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7 0 0 2 OSI MISSION SOROS FOUNDATIONS NETWORK REPORT C O V E R P H O T O G R A P H Y Burmese monks, normally the picture of calm The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and reflection, became symbols of resistance in and tolerant democracies whose governments T R O P E R K R O W T E N S N O I AT D N U O F S O R O S 2007 2007 when they joined demonstrations against are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its the military government’s huge price hikes mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that on fuel and subsequently the regime’s violent assure greater fairness in political, legal, and crackdown on the protestors. Thousands of economic systems and safeguard fundamental monks were arrested and jailed. The Democratic rights. On a local level, OSI implements a range Voice of Burma, an Open Society Institute of initiatives to advance justice, education, grantee, helped journalists smuggle stories out public health, and independent media. At the of Burma. OSI continues to raise international same time, OSI builds alliances across borders awareness of conditions in Burma and to support and continents on issues such as corruption organizations seeking to transform Burma from and freedom of information. OSI places a high a closed to an open society. more on page 91 priority on protecting and improving the lives of marginalized people and communities. more on page 143

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Soros Foundations Network Report 2007

Promoting vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens About This Report

The Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations network spent approximately $440,000,000 in 2007 on improving policy and helping people to live in open, democratic societies. OSI worked on issues ranging from human rights, to access to education, to freedom of information, to public health in a variety of ways. These pages highlight many of the activities and achievements of OSI and the Soros foundations, and describe some of OSI’s methods, including advocacy campaigns, court cases, public education, and support for direct services. Five of OSI’s priority issues—the TB and HIV epidemics, international justice, Roma, natural resource revenues, and economic development—are profiled in photographs and in stories by OSI Senior Writer Chuck Sudetic. Writer Elizabeth Rubin reports on OSI’s support for the immigrants’ rights movement in the United States. To learn more about the issues and programs in this report, go to www.soros.org.

Soros Foundations Network Report 2007

Cover photograph: Burmese monks Photographer: Mary Kate McKenna

:: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Soros Foundations Network Report 2007

4 President’s Message The Global Struggle for Open Society

10 Photo Essay Struggling with Tuberculosis Rising to the Challenge of the TB and HIV Epidemics

24 Photo Essay Judgment Day for Leaders Accused of Atrocities Bringing War Criminals to Justice

38 Photo Essay Many Faces of the Roma Supporting the Roma in Securing Their Rights

50 Photo Essay Living on the Pipeline Opening the Books on Natural Resource Revenues

62 Photo Essay The Farmer, the Florist, and the Blacksmith Helping Small Businesses Build Strong Communities

104 Initiatives Justice and Governance 104 | Public Health 112 | Education, Information, and Media 118 | Other Programs 126 |

130 United States Protecting Immigrants’ Rights Against Government-led Attacks U.S. Programs 138 |

142 Open Society Institute 154 Expenditures 160 Directory 168 Credits

Fleeing violence after disputed presidential election results, over 10,000 Kikuyu seek refuge in a camp for internally displaced persons in Kenya, February 2008.

:: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: President’s Message

The Global Struggle for Open Society

OSI has been deeply concerned with efforts to “strengthen African institutions focusing on human rights, African regional courts, and the role of the African Union in addressing electoral disputes such as those that arose in the early part of 2008 in Kenya and Zimbabwe.”

:: president’s message :: n the early years of the Open Society As we approach the end of the first decade Institute and the Soros foundations network, in of the 21st century, the main focus of the Open the 1980s and the 1990s, our main effort was to Society Institute and the Soros foundations take advantage of moments of transition to help network has shifted. We operate worldwide and set formerly repressive countries on the path we see ourselves engaged in a global struggle to becoming more open societies. In addition, for open society. That struggle involves global starting in the mid-1990s with the launch of our campaigns and global institutions; also, many programs in the United States, we made an times, issues arise in particular countries or Ieffort to address some of the flaws of an open regions that become the focus of intense activity society. We achieved some successes and suffered by OSI both because of their intrinsic significance some failures. in their own locality and because of their global The largest and most obvious failure was significance. Some aspects of the global struggle the hardening repression in Russia that took for open society are addressed by OSI through our place under Vladimir Putin. Today’s Russia, of own operating programs. In other cases, we rely course, cannot be compared to the old Soviet primarily on grantmaking to other organizations. Union. There are no counterparts today to the pervasive use of imprisonment to punish peaceful dissenters; even in Russia’s restricted Global Campaigns media environment, there is far greater diversity and freedom of expression than in Soviet times; Some of the global campaigns that we have Russians may now travel freely to other countries; conducted in recent years and that continue today today, victims of human rights abuses frequently seek to do the following: are vindicated by the European Court of Human Rights. Still, Russia’s failure to become a more > advocate for increased government open society must be counted as the most severe transparency, including implementation of disappointment for the network. national freedom of information laws In contrast, however, there have been significant successes.T en countries where we > develop and strengthen international established foundations have become members criminal tribunals holding accountable of the European Union. In several other government officials and leaders of countries, the Soros foundations have contributed antigovernment forces principally to developments that make it legitimate and responsible for war crimes, crimes against reasonable for these countries also to aspire to EU humanity, and genocide membership in the foreseeable future. Though the European Union is flawed, it is the best institutional > promote transparency and accountability guarantor in its own territory of peace, stability, for the revenues that governments derive economic progress, and adherence to open from the exploitation of natural resources society principles and values that has developed internationally since the end of World War II.

:: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The European Union is the best institutional guarantor in its own territory of peace, stability, economic progress, and adherence to open society principles and values that has developed internationally since the end of World War II.

> ensure adequate international funding for issues: the misuse of public funds, public health, the global effort to fightA IDS, tuberculosis, and accountability for atrocious crimes. In the and malaria years ahead, it is possible that other such global institutions will emerge, such as an institution > promote a harm reduction approach to that fosters efforts to mitigate climate change and the problem of injecting drug use and that assists those countries most severely affected. minimize its impact in spreading HIV In addition to our support for global institutions that address important parts of > make the findings of government-funded our agenda, the Open Society Institute and the scientific and medical research available to Soros foundations network are attempting to all without burdensome financial costs enhance the ability of regional bodies to address issues of concern to us. One recent example is > increase the availability of free legal our leadership role in establishing the European representation to criminal defendants who Council on Foreign Relations. Its main purpose is cannot afford a lawyer and a related effort to help ensure that the European Union develops to reduce pretrial detention and implements policies promoting the values of the EU in relations with other parts of the world, > protect freedom of the press by such as Russia and the Middle East. strengthening associations of journalists OSI has been deeply concerned with efforts and media defense groups and by to strengthen African institutions focusing on establishing a new organization to provide human rights, African regional courts, and the legal representation to journalists facing role of the African Union in addressing electoral libel suits and other legal challenges disputes such as those that arose in the early part of 2008 in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Also, we have supported efforts to make the Association of Global Institutions Southeast Asian Nations play a role in its region in protecting human rights; and we have supported Some of the global institutions that are a organizations that litigate in the European Court focus of our work are the Extractive Industries of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court Transparency Initiative, the Global Fund to of Human Rights because of the important role Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the played by those regional bodies. International Criminal Court (ICC). A notable feature of these three institutions, all created during this decade, is that they are free-standing. Expanding Geographical Reach Though the United Nations promoted the establishment of the Global Fund and the ICC, Our geographical reach continues to expand. In both are independent of the world body. The the last couple of years, we have enlarged the three institutions are innovative attempts to territory served by the Open Society Initiative secure global cooperation in addressing critical for East Africa, based in Nairobi, by developing

:: president’s message :: The moral and political power of the United States has declined as it has lost its reputation as a country where human rights are zealously protected.

programs in Uganda and Tanzania as well as superpower mainly in its unmatched capacity to Kenya. The Open Society Initiative for Southern engage in conventional military combat. Having Africa, now in its 11th year, has developed a recognized this advantage, America’s enemies, substantial program focusing on the Democratic as in Iraq and Afghanistan, challenge the United Republic of the Congo in addition to its work States by means of what is now commonly in the nine countries with which it has been described as asymmetric warfare in which the concerned since its inception. The Open Society military might of the United States is substantially Initiative for West Africa has substantially reduced through unconventional strategies and increased its engagement in Liberia and Sierra tactics. In economic terms, America’s power Leone with the emergence of democratic has declined as the relative power of China and governments in those two war-ravaged countries. India, and the economic significance of energy- All of these OSI-supported activities in exporting countries, has risen. Most important for Africa seek to help Africans establish democratic our purposes, the moral and political power of institutions and procedures that strengthen their the United States has also declined as it has lost its ability to find solutions to the social, economic, reputation as a country where human rights are and political problems that have hindered the zealously protected. development of open societies throughout The identification of the Open Society the continent. Institute as an American organization was a major We have also established a regional office in advantage in our early years. That is no longer Amman, Jordan, to support our expanding work the case. While the influence of the United States in the Middle East. OSI has taken the lead in remains a positive factor in the promotion of establishing an Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, in open society values at certain times and in certain which we have been joined by donors from Arab places, it is now necessary to examine each case countries, to support theater, film, photography, individually to assess America’s impact. This new literature, music, and translation in the region. environment heightens the need to develop global We now operate in some 10 countries of Asia in and regional institutions that are committed to addition to the countries of Central Asia that were open society values and that are effective allies in formerly part of the Soviet Union. Most recently, the global struggle for open society. we developed programs in Nepal and expanded The shift that has taken place in the work of our activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. OSI and the Soros foundations network reflects the changed circumstances in which we operate. While our goal of promoting the development Declining U.S. Role of more open societies has remained constant, it is increasingly evident that achieving our goal An important factor in our global struggle depends not only on local developments but also for open society is the declining role of the on the global context. And so we continue the United States. America remains the lone global struggle for open society globally.

:: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: ______

I want to note two particularly significant As director of international advocacy, Mabel transitions in the staff of the Open Society played a comparable role in making it possible for Institute. After each serving with OSI for OSI to engage in global campaigns. more than a decade, Gara LaMarche left in OSI is fortunate to have enlisted Ann Beeson, 2007 to become the president of the Atlantic previously associate legal director of the American Philanthropies and Mabel van Oranje left in Civil Liberties Union, to succeed Gara LaMarche. mid-2008 to become chief executive officer of At this writing, we are engaged in a search for a The Elders, a group of eminent individuals, successor for Mabel van Oranje. convened by Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, and We wish Gara and Mabel well in their new Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to contribute their assignments and we are pleased that, in both insight, independent leadership, and integrity cases, they have taken positions where we will to tackle some of the world’s most challenging be able to continue to collaborate closely with issues. As director of the U.S. Programs, Gara was them in promoting the development of more central in making it possible for OSI to address open societies. such issues in the United States as the deficiencies in the country’s criminal justice system, racial Aryeh Neier inequalities, and violations of civil liberties. May 2008

:: president’s message :: Struggling with Tuberculosis

Multidrug-resistant strains of tuberculosis—which can be difficult and costly to treat—are already infecting about 425,000 people worldwide each year. The disease is advancing across HIV-threatened southern Africa at a rapid rate. Lesotho, a small country of 2 million people, has the world’s fourth-highest reported incidence of TB and the world’s third-highest HIV infection rate. Up to 90 percent of TB patients are also infected with HIV. Ten thousand new TB cases are reported each year, and approximately 10 percent will become drug-resistant. The numbers are high, the suffering immense. OSI has awarded Partners In Health a $3 million grant to create a model treatment program in Lesotho for people with drug-resistant tuberculosis. On assignment for OSI, Pep Bonet photographed the health care workers and their patients struggling with tuberculosis.

Every Saturday, in villages throughout Lesotho, mourners bury victims of the TB and AIDS epidemics. In little over a decade, life expectancy has dropped by 15 years from 59 to 44. A doctor examines a patient at the new Botsabelo Hospital in Lesotho. OSI grantee Partners In Health and the Lesotho government opened the hospital in 2007 to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients who require specialized care that cannot be provided at home. A new tuberculosis laboratory enhances the capacity of Botsabelo Hospital and the country to detect drug-resistant tuberculosis strains. The model treatment program created by Partners In Health relies first on a system of home-based care. Botsabelo Hospital backs up home care with acute and intensive care for patients whose health must be improved before they can start treatment for their tuberculosis. The aim of the model program is to prove that you can treat drug-resistant tuberculosis and save lives even in a poor, predominantly rural country like Lesotho. Public Health Program

Rising to the Challenge of the TB and HIV Epidemics

he devastating tandem force of two The HIV-Tuberculosis diseases—HIV and tuberculosis—is ravaging some Epidemic of the world’s most underdeveloped regions, including broad swaths of southern Africa. “Our agenda is to address tuberculosis, especially People infected with both latent tuberculosis and its drug-resistant strains, by promoting the kind of HIV have a much greater chance of progressing activism that is engaged in the fight againstH IV to active tuberculosis disease than people who and AIDS,” said Françoise Girard, director of the have latent TB but not HIV infection. Active Open Society Institute’s Public Health Program. tuberculosis bacteria multiply and destroy tissue “The fight against tuberculosis is currently led T by the same experts and doctors who have been in the body; if these bacteria are not discovered and fully treated, they can weaken and kill people. dealing with the disease for decades. Clearly more If a full 6-to-12 month treatment regime is not activism is necessary, because the danger the completed properly, the bacteria may mutate into disease now poses is so great.” new tuberculosis strains resistant to the most “Remember, it was the AIDS activists who common drugs used to combat the disease. The said people living with HIV in African villages rise of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis— could adhere to antiretroviral drugs, and should some of them potent enough to withstand almost receive treatment,” Girard continued. “Many in the all available treatment methods—already poses a medical and foreign assistance establishments said threat to populations across Africa and Eurasia, this would be impossible. It turned out they were and especially the millions of people living with wrong. We want to support activists in making HIV. This threat requires urgent attention. Drug- tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment a priority the resistant tuberculosis is already undermining way they did antiretroviral drugs. If we wait for the progress made in fightingH IV and AIDS. If it TB community to get on the case, it is going to take goes unchecked, drug-resistant tuberculosis might too long, and too many people are going to die.” outstrip the medical profession’s ability to cure it Gregg Gonsalves is an HIV activist who has even in areas of the developed world. joined the fight against tuberculosis.A 44-year-

18 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: old American who came to southern Africa in tuberculosis patients who require acute and 2000 to help fight theH IV epidemic, Gonsalves, intensive care. Prior to this initiative, Lesotho had through the AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern no capacity to even test patients for this disease. Africa, has joined with advocates from the (See page 23) Treatment Action Campaign, Partners In Health, “People were showing up at clinics, highly and other organizations allied with the Open contagious and a few days from death, only to be Society Institute to begin demanding efforts to turned away and sent back into the community improve prevention and diagnosis of tuberculosis because there were no beds and no labs,” said among people living with HIV. These groups are Girard. “OSI and its partners are working to prove also working to increase tuberculosis testing for that you can treat drug-resistant tuberculosis and people living with HIV, to prevent and treat drug- turn lives around even in a poor, predominantly resistant tuberculosis, and to integrate HIV and rural country like Lesotho.” tuberculosis services. “We’ll mount TB and HIV advocacy efforts to help push these issues forward,” said Gonsalves. Monitoring “We want people who have HIV and TB to and Advocacy challenge governments and meet with scientists and educate communities to make their own Advocating for just, inclusive international decisions on health care. We want to tell people guidelines and local health policies is an important about the drugs they are not receiving, and then component of the Open Society Institute’s work they will start asking questions. We want to in public health. The Open Society Institute mobilize people to demand their rights.” supports local communities to document government action or inaction and to use their findings to press governments to do more to Multidrug-Resistant combat HIV and tuberculosis. To this end, the Tuberculosis foundation has provided funds for advocates in Georgia, Tanzania, Vietnam, and other countries Lesotho to assess their governments’ response to HIV and In the autumn of 2006, George Soros enlisted tuberculosis coinfection. These advocates worked the Open Society Institute in an urgent effort closely with the Open Society Institute’s Public to slow the progress of multidrug-resistant Heath Watch, which developed a monitoring tuberculosis in southern Africa. In Lesotho, OSI questionnaire based upon a 2004 World Health joined forces with the national government and a Organization interim policy on collaborative consortium of nongovernmental organizations, TB/HIV activities. The results of these studies led by Massachusetts-based Partners In Health, serve as a fact base for local civil society to develop a treatment model for multidrug- organizations to call on government and health resistant tuberculosis. The latter half of 2007 officials to reduce the numbers of people infected saw the opening of a critical component of this by HIV and tuberculosis by improving the model: a special hospital for multidrug-resistant prevention and treatment of these diseases.

:: TB and HIV Epidemics :: 19 In many African countries with a lack of coordination between TB and HIV programs, tuberculosis, especially drug-resistant TB, is practically a death sentence for people living with HIV.

