Blitz Bureau
NEW YORK: Despite years of internal turmoil and changes, Open Society Foundations wants those in the human rights sector to know their movements will still receive support from the organisation, its President Binaifer Nowrojee said, reported Associated Press.
The foundations, founded by billionaire investor George Soros and now led by one of his sons, Alex Soros, have historically been one of the largest funders of human rights groups.
But since 2021, they closed some of their programmes and reduced their staff as part of a major internal reorganization, said the AP report.
In the process, many grantees and others in the human rights movement have waited anxiously to see where the chips would fall. “A reimagination has taken place under the leadership of the new board chair at Open Society Foundations,” Nowrojee said, referring to Alex Soros.
“One of the reasons that we wanted to really reiterate in a large way, with balloons, et cetera, that we are still committed to human rights, is because of this fear that’s permeated with the changes that somehow Open Society Foundations is no longer going to be working on rights or equity or justice,” she said in advance of Human Rights Day, which the United Nations observes on December 10.
Nowrojee offered few new details about OSF’s specific funding priorities, though earlier this year, the foundations committed $400 million toward green jobs and economic development. Another new programme focuses on protecting environmental defenders that will work in a few countries, like Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
