Health
Arresting the Spread of HIV
In many countries, HIV rates are climbing among sex workers and people who use drugs. One of the main reasons is that they are criminalized. Too often sex workers and drug users are forced to choose between protecting their health and staying safe from police harassment or arrest. But a novel approach to law enforcement is changing this, and may prove as critical to HIV prevention as a condom or clean needle. Through partnerships with HIV experts and community groups, police such as those in Kyrgyzstan, depicted above, are playing a critical role in the fight against HIV.
Read more »Governance & Accountability
Caught in the Aftermath
Students attend a gym class at School No. 1 in Serzhen-Yurt, Chechnya. After enduring the horrors of two wars, young Chechen women like these are now confronted by a period of peace marked by increasing oppression. This image is part of a series by photographer Diana Markosian, who aims to show how girls and young women are navigating their transition into adulthood in this context, and to honor their strength amidst the challenges they face.
Read more »Rights & Justice
A System in Crisis
While chained in restraints, a migrant from Honduras boards a plane to be deported back home at the Phoenix airport in Arizona. Every day there are five to nine flights to Central America. Open Society grantees are working for a humane, common-sense immigration process.
Read more »Education & Youth
Sharing Tools for Transformation
Elizabeth Kamundia, an Open Society scholarship recipient, taught a seminar at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy. The center is one of only a handful in academic organizations in Europe dedicated to the study of disability rights, and it is the only one with a dedicated program focusing on international disability law. The Open Society Foundations are working to include disability rights in more law schools’ curricula.
Read more »Media & Information
Visualizing Human Rights
Every morning dozens of men and boys from the Pademba Road Prison in Freetown, Sierra Leone, are taken to court. This does not mean that they will be judged; it may be years until their trials end. Some youth may spend several years in Pademba Road Prison before receiving a sentence. In his series “Juveniles Waiting for Justice,” photographer Fernando Moleres tells the story of young men and boys confined in an adult prison, as a deeply flawed justice system takes over and determines their fate.
Read more »Improve Lives.
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A new online tool makes it easier (but no less unsettling) to see where American military aid goes around the world. We should use it to promote informed debate.
Askar, an 11-year-old boy, is an orphan like many in Kyrgyzstan, living with a musculoskeletal disorder and abandoned by birth parents. But he is gaining something like a community.
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Through grantmaking and advocacy, the Women’s Rights Program supports efforts to reduce discrimination and violence against women, strengthen access to justice, and promote women’s empowerment.
Through grants and exhibitions, the Documentary Photography Project supports photography to engage and mobilize people around issues of justice and human rights.