from Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania were members of the organization.
Representatives from post-1948 SFR Yugoslavia were not allowed to join the organization as the country was an important western partner in the Balkans region.
[1] The goals of the ACEN were, in their own words: to provide liberation from communist dictatorship by peaceful means, to educate public opinion on the actual situation behind the Iron Curtain, and to enlist the cooperation and assistance of governmental and non-governmental institutions.Funding was provided by the Free Europe Committee.
It also sponsored symposia and exhibitions, in particular it promoted the commemoration of Captive Nations Week.
The records of the ACEN and its member organizations are preserved in the Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.