MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Soros donates 100 million USD to expand Human Rights Watch in key regional capitals

“One of the most effective organizations I support”, said Soros

Hungarian born US billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros is donating 100 million US dollars to the group Human Rights Watch. In a statement Tuesday, Human Rights Watch said Soros is giving the grant through his Open Society Foundations, which he established to promote tolerance and democracy around the world.

Human Rights Watch says Soros is donating the money over 10 years and has challenged the organization to raise an additional 100 million USD in matching private contributions. Human Rights Watch accepts no government funding.

The New York-based organization says the grant is intended to allow Human Rights Watch to staff advocacy offices in key regional capitals around the world and use its influence to push emerging powers towards pro-human rights agendas.

Soros called Human Rights Watch “one of the most effective organizations I support” - and said human rights are at the heart of all open societies. Soros runs the Soros Fund Management investment firm and is known for his philanthropic activities.

Human Rights Watch said the 100 million USD grant is the largest gift Soros has given to a non-governmental organization. Soros said that he is particularly interested in encouraging philanthropists outside of the traditional supporters of human rights in Europe and North America.

The grant is intended to support the internationalization of Human Rights Watch, enabling it to staff advocacy offices in key regional capitals around the world and to deepen its research presence on countries of concern. Human Rights Watch plans especially to increase its capacity to influence emerging powers in the global South to push a pro-human rights agenda.

“Human Rights Watch can have even greater impact by being genuinely international in scope,” Soros said. “Human Rights Watch must be present in capitals around the globe, addressing local issues, allied with local rights groups and engaging with local government officials. In five years’ time it aims to have as much as half its income and a majority of its board members come from outside the United States.”

“In an increasingly multi-polar world, we must ensure that Human Rights Watch’s message resonates in the most influential capitals around the globe,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Ending serious abuses requires generating pressure from any government with clout, including emerging powers in the global South.”

With a staff of almost 300 and addressing human rights conditions in nearly 90 countries, Human Rights Watch publishes around 100 reports and several hundred news releases each year. The challenge grant will enable Human Rights Watch to invest additional resources to fill significant gaps in its reporting network, including in parts of Africa and Asia. It will also enable Human Rights Watch to add greater depth on issues where its research staff is spread too thinly.