Georgia of just a few nongovernmental organizations The advocates in Georgia discovered that focusing on tuberculosis as part of their health tuberculosis is not just a disease of prisoners agenda. People with tuberculosis and members and the poor, said research coordinator Tamari of their families fear stigmatization. “The stigma Trapaidze, a pediatrician who earned a master’s associated with tuberculosis in Georgia is as degree in public health in Sweden and who strong as the stigma associated with HIV,” said works at the Welfare Foundation. Georgia has Trapaidze. “People with tuberculosis want to be a low prevalence of HIV. But the country has treated and forget it, because stigmatization affects a high incidence of tuberculosis, and especially not only the patient, but the entire family. People multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. In fact, tiny, believe the disease is inherited by one generation mountainous Georgia is one of 45 countries from the next. They believe patients must be where the World Health Organization (WHO) has isolated and cannot be touched. People shrink registered extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, away. Nobody wants to say in Tblisi that they have which is even more expensive and difficult to treat been to Khudadov Street, where the tuberculosis than multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. sanatorium is located.” The OSI-funded study revealed that there is an The challenges of stigmatization are com- apparent link between the development of drug- pounded by lagging institutional responses. resistant tuberculosis in Georgia and the fact that “Health care workers are underpaid and unmoti- pharmacies in the country sell antibiotics, includ- vated. International donors do not fund solutions ing an array of first-line and second-line tuberculo- to the problem. And this is the third year in a row sis drugs, over the counter without a prescription. that the government has reduced funding for “For many reasons, people in Georgia do not tuberculosis,” said Trapaidze. always go to a doctor,” said Trapaidze. “They don’t go for a cold or the flu.T hey go to the pharmacy Tanzania and misuse the drugs and fail to complete the treat- As in so many other countries of eastern ment. The disease bacteria develop resistance to and southern Africa where there is a lack of drugs. This is happening all over Eastern Europe, coordination between tuberculosis and HIV not just for tuberculosis, but for other diseases.” and AIDS programs, in Tanzania, tuberculosis, The Georgia study also revealed that in especially drug-resistant tuberculosis, is practically too many instances health care workers do not a death sentence for people living with HIV. know that tuberculosis patients are failing to In Tanzania, the OSI-sponsored monitoring study complete the treatment regimen, thus facilitating revealed how little information about tuberculosis the development of drug-resistant strains of was available to the average person. Tuberculosis the bacteria. The results also demonstrated that drugs are free-of-charge, but people infected with patients, government ministry personnel, and the disease do not receive them, due to various members of parliament, particularly those on the barriers to treatment as well as stigma that health committee, also need to become aware of makes people afraid even to undergo tuberculosis the problem and take action. testing. According to research coordinator In Georgia, the Welfare Foundation is one Jamillah Mwanjisi, of the African Civil Society

20 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Network on Water and Sanitation, health statistics with TB are HIV-positive in Vietnam, but Oanh understate the actual prevalence of both HIV and pointed out that a 2002 surveillance in two provinces tuberculosis. suggests that HIV prevalence among TB patients “The barriers that prevent people infected with is higher than 10. The prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis from accessing treatment are the time tuberculosis is unknown because the government it takes to travel to and from treatment centers, the lacks the capacity to test for the disease. Initially, cost of transportation, the cost of childcare, and, about 80 percent of the people with HIV in Vietnam in the case of too many married women, approval were injecting drug users. Now, about 70 percent from a husband,” said Mwanjisi. “For many moth- of the persons living with HIV acquired the disease ers [with TB], the cost of transportation poses a through sexual transmission, but only about 4 choice: to pay for the ride to the hospital or to feed percent are sex workers. the family. Women put family health first.A nd we “It is a mistaken assumption that HIV only do not have strategies to address this situation.” affects injecting drug users and sex workers As a result of these barriers to treatment, in Vietnam,” said Oanh. “This is a myth Tanzania also has a high incidence of people propagated by the media, because injecting not completing the medical regimen. “This is a drugs and sex work are seen, like HIV, as social prescription for the development of drug-resistant evils, and they want to scare people away. This tuberculosis,” said Mwanjisi, who noted there is fear and misinformation, however, increases little government support for tuberculosis sufferers the vulnerability to HIV of people who are not because the country lacks the monitoring and associated with drug use or sex work.” diagnostic tools to generate official data about the At an OSI-sponsored symposium held during prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. “The the annual World Conference on Lung Health people with multidrug-resistant TB all die,” she said. in Cape Town, South Africa, in November 2007, Oanh described Room Nine of a tuberculosis Vietnam hospital in Vietnam, the room where the staff Khuat Thi Hai Oanh is a doctor who left the shunts injecting drug users and patients who practice of medicine in a tuberculosis hospital are HIV-positive. Even though the room is not in Vietnam to focus on public health. She is now explicitly labeled the HIV ward, Oanh said, head of the Department for Social Health Studies everyone knows who is inside. The staff avoids at the Institute for Social Development Studies, a contact with the occupants, and the room goes private, though officially monitored, organization uncleaned until patients clean it themselves. Room that, with support provided by OSI’s Public Health Nine’s patients are issued the older linen and Program, completed a report on the implementa- gowns, because the hospital burns the clothing and tion of the government’s program on HIV and linens of patients who die and they fully expect the tuberculosis. The report provides an unprecedent- patients in Room Nine to die. ed view of the barriers to treatment confronting The staff also marks the clothing of patients people with these diseases in Vietnam, many of who are HIV-positive with a small line, so everyone whom are socially marginalized or migrants. knows who they are. Breaches of confidentiality According to WHO, only 3 percent of people are commonplace, as the hospital shares informa-

:: TB and HIV Epidemics :: 21 tion on the patients’ tuberculosis and HIV status organizations to monitor government with the provincial health department, and this accountability. One of the foundation’s partners information inevitably flows back to the patients’ is Journalists Against AIDS, a Nigeria-based home communities. Prisoners in the facilities are nongovernmental organization that has worked chained to beds, sometimes eight in a room, and since 1999 to provide support for journalists, generally reviled by members of the hospital staff. publications, and broadcast stations to disseminate All Vietnamese are entitled to free tuberculosis vital facts about AIDS at a time when most of the treatment and medication, but the testing fee is country’s news organizations were sowing fear $20 in a country where most people living with and hopelessness, and stigmatizing people with the HIV and their families live below the poverty line disease. Journalists Against AIDS also conducted of $13 per month. Persons living with HIV also an OSI-funded study which focused on monitoring frequently pay more for additional tests, because government implementation of tuberculosis the tuberculosis tests returned by HIV-positive policies in Nigeria, including the tracking of people are often negative as tuberculosis is harder resources spent on HIV. to diagnose among people living with HIV. “The goal is to bring civil society and the Injecting drug users are another group dispro- media together to advocate for the government portionately infected with HIV and tuberculosis. to undertake steps to improve how it responds to Drug users who fail to complete detoxification the HIV and tuberculosis problem,” said Olayide treatment in the community are incarcerated for Akanni of Journalists Against AIDS. “Our aim two years in mandatory rehabilitation centers. The is to help people living with HIV advocate for authorities assume that the residents of these centers themselves.” are all HIV-positive, Oanh said, and half of them The Public Health Program and so many of actually have tuberculosis. Despite this fact, the its partners understand that HIV and tuberculosis, centers have no facilities for treating tuberculosis. and especially drug-resistant tuberculosis, will The inmates have no freedom of movement, so they not be overcome in Africa and other susceptible cannot go to the local hospital to seek treatment. regions of the world without a targeted and Too often, cases of tuberculosis must become severe persistent campaign that includes local govern- before the rehabilitation centers’ staff members take ments, international donors, and health inmates to the hospital for treatment. Some families organizations, and, most urgently of all, local reportedly had to bribe doctors to obtain tuberculo- civil society and those with the disease. For this sis treatment for family members detained in a drug reason, OSI’s efforts in eradicating tuberculosis, center. Inmates who have escaped the rehabilitation including its support of the project to attack centers are reluctant to go to hospitals or clinics for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Lesotho, are tuberculosis treatment because they do not want to designed to develop either models or information be discovered and sent back to confinement. that can be applied broadly, across a wide variety of local communities, in a civil society effort Nigeria to mobilize governments and the international The Open Society Institute’s Public Health community to respond more effectively and Program works with a wide variety of obtain better outcomes.

22 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Beyond the hospital, the program has refurbished Lesotho’s central tuberculosis laboratory, which has enhanced the country’s capacity to detect drug-resistant tuberculosis strains. The program also hired and trained staff members, including Lesotho Hospital: Piloting Treatment community health workers, to identify for Drug-Resistant TB possible cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis, to initiate patients on treatment, and to deliver their appropriate medications twice daily for up to two years. Program staff The Botsabelo Hospital in Lesotho is a Partners In Health is a Massachusetts- members also implement measures to key component of an unprecedented based nongovernmental organization prevent patients from transmitting the program whose aim is to demonstrate that has been working for more than disease to others, and monitor side that drug-resistant tuberculosis can 10 years to improve the treatment of effects and patient adherence to the be halted using currently available multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in treatment regimen. antibiotics before the disease spreads Haiti, Peru, Russia, and elsewhere. and mutates into strains that are With a $3 million grant from the Open Patients who are in advanced impossible to cure. The challenges Society Institute and funding from stages of the disease or who live are formidable, given the setting other donors, Partners In Health and far from health clinics are provided of abject poverty, malnutrition, the government of Lesotho launched with outpatient housing and home unforgiving terrain, and populations the new program in mid-2007 and delivery of medications. Patients suffering epidemic levels of HIV and opened the Botsabelo Hospital at the also receive supplemental drugs, lab tuberculosis coinfection. The Lesotho end of September. tests, transportation vouchers, and program stands to inform World Health fuel, food, and water so they can Organization guidelines as well as This renovated leprosy hospital now continue treatment without neglecting policies and programs developed and provides specialized care for multidrug- their families. Some tuberculosis implemented by government health resistant tuberculosis patients who medications can be toxic for infants, so ministries in southern Africa. require acute and intensive care nursing mothers receive infant formula. before even starting the treatment. The The program provides all treatment Lesotho has the world’s fourth-highest hospital provides essential back-up to and supplemental services free of incidence of tuberculosis and the the routine care delivered at patients’ charge to the patient and family. world’s third-highest HIV infection rate. homes. Like those being treated in the The country reports about 10,000 community, the hospitalized patients new tuberculosis cases each year, of are men and women—once robust which about 2,000 are reinfections miners and seamstresses and other in persons who have already hardworking individuals—who have suffered the disease. Every year an been dragged toward the edge of estimated 1,000 new cases are survival by a disease with which their caused by multidrug-resistant strains country could not cope. Without the of the disease. Multidrug-resistant Botsabelo Hospital, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, which is spread through tuberculosis would kill these patients the air, often requires a grueling, daily within days or weeks. treatment regime over two years. Judgment Day for Leaders Accused of Atrocities

International courts are calling to account government leaders responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The Open Society Justice Initiative is supporting international legal efforts against national leaders accused of mass atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Darfur, and elsewhere. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia charged Slobodan Milosevic, far left, with crimes against humanity and genocide for his actions as president of Serbia during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. He died in jail of a heart attack in March 2006 before the completion of his trial in The Hague. Above, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina run to avoid sniper fire during the siege of Sarajevo in 1994.

The mandate of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia is to try former Khmer Rouge leaders such as Noun Chea, far left, for war crimes during the political party’s rule in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. An estimated 2 million people were executed or died of starvation and forced labor. Above, a Khmer Rouge soldier orders store owners to leave as Phnom Penh fell. The Special Court for Sierra Leone indicted Liberian President Charles Taylor, right, in 2003 for crimes against humanity. The charges included Taylor’s backing of Sierra Leone rebels who committed torture, rape, and other atrocities on civilians. His trial in The Hague began in early 2008. Above, a survivor of rebel torture, at a UN camp for refugees from Sierra Leone.

Fighting in Darfur between government-backed militias and rebel forces, with civilians often the victims, has resulted in an estimated 200,000 deaths from violence and disease, and about 3 million people displaced. The U.S. government has called the situation genocide. The International Criminal Court’s investigations will determine if any leaders are held responsible. Above, displaced Sudanese rest under a tree in north Darfur.

OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVE

Bringing War Criminals to Justice

t first glance, a Western eye sees a picture his hands tied behind his back and lower him book small enough for a child’s hand to grasp, a head first into a barrel of water.A few pages storybook a parent might read aloud to sleepy later, there are illustrations of other witnesses ears at bedtime. Pastel aquarelles radiate a coming forward, witnesses making statements to soothing glow from the pages. Swirling block investigators, witnesses appearing before judges letters of the Khmer alphabet seem devised to and prosecutors and defense attorneys. convey tales of mystery and magic. But this is at These illustrations were designed to make the first glance, and to a Western eye. work of the Cambodian war crimes court compre- A closer look reveals images of a harsh reality, hensible to the vast majority of Khmers, people Abrutal scenes from the killing fields of Cambodia who, in so many instances, are illiterate, who have during the late 1970s, and the reason why the never known the rule of law, who are not versed Open Society Justice Initiative and its partners in the concept of a court or a witness, whose edu- underwrote this picture book to support outreach cation has not included an examination of Cam- efforts for Cambodia’s special court for bringing bodia’s genocide, and who stand to benefit from leaders of genocide to trial. The watercolor a process that will make them more comfortable on the book’s cover shows a witness, a peasant discussing the genocide in a public forum, more fa- wearing sandals and a traditional Khmer scarf miliar with how a judicial system works, and more draped across his shoulders; he is standing with an confident that even once-powerful individuals re- investigator beside an exhumed mass grave and sponsible for atrocities can be held accountable for recalls having seen a man with a club crush the their actions. At one outreach session in October skull of a kneeling victim, bound and blindfolded. 2007, about 60 Khmer peasants gathered inside a Inside the cover, Khmer Rouge soldiers abuse bamboo house on stilts; one man glowered at the Buddhist monks in saffron robes; they lead a pictures in the book: “What use have we for this?” column of men and women, bound together with he asked. “We are Buddhists. This world means ropes strung around their necks, to an execution nothing. And justice for the guilty will be handed ground; they hang one victim by the ankles with down with their next reincarnation.”

32 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The Open Society Justice Initiative and and a sense of local ownership of the judicial numerous partners are engaged on several fronts process; and to promote the prosecution of of the international effort to bring an end to the gender-based crimes like rape and sexual slavery impunity that has been enjoyed for too long by and urge the appointment of more women figures like the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, prosecutors and judges. OSI and the Open Society the militia commanders who ravaged people Justice Initiative have also worked to mobilize state across the diamond-rich lands of West Africa, the backing for international judicial institutions by genocidaires of Rwanda, the ethnic cleansers of calling for more funding, more and better support Yugoslavia, and the warlords of eastern Congo for investigations, and more help in effecting and other resource-rich regions. Such offenses are arrests. They have advocated for the enhancement not local phenomena. Crimes of this magnitude of domestic law enforcement and judicial capacity affect everyone. They violate human dignity and so suspected war criminals can be investigated and, fundamental principles of human rights. And if appropriate, indicted and tried locally; and they national leaders too often lack the willpower, have worked to empower survivors by making and national courts the authority and fortitude, them feel a part of the process and providing them to prosecute the highest-ranking individuals support and protection without creating false responsible. International input is required if expectations. justice is to trump impunity. There is no single method for bringing to Cambodia justice those persons accused of the most serious The war crimes court in Cambodia is the last crimes known to humanity. The United Nations opportunity to secure justice for victims of the Security Council established the temporary Khmer Rouge regime. Over the years, the Justice international tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda Initiative has engaged dozens of international and, together with the government of Sierra law and international tribunal experts to provide Leone, the Special Court for Sierra Leone. technical assistance in Phnom Penh on a range Cambodia’s government, together with the United of issues related to establishment of the court. Nations, established the mixed tribunal to try During the court’s start-up phase, the Justice persons accused of leading the genocide carried Initiative provided legal and technical training out by the Khmer Rouge. The International to local nongovernmental organizations and Criminal Court (ICC), the first standing court court staff; it had a resident fellow develop an established to try accused war criminals, is a treaty outreach module for use in rural communities; body, with 105 states party to its founding act, the it engaged filmmakers to produce works on Rome Statute. the victims of the Khmer Rouge’s crimes; it In support of these institutions, the Open spearheaded efforts to fund the special court and Society Institute and the Open Society Justice secure the appointment of qualified international Initiative have mounted efforts to improve the prosecutors, judges, administrative officials, quality of investigations and judicial decision and staff at all levels; and it engaged local and making; to assist prosecutors in structuring international media on the significance of the criminal charges; to enhance local participation special war crimes court.

:: international justice :: 33 After long delays and troubled negotiations, The Justice Initiative also worked with a group of the special court, despite all of its imperfections, supporters to pressure the Serbian government officially launched operations in July 2006. to stop hiding Karadžic´, Mladic´, and two other From the beginning, the Justice Initiative called remaining fugitives and hand them over for trial. attention to fundamental challenges confronting The Justice Initiative called upon the European the court, including concerns about judicial Union not to conclude a pre-membership independence and political interference; a failure agreement with Serbia until Karadžic´ and Mladic´ to adopt internal rules of procedure and evidence; were in custody. fractures between international and Cambodian “It is a glass half empty,” said Carla Del Ponte, judges and staff; an insufficient budget and an the ICTY’s chief prosecutor. “For the location and overly cautious spending policy; lack of adequate arrest of fugitives, we are dependent upon the training for judges and other staff; and a threat good will of the international community to apply by Cambodia’s government to expel the Justice pressure and upon the good will of the national Initiative from the country in response to its authorities. Success depends upon the help of the call, in February 2007, for an investigation into international community.” corruption allegations of the court’s staff. The So far, unfortunately, the state support Justice Initiative, which phased out its technical obtained has been inadequate, for, as so often assistance to the court in 2007, is continuing to happens, immediate political and diplomatic monitor the special court’s activities. interests trump support for justice. During November 2007, in Phnom Penh, The challenges encountered in the former the Open Society Institute sponsored its fourth Yugoslavia have prompted the Justice Initiative colloquium for international prosecutors. The to concentrate on identifying and advocating goal of this discussion was to help prosecutors and for better ways in which states can provide staff members develop a set of best practices for intelligence on indicted persons; track suspects speedy trials and addressing issues such as witness and secure arrests, including the development of protection and sexual violence. Following up on an international intelligence network on fugitive this face-to-face gathering, the Justice Initiative is war criminals; and engineer and apply effective sponsoring, and cofunding, a dedicated website for sanctions to freeze the assets of fugitives and their prosecutors from the various war crimes tribunals supporters and bar them from traveling through and courts to exchange ideas and further develop or over neighboring states. best practices. Rwanda Yugoslavia A keystone of any effort to further international In 2007, the Justice Initiative worked to secure justice is developing the capacity of states to try, state support for the International Criminal in their home jurisdictions, persons accused of Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), helping war crimes. The completion strategies of both the it secure funding to promote stepped-up efforts Rwanda and Yugoslavia tribunals depend upon to locate the two most notorious persons facing the creation of local capacity in Rwanda and the indictment, Radovan Karadžic´ and Ratko Mladic´. successor states of Yugoslavia to try, in a fair and

34 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: International justice is needed because national leaders too often lack the willpower, and national courts the authority and fortitude, to prosecute the highest-ranking individuals responsible for war crimes.

impartial way, persons against whom sufficient Clifford Chance law firm inA msterdam. This evidence exists to bring war crimes charges. website, charlestaylortrial.org, provides people In Rwanda, capacity is severely lacking. The in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and beyond West Africa 1994 genocide in Rwanda left only a dozen or so with reliable, timely information on the trial and attorneys in the country; and tens of thousands the evidence presented. The Justice Initiative of accused genocidaires live in squalid prison has also undertaken assessments of the court’s conditions awaiting trial. Gacaca courts, which operations and developed projects to focus were established after the genocide and based on on ways to ensure that the court’s operations traditional local courts, are expected to process will leave a positive legacy in West Africa and over 50,000 of these defendants, leaving about elsewhere. 7,000 of the higher-ranking and most-notorious The Justice Initiative has also drafted accused, including perhaps 20 persons who might recommendations on mechanisms the Yugoslavia, be remanded from the International Criminal Rwanda, and Sierra Leone courts might Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, implement to fulfill ongoing obligations stemming to face trials in the country’s courts. from their current mandates, such as who will try “Assessment and enhancement of local accused perpetrators not arrested until after these capacity are crucial to our referral of cases courts close their doors, what happens if trial to Rwanda and this is very important to our witnesses are threatened or face retaliation after completion strategy,” said Hassan B. Jallow, the the court or tribunal shuts down, and who will ICTR’s chief prosecutor. “The ICTR’s judges consider new evidence that might be exculpatory have to make the assessment that the legal for persons serving jail sentences on war crimes system is capable of holding fair trials, and it also convictions. Failure to establish appropriate requires eliminating the death penalty, since the mechanisms for addressing obligations such as international tribunal does not have the power to these could result in human rights violations order capital punishment.” against accused and convicted persons as well The Justice Initiative in 2007 participated as victims and witnesses. It might compromise in a needs assessment and held advocacy national-security information provided to the discussions with foreign donors, including national prosecutors. And it would damage the legacy and governments, in support of capacity-building legitimacy of the courts. efforts to strengthen the ICTR. In connection with the ICC in The Hague, the Justice Initiative has undertaken outreach Sierra Leone work with persons from Darfur. It has assisted The Justice Initiative is also supporting the work local human rights advocates in gathering and of the Sierra Leone tribunal, and especially presenting information that the ICC’s investigators its ongoing trial, in The Hague, of the former and lawyers can use as lead material and, perhaps, president of Liberia, Charles Taylor. The initiative present as evidence of crimes against humanity. has helped develop a website that will include day- The initiative is also urging both the ICC and by-day reports on the Taylor trial by international the government of the Democratic Republic legal professionals, including lawyers from the of the Congo to pursue the perpetrators of the

:: international justice :: 35 massive gender crimes in eastern regions of the among the charges against the accused. The Justice Congo, where government soldiers, members Initiative is also urging that new indictments, of renegade government military units, and when appropriate, include such charges. men and boys recruited and press-ganged into The ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and a myriad of militias are gang-raping, in some Herzegovina, the genocide in Rwanda, the instances repeatedly, untold thousands of women mutilations of children and other horrors of and making sex slaves of some, branding others Sierra Leone, and the memories of the Khmer like cattle, and maiming and mutilating women Rouge genocide in Cambodia provided the and girls as young as three years old. Many of the impetus for the creation of the first international women have found themselves utterly alone while war crimes tribunals since the Nuremburg and they struggle to cope with the psychological effects Tokyo tribunals after World War II. The Open of trauma, destitution, unwanted pregnancies and Society Justice Initiative is committed to assisting children, HIV/AIDS, and ostracism by their loved these institutions, as well as the International ones who have shunned them as “diseased” or Criminal Court, to fulfill their promise and make “tainted.” The ICC’s most recent indictment on individual accountability, not impunity, the norm the Congo, related to crimes alleged to have taken for the highest-ranking leaders responsible for place in the Ituri region, included sexual violence wholesale violence.

36 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The DRC’s military, police, and justice system cannot cope with the overall security situation, much less the attacks on women. Few of the perpetrators of the gender crimes are ever brought to justice. Many victims do not approach the police because they fear retaliation The Challenge in the Congo: by their attackers and lack confidence Halting Violence Against Women in the justice system. Many of the victims have found themselves utterly alone while they struggle to cope with their trauma even as they deal with penury, unwanted pregnancies, raising The young men toting AK-47s approach Since it began over a decade ago, the their children (some of them also villages in the eastern part of the war in the eastern DRC has produced victims of sexual assault), HIV and Democratic Republic of the Congo one of recorded history’s most AIDS, and ostracism by loved ones who (DRC) through lush greenery, covered by widespread and soul-destroying spates have shunned them as “diseased” or the din of the bush. The United Nations of violence against women. With each “tainted.” says some of these are underpaid passing year, and despite the presence soldiers from the DRC’s army. Some are of the world’s largest United Nations Three OSI programs—the International members of renegade Mai-Mai militias peacekeeping force, the rape, maiming, Women’s Program, the Public Health who oil their bodies before battle. Some murder, child molestation, enslavement, Program, and the Open Society Justice have come from Uganda for diamonds and abduction for ransom seem only Initiative—are collaborating with their and gold and other metals wrenched to worsen. Authorities at Panzi hospital partners in the Congo on efforts to halt from the mineral-rich landscape. Some in South Kivu province registered 45 the violence against women, to ease fled Rwanda after wielding machetes cases of rape combined with severe their suffering, and to help enhance the during the 1994 genocide and now bodily injury in 1999; the number of capacity of local justice institutions. wear basketball jerseys and call cases rose to 145 in 2000 and to 580 OSI is urging the International Criminal themselves Rastas. in 2001; the number reached 3,500 Court and the DRC’s government to in 2005 and has remained at this pursue perpetrators of these gender level ever since, though many victims Sometimes the men drag village women crimes. “One proposed project would are not tallied because they live in from their homes and tie them to trees help the government of the Congo remote areas or don’t lodge complaints. before gang-raping them. Sometimes deploy mobile courts to South Kivu According to the United Nations, they force the women’s brothers and and perhaps other districts, courts 27,000 sexual assaults were reported husbands and fathers to witness the that would go to the victims, to remote during 2006 in South Kivu alone. rapes; and sometimes they kill the areas where most people have never brothers and husbands and fathers ridden in a car or ventured far from their who turn their eyes away before they home villages,” said Kelly Askin, senior kill those who watch until nothing is legal officer at the Justice Initiative. left to watch. Sometimes they rape the The project would provide training for littlest girls—as young as 11 months. women judges and the placement of Sometimes they hold the women as volunteer judges and lawyers from sex slaves. Many times, the women outside the Congo to assist the three- become pregnant. Sometimes soldiers judge mobile courts as mentors. The fight each other to possess the women, enhancement of the capacity of local and at least one time two soldiers courts to try individual perpetrators, killed a woman to settle their dispute. Askin said, will complement the work of Sometimes captive women flee the men the International Criminal Court, which on one side of the fighting; sometimes is designed to bring the highest-ranking they are captured a second time by leaders to justice. men on another side, then again gang- raped and tortured. Sometimes they reach a hospital. Many Faces of the Roma

For 15 years the Open Society Institute has supported efforts to improve the economic and social inclusion of the Roma in Central and South Eastern Europe. It helped organize, and continues to promote, the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015, which focuses on the areas of education, employment, health, and housing, calling special attention to the issues of poverty, discrimination, and gender mainstreaming. OSI and the Open Society Archives in 2007 sponsored a Decade of Roma Inclusion photography contest, seeking to combat visual stereotypes associated with Roma and to present Roma people and culture sensitively and artistically. The contest was called Chachipe, which, in the Romany language, means “truth” or “reality.” The images on these pages present a few of the many faces of the Roma and their community. An online exhibition of Chachipe photographs can be seen at www.romadecade.org. The World of Information Tünde Erika Palosi Târgu Mures¸, Romania Friends Are Family Too Ana Jakimoska Topaana, Skopje, Macedonia Compeer Slobodan Simic Gaj, Serbia Football team Ivan Petrovic´ Vrela Ribnicˇka, Montenegro Lili Eszter Deli Gödöllo˝, Hungary Decade of Roma Inclusion

Supporting the Roma in Securing Their Rights

heir names are Nadir and Toni, Mirka and Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, however, Ristem, and Asen and Ivan. Each is European. representatives of the continent’s 8 to 12 million Some are younger than others. Some are more Roma have asserted themselves as never before. talented and articulate, some more ambitious and They are mounting organized efforts to claim for driven. A few are blonde with eyes of turquoise, their people, as citizens of the new Europe, the a few raven-haired with chestnut eyes and the al- rights they should have been enjoying all along. mond complexions so many light-skinned north- This effort achieved a new plateau in 2005, when erners long to carry home after winter junkets to nine countries from Central and Eastern Europe Tsouthern beaches. And yet, in the minds of many endorsed the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005– Europeans, young Roma like Nadir, Toni, and the 2015, an unprecedented initiative, supported by others—no matter how talented and articulate, the Open Society Institute, the World Bank, and no matter how ambitious and driven—embody other international and regional organizations, little more than a stereotype: the gypsies, thieves, to defeat discrimination and break the cycle of pickpockets, and beggars; separate and suspect; poverty that too many Roma in Europe suffer. deceitful and distant. Now, young Roma like Nadir, Toni, Mirka, The abuses that spring from this stereotype Ristem, Asen, and Ivan are working to hold the have traumatized both the Roma and the participating governments to their word, using communities they have inhabited. Over the the signatures on the Decade of Roma Inclusion centuries, Roma have been enslaved, beaten as leverage in efforts to overcome centuries of up, burned out, and bludgeoned off to the next alienation, lack of opportunity, and violence. ghetto, and to the next and the next; the Nazis herded Roma into cattle cars and shipped them to the gas chambers with other persecuted Decade Watch groups; communist governments forced them to settle, to assimilate, and even to submit to Nadir Redžepi played keyboard and guitar for a sterilization. professional band in Tetovo, a town in Macedonia,

44 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: before he took a cut in income to become a overcome discrimination and also participated in full-time Roma activist. Today, at age 45, he is DecadeWatch’s monitoring project. executive director of the Roma Democratic For Tashev, the key revelation from the Development Association. Among other activities, DecadeWatch’s report was that in all the the association joined with DecadeWatch, an participating countries there is a significant lack organization created by the Open Society Institute of relevant data to assess government compliance and the World Bank, in a project to assess how with the commitments made in the initiative. “At well government signatories to the Decade of the moment, we can only assess the inputs made Roma Inclusion were meeting their commitments by national authorities, and not the outcomes,” to improve education, health care, housing, and Tashev said. “In employment, for example, employment opportunities for Roma. there are no clear data on how many Roma are “For the first time in history,R oma from nine covered.” In health and housing, improvements countries worked toward the same goal, and are coming only slowly, Tashev added, but in we learned by doing,” Redžepi said. “At first we education much more has been achieved. thought that, since the state had adopted official In addition to supporting DecadeWatch, policies, changes would come automatically. But the Open Society Institute and the World Bank changes did not come. So we decided to research work through the Roma Education Fund to what government institutions, international promote equal access to quality education for organizations, and Roma nongovernmental Roma children. In 2007, the Open Society Insti- organizations were doing. We confirmed that in tute’s EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program, Macedonia and elsewhere state support was weak. in collaboration with OSI’s Education Support Implementation and official policies on theR oma Program, its Roma Participation Program, and a needed instruments and structures.” number of Roma nongovernmental organizations, Redžepi was present in Sofia, Bulgaria, on issued reports on equal access to quality education June 11, 2007, when George Soros launched for Roma in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, DecadeWatch’s assessment report. “We went Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia. to the government with the findings and said The research for the reports assessed how Roma we needed implementation now,” Redžepi said. education policies were implemented in these “We’ve already seen results in budget lines. countries, and found significant discrepancies We’ve seen structures put in place. Now they are between the research data and the available developing an action plan on Roma women and official statistics. working on a human rights action plan.” OSI-backed research in Slovakia, along with a With OSI’s support, a group of young Roma similar study by Amnesty International, led them activists, including Toni Tashev, a 35-year-old to issue, in November 2007, an urgent call for the Roma lawyer who knows firsthand what education European Union to take action to end Slovakia’s is like in a segregated Roma school, formed a discrimination against Roma children and its nongovernmental organization in Bulgaria, the systematic violation of the right of Roma children Regional Policy Development Centre, which to quality schooling. Researchers discovered that promotes legislation and government policies to a disproportionate number of Roma children in

:: roma :: 45 Only a comprehensive approach to lack of access to education, health, and housing will begin to eliminate the discrimination and poverty so many Roma endure.

Slovakia were being placed in schools for children the hardship of having no running water at with mental disabilities or segregated into Roma- home, making sure the children have bathed—so only schools. The studies also revealed that in schoolmates do not subject the Roma pupils to some areas of eastern Slovakia all schools were ridicule or worse. segregated, that Roma children in Slovakia were Ristem Muslievski, 33, was a journalist until receiving a lower-quality education than other 2006. Today, as an outreach worker for a Roma children, and that majority-Roma schools were organization, the National Roma Centrum, overcrowded and staffed, in many instances, by Muslievski moves through the Roma mahala of unqualified teachers.A s a result, Roma literacy Kumanovo, a town in northern Macedonia, urging levels have been persistently low, and Roma parents to enroll their children and keep sending children had little chance of entering mainstream them to school. (Kumanovo’s school officials schools or pursuing higher education. opened the town’s best schools to Roma students “The problems that Roma face in Slovakia for the first time in 2007.) Many parents have been are so intertwined that only a comprehensive reluctant. Some told Muslievski that they did not approach to solving all of them at the same time know where the assigned school was located— can bring real change,” said one of the researchers even though it was a few blocks away—and they who took part in the study, 25-year-old Mirka feared that their children might get lost on the way Hapalova, director of the Slovakia branch of or that they might run afoul of bullies. People in Need, a nongovernmental organization “We take the most-vulnerable kids—the that promotes employment of Roma and other poorest kids, the kids who don’t know the marginalized people. “In our interviews, some Macedonian language, the kids whose parents are teachers spoke about the need to change the less enthusiastic—and drive them to school in a Roma children, without mentioning the possible van, about 80 of them,” Muslievski said. “Maybe need to change the teachers. This kind of one- 4 of the 80 would attend classes if we didn’t do way perception of the problem often leads to this. We have to keep talking to the families. We good ideas in theory being spoiled when they are warn them that there is a fine if they do not send applied in practice.” their children to school.” One first-grader, for instance, a tiny girl with Macedonia big, piercing eyes named Violeta, disappeared from In many communities, getting Roma children her classroom in mid-October. Muslievski learned into good schools demands something more that she was traveling during the weekdays to than persuading government leaders and school Tetovo, where she was living in a tent and waiting officials to allow them to enter. It requires a beside her mother as she begged on the street. persistance to convince some Roma parents that “We went to the parents many times,” Muslievski education itself is worth the effort of enrolling said. “We explained to them what education their children, of ensuring that they attend means.” It was mid-December, before they class, and of making sacrifices—some as basic as allowed Violeta to return. By February, she had obtaining hand-me-down clothing and, despite caught up with her classmates.

46 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Bulgaria Bosnakova, the mother of a Roma second-grader, The twin doors to the Prince Alexander knows why. “I went to that school,” she said. “I Elementary School, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, are cut know my son reads, writes, and knows math from heavy wood, painted gray, and trimmed better than children going there.” in white; and they tower over the heads of the first-graders. It has been three years since they Czech Republic opened to the firstR oma children taking part in In a landmark decision for Roma and members of a desegregation program implemented in dozens other ethnic groups across Europe, the European of schools in nine Bulgarian cities. The program Court of Human Rights ruled in November now involves some 3,000 pupils, about 1 in every 2007 that segregating Roma students in “special” 11 of Bulgaria’s school-age Roma children. schools is a form of unlawful discrimination. The “People once thought the Roma were ruling came in a case filed, withOSI ’s support, incapable of being educated and did not want nine years earlier on behalf of 18 Roma children to be educated,” said Donka Panayotova, a 49- from Ostrava who sought legal redress for the year-old school teacher from the town of Vidin, practice—widespread in Central and Eastern who initiated the desegregation process with the Europe—of shunting Roma students, regardless help of OSI in 2000. “We have proven that Roma of their intellectual abilities, into “special” schools children can be educated in the mainstream and for children with learning disabilities. Research by that their results are much higher than those of Ivan Ivanov, who, at the beginning of the trial was the Roma kids who are in segregated schools.” a 32-year-old staff attorney at the OSI-sponsored Asen Karagyozov, age 32, works at the European Roma Rights Centre, showed that Association of Roma Youth in Plovdiv’s mahala, Roma pupils in Ostrava were 27 times more likely Stolipinovo, a drab array of prefab-concrete than similarly situated non-Roma pupils to be apartment blocks surrounded by shops, garages, placed in “special” schools. and streets neglected by the city’s road crews and “There was no antidiscrimination legislation garbage collectors. Karagyozov and his father, in Central and Eastern Europe at the time,” said Anton, founder of one of Bulgaria’s firstR oma Ivanov. “And those countries weren’t part of the nongovernmental organizations, now help operate European Union then, so the challenges were big. a program to bus Roma children accompanied I knew how to approach the Roma to get accurate by Roma teaching assistants from Stolipinovo to information from them. They were reluctant. Prince Alexander and other elementary schools in Few of them believed we could succeed. I had the city’s center. So far, about 200 Roma children to persuade them that the case would have an participate in the desegregation program in impact for thousands of Roma children forced Plovdiv. Another 3,300 attend a segregated school to attend schools for the mentally handicapped. in the mahala. Now we can take this decision and present it in “No Bulgarian would come here to Stolipinovo each country where there is segregation of Roma to go to school,” Karagyozov said. živka children. Segregation is discrimination. Period.”

:: roma :: 47 The field-workers at the National Roma Centrum had seen many complicated registration problems before. But even the officials at the government offices did not know where to begin with Roziana. It took until September Roziana’s Story: No Identity Since Birth 2007 to obtain Roziana’s personal identification card. Her five children obtained birth certificates by October, and her eldest daughter, eight-year-old Serdjana, entered the first grade. The authorities assigned a social worker to In all her 24 years, Roziana Zakiri has By tending a farmer’s lifestock Roziana’s case and obtained welfare not learned to read. She cannot write. for a month, Safet brings home benefits for her. But health cards had She does not know how to tell time. the equivalent of about $50 and, still not arrived by the New Year. Once And until early autumn 2007, Roziana occasionally, some milk and cheese. they do, Roziana can obtain additional did not officially exist as a human Roziana says that she earns the security and protection for her being in her homeland, Macedonia, or equivalent of about $4 a day begging children—she can get them vaccinated. anywhere else on the planet. A house on the streets of Kumanovo, a few miles fire consumed the only official paper from Macedonia’s border with Serbia. The Roma population in Central she had with her name on it: a copy and Eastern Europe is notoriously of a form her mother got from the “We would often start in front of the understated in official statistics, and hospital on the day Roziana was born. post office,” Roziana said. “The children no one knows how many Roma like But Roziana’s mother never obtained would sit beside me while I begged. Roziana are unregistered. With the an official birth certificate or a personal We’d walk back and forth to the center support of the Open Society Institute’s identification card for her daughter. of town. The twins were really small. Roma programs, however, Roma I would have slings for them, one in activists like Asmet Elezovski, and So Roziana has gone through life the front, one in back.” his field-workers are integrating these without health insurance and social most-alienated of all people into the benefits. No certificate vouches for her Asmet Elezovski, founder and manager broader society. 10-year marriage to a man, Safet, who of the OSI-supported National Roma is also not recorded on official registers. Centrum, spotted Roziana and her None of their five children have birth children begging in front of a store. certificates. And when Roziana was in labor with her twins in early 2006, the “She was a new face, so I knew she local hospital sent her away because was not from Kumanovo. After that, I she had no national health card. sent a team to check things out. Roziana gave birth to a boy and a girl We appealed to her several times to in a crumbling one-room brick house come to us for help. One morning last for which she and Safet hold no title, winter, she showed up at the office very a house that sits on a plot of land early. Her mother-in-law was seriously about 20 feet by 15 for which they ill. Roziana was pregnant with her twins. hold no deed. She was seeking help. We began by trying to get her humanitarian aid and a doctor’s examination. Then we asked about her documents, and we found she had none and no way to obtain the money to obtain them.”

48 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Scholarships for Tomorrow’s Leaders Despite the setbacks and barriers, Tenekedzie- Each of them is 23 years old. Each has felt the slap va is committed to helping society and her people. of discrimination and the sting of personal loss. “I want a job in some institution, in a municipality Each is the living antithesis of a stereotype. Zina or ministry,” she said. “I want to work with our Tenekedzieva speaks French, German, Bulgarian, people, especially our women, because they need Turkish, and Romany, the language of the Roma, someone to protect them from discrimination.” and has degrees in medicine and social work; For Becheva, judo meant freedom and her mother died of kidney failure after a long achievement: “Roma girls need to break free. struggle that sapped her family’s assets; her father They withdraw into themselves. The environment is an ailing former steelworker and professional of the mahala closes in around them. They have accordionist. Bulgaria’s former national champion choices, but they don’t know them. They don’t in women’s judo, Raina Becheva graduated from know the possibilities. They get married very the national sports academy before losing her young. They have many children very young. Olympic dream to a devastating injury. Rosen They don’t go to school. They remain illiterate. Asenov languished in a segregated Roma school Sports are a way to break free. Judo gives you a until a Bulgarian teacher helped his father, who sense of strength, a way to defend yourself, and works in a car-battery factory, and his mother, a something useful to do with your time. So I want teacher, get him transferred to a Bulgarian school. to establish a judo club for girls.” Tenekedzieva, Becheva, and Asenov are the Asenov will soon attend the Central European recipients of OSI-sponsored scholarships designed University and hopes to work in a Roma to foster the development of prospective Roma organization or in the European Union in some leaders by giving them the opportunity to master capacity helping Roma community development. the English language. “When I see the children begging on the streets, Each has life experiences that have tempered I see the politics, I see that they are not educated, their ambitions. “I’ve seen how some people from I see that they have no options. Organized crime government institutions mistreat Roma people,” selects kids like this,” he said. “It is time for us Tenekedzieva said. “I was discriminated against by to obtain positions in the government. It is time a college professor who did not like the Roma part for us to define our interests and our rights. It of me. My sister lost her job because the other is time to improve our position in the broader workers said she was a gypsy and refused to work community. We learn fast. And we will destroy with her.” these stereotypes forever.”

:: roma :: 49 Living on the Pipeline

Governments in poor countries promise their people that money from the sale of natural resources will improve their lives. But people along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline are worse off, not better. Each day millions of dollars of oil flow through more than 1,700 kilometers of pipes in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. Yet houses above the pipeline go without heat or light. Farmers lose their land without compensation. Fishermen along the coast lose their catch as pipeline traffic drives the fish away. Pipeline construction in the mountains causes landslides and destroys homes. The Open Society Institute believes the responsible management of natural resource wealth would diminish such harms. In photographs from her project Pipedreams, Rena Effendi shows what happens when governments overlook the lives of ordinary people in the rush for resource riches. A fisherman with his nets in Bibi-Heybat, an oil village in Azerbaijan. A young girl in a wedding party in Djandarsky, opposite the BTC Marneuli pumping station in Georgia. Djandarsky residents complained that they had lost their farmland due to the BTC construction and were never properly compensated. Yelena Rodina with her granddaughter Lika in Dgwali, Georgia, approximately 800 meters from the BTC pipeline. Rodina, like many others, lost her house to a landslide and received only minimal compensation from the pipeline company. Eshana Arviladze, 81, on the ground floor of her home, and (above) an abandoned house. Both were damaged by landslides. Village of Dgwali, Georgia. Aynur Gokchay with her husband Isa at home in Calabas, Turkey. Isa and other villagers never received the jobs promised by a BTC contractor. Revenue Watch Institute

Opening the Books on Natural Resource Revenues

ach night for a month, messages appeared on Ilham Cendekia works for PATTIRO, the the cell phone of a community activist in one of Center for Regional Information and Studies, a Indonesia’s sprawling urban areas. The messages grantee of the OSI-supported Tifa Foundation were consistent, the threat unsubtle: “If you want in Indonesia and a key local partner of the to live in this city, don’t talk about budgets.” Next Revenue Watch Institute. Headquartered in came “informal conversations” with the local Jakarta, PATTIRO has trained local advocates, police, then interrogations, then a traffic incident including the community activist who received involving another community activist who was the threatening text messages, to teach people thrown from his motorbike. The incident might how to demand access to information about Ehave been happenstance. But, after so many budgets, government revenues, and the dispersal warnings, it might have been something else. of revenues from natural resource extraction, It is dangerous work to empower people, to including payments made by huge oil and mining provide them information about malfeasance and companies. “It takes time to strengthen them and the tools they need to collect official documents, build their confidence,” Cendekia said. “We direct to show them how to discover whether them to the local governments, to confront them. government officials, some local, some national, We find champions within the government.” are mismanaging and sometimes skimming Success comes in fits and starts, and the massive amounts of public money paid by foreign Revenue Watch Institute provides support to companies to extract oil, minerals, and other capitalize upon it. One cooperative member of natural resources. In many cases, local people Indonesia’s parliament passed PATTIRO a copy of doing the tedious, risky grassroots work have a contract between Indonesia’s government and an benefitted significantly from support provided by oil company. “We sent the document to Revenue the Open Society Institute and the Revenue Watch Watch’s legal department,” Cendekia said, “and Institute, a former OSI program and now a major used its expert opinion as an advocacy tool and in grantee working to promote transparency and educational materials. It makes us stronger. It gives accountability in resource-rich countries. us greater credibility.”

56 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The importance of PATTIRO and the expenditures. The Revenue Watch Institute works multitude of other civil society organizations with and engages not only civil society but also working to bring genuine transparency and government officials, parliaments, and the private accountability to resource-rich countries around sector in producing and consuming countries the world can hardly be overstated. Behind the around the world, as well as international massive violence, poverty, and corruption that financial institutions. are ravaging so much of the world—behind the Two of the Revenue Watch Institute’s killing, the rape, the maiming, the abduction of main partners are pillars of the campaign for children to serve in military units in places like transparency and accountability in resource-rich Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Democratic Republic countries. The first is Publish WhatY ou Pay, a of the Congo, and so many other countries—lies coalition of more than 300 local and international a driving force: the mismanagement and theft nongovernmental organizations from around the of revenues produced by the extraction of oil, world that are working to require oil, gas, and diamonds, metals, and other natural resources mining companies to disclose the payments they bound mostly for the developed world. make to governments for the extraction of natural In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, resources and thereby help citizens of resource- the cash comes mostly from metals and diamonds. rich developing countries hold their governments In Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Chad, Iraq, and so accountable for the management of these many other countries, it’s oil. Even in relatively revenues. The second is the Extractive Industries peaceful countries like Indonesia, which is Transparency Initiative (EITI), a coalition of recovering from decades of insurgent violence governments, companies, civil society groups, and government repression, mismanagement of investors, and international organizations that revenues from natural-resource extraction can promotes transparency and accountability by the undermine healthy sectors of an economy, and governments that receive revenues for extraction particularly those sectors, like manufacturing and of natural resources. agriculture, that are engines for alleviating poverty and achieving sustained growth; this can produce unemployment, massive public indebtedness, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) the impoverishment of millions of families, and the severing of the ties that make a country’s Media and letter-writing campaigns by the government one that is of the people and for Publish What You Pay coalition helped produce the people. a breakthrough in 2007, when the International The Revenue Watch Institute’s mission is Accounting Standards Board agreed to consider to help introduce and strengthen transparency an international reporting standard for payments and accountability in resource-rich countries companies in the extractive industries make to around the globe. The institute helps provide governments. The new standard would require citizens with the information, training, networks, the resource-extracting companies to report and funding they need to become more payments to governments on a country-by- effective monitors of government revenues and country rather than a lump-sum basis. This new

:: natural resource revenues :: 57 “While the G8 countries pledge strong commitment to transparency and accountability for extractives, they are all too willing to look the other way when competing among each other and with China, India, and others.”

requirement will allow civil society activists, for extraction and thus establish a direct link between example, to compare the companies’ reports of governance and the cost of capital. these payments with the respective governments’ reports of revenues. Promulgation of this new standard may take up to five years, but when Extractive Industries it is issued, the standard will automatically Transparency Initiative (EITI) become law in more than 50 countries, excluding, however, the United States and Canada. The EITI has campaigned, since its launch in Since early 2007, the Revenue Watch Institute, 2002, to improve governance in resource-rich a U.S. public charity, and Publish What You Pay’s countries primarily by working to convince United States coalition focused considerable the governments of these countries to reveal effort on promoting revenue transparency in publicly all revenues they collect from natural Congress. The House of Representatives banking resource companies for the extraction of oil, gas, committee chairman agreed to support legislation and minerals. At the end of 2007, 15 countries requiring resource-extraction companies listed in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America had in the United States to publish what they pay endorsed the EITI, while 7 other countries, the to governments. The 2007 energy bill urges Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Congress to adopt domestic and international Guinea, Madagascar, the Republic of the Congo, payment-reporting requirements for extractive Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, and Timor- companies. The Overseas Private Investment Leste, appeared poised to be accepted as candidate Corporation (OPIC) reauthorization bill, passed members. In 2007, the Revenue Watch Institute by the House in 2007, would require OPIC to tie joined forces with the EITI’s secretariat, the its support for extractive projects to companies United Kingdom’s Department for International and governments adopting transparency measures Development (DFID), and the World Bank in an like EITI or the equivalent. The Revenue Watch effort to enlist Indonesia in the EITI. Institute is launching an alliance with the Project The governments of some countries that on Government Oversight, Friends of the Earth, have endorsed the EITI have been slow to and Taxpayers for Common Sense to promote honor the commitments they made to disclose domestic royalty reform and payments disclosure the revenues received from natural-resource for oil and gas drilling and mining on federal extraction. This has generated concern that some lands. governments are only paying lip service to the The Revenue Watch Institute, the European principle of transparency in order to achieve Bank for Reconstruction and Development, asset other economic and political objectives and managers, and sovereign and quasi-sovereign that this will undermine the EITI’s credibility. debt issuers have also worked to persuade During the summer of 2007, the Revenue Watch investment rating agencies to factor transparency Institute mobilized its civil society partners indicators, like membership in the EITI, into in natural-resource-producing countries and their risk assessments of economies that are joined forces with the World Bank, DFID, the highly dependent upon revenues from resource German federal government’s Gesellschaft für

58 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH, the U.S. Revenue Watch Institute’s network of partners State Department, and other stakeholders in an continued in 2007 to demonstrate signs of an effort to ensure that candidate countries meet a increasing willingness to work together on their “pre-validation” test, which amounts to the EITI’s own initiative to promote the EITI and its goals. first effort to distinguish those countries that are genuinely ready to implement the EITI from those that are not. The result has renewed momentum New Transparency in several countries. Partnerships “This is a global effort to set global standards and introduce a modicum of global governance to Some large natural resource companies have protect people from lack of transparency,” said the begun engaging the Revenue Watch Institute EITI’s chairman, Peter Eigen. “The stakeholders and its partners on transparency concerns. The include hard-nosed oil men, idealistic civil society Revenue Watch Institute is also partnering with activists, and a whole range in between them. Paul Collier of Oxford University and DFID’s We’re talking about numbers—big numbers—for chief economist, Tony Venables, to develop case some; and ideals for others. The oil men are studies and an applied policy manual for the looking for a positive effect on their companies’ management and expenditure of natural resource share prices. If you invest a couple of billion to revenues to maximize the impact of windfall begin development and the country is behaving profits from commodities upon overall economic responsibly rather than erratically, then your share development. This manual will be a tool in the price will go up.” Revenue Watch Institute’s efforts to provide In August 2007, the Revenue Watch Institute technical assistance and is likely to be picked up helped organize the first-everE ITI capacity- by other donors. building workshop for 60 regional civil society The Revenue Watch Institute also launched organizations from Australia, Cambodia, China, a partnership with the Centre for the Study of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Global Governance at the London School of and Timor-Leste. With support from a local Economics. The center will focus its work on Revenue Watch consultant, more than 40 civil promoting transparency and accountability in the society organizations came together in November management of natural resources in the countries 2007 to launch an Indonesian PWYP coalition. of the Middle East and North Africa. During 2007, Similar workshops have helped launch coalitions the Revenue Watch Institute helped ensure that in Africa and the Andean region. The Revenue Iraq’s draft hydrocarbon law includes language Watch Institute is also about to launch pilot requiring transparency of revenues and contracts. projects to assist subnational governments and “We made efforts in terms of helping local civil society organizations in Indonesia to overcome the political differences and coming promote the sound management of expected new up with a coherent federal structure for the flows of revenue from oil, gas, and mining that oil industry and also in terms of improving will be passed from the central government in transparency and accountability measures,” said Jakarta to the country’s provinces. Elsewhere, the Yahia Said, the Revenue Watch Institute’s Middle

:: natural resource revenues :: 59 “We have very good transparency laws and civil society is very active in monitoring and in advocacy to improve the quality of spending, but the picture is far from rosy, and I would not present Peru as an example of how to do things well Peru’s Gold Standard: Monitoring Transparency from the perspective of inclusive and sustainable development,” said Carlos Monge, who was the Revenue Watch Institute’s regional coordinator in Peru in 2007 and serves as an EITI board member. “Poverty reduction is lagging From Mexico, Venezuela, and Ecuador One reason why Peru did not run far behind while income distribution with their oil fields, to Bolivia with afoul of the resource curse was the figures are worsening. And mining is its gas, to Brazil and Peru with their country’s transparency in the reporting generating all kinds of environmental mines, the countries of Central and of revenues generated by extraction damage and fueling social conflicts.” South America abound in natural of natural resources. The Revenue Revenue Watch’s subnational capacity resources. And activists throughout Watch Institute and its partners in building and civil society monitoring the region know that these resources Peru recommend that other countries projects in Peru may help to improve also pose an abundance of risks. examine Peru’s transparency laws, that performance. There is the risk that corruption and which guarantee the country’s citizens mismanagement of the revenues access to basic information about At the end of 2007, the Revenue from exploitation of these resources oil, gas, and mining revenues, their Watch Institute was working with a can undermine healthy branches of distribution, and their use. network of civil society organizations national economies; there is the risk in Trinidad and Tobago to establish that resource extraction may contribute Peru’s performance has much room and improve the monitoring of revenue to the creation of unwieldy public debt to improve, however. Activists in the flows from oil and gas exploitation. It and income disparities; and there is country still lack sufficient information was also close to launching projects the risk that the misuse of resource on contracts, corporate income-tax in Bolivia, Brazil, and Ecuador, and revenues can alienate a people from payments, and corporate social initial meetings were held with local their government, and, ultimately, fuel contributions, particularly below the nongovernmental organizations. political unrest and repression. national government level. Despite a commitment to the Extractive Peru could easily have fallen victim Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), to this resource curse. Folded within Peru has not taken new steps since the Andes of Peru are rich veins 2005 to implement the initiative’s of precious metals that brought reporting requirements. In September misfortune to the people of this land 2007, the EITI’s board gave Peru even before 1533, when the Inca the status of candidate country, leader, Atahualpa, tried in vain to requiring Peru to demonstrate that save his own life by paying his captor, it is implementing EITI’s principles. the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, a Local and regional governments ransom of gold and silver. Revenues are failing to invest all the transfers from mining account today for about they receive from the extraction of half of Peru’s export earnings. Peru natural resources. The effective use of also has the fifth largest proven natural resources has been constrained by the gas reserves in South America. limited capacity to identify and execute productive investment projects.

60 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: East and North Africa director. “The main obstacle it harder for us to get a handle to draw in Chinese is the lack of trust of everyone by everyone. By and Indian companies. Big Western companies, increasing trust, Revenue Watch can help improve whether enthusiastically or not, are on board. the climate in Iraq.” But the Chinese and Indian companies are not.” Alan Detheridge, a former oil company executive who is a member of the Revenue Challenges Watch Institute’s advisory board, said good governance, which depends upon transparency In the near term, one of the stiffest challenges and accountability of revenues for natural facing the Revenue Watch Institute and its resources, is in the interests of the natural resource partners is to prevent backsliding by the G8 companies because it reduces the risk to the countries on their commitments to press for huge investments these companies make in the revenue transparency as a part of their efforts to resource-producing countries. secure oil, gas, and mineral concessions. During “The oil and gas business is a long-term 2007, for example, the European Union failed business,” Detheridge said. “You invest large sums to mention good governance and transparency of money exploring for oil and might not be in its energy strategy. The United States hinted successful in finding it.E ven if you do discover that it might support Angola, a notorious oil, it takes a long time before you begin to see resource-cursed country, to become vice-chair the results of that investment in terms of the of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, bottom line. Once you find oil and gas you’re the process developed in 2003 to certify the origin going to be in a country 20 or 30 years. Also, the of rough diamonds from sources which are free oil, gas, and minerals businesses are not portable. of conflict. Once you’ve sunk your investment, you can’t take “There are two forces of resistance to the it out and produce somewhere else. All the capital campaign,” said the Revenue Watch Institute’s is exposed.” director, Karin Lissakers. “One is the competition “Any responsible company is going to be for resources among the major consuming interested in the use to which the revenues that it countries. While the G8 countries pledge strong generates for the government are put. You have commitment to transparency and accountability to be interested in good governance, and in doing for extractives, they are all too willing to what you can to help the government and people look the other way when they are competing of a country ensure that revenues from oil and gas among each other and with China, India, and are put to good use. If they are not, then the oil others. The other challenge is the sentiment companies get linked with bad governments and in major producing countries that the whole are accused of colluding with them to deny people international transparency campaign is just their basic rights and their fair share. another manifestation of imperialism. This makes “This all takes time.”

:: natural resource revenues :: 61 The Farmer, the Florist, and the Blacksmith

Moldova is one of dozens of countries around the world where the Open Society Institute and its affiliated organizations are nurturing economic growth to alleviate poverty and strengthen communities. Microinvest, established by the Soros foundation in Moldova and supported by the Soros Economic Development Fund, loans money to small business owners who have the potential to grow and succeed but cannot obtain financial help from regular banks—people like the farmer Gheorghe Bobirke, who has a university degree in agriculture; the florist Maria Durbala, who used to make 35-hour bus trips to buy flowers in Poland; and the blacksmith Fiodor Zeleni, who had an additional obstacle to getting a loan because he is a Roma. OSI’s senior writer, Chuck Sudetic, profiles these entrepreneurs and others in photographs and the story that follows. Farmer Gheorghe Bobirke, left, and his brother Artur used their loan from Microinvest to build an irrigation system that allowed them to increase the number of crops on their farm. Gheorghe Bobirke says that new technologies make the growing of vegetables more efficient. Florist Maria Durbala, who once sold flowers in an open-air market, now owns two flower shops and eight greenhouses. Blacksmith Fiodor Zeleni received a loan to purchase metal and coal for his forge. He is one of four Roma who have received small business loans from Microinvest. Soros Economic Development Fund

Helping Small Businesses Build Strong Communities

hen Flamur Tema was a boy, his father Krujë by the castle of Albania’s greatest hero, owned a bakery in a building that still stands on Skanderbeg. Tema needed a minuscule sum of a stone street in one of Albania’s most historic capital to expand his business. No bank would loan places, the mountainside town of Krujë. This him money. Financial dealings in Albania were building of time-darkened wood had been in the in a state of turmoil at that time. The country family for two centuries. Tema had no reason to had nearly imploded in 1997, when a pyramid believe this would change over future generations. investment scheme collapsed and wiped out the Then came 1965. Albania’s communist rulers savings of thousands of Albanians. evicted Tema’s father from the bakery and In 1999, Tema turned to the BESA Foundation, Wconfiscated his family’s building, just as they were a nonprofit microfinance organization that the forcing the country’s other small merchants from Soros Economic Development Fund, the Open their businesses. Instead of baking bread, Tema’s Society Foundation for Albania, and the World father went to work for the state. He spent his days Bank had founded that year. Tema used his issuing driver’s licenses in Krujë. At the time, the first loan to remodel his shop. With a second town had only a pair of trucks for delivering milk loan, he filled an entire floor with souvenirs and and bread and three automobiles, the mayor’s, memorabilia. By 2007, tourists were arriving in the police chief’s, and the communist party greater numbers. Customers were buying carved chairman’s. Bread shortages became chronic. wooden cradles, rusted pistols, grandfather Communist rule collapsed in Albania in 1990. clocks, marble ashtrays in the shape of military Three bakeries had begun selling bread in Krujë bunkers, and other items. Carpet weavers and by the time Flamur Tema reclaimed his father’s other shop owners along Tema’s street received store. So Tema opened a café and struggled for loans from BESA, and their businesses thrived. the next nine years before he lost confidence Today, private cars plying Krujë’s busiest streets in the profitability of serving coffee by the cup. compete for space with tourist buses, delivery He now began selling antiques and souvenirs vans, and trucks weighed down with construction to the growing numbers of tourists attracted to materials.

:: economic development :: 67 Support for Economic like education, health, and equality before the Development law,” said Neal DeLaurentis, Soros Economic Development Fund vice president. “The fund’s From Albania to Pakistan to Moldova and purpose is to promote access to financial services, southward into Africa, the Soros Economic develop small business and entrepreneurship, and Development Fund, a nonprofit private enhance economic opportunities for vulnerable foundation supported by the Open Society populations.” The fund approved $12.2 million in Institute, works to nurture economic growth new dispersals in 2007, and has disbursed more where it can best help to alleviate poverty and than $55 million since 1998. halt the deterioration of communities: among low-income working people with ideas and energy who are disproportionately overlooked BESA in Albania by mainstream commercial financial institutions. BESA in Albania, the Tameer Microfinance Bank BESA had grown by 2007 to employ about 90 in Pakistan, and Microinvest in Moldova are but loan officers working with about 9,500 active three of the scores of microfinance institutions, clients across Albania. Its largest outstanding loan cooperatives, banks, and social enterprise projects was the equivalent of $37,000; the smallest loan for which the Soros Economic Development was $600; and BESA’s at-risk loans constituted Fund is providing equity, loans, guarantees, and less than 1 percent of its $38 million portfolio, deposits. In some instances, the Soros Economic said Altin Musa, BESA’s director of marketing. In Development Fund has helped establish these addition to antique dealers and carpet weavers institutions. in Krujë, BESA provided credit to stonecutters The fund has also provided grants to support for tools, to shoemakers and seamstresses for microfinance-management education at selected machinery, to retailers for purchasing display business schools, training for industry managers cases and acquiring inventory, to book publishers and regulators, and conferences where executives and binders for supplies, and to painters for paint, and managers of microfinance organizations have canvas, and other art supplies. shared ideas and experiences. With scant tangible Up the stone street from Flamur Tema’s assets and negligible credit histories, the clients antique shop, Dallandyshe Tabaku, 38, weaves of these institutions have for too long had to rely carpets. She had worked in a plant with 1,700 upon friends, family members, and predatory other carpet weavers before communism’s moneylenders for credit. They have also had collapse. “When the factory shut down, I bought insufficient access to savings accounts, insurance one of the looms,” she said, explaining that it cost products, or money-transfer services, and without about $180. “This was big money back then.” them, the poor have had few reliable means of Tabaku obtained one loan from BESA for the building assets, managing emergencies, and cotton warp and dyed woolen weft. This was planning for the future. enough for a beginning. “I’ve made carpets for “Economic problems are inseparable the Anglican Church and for a Saudi sheik. It from wider human development concerns is a tradition for women in this region to make

68 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: “If young people don’t have jobs, they will move away. They will risk going abroad illegally to find jobs, lacking information, lacking education, lacking skills.”

carpets. Without the loan from BESA, I would education, lacking skills.” This puts some at the have had a much more difficult time getting mercy of prostitution rings. started.” “I remember two women clients who had been trafficked,” Munteanu said. “We knew this at the management level, but the loan officers were Microinvest in Moldova not informed. They received a loan, the equivalent of $5,000 at that time, to plant a potato crop. It is Moldova’s economy practically dissolved after the not an easy job to plant potatoes. I know they paid collapse of the Soviet Union. Thousands of young the loan back.” Moldovans, desperate to survive and thrive, Moldova’s Roma are another group Micro- sought new lives by emigrating, and thousands of invest is targeting. “Roma face great difficulty Moldovan young women fell victim to traffickers. obtaining loans anywhere else,” Munteanu said. The Soros Economic Development Fund, working with Microinvest, a registered financial A Blacksmith Shop institution in the capital city, Chis¸inaˇu, is assisting Fiodor Zeleni, a 42-year-old Roma blacksmith Moldovan entrepreneurs, including people who from the outskirts of the town of Orhei, to the have survived trafficking, to rebuild their lives. north of Chis¸inaˇu, has taken his second loan Transforming an existing Soros-supported from Microinvest, the equivalent of $3,500 in microfinance organization into Microinvest Moldovan currency, to obtain coal and scrap grew out of the career choice of its present metal for fashioning farm implements. In a shed director, 31-year-old Artur Munteanu, who, behind the fine house he built for his wife and despite offers of work in England where he went four children, Zeleni has set up an anvil and a to business school, decided to accept the challenge forge in an open brick shed with a corrugated- awaiting him in Moldova. The company was metal roof and a blow-dryer fan that force-feeds launched in 2003 with funding from the Soros oxygen to the flames. Economic Development Fund and the Soros “My father was a blacksmith,” he said. Foundation–Moldova. Microinvest made its first “I have done the same thing since childhood in loan to a man who wanted to refurbish an old Soviet times, but I couldn’t get a loan then either. bus and begin transporting passengers between I can sell between 8 and 20 horseshoes and hoes Chis¸inaˇu and the south of Moldova. Now, in a day at the town market. Without the loan thousands of loan clients later, Microinvest has a money, I could do nothing.” portfolio of $12.8 million and total assets of $25 Belief in the profitability of Moldova’s fertile million, Munteanu said. black earth involved a leap of faith for Artur “We market a specific credit product for Bobirke, 31, and his brother, Gheorghe, 25. The young entrepreneurs, for members of the age sons of a nurse and an accountant, neither brother group that is most exposed to traffickers,” had experience in farming before Gheorghe Munteanu said. “If young people don’t have jobs, Bobirke graduated from a Moldovan university they will move away. They will risk going abroad with a degree in agriculture and went to work illegally to find jobs, lacking information, lacking as an intern on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. He

:: economic development :: 69 returned home convinced that Moldova’s farmers an enterprise involved in hotel and restaurant were mired in the obsolescence of a Soviet-era services. She noticed that the quality of laundry collective farm and that, by applying new ideas, he services for restaurants and hotels in Chis¸inaˇu was could make a private farm profitable. miserable. She and her husband invested in two The brothers pooled their savings together washing machines and a dryer that they installed with money sent by their sister who is working in a cramped rented room. So much dirty laundry abroad. They bought a parcel of undeveloped arrived that the business outgrew the rented space farmland, built five greenhouses for vegetables, in only four months. “The quality is what brought and sowed a crop of cabbage in the open fields. the customers,” Rotari said. Then they bought a wheezing Soviet-era tanker In March 2006, they needed a loan for a truck and began carrying water to irrigate the pressing machine. “Microinvest was the only fields over the scorching summer. The cost of company working with beginners like us,” transporting the water was exorbitant, about $50 Rotari said. “The banks presented too many per day. The Bobirkes borrowed the equivalent requirements, because they are afraid of of $5,000 from Microinvest to build an irrigation taking any risk. I had 20 years of experience in pipe. Over the winter, the brothers built 15 more accounting. I couldn’t figure out everything they greenhouses, each of them covered by clear wanted. It would have taken forever.” plastic and heated by small wood-burning stoves. Today, the Rotaris have 24 washing machines, Inside, they are growing sweet peppers, tomatoes, dryers, and a pressing machine. “We want small cucumbers, and radishes. They sell directly to a washers,” she said, “because the customers’ stand on the roadside and to the green market laundry has to be kept separate. The towels in Chis¸inaˇu, where they pay a daily wage to two have to come out white. Colors can’t be allowed people who maintain a stand. to fade. We have a five-star hotel as our client, “This year, we are paying $10 a day for water,” and wash everything from the chef hats to stiff Gheorghe Bobirke said. “I can employ three people dining-room napkins and the bedding. We work for a day for what I had been paying for the water.” overnight and can turn around 400 kilos of “I made my choice. I want to be here,” he laundry in 24 hours. In three years, we shut down added. “I want to be in my country. I am a boss. a total of three nights, and those were New Year’s My brother is a boss. My sister is a boss. And this Eve and Orthodox Christmas and Easter.” year, the return will triple our investment and we In 2007, the Rotaris signed the papers for a will have enough of a yield to export to Russia.” 24-month loan for $18,000, and by the end of the year, they were seeking a five-year loan of Laundry Services $240,000 to purchase more space for their laundry. Soiled towels and napkins were the opportunity “We just landed a contract for Chis¸inaˇu’s 42-year-old Dora Rotari spotted while she was largest fitness center,” DoraR otari said. “They working in Soviet times as an accountant for need us to wash a lot of towels.”

70 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: “We are making the banking experience the same as buying a pint of milk or bread—buy a dozen eggs and here’s my loan payment as well,” Mustafa said. “This solution will enable the bank to reach thousands of new borrowers and depositors.” Tameer Microfinance: Banking for Pakistan’s Working Poor The capacity came on line in late 2007. The number of store-counter machines soon grew to 30. “We are in the process of booking new agents and have issued cards to about 6,000 people,” Mustafa The mission of Pakistan’s Tameer Fulfilling Tameer’s mission is difficult, said. “You can’t just go and leave a Microfinance Bank is simple to state: however, because providing a full machine in a store. You have to evaluate provide a full range of banking services range of banking services in Pakistan the agent. You are putting your name on to the country’s working poor—not is expensive. The monthly cost of a third person’s place of business.” the poorest of the poor, but the maintaining each of Tameer’s 25 shopkeepers, seamstresses, artisans, branches is the equivalent of about Mustafa added that Tameer was close and other people who are able save $10,000. If a branch performs 10,000 to breaking even and looking to expand. the equivalent of $10 or $100 a month transactions each month, the cost “We want 90,000 customers by the end but who are forced to hide their money of each transaction is $1. This is of 2008 and 250,000 by end of 2009.” inside bed mattresses because bank exorbitant, because most of Tameer’s charges are too high, people who help depositors have only $100 in their “Integrating the Tameer Microfinance alleviate poverty by employing the accounts, most of its loan customers Bank into Pakistan’s national payments poorest of the poor in small workshops borrow only $500 to $1,500, and most system, via ATMs and the POS and other tiny enterprises. transactions total only $2 to $3. network, brings thousands of low- income households into the formal Pakistan has about 170 million people, Tameer needed to maximize the number financial system,” said Fawzia Naqvi, but only 10 million bank accounts, said of its customers without increasing its vice president of the Soros Economic Shahid Mustafa, Tameer Bank’s chief investment in new branches. Development Fund. “It helps the Tameer financial officer and cofounder. “This Bank take one more step toward means that 94 percent of the people During 2007, the Soros Economic breaking down the financial apartheid are not saving and borrowing in the Development Fund awarded Tameer which exists in countries such as formal economy. Fewer than 2 percent a grant of $175,000 to solve this Pakistan.” of the people borrow from banks. One problem by developing capacity in way to give people access to banking is “branchless banking.” Tameer used the to make it cheap.” grant money first to give its bankcard holders access to Pakistan’s network of automatic teller machines (ATMs) and then to develop the infrastructure to allow its cardholders to withdraw cash, make deposits and loan payments, and purchase goods through point of sale (POS) card readers at the counters of thousands of retail shops around the country. Regions

Europe

A priority of OSI and the Soros foundations in Europe during 2007 was advancing the European Union’s accession process along with holding the European Union and its members to the EU’s standards and commitments on human rights, minority rights, and equal opportunity. In Albania and Armenia, the foundations monitored elections, the foundation in Poland supported a get-out-the-vote campaign, and the Kosovo foundation researched the backgrounds of candidates. The monitoring of oil revenues in Azerbaijan led to the repair of roads damaged by pipeline construction. In Macedonia and Romania, the foundations worked to improve housing in Roma communities. In Bulgaria, funding went to help Roma youth blog about their lives. In Bosnia and Slovakia, it was school reform.

72 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Standing at the foot of the Topkapi Palace in Turkey, two women look toward the Bosphorus and one of the bridges that spans it, bringing the two parts of Istanbul together.

:: europe :: 73 EUMAP nance, and diversity. In addition, political parties, election administra- EUMAP began examining the impact tors, and civil society activists in an In 2007, the EU Monitoring and of digitalization on television in Eu- effort to devise election reforms that Advocacy Program (EUMAP), which rope, including whether or not digital would best strengthen democracy monitors policies and practices broadcasting will further erode public in Albania; civil society groups and in the areas of human rights and service values and undermine plural- others will use the results to pre- rule of law in Europe, completed a ism and diversity. EUMAP’s monitor- pare recommendations for officials series of reports on the educational ing and advocacy on television is formulating election reform policies. opportunities Roma children have in conducted in coordination with OSI’s The foundation also contributed eight Central and Eastern European Media Program. to the introduction of systems to countries that are participating in the EUMAP also released a series of ensure accurate, nonpartisan vote Decade of Roma Inclusion. overview studies on the discrimina- counting. During local elections in The findings clearly indicated tion and social and economic disad- 2007, Albanian civil society groups that, despite years of official prom- vantages Muslims suffer in seven provided real-time information about ises, Roma children in too many of European countries. EUMAP began vote counts and public monitoring of these countries do not have access monitoring conditions for Muslims how officials had tallied and finalized to quality education. Segregated in 11 large Western European voting results. into Roma-only classes or schools, cities, examining areas such as Access to information is a prereq- wrongly shunted into special schools education, employment, and political uisite for democratic decision-mak- for children with intellectual dis- participation. ing. The Open Society Justice Initia- abilities, crowded into decrepit class- tive and its local partner, the Centre rooms, and unmotivated by teachers for Development and Democratiza- with low expectations, Roma children Open Society Foundation tion of Institutions, undertook a proj- face serious challenges to complete for Albania ect that reviewed Albania’s freedom even basic education. of information laws and revealed that The reports were produced in Albania, with its legacy of poverty, lack of awareness and administra- cooperation with two other OSI isolation, and totalitarian commun- tive problems have resulted in their programs, the Roma Participation ism, requires significant help if inconsistent application. The project Program and the Education Support it is to develop the institutions, aims to increase public awareness Program. Using the reports’ find- legal framework, and economic about these laws and to develop ings and recommendations, EUMAP capacity to qualify for admission amendments that will improve their undertook an advocacy campaign to into the European Union. The Open implementation. raise awareness of the plight of Roma Society Foundation for Albania is The foundation also worked to children and improve the situation. assisting Albania in its efforts to improve the lives of Albanians with EUMAP also began follow-up meet these prerequisites. In 2007, disabilities by undertaking an analy- monitoring in 10 of the 20 countries the foundation backed efforts to sis of existing legislation and as- covered in its 2005 reports on televi- reform the country’s election system, sessing the access disabled people sion in Europe. The new reports will enhance freedom of information, fight have to their government; the foun- evaluate developments in response discrimination, and increase access dation also assisted the Tirana Legal to the original reports, which found to the justice system. Aid Society in its efforts to improve serious threats in broadcasting to The foundation is supporting access to the justice system for all public service values, good gover- surveys of voters, representatives of Albanians.

74 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The foundation supported monitoring of Armenia’s implementation of commitments it has made in the areas of rule of law and criminal justice.

Open Society Institute ate a debate on the torture issue; An evaluation undertaken by the Assistance Foundation– the workshop yielded a draft law that Azerbaijan National Committee for Armenia received the support of the country’s European Integration, a group of ombudsman. 50 civil society leaders, highlighted a The Partnership for Open Society— Member organizations of the number of shortcomings in Azerbai- a coalition of 60 civil society Partnership for Open Society, in jan’s implementation of the democ- organizations working to protect the close cooperation with local and racy and human rights agenda of the public interest, civil liberties, and international partners and several European Neighbourhood Policy Ac- human rights that received support members of parliament, helped tion Plan. The report was presented from the Open Society Institute thwart passage of government pro- at an international conference orga- Assistance Foundation–Armenia posed amendments to television and nized by the European Commission in 2007—played a crucial role in radio broadcasting laws that would in Brussels in September. disseminating impartial information have considerably limited freedom The OSI-initiated monitoring and ensuring an issue-based debate of expression and freedom of the project of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan during the campaign prior to national press. The Partnership for Open pipeline construction resulted in the elections. This information was Society also analyzed a new law on establishment of the Civic Response crucial because the government official investigations and called at- Network, a group of experts that maintains tight control over the tention to sections that might allow teamed up to expand monitoring broadcast media. The foundation’s violations of a wide spectrum of per- for the people directly affected by media and party finance-monitoring sonal freedoms through surveillance extractive industries. Three pilot proj- initiatives helped the Partnership and electronic monitoring. ects by the Civic Response Network for Open Society to substantiate succeeded in establishing monitor- reports of election irregularities and ing posts in the Ganja, Hajigabul, limitations placed upon election Open Society Institute and Salyan regions. In Salyan, the observers from the Organization for Assistance Foundation– Salyan Oil consortium responded Security and Co-operation in Europe. Azerbaijan by starting to repair roads that had Monitoring of party financing yielded been damaged during the pipeline’s results that were widely used in Increasing revenues from oil and construction. Nongovernmental orga- lawsuits. gas production during 2007 raised nizations in Azerbaijan and Georgia The foundation supported moni- concerns in Azerbaijan about good experienced in monitoring pipeline toring of the implementation of the governance and accountability. construction collaborated in organiz- commitments Armenia has made in These issues, as well as concerns ing a conference in Baku, at which the areas of rule of law and criminal over Azerbaijan’s compliance with representatives from Azerbaijan, justice. These initiatives help to the European Neighbourhood Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Rus- frame action to oppose deterioration Policy and the country’s pending sia, and Turkey shared monitoring of democratic practices. In Septem- membership in the Council of methodology and approaches in ber 2007, the UN Optional Protocol Europe, demanded active civil partnerships with government and to the Convention against Torture society involvement in policy debates industry and defined their priorities took effect in Armenia; the founda- and monitoring. The Open Society for possible cooperation in capacity tion and its partners organized a Institute Assistance Foundation– building and advocacy. workshop for local stakeholders and Azerbaijan played a significant role in The foundation also launched a invited international experts to initi- helping to foster this engagement. weekly public policy debate program

:: europe :: 75 The Bulgarian foundation and its partners tested public attitudes toward Roma integration, discovering that deliberation decreased exclusionary viewpoints.

in cooperation with ANS-TV; support- corruption, including proposals formation and implementation ed the Mental Health Institute’s sign- for the creation of an anticorrup- of public policies. It sponsored ing of an agreement with the Min- tion agency and for changing the programs on law, public debate, istry of Education for technical as- country’s laws on conflict of interest, governance and public policies, sistance in the deinstitutionalization financing of political parties, and European policies, and civic of disabled persons; established a elections. Government and civil participation. youth support center in central Baku; society representatives and experts In partnership with the World and organized a training workshop produced recommendations that Bank, the foundation supported a on health budget transparency for were presented to all members of survey of poverty in Bulgaria, which specialized local nongovernmental the Parliamentary Assembly. also encompassed analysis of the organizations and journalists. The foundation initiated and economic status of Bulgaria’s Roma supported the creation of a com- minority. The foundation, partnering prehensive local self-governance with the Center for Liberal Strate- Open Society Fund– development strategy, embodying gies, Bulgarian National Television, Bosnia and Herzegovina the key values of quality of life, open- and Alfa Research Agency, tested ness, and a new political culture public attitudes toward Roma inte- Education, corruption, and local encouraging the enhancement of gration policies. They showed that, governance were the focus of the civil society. The foundation worked after deliberation, participants in Open Society Fund–Bosnia and actively for functional and fiscal the survey were less favorable Herzegovina’s work in 2007. The decentralization. toward extreme exclusivist mea- foundation supported a coalition of A regional group of experts cre- sures, revealing the significance of nongovernmental organizations to ated a new model of organization broad public discussion for success- fight discrimination and segregation for local self-governance aimed at ful implementation of Roma integra- in education practices and to removing the existing uneven territo- tion policies. facilitate sustainable educational rial structure and large differences To enhance knowledge and skills reform based upon tolerance. The in the degree of urbanization and in politics and public administration coalition also facilitated a nationwide local capacities. The foundation con- among Roma youth, the foundation debate on the role of education and ducted policy research that resulted and the National Democratic Insti- the responsibilities of educators in in a publication on various models of tute awarded internships at the Na- reintegrating society through media organization of local self-governance, tional Assembly. To combat negative campaigns, roundtable discussions which prompted the Soros founda- stereotypes of Roma, the foundation with different stake-holders, and tion in Serbia to support similar sponsored Roma youth and activists interviews with students and parents. research in that country. in developing personal Internet blogs The aim of the debate is to generate for sharing their everyday life, cul- recommendations for reforms of the ture, and traditions in cyberspace. educational system and then engage Open Society Institute– The foundation and the Open in advocacy with national and local Sofia (Bulgaria) Society Justice Initiative have worked government entities to adopt these to develop and promote public poli- recommendations. The Open Society Institute–Sofia cies to curb and prevent organized In cooperation with Transparency focused on promoting reforms in crime, establishing RiskMonitor, a International BiH, the foundation the post–EU accession period by specialized not-for-profit organization, implemented a project to curb strengthening civic impact on the to conduct research projects, moni-

76 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: toring and evaluating of government improving freedom of information; influenced migration policies and and donor policies, and harm and and supporting the foundation’s measures adopted to change the risk assessments. RiskMonitor will strategic partner, the Public Interest status of immigrants. also establish and maintain informa- Law Association, in piloting new tion resources, and disseminate in- litigation strategies on cases of formation. The foundation expanded environmental law and access to Open Estonia Foundation its independent oversight of police justice. custody and discovered evidence The foundation helped create a The Open Estonia Foundation and of systematic violations of legal network of active anticorruption non- the Network of Estonian Nonprofit procedures for interrogations, limited governmental organizations and, in Organizations formed a joint platform access of detainees to legal and cooperation with Transparency Inter- of civil society organizations and medical care, unqualified interpret- national, Ozˇiveni, and the think tank initiated the Manifesto of Estonian ers for foreign detainees, and risk of GARDE, made recommendations NonprofitO rganizations, proposing the spread of infectious diseases in resulting in several new legal provi- recommendations to the country’s police custody. sions aimed at preventing corruption political parties for strengthening At the request of the municipality and lack of transparency. civil society in Estonia. The new of Sofia, the foundation gathered Another foundation priority was coalition government added several a working group of representatives promoting women’s rights, including proposals from the manifesto to from public institutions and nongov- equality in the labor market and the its program, including establishing ernmental organizations to elaborate political framework for supporting in 2008 the Estonian National a child protection program for 2007 equality in the Czech Republic. Gen- Foundation for Civil Society, which that was approved by the municipal der and Education, the third volume in will support civil society from the council. a series of manuals for teachers and state budget; creating an integrated pupils, was published, focusing on vision and common principles for the roles of women and men in the public funding of nongovernmental Open Society Fund– public and private spheres. The foun- organizations; drafting a modern Prague (Czech Republic) dation joined the coalition ProEquality, civic education plan in cooperation a leader in creating a platform for with nongovernmental organizations; In cooperation with several ideas, knowledge, and exchange of clarifying the procedure for deduct- nongovernmental organizations, experience on how to reduce the dif- ing donations to civil society organ- the Open Society Fund–Prague ferences in the treatment of men and izations from taxable income; undertook research to guide legal women in the labor market. promoting public awareness of partic- reform efforts in the Czech Republic. The foundation supported public ipatory democracy; and contracting Programs focused on advocacy debate on health care issues and public services to nongovernmental and litigation to secure access to advocated for reform. Its Migra- organizations. justice for marginalized groups and tion Program website developed The local elections in Estonia a legislative framework for providing into a reliable and timely source of in 2007 were the first in which the people free legal aid and alternative information on migration in both its electorate of an entire country could methods of resolving disputes; Czech and English language ver- cast its votes over the Internet in implementing new principles in police sions. Since the program’s inception, a public election. Other countries work and securing independent comparative studies by its partners have expressed interest in Internet oversight of police performance; have supported legislative work and voting. The foundation held a training

:: europe :: 77 program in Tallinn for the leaders Coalition for Transparency of Public 2008 presidential elections, advise of Mongolian public institutions Finances conducted an analysis of voters on election procedures, and (ministries, agencies, and public bod- an agreement between the Baku- collect information on violations in ies) responsible for communication Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company the election process. and citizen participation as well as and the government of Georgia that The foundation’s Integration and implementing e-voting. Participants prompted the parties to revise and Civic Education Program promot- studied the practical implementation sign the agreement according to the ed consensus building among key of e-participation initiatives with a study’s recommendations. political actors. Focus groups and special focus on e-voting. In addition, The foundation’s monitoring of interviews with the leaders of every senior representatives from nongov- the state health program for persons major political party showed that key ernmental organizations learned to living below the poverty line revealed players consider the political process develop a better working relation- that budget allocations were inad- a zero-sum game with no place for ship with the national policymaking equate to support stated policies on consensus and cooperation. The process. As the next step, Estonian poverty reduction and basic rights; study, advocating consensus and experts visited Ulaanbaatar, Mongo- the findings contributed to the im- cooperation strategies in politics, lia, in March 2008. provement of the budget formulation was presented to representatives of The Black Nights Film Festival cycle and helped prompt higher bud- nongovernmental organizations and and the foundation partnered for a get allocations for the 2008 program. the media. It stimulated intense de- special film program and seminar on The Open Society Georgia bate on all major Georgian television human rights. The festival screened Foundation and the Open Society channels, with the active participa- five documentaries and five feature Justice Initiative continued to assist tion of foundation staff members. films in its special programOrdinary Georgia’s Ministry of Justice efforts Hell, which examined human rights vi- to undertake reform of the country’s olations in Burma, Chechnya, China, legal aid system. The foundation Kosovo Foundation Iran, Iraq, Israel, Russia, and Sudan helped draft and advocate for a legal for Open Society and the situation of the Kurds. aid law, which Georgia’s parliament adopted in June 2007. The law is The Kosovo Foundation for Open among the most progressive in East- Society’s primary goal was to initiate Open Society Georgia ern Europe. and support processes aimed at Foundation Supported by the foundation, four leading Kosovo toward statehood. Georgian nongovernmental organiza- The foundation advocated for a more The Open Society Georgia Foundation tions experienced in monitoring and open, transparent, and participatory focused on issues of transparency, observing elections—the Georgian policymaking process. monitoring public funds, reform of Young Lawyers Association, the The November 2007 elections legal aid, election monitoring and International Society for Fair Elec- took place at an important moment information, interethnic dialogue, tions and Democracy, Transparency in Kosovo’s move toward statehood. and consensus building among International Georgia, and New Gen- The foundation’s initiative, Civil political actors. eration New Initiative—coordinated Platform 2007, worked to educate The foundation’s e-transpar- their election-related activities. The voters on the principles of voting ency project focused on the draft foundation assisted them in launch- for individual candidates and to as- Law on Electronic Access to Public ing a media center to provide timely sist citizen groups, watchdog and Information. The foundation and the and reliable information about the monitoring organizations, advocacy

78 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The Georgia foundation’s monitoring found inadequate budget allocations for poverty reduction, resulting in more money in the 2008 budget.

groups, and think tanks in the post- initiatives, all calling for new alterna- ness-raising activities and advocated election phase by measuring the tives to resolving the energy crisis in on behalf of legislative proposals actions of the newly elected govern- Kosovo while applying the principles to remove biases against same-sex ment against pre-election promises of democratic governance. partnerships and counter a rising and citizens’ expectations. wave of politically and religiously The foundation gathered a coali- inspired homophobia. tion of civil society organizations, Soros Foundation–Latvia The foundation, the Baltic-Ameri- Civil Society for a Clean Parliament, can Partnership Fund, and several which researched the backgrounds The Soros Foundation–Latvia gave nongovernmental organizations of the parliamentary candidates of priority to legal advocacy for people campaigned successfully to increase Kosovo’s six largest political par- with mental disabilities and for public funding of civic activities and ties in order to probe their possible environmental issues as well as to to resist attempts to diminish the involvement in illegal activities. The promoting diversity and the legal independence of the Society Integra- preliminary and final reports of the status of civil society organizations. tion Fund, the main administrator researchers were communicated The foundation and its partners of European Union funding for civil initially to the political parties, while brought a number of strategic society organizations. The founda- the list of candidates suspected of litigation cases that strengthened tion held a number of public events being unfit to serve in parliament protections for the rights of people with distinguished international was launched at a press conference with mental disabilities. One guest lecturers on human rights and 13 days before the election. During Constitutional Court ruling required the European future, which enlivened the last three days of the election a court to approve any decision public discourse and inspired Latvian campaign, the coalition distributed on involuntary hospitalization activists. The foundation’s Wider 50,000 brochures with the names of and treatment of a person at a Europe Initiative focused on promot- unfit candidates, covering all major psychiatric hospital. ing European values and reforms areas in Kosovo. The foundation supported educa- in Eastern Europe, particularly in In response to the government’s tional and empowerment initiatives Georgia and Moldova. plan to construct a new 2100- for people accessing mental health megawatt power plant, Forum 2015, care services and for medical and a joint initiative of the foundation social care personnel; community- Foundation Open Society and RIINVEST Institute, conducted based mental health care services; Institute–Macedonia a detailed study and presented its and employment and professional research in an open roundtable dis- rehabilitation for users of mental The foundation focused on programs cussion to members of government health care services. aimed at improving housing for institutions, political parties, civil Success in several lawsuits Roma, access to information, and society, local authorities, business- that the foundation brought in social inclusion for people with es, and the international community. cooperation with Transparency mental disabilities. To improve The report highlights 13 issues that International Latvia not only halted the housing conditions of Roma render the project unwise, unsafe, illegal construction work in protected in Macedonia, the foundation held and unsustainable; it suggests that natural environments but also set a an East East: Partnership Beyond the plant would exacerbate existing precedent for ensuring that laws are Borders Program regional workshop environmental problems. The report interpreted and enforced properly. in Skopje to exchange experience, stimulated numerous advocacy The foundation supported aware- opportunities, and know-how on

:: europe :: 79 A survey undertaken by the foundation in Macedonia showed that most citizens had been refused access to information held by public authorities.

microfinance housing solutions to initiate a human rights–based worked to build the capacity of NGOs for Roma; and formed a housing approach to intellectually disabled and other civil society actors to fund to disburse subloans through persons by improving the quality of strengthen civic support for democ- Foundation Horizonti for Roma services and of life for those cur- racy in Moldova and Ukraine based housing reconstruction/renovation. rently in a long-term-stay residential on Romania’s experience. A survey undertaken by the foun- institution. The foundation backed projects dation showed that most citizens to promote small entrepreneurs, had been refused access to informa- women, Roma, local decision-making tion; several public authorities do Soros Foundation– processes, and the right of assem- not provide any information; and the Moldova bly. An initiative on the Framework government responds more slowly Convention on Tobacco Control or ignores requests for information The Soros Foundation–Moldova’s originated within an advocacy project it considers sensitive. Currently 19 advocacy led to the adoption of a of the Young and Free Training Re- cases are before the Administrative legal aid law in 2007, setting the source Centre. With foundation sup- Court challenging the decisions of framework for a new legal aid system port, the project focused on promot- the Information Commission. Foun- in the country and establishing ing, implementing, and monitoring dation cases have led to significant the first public defender’s offices. tobacco control policies; its efforts jurisprudence, such as the decision Despite their legal independence resulted in the ratification of the con- by the Information Commission to since 2002, the chief broadcast vention by the Moldovan parliament include political party financing under channels and mainstream media in May 2007. the Free Access Law. remain dominated by the governing The foundation and the Ministry The foundation has intensified Communist Party; the foundation of Health held a roundtable on meth- its efforts to promote the social promoted genuine public service adone maintenance therapy with an inclusion of persons with intellectual values by providing expert technical international expert. Representatives disabilities. In November 2007, assistance in the development of from government ministries, health the foundation and the Open Society policies, regulations, and procedures care and penal institutions, NGOs, Mental Health Initiative sponsored and monitoring their implementation. the WHO, and the PCU AIDS/TB a photo exhibition in Skopje by The foundation’s European Initia- Program participated. Following Croatian photographer Damir Fabi- tives Program drafted a report on the the roundtable, a six-month action janic, Life—All Inclusive, portraying implementation of the EU–Moldova plan was developed based on the Croatia’s experience including people Action Plan. Developed by represen- expert’s recommendations. with intellectual disabilities in the tatives of the country’s best-known community. In Macedonia, a public civil society organizations, the report opinion survey indicated that the ma- was discussed at a roundtable Foundation Open jority of Macedonians are prejudiced meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Society Institute– against most marginalized groups. Affairs and European Integration. Representative Office To facilitate the deinstitutionaliza- The Moldova-Romania-Ukraine Montenegro tion of disabled people, the founda- Trilateral Initiative undertook a tion and the Mental Health Initiative project implemented by the NGO The foundation worked to increase will sign a Memorandum of Under- INRECO-Moldova in partnership with the capacity of nongovernmental standing with the Ministry of Labor Euroregional entities from Timiso- organizations and the mass media and Social Policy. The program aims ara, Romania, and Reni, Ukraine. It to participate in formulating public

80 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: policies related to the European rights; and capacity building for the It also supported organizations Union integration process. judiciary for application of human and institutions providing free legal The foundation undertook a and minority rights standards. counseling, as well as nongovern- broad public campaign to increase mental organizations working to the transparency of the drafting of increase access to legal aid and the new constitution. A series of Stefan Batory justice, curtail discriminatory regula- roundtables and public discussions Foundation (Poland) tions and practices, and strengthen that brought together representa- transparency and efficiency in the tives of civil society, academia, The Stefan Batory Foundation justice system. Grants were made government, and parliament resulted (Poland) focused on enhancing to 14 projects providing specialized in comprehensive proposals for the the role of civil society, promoting legal counseling to at-risk groups or protection of human rights, sustain- the rule of law and transparency in groups suffering social discrimina- able development, and the judiciary public life, and fostering international tion, using and promoting mediation within the new constitution and sub- cooperation and solidarity. The as well as analyzing the practice of ordinate legislation. foundation put special emphasis pretrial detention by Polish courts. The foundation backed maintain- on improving the capacity of civil In the international arena, the ing the quality of the education reform society organizations, especially foundation promoted the openness process and increasing stakeholders’ those involved in advocacy and policy of the European Union toward the ownership; strengthening human formation, and assisted organizations countries of Eastern Europe, backed and institutional capacities of major working to increase opportunities for civic initiatives in Belarus and implementing agencies in education, disadvantaged groups. Ukraine, and promoted cross-border with an emphasis on civic education; Together with the Polish Confed- cooperation among the representa- and the transparency of the educa- eration of Private Employers Lewiatan tives of civil society from the coun- tion reform process. The foundation and the Civic Development Forum, the tries of Central and Eastern Europe. promoted civil society advocacy for foundation launched a get-out-the-vote The foundation continued advocacy efficient service delivery at the local campaign before the October 2007 to ease restrictive EU visa policies. level and organized trainings for civil parliamentary elections. The cam- servants on rules and procedures for paign targeted young people whose complying with EU standards; it also participation in elections had been Soros Foundation offered instruction in democratic lead- about 20 percent lower than that of Romania ership for young politicians. older age groups. As a result, partici- The foundation worked to raise pation of young people in local elec- The Soros Foundation Romania the level of knowledge about Eu- tions was triple that of 2005 and for concentrated on supporting ropean Union integration among the first time exceeded 50 percent. community development and the university students, civil society, civil The foundation gave support to Roma, and sustainable development servants, and representatives of par- l4 civil society projects monitoring and effective management of liamentary parties. It supported the public institutions and institutions natural resources. The Integrated monitoring of governmental transpar- of public trust to help raise the stan- Community Development Program ency and accountability in areas of dards and increase the transparency continued building the capacity of free access to information and politi- of their operations. It monitored the local nongovernmental organizations cal party financing; the implementa- parliamentary debate on selected and increased the visibility of six tion of standards related to minority bills aimed at preventing corruption. Roma communities that are the

:: europe :: 81 focus of pilot programs receiving gests that if present trends continue, network of organizations promoting funds from the Romanian Social important sectors of the Romanian and implementing the concept of Development Fund, the PHARE economy such as construction, inclusive education. education program, the LEADER textiles, and tourism will face major The foundation continued to program, and the National labor shortages within the next 10- monitor the government’s efforts Strategy for Improving Roma Living 15 years. The studies have helped to prepare Serbia for entry into the Conditions. The results—obtained prioritize migration issues for the European Union, including public with a small amount of money and foundation and its efforts to develop policies, the effectiveness of their significant local involvement— policies to reduce the negative implementation, and the results justified the replication of this social and economic impacts of achieved. The project focuses on the approach in other communities. labor migration. capacities of public and local self- A local housing team (an archi- governing authorities, the judiciary, tect and two sociologists) formed and independent regulatory bodies. in 2007 to design solutions for Fund for an The project also examines issues segregated Roma communities and Open Society–Serbia such as human and minority rights; to implement several pilot housing anticorruption and antimonopoly poli- projects that could be replicated The Fund for an Open Society–Serbia cies; transparency and public integ- elsewhere.The foundation also es- concentrated much of its attention rity; civil control of police and armed tablished a partnership with Habitat on advocacy for the development forces; education and research con- for Humanity Romania for joint pro- of pro-Europe public policies in ducive to a knowledge-based society; grams in 2008. Serbia as well as on improving and forms of regional and European The foundation’s Migration and implementation of the rule of law, cooperation. Development Program continued in enhancing good governance and The project’s monitoring reports 2007 and produced studies on how accountability, enhancing respect for have been assessed favorably by the migration of Romanians for work individual human rights, improving domestic and international experts abroad impacts the children left the position of minorities, particularly and high officials; their recommenda- behind and the country’s domestic Roma, encouraging a constructive tions and policy suggestions have labor market. One study estimated approach in negotiations on Kosovo’s drawn praise from both officials and that 115,000 Romanian high school status, and promoting Serbia’s full the civil sector. The report for 2006- students had at least one parent cooperation with the International 2007 influenced the content of the working abroad. The research con- Criminal Tribunal for the former EU Commission report on Serbia for cluded by proposing that social ser- Yugoslavia. 2007, with a number of recommen- vices, including special counseling, A three-year project developed by dations put into practice. Numerous help with school work, and organized the foundation and implemented in recommendations prompted local free-time activities, need to be devel- cooperation with the Teachers’ and foreign civil society organizations oped and provided to children whose Association of Serbia brought the to develop their own similar projects. parents are temporarily working issue of inclusive education to a The foundation awarded several outside the country. priority position on the education dozen grants to youth organization Another study, launched at the agenda. The project helped develop initiatives aimed at prompting the end of 2007, analyzed the effect of a concept of inclusive education state to address the needs of youth, worker migration on Romania’s labor that favors mainstreaming children resulting in the founding of a new market and economy. The study sug- with disabilities. It has spawned a government Ministry of Youth and

82 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The foundation continued to monitor the government’s efforts to prepare Serbia for entry into the European Union.

Sport. Advocacy activities run by process. The draft bill would super- debate about accession in 2004 these youth organizations convinced sede the current law on civic asso- by supporting the establishment the new ministry to begin defining ciations from 1990, under which of the Independent Commission national youth policy through work- more than 90 percent of nongovern- on Turkey. The commission, made shops and focus groups. mental organizations in Slovakia are up of distinquished European registered. Experts and activists as- policymakers, issued a report to sert that the proposed bill contains provide support for the launch of Open Society articles that limit fundamental citizen membership negotiations between Foundation–Bratislava freedoms protected by the Slovak the European Union and Turkey. (Slovakia) constitution. Commission members continue to The foundation launched a long- visit Turkey and contribute to the In cooperation with the Institute term project to discourage extrem- policy discussions about the benefits for Public Affairs, the Open Society ism through educating secondary and challenges of EU membership. Foundation–Bratislava organized school teachers and students. The To complement the commission’s an international seminar on key foundation provided support and activities, the foundation in 2007 elements of populist politics that methodological assistance to a established the EU Turkey Working might threaten liberal democracy group of nongovernmental organi- Group. The group brings together in the countries of Central and zations providing harm reduction senior academics, public intellectu- Eastern Europe. Four case studies, services, assisting them in their als, and policy experts to facilitate presented by experts from Bulgaria, response to new, retroactive, restric- constructive discourse on Turkey’s Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, tive, and discriminatory government inclusion in EU enlargement. The identified difficulties with the current rules that have effectively rendered working group’s members act as development of liberal democracy in them ineligible to obtain public policy debate “umpires” by providing the region and the rise of populist funding. The new rules, for exam- public commentary and policy analy- movements. ple, require that needle exchange ses that help ensure that the acces- For Slovakia’s upcoming reform programs seek a certificate with sion process and public perceptions of its school curriculum, the founda- the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs of Turkey in Europe are informed, tion initiated roundtable discussions and Family, which can take several objective, and fair. The working group involving civil society organizations months. Left without financial sup- also helps maintain positive Euro- on new approaches to multicultural port, these organizations were forced pean interest in Turkey and promotes education. A group of academics to reduce their services significantly. reform within the country. Before and representatives from nongoven- the European Leaders Summit in mental organizations elaborated a December, working group members pedagogical plan to introduce a mul- Open Society Institute signed a declaration, distributed on ticultural approach to education to Assistance Foundation– the Open Democracy website, that primary and secondary schools. Turkey strongly refuted French President The foundation gathered legal Sarkozy’s claim that “Turkey is not experts to assess the current legal Turkey’s accession to the European European.” framework for civil society organiza- Union remained a central focus for The foundation advanced health tions. In December 2007, the Min- the Open Society Institute Assistance and human rights issues by support- istry of Interior opened a proposed Foundation–Turkey in 2007. The ing organizations that worked to im- new bill on guilds to the comment foundation entered the public prove services for people living with

:: europe :: 83 The foundation in Ukraine supported efforts by public authorities and nongovernmental organizations to define standards for protecting human rights in patient care.

HIV and AIDS and for groups seeking Disabilities. As a result, Ukraine’s interactive and user-friendly website to improve conditions for the Roma. president authorized the signing of will be dedicated to substitution ther- Inadequate HIV prevention servic- the convention. The foundation will apy in Ukraine, permitting site visitors es and resources in Turkey indicate continue to support the campaign to ask questions of specialists. that the country will soon face a dra- until the national parliament ratifies The foundation and OSI’s Educa- matic increase in the number of HIV the convention and will then support tion Support Program collaborated cases. The foundation responded by monitoring its implementation. to promote better education for chil- supporting the Positive Living Asso- The foundation supported and dren with disabilities by addressing ciation, a group of people living with promoted a paper on criminal justice the problem of stereotypes. HIV and AIDS who, together with rela- reform that called for reforming the tives, friends, doctors, and activists, entire criminal justice system. The are building networks to advocate for paper gained the approval of the Other Support better HIV treatment and services. president and a presidential advisory in Europe The Promoting Roma Rights in body, the National Commission on Turkey Project, a collaboration of the Strengthening Democracy and As- A number of Soros foundations Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly–Turkey serting the Rule of Law. have closed in recent years, usually and the European Roma Rights In public health, the foundation after making significant progress in Centre, which had been scheduled supported the formulation, by public establishing open society in their to run from May 2005 through May authorities and nongovernmental countries. OSI maintains a presence 2007, was extended until May 2008. organizations, of a Ministry of Health in many of these countries. The OSI–Turkey provided one-seventh of draft order defining standards for pro- entries below describe some of the the total cost for a two-year period. tecting human rights in patient care, activities OSI supports in countries including the rights of psychiatric pa- where Soros foundations no longer tients. The foundation is working to exist. International create an interdepartmental working Renaissance Foundation group to review Ukrainian legislation Croatia (Ukraine) on psychiatric aid, develop draft leg- The Soros foundation in Croatia islation amending current law, hold a concluded operations in June Human rights—for persons living broad public discussion of the drafts, 2006, yet OSI continues to support with disabilities, for persons caught and increase leglslative support for activities in the country through a in the criminal justice system, for the amendments. number of its programs, including patients in the health care and In harm reduction, the foundation the Mental Health Initiative, the East mental health systems—were a focused on substitution treatment East: Partnership Beyond Borders central focus of the International and emphasized the positive role Program, and the Human Rights and Renaissance Foundation (Ukraine) in those persons affected by drugs Governance Grants Program, as well 2007. In September, the foundation, and HIV and AIDS can play in advoca- as through the Decade of Roma in support of the National Assembly cy efforts. Joining forces to promote Inclusion. of People with Disabilities, a substitution therapy were a nongov- Activities in Croatia are overseen Ukrainian nongovernmental ernmental organization, the Drop-in by the OSI Croatian Advisory Com- organization, launched a campaign Center, two groups of substitution- mittee, which advises senior OSI for ratification of theUN Convention therapy clients, billboard companies, management on political and social on the Rights of Persons with and advertising agencies. A special issues in the country, and provides

84 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: feedback on network activities and Russia government agencies, academic priorities. The committee also pro- OSI worked in Russia in 2007 institutions, and NGOs in Slovenia, motes open society principles and through its New York–based Russia the European Union, and elsewhere. practices by organizing occasional Project, supporting civil society It partnered in 2007 with the OSI conferences in Croatia. and human rights groups, access Ministry of Foreign Affairs to improve to information efforts, regional EU cultural policies focusing on the Hungary organizations, civil society networks, Western Balkans, and worked with The Hungarian Soros foundation and public debate and discussion the government’s ombudsman’s brought its activities to a close initiatives. In addition to established office to monitor state correctional in 2007, archiving foundation organizations such as the Moscow institutions. The institute also documents (together with the Helsinki Group and Memorial supported women’s NGOs and Open Society Archives) and International, the Russia Project antidiscrimination efforts, and helped program results. The foundation provided support to the regional defend citizenship and residency also concluded its long-standing Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers, the rights at the European Court of institutional grant program funded by Nizhny Novgorod Committee Against Human Rights. The East East: the Trust for Civil Society in Central Torture, and Agora, a Kazan-based Partnership Beyond Borders Program and Eastern Europe, and used regional organization specializing in promoted regional and transregional evaluations and documentation from human rights litigation. cooperation through academic and its core Roma programs to create The Russia Project also funded professional exchanges. a special website about lessons youth-oriented initiatives such as the learned. Youth Human Rights Movement and groups like SOVA and the Anti-Dis- Lithuania crimination Centre “Memorial” that Since the Open Society Fund– addressed issues like xenophobia Lithuania ended its grantmaking in and other forms of discrimination. 2006, OSI has administered a small The Russia Project maintained legacy fund to support organizations joint funding relationships with OSI focusing on civil society, the rule programs such as the Human Rights of law, democracy promotion, and and Governance Grants Program, citizen participation. In 2007, the the Media Program, the Information Civil Society Institute in Vilnius was Program, the International Women’s the primary beneficiary of this fund. Program, the Open Society Justice The institute supported efforts Initiative, and the Public Health to challenge social exclusion and Program. promote public debate on political and social issues. Several OSI Slovenia programs pursued partnerships and OSI continues to work in Slovenia supported projects that addressed primarily through its institutional HIV and TB, sex worker issues, and partner, the Peace Institute, which women’s rights in Lithuania and focuses on policy engagement and the region. works to develop relationships with

:: europe :: 85 Regions

Asia

From the steppes of Central Asia to the farthest tip of Indonesia, the programs of OSI and the Soros foundations in Asia supported a multitude of initiatives that encourage local, ground-up participation in promoting economic development, democracy, the rule of law, eradication of corruption, and protection of human and civil rights, especially for members of vulnerable groups, like women in Afghanistan and sex workers from Central Asia in Russia and other countries. The Central Eurasia Project’s activities in 2007 included combating discrimination against migrant laborers and the practice of forced child labor in the cotton industry. The Burma Project continued to support media efforts inside and outside the country to report on the brutal military dictatorship.

86 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Kenji Nagai, a Japanese videographer working for APF, lies mortally wounded after Burmese police and military opened fire on demonstrators in Yangon on September 27, 2007. This image, showing the repressive military government’s attacks on demonstrators and the media, won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography.

:: asia :: 87 Central Eurasia Project and analysis for policymakers and all products using cotton sourced local and international media. In from Uzbekistan. Covering Central Asia and the Saratov, advocates worked to stop southern Caucasus, the Central the extortion and harassment of Turkmenistan Eurasia Project supports initiatives arriving migrants by corrupt police The death, in late 2006, of President that help raise awareness among officers. In Yekaterinburg, grantees Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan’s policymakers and the public about documented unregulated and discre- authoritarian leader for more than issues in the region involving human tionary practices by local immigration two decades, prompted OSI to rights, economic development, and authorities. develop responses to the evolving democratic governance. A number On a broader level, the project political situation and the rise of of initiatives also focus on the partnered with Human Rights Watch Niyazov’s successor, Gurbanguly neighboring countries of Afghanistan to launch a three-year research and Berdymukhamedov. While monitoring and Pakistan. During 2007, the advocacy initiative on labor migra- developments in the wake of project focused on promoting tion in the former Soviet Union. The Niyazov’s death, OSI provided policies and initiatives to protect initiative is undertaking an exhaus- analyses for policymakers and other the rights of labor migrants, helping tive analysis of migration laws, stakeholders, identified openings for activists address human rights monitoring the enforcement of these civil society to develop its influence, violations occurring in the region’s laws, and documenting human rights and collaborated with international cotton economy, and ensuring that violations against migrants; it will initiatives to promote human rights. relations between the international offer recommendations to authori- To further broad-based economic community and Turkmenistan ties on what practices and aspects development and reform, OSI worked are preconditioned on significant of the laws need to be changed. The to bring governments, civil society improvements in human rights. report will also present examples of groups, and corporations together to Driven by poverty and no signifi- legal actions and policies that have develop policies and practices that cant opportunity for employment, successfully advanced the rights of encourage revenue transparency labor migrants from Uzbekistan, migrant laborers in Russia. and environmental protection in the Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan arrive In Uzbekistan, the Central Eur- natural resource extraction indus- in Russia, Kazakhstan, and other asia Project continued to work on tries. The Central Eurasia Project neighboring states where they en- addressing the issues of forced child collaborated with the newly created dure violations of their human rights, labor in the cotton industry. The gov- Turkmenistan Energy Coalition and extortion by corrupt police officers, ernment exploits underaged workers sponsored independent research on mistreatment by employers, and by requiring schoolchildren to work environmental degradation. The proj- racially motivated violence by gang seven days a week in cotton fields ect also encouraged more openness members and others. for two to three months each year, for Turkmenistan by promoting so- The Central Eurasia Project without proper nutrition and health cially responsible trade with Europe. helped address these problems by care. The project has been support- working with local organizations in ing the Environmental Justice Foun- Pakistan the Russian cities of Moscow, Sara- dation, which raised awareness of Central Eurasia Project activities in tov, and Yekaterinburg. A grantee the issue among the general public Pakistan focused on deepening the in Moscow provided essential ser- and retailers. A number of European project’s commitment to education vices to labor migrants and acted companies such as Tesco and Marks reform by strengthening and as a source of timely information & Spencer have placed a ban on expanding its existing programs.

88 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: A number of European companies such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer have placed a ban on all products using cotton sourced from Uzbekistan.

