Human rights get big boost

“Human rights underpin our greatest aspirations: they’re at the heart of open societies,” said George Soros, philanthropist and financier. On September 7 he announced that through his Open Society Foundation he would be making a grant worth $100 million to the nongovernment organisation Human Rights Watch.  

The grant is the largest he has ever made to a social organisation, explaining his decision Soros said, “Human Rights Watch is one of the most effective organisations I support.”

The organisation plans to use the money to expand upon their international work, setting up new offices and financing new research projects in countries of concern.  Specifically the organisation has said that they will add about 120 staff members to the team.

“Ending serious abuse requires generating pressure from any government with clout, including emerging powers in the global south,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

“To be more effective, I think the organisation has to be seen as more international, less an American organisation,” adds Soros.

To achieve this the organisation has said it will need to increase its annual budget from $48 million to $80 million over the next five years.   

“We hope that George Soros’s example will help the human rights movement worldwide by encouraging philanthropists to invest in the ideals of human rights,” said Roth.

The grant challenges the organisation to raise an additional $100 million in private contributions to match the gift and Soros has said that he hopes that part of that money will come from donations in places Brazil, Mexico, India and China. Right now roughly 30 per cent of the organisations revenue comes from international sources but less than 1 per cent of that is from non-Western countries.

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