After major victories for same-sex marriage in the United States and Ireland, the focus shifts to parts of the world where marriage equality remains a distant dream. In nearly 40 percent of the world’s countries, homosexual conduct between consenting adults remains criminal. The Open Society Foundations support efforts to end discrimination against LGBTI people everywhere.
Read more »Image credit: © Michael S. Williamson/Getty
Criminal Justice
A child uses a megaphone to address hundreds of demonstrators at a protest against police brutality outside the Baltimore Police Western District station on April 22, 2015. Across the United States, communities are calling for policing reforms in the wake of several tragic deaths. The Open Society Foundations supports such reforms and works to ensure accountability and end discriminatory practices in law enforcement.
Read more »Image credit: © Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Equality in Europe
Muslim residents walk past racial slurs painted on the walls of a mosque in the town of Saint-Étienne in central France. In recent years, Islamophobia in Europe has been fueled by public anxiety over immigration and the integration of Muslim minorities into European cultural majorities. The Open Society Foundations have worked for over a decade to combat discrimination against Muslims in Europe and to make sure that Muslim minorities co-exist with equal rights in their national communities.
Read more »Image credit: © Laurent Cipriani/AP
Roma councilor Gheorghe Tudor talks with workers about water pipe construction in his village, Mărginenii de Jos, in Prahova County, Romania. Such infrastructure projects, initiated in this case after Tudor brought Roma needs to the attention of the local council, show that endeavors by Roma to become part of the political process lead to concrete gains. The Open Society Foundations support the efforts of Roma individuals and communities to embrace leadership roles and affect systemic change.
Read more »Image credit: © Björn Steinz/Panos Pictures for the Open Society Foundations
Documentary Photography
From Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi’s internet surveillance center, located in a six-story building in Tripoli, agents of the Libyan dictator monitored citizens’ movements and correspondence. When photographer Edu Bayer arrived there in summer 2011, it was an abandoned relic of a paranoid and oppressive regime. The Open Society Foundations support photography to engage and mobilize people around issues of justice and human rights.
Read more »Image credit: © Edu Bayer
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.
Issues
Regions
Grants
Open Society Voices
Why has there been so little criminal accountability for past killings, disappearances, and torture in the Mexican state of Guerrero?
When Hurricane Katrina hit, the justice system in New Orleans had completely broken down. We looked at the court system, the police department, the jail—and started talking about how to fix things.
Events
Sep
8
Those working inside Brazil’s so-called urban “cracklands” will take part in a discussion on drugs, health, human rights, and policy reform.
Sep
30
An international panel of public health experts will explain how they implemented lifesaving supervised injecting sites and overdose prevention programs in their communities.