A coalition of nongovernmental Clinical legal education also financial support to the process, organizations, led by the Society for remained a priority in 2007. In ad- and limiting revenue transparency the Advancement of Education and dition to ongoing support for clinic requirements to the minimum EITI OSI’s Education Support Program, internships for Herat legal students, criteria. Following the report’s re- published Education in Pakistan: OSI enabled faculty from the legal lease, the government invited the What Works & Why to help anchor and Islamic law departments of coalition to a meeting dedicated the Campaign for Quality Education, Herat University to receive training to the EITI issue chaired by the a coalition of civil society in clinical legal education in Turkey prime minister. As result, the prime organizations working to improve and South Africa. Organizations minister took EITI implementation Pakistan’s education sector. supported by OSI used legal aid pro- under his personal control. Kazakh- Priority activities for the campaign grams to address domestic violence stan Revenue Watch and the NGO include working with OSI’s Reading against women, conduct advocacy coalition will continue monitoring and Writing for Critical Thinking campaigns, and establish family EITI implementation and promote program to help teacher training guidance centers and shelters. In increasing revenue transparency. and development, improving school partnership with the University of The foundation advocated for the governance, and developing public- Ottawa, OSI initiated an exchange rights of underprivileged defendants private partnerships. program to provide women journal- and litigants to legal aid. It informed ists from Afghan universities access state authorities, lawyers, and hu- Afghanistan to graduate-level courses at the man rights activists on international In Afghanistan, the Open Society University of Ottawa. standards and the best national Institute brought together human models of free legal aid. With gov- rights organizations to develop a ernment justice stakeholders, the strategic plan for engaging civil Soros Foundation– foundation advocated successfully society in the development and Kazakhstan for the rights of children under 18 in administration of the country’s confrontation with the law, exposing transitional justice processes. OSI The Soros Foundation–Kazakhstan and remedying human rights viola- also worked with a civil society and its partners provided a series tions in 485 juvenile cases. The Min- and human rights network to of trainings in budget systems, istry of Justice adopted the model carry out a mapping project that encouraged public involvement in the introduced by the foundation and its identified organizations with the budgeting process, and held public partners, and the government invited capacity to conduct human rights hearings and debates on socially a group of governmental and nongov- and transitional justice work. oriented budgeting. Kazakhstan ernmental stakeholders led by the This research helped establish a Revenue Watch led a coalition of foundation to draft a concept paper countrywide network for amplifying nongovernmental organizations in a and a national action plan for creat- the voices of war victims and campaign to strengthen government ing a juvenile justice system. providing them with counseling compliance with the basic criteria The foundation also continued services. OSI also supported of the Extractive Industries to support independent media and Dari and Pashto translations of Transparency Initiative (EITI). nongovernmental organizations of Crimes of War, which will be used The coalition issued a report that journalists. One foundation-initiated to train Afghan journalists, lawyers, faulted the government for failing to project helped prevent forced sub- and human rights activists in engage all extractive companies in scription to the official press.S triv- international human rights law. EITI implementation, not providing ing to stimulate competition in the

:: asia :: 89 A demonstration organized by the Kyrgyzstan foundation against a bill decriminalizing polygamy helped convince parliament not to pass the measure.

print media market, orient the mass ment subsequently did not pass the the OSI-supported Open Society media toward the real needs of read- measure. An advocacy campaign to Forum, found an unexplained gap ers, and strengthen the economic increase women’s political participa- of $25 million between company freedoms of citizens in choosing tion included a meeting of parlia- payments and government receipts. sources of information, civil society mentary leaders, representatives Its major significance, however, was activists have opened an intensive of the presidential administration, to offer a consultative, inclusive, public discussion that earlier was international and national experts in and transparent approach to prohibited. election legislation, and representa- managing the sector. It stimulated tives of international development further debate about applying these agencies. Regional women’s organi- standards of transparency to other Soros Foundation– zations sent messages to the depu- aspects of the sector, such as the Kyrgyzstan ties from their specific districts. licensing, negotiation, and terms of During the holiday recess when investment contracts. The Soros Foundation–Kyrgyzstan deputies traveled to their regions, The government budget in 2007 helped organize public discussions women’s organizations met with increased to unprecedented levels, and expert meetings on promoting them, presented information leaflets, both in absolute and relative terms, draft laws to reform the country’s and organized question-and-answer thanks to a fast growing economy free legal aid system, establishing sessions. The foundation also as- and high commodity prices. The civilian oversight of the police, and sisted women’s organizations in Open Society Forum focused on developing the national program publishing articles about women’s transparency and accountability in aimed at protecting the rights of representation in newspapers and on fiscal policies and budget execution. labor migrants. The foundation information agency websites. These Improvements in disclosing informa- initiated a broad informational efforts resulted in the introduction of tion about the executive budget now campaign to increase voter turnout special provisions to the revised elec- allow citizens to obtain copies of and stimulate voter awareness of the tion code requiring the inclusion of budget proposals, including on the country’s new election code. women candidates on all party lists. Internet, before approval by the leg- The foundation launched an islature, giving them time to provide information campaign to guarantee a comments directly to the parliament. transparent selection process for po- Open Society Forum To improve the transparency of tential members of the supervisory (Mongolia) political elections in Mongolia, the board of the National Television and Open Society Forum, in collaboration Radio Corporation. The foundation In Mongolia, which has abundant with local NGOs and partners, then provided a detailed explanation mineral wealth but limited financial assessed current legal and insti- of the law on the supervisory board resources and a government tutional frameworks and helped and public broadcasting standards inexperienced in managing this organize a National Forum on Elec- and also applied advocacy tech- promising sector, debates over tion Transparency, which produced niques in drafting and promoting a how best to structure the sector recommendations for reforms. As a Journalists’ Code of Ethics. dominated the political, economic, result, the election law was amended The foundation mounted a dem- and social agenda. The first to require early disclosure of onstration in front of the parliament ever EITI report in Mongolia was voter registrations. The government building in March 2007 against a bill a significant development.T he formed a task force to consolidate decriminalizing polygamy. The parlia- report, with the participation of voter registration nationally and to

90 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: make the list available on the Inter- Working with NATO, UNDP, and a Tajik Burma Project net three months ahead of the June organization, the Civil Initiative on 2008 parliamentary election so that Internet Policy, the foundation imple- In September and October 2007, contesting political parties, and the mented a school Internet project that people across the world and inside public, can check for inaccuracies. connected 55 secondary schools Burma watched, read, and heard Pilot legal aid centers estab- with 11 research institutes through about popular protests in Burma lished and run by the Open Society one educational network. and how the government responded Forum and the Open Society Justice The foundation helped establish with a brutal military crackdown. Initiative for the past two years have the country’s first professional as- Journalists inside Burma, 40 of demonstrated their effectiveness sociation of journalism teachers them supported by an OSI grantee, in providing legal aid to indigent to develop courses on journalism Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), people. The government aims to ethics, media management, and formed networks that smuggled replicate these pilot centers in each the relationship between law and stories and images to international aimag and district in Ulaanbaatar. journalism. media outlets, including footage UNDP has provided $200,000 to- The foundation fostered econom- of the brutal killing of a Japanese ward establishing the 30 centers. ic development by promoting public journalist. Despite significant discussion of a third party arbitration government repression, DVB law adopted at the end of 2007. remains the only Burmese language Open Society Institute A microfinance bank supported by satellite channel sending TV and Assistance Foundation– the foundation provided funding for radio broadcasts from the region Tajikistan business plans from young people, into Burma, and many Burmese use students, and women in rural areas. shortwave radios or satellite radios The government of Tajikistan To improve higher education in to listen to DVB’s daily programming. implemented new laws in 2007 that Tajikistan, the foundation worked The relationship between natural required NGOs to reregister with with OSI’s Higher Education Support resources and repression in Burma the government. The Open Society Program, the UNDP, and the Ministry remained significant in 2007.T he Institute Assistance Foundation– of Education on projects that aimed country’s substantial natural gas and Tajikistan succeeded in reregistering to improve the nation’s university oil reserves continued to facilitate in November, but the overall effect of entrance exam system, helped to media repression and human rights the laws was to slow the development secure government support for abuses by providing revenues for of civil society by reducing the number higher education reform strategies, the military regime. The recently dis- of officially registeredN GOs from and worked to increase student covered Shwe gas fields in the Bay over 3,000 to slightly more than involvement in reform and education of Bengal are likely to become one 1,000. Despite this challenge, the development. of the military’s newest and largest foundation remained committed to One of the foundation’s arts and sources of foreign currency. fostering the development of civil culture projects strengthened creative Arakan Oil Watch, an OSI grantee society by supporting reform efforts links between Tajikistan and Afghani- and leading member of the SHWE in law, migration, media, economic stan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uz- Gas Movement, worked to ensure development, local governance, bekistan, by creating a film resource that a construction project to trans- education, and arts and culture. center in Dushanbe that young film- port gas from the Shwe fields to Among the foundation’s many makers from the five countries can India via Burma will not result in efforts in 2007 were the following: use to produce and edit films. exploitation and human rights

:: asia :: 91 In Cambodia, OSI funded a project that created a Khmer language women’s web portal covering information relating to women’s issues and rights.

abuses similar to those suffered The Sarawak Dayak Iban Association, charter’s impact on their lives and by Burmese living near previous an OSI grantee representing the inform governments about the pipeline projects in eastern Burma. indigenous Iban community in concerns of their constituents. The Foreign oil companies were suc- the Malaysian state of Sarawak, project has also helped civil society cessfully held accountable for those established a pilot mobile legal clinic representatives initiate advocacy abuses by OSI grantee, EarthRights project that provides free paralegal campaigns on issues such as human International, whose efforts were services to villages in seven districts. rights, security, migration and labor, depicted in the 2007 award-winning As a result, indigenous villages and and conditions faced by Asia’s urban documentary film,Total Denial. their leaders negotiated several poor, a group that has been largely peaceful solutions to land conflicts overlooked by ASEAN. with private companies. Southeast Asia Initiative Cambodia China and Nepal Thailand The lack of access to human rights The Southeast Asia Initiative information in Cambodia, especially The Open Society Institute has has responded to the increasing in Khmer, the official language, adds expanded its efforts in Asia in a deterioration of democracy and press to the problems of promoting human number of countries. In Nepal, OSI freedoms in Thailand by supporting rights, particularly among women’s continued to support the country’s independent media organizations groups. The Southeast Asia Initiative transition to a more open society, such as the Prachdharma News and OSI’s Information Program funded establishing a new board of civil Network (PNN). PNN works to create Women Empowerment for Social society representatives, the Alliance information about under-reported Change, a project of the Cambodian for Social Dialogue, to help guide issues by helping communities NGO Open Institute, that created a future strategy. For several years, produce grassroots news using Khmer language women’s web portal OSI has provided small amounts websites, newsletters, and CDs covering all news and information of funding for initiatives in China to for broadcast on community radio related to women’s issues and support the growing field of legal stations. With a grant from OSI, rights. The project also organized aid and public interest litigation, PNN trained 40 youth from northern electronic forums for civil society and environmental initiatives, and the Thailand to work as community women’s groups, gender education work of HIV and AIDS practitioners. journalists writing articles on natural courses, and six instructor trainings The largest grants in 2007 went resource use, gender issues, and across the country in information and to International Bridges to Justice human rights. communications technology. to support training for criminal defenders and to the Natural Malaysia Regional Resources Defense Council to The Southeast Asia Initiative worked In November 2007, the Association promote public participation by to increase access to justice for of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Chinese environmental NGOs. OSI’s indigenous populations in Malaysia adopted a charter, creating the Public Health, Justice Initiative, and by supporting community legal region’s first human rights body. Debate programs also are working clinics and educational programs The Southeast Asia Initiative gave with Chinese colleagues to promote that allow these communities to the South East Asian Committee harm reduction methods to treat challenge exploitative government for Advocacy a grant for a project drug users, clinical legal education, and private sector land-use policies. to help inform people about the and university debate programs.

92 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Middle East and North Africa

OSI’s Middle East and North that provides legal services in an forts to end violence against women, Africa Initiative in 2007 continued accessible and supportive manner to promotes regional cooperation, and promoting human rights, women’s Palestinian women in Israel. Kayan breaks down the isolation Arab wom- empowerment, education, and arts promotes women’s rights by raising en’s organizations have suffered as and culture in the Arab region. awareness of the law, especially the they worked to combat domestic vio- In the field of human rights, this prohibitions on domestic violence, lence. Karama is a major partner of was accomplished through support as well as personal status issues OSI’s International Women’s Program for the monitoring of human rights and employment rights. as well as the Middle East Initiative. violations; advocacy at the local, re- In Egypt, OSI funded the Center With significant technical assis- gional, and international levels; and for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assis- tance from OSI’s debate and early improving public awareness of rights. tance to conduct research, undertake childhood programs, the Middle East In Algeria, OSI supported the advocacy efforts, and build coalitions Initiative continued to support the Collective of the Families of the to combat violence against women. development of a wide-reaching and Disappeared, an organization that The center, which has formed a coali- locally sustainable debate program advocates on behalf of the families tion of 65 nongovernmental organiza- among Palestinian youth in Israel of persons who disappeared in the tions in southern Egypt, is one of the in partnership with local nongovern- country during the turmoil of the few organizations speaking out about mental organizations. The critical 1990s. The organization, which incest, honor crimes, forced marriage, thinking, research, and rhetorical brought international attention to and deprivation of inheritance. It is skills honed through debate are con- the issue by submitting a report to encouraging the media, judiciary, and tributing to a more vibrant, open, and the United Nations Human Rights religious authorities to pay attention empowered Palestinian community. Committee, continues to provide to these largely taboo topics. The Arab Fund for Arts and Cul- psychological assistance to families The Middle East Initiative spon- ture, an organization to which OSI of victims and to press for the sored a first-of-its-kind regional work- has contributed significant financial establishment of an independent shop on Best Practices in Shelters and technical assistance, began truth and justice commission. and Services for Abused Women in providing support to artistic projects The Middle East Initiative Amman, Jordan. The workshop was in the Arab region that cultivate supported the Kayan Feminist conducted by Karama, a regional creativity, independent thought, and Organization, the only organization Arab network that strengthens ef- regional exchange.

:: Middle east and north africa :: 93 Regions

Africa

The Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations in Africa promoted efforts by civil society to improve electoral processes, introduce constitutional reforms, fight against corruption, and advocate on behalf of legal aid and safeguarding human rights, especially for vulnerable groups. Grantees and partners sponsored initiatives to monitor revenues from natural resource extraction and make these revenues more transparent and management of these revenues more accountable and effective. The Africa foundations also worked to enhance the leadership skills of women and young people, to eradicate stigma and discrimination in government responses to HIV and AIDS, and to promote community radio stations, media diversity, and press freedom.

94 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Teenagers in Shende Village, Ethiopia, watch skits put on by two community reproductive health groups trying to discourage early marriage and other harmful practices.

:: africa :: 95 Africa Governance respective governments and of the and make recommendations for Monitoring and Advocacy African Peer Review Mechanism for better regulation of the sector, Project (AfriMAP) the respective countries as well as especially as these countries’ by representatives of civil society broadcast media upgrade to digital AfriMAP monitors compliance of organizations. technology. The final report is ex- member states of the African Union A report commissioned by pected in early 2009. with standards of good governance, AfriMAP Oxfam GB, and the African democracy, human rights, and the Network on Debt and Development rule of law under African Union and concluded that there is little involve- Open Society Foundation United Nations treaties. At the 8th ment of civil society in African Union for South Africa African Union Summit in January decision making. This report, To- 2007, AfriMAP and the Open Society wards a People-Driven African Union: Government control of mass media Initiative for West Africa launched two Current Obstacles and New Opportu- helped support the architecture of reports on Ghana, one on political nities, was launched to coincide with apartheid in South Africa. During participation and democracy, the the African Union Summit in Addis 2007, many media analysts and other on justice and the rule of law. Ababa in January 2007, and updated commentators warned of threats The reports recommended reforms in November. to media freedom. In particular, needed to consolidate Ghana’s AfriMAP promoted civil society the ability of the South African democratic progress. AfriMAP and participation in the debate on cre- Broadcasting Corporation to carry the Open Society Foundation for ation of an overarching African Union out its mandate to broadcast in South Africa also launched two government; African heads of state the public interest came under reports—on political participation engaged in a debate on this issue renewed threat when the public and democracy, and effective when they met in Accra, Ghana, in broadcaster embarked on a public service—about conditions July. AfriMAP commissioned papers campaign to blacklist political in South Africa. on the African Union government commentators critical of the ruling More than half of the African proposal and was the major sponsor party government. The South African Union’s 53 member states have of two forums to discuss the ques- Broadcasting Corporation also signed up to the African Peer Review tion. The two events provided civil refused to air a documentary on Mechanism, a voluntary process that society input to the debate, calling President Thabo Mbeki, maintaining commits a government in a given for an audit of the African Union that the film was controversial country to conduct “self-assess- Commission and its institutions. The and portrayed the president in a ment” reports on the state of gov- final audit report incorporated the negative light. Through a grant ernance. To complement the official bulk of the recommendations from provided by the Open Society reports, AfriMAP commissioned and the AfriMAP report. Foundation for South Africa, the published critiques of the African A 12-country survey of public Mbeki documentary was shown Peer Review Mechanism in Ghana, service broadcasting in Africa is be- in a number of alternative venues Kenya, Mauritius, and Rwanda. The ing carried out by AfriMAP and OSI’s throughout the country, despite critiques, compiled by local research- Media Program, working through threats of litigation to stop the ers, placed particular emphasis on OSI’s four Africa-based foundations. screenings. the quality of civil society participa- The survey will examine issues of With media freedom under tion. The launches of the reports impartiality, independence, and qual- threat, much of the foundation’s were attended by officials of the ity in public service broadcasting advocacy and campaigning directly

96 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: With media freedom under threat, much of the South Africa foundation’s advocacy and campaigning directly supported independent voices and analysis.

supported independent voices and human rights, media and access to rights and documented legal provi- analysis. The foundation supported information, and regional initiatives. sions that discriminated against the Freedom of Expression Institute Corruption remains a major women. in its work as a watchdog over the challenge. The initiative partnered With OSIEA funding, the Human media, and in particular over the with the Africa Centre for Open Rights Network (Hurinet) worked public broadcaster. The institute Governance and the Media Analysis to popularize Uganda’s Access to made submissions to parliament and Research Services Organization Information Act—one of the first in regarding the appointment of a new to increase transparency and the Africa—and to strengthen imple- board for the South African Broad- role of civil society groups in hold- mentation of the law. To promote casting Corporation to replace one ing public institutions accountable. democracy and good governance, that has been criticized as serving OSIEA helped community groups in an OSIEA