Migration & Asylum
Syrian refugee families arrive at their new homes in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland, on December 4, 2015. The United Kingdom’s Community Sponsorship program helps local residents take the lead in ensuring that refugee families are not only welcomed but given the resources and human connections they’ll need to thrive in their new homes. The Open Society Foundations support efforts to improve the settlement of migrants and refugees.
Read more »Image credit: © Christopher Furlong/Getty
Tímea Junghaus poses for a portrait at Gallery8 Roma Contemporary Art Space in Budapest, Hungary, on May 27, 2017. Despite playing a vital role in arts and culture for hundreds of years, Roma contributions to European society too often go unnoticed. The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture will help Roma break that silence and tell their own stories. The Open Society Foundations support those fighting to end all forms of prejudice and discrimination.
Read more »Image credit: Akos Stiller for the Open Society Foundations
Criminal Justice
Street vendor Mayeso Gwanda was on his way to the market to sell plastic bags in Blantyre, Malawi, when he was arrested and charged with being “a rogue and a vagabond.” Gwanda has since filed a constitutional petition arguing that the offense, established two centuries ago by a former colonial power, is outdated, vague, and arbitrarily enforced. The Open Society Foundations support criminal justice reform around the world to help protect those most vulnerable to discriminatory practices.
Read more »Image credit: © Sven Torfinn/Panos for the Open Society Foundations
Patients at Nyeri Hospice are treated for life-limiting illnesses like cancer and HIV/AIDS in Nyeri, Kenya, in May 2013. The hospice nurses are trained in providing not only medical care, but also legal assistance with writing wills and dealing with inheritance issues. The Open Society Foundations support efforts to reform drug policies that unduly restrict access to controlled substances that could have medical or scientific uses.
Read more »Image credit: © Sven Torfinn/Panos for the Open Society Foundations
Documentary Photography
Boulevard Lumumba runs through Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2013. Its energy and fragility define a moment suspended between the country’s colonial past and its neoliberal future. Urban Now: City Life in Congo is a photo exhibition that explores this tension, offering an artistic and ethnographic view of life in Congo’s urbanizing worlds.
Read more »Image credit: © Sammy Baloji
About George Soros
Investor and philanthropist George Soros established the Open Society Foundations to help countries make the transition from communism.
Our Mission
The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people.
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Open Society Voices
For too long, government secrets held Sri Lanka’s democracy back. Now, the law is already shifting power back where it belongs—in the hands of the people.
Central Asia’s long history of foreign and domestic repression is well known. Less appreciated, but just as important, is the on-the-ground progress happening across the region every day by civil society activists.
Events
Sep
6
A conversation about policing and racial discrimination in the United States.
Oct
3
Georgetown Law professor and former federal prosecutor Paul Butler talks about his new book Chokehold: Policing Black Men.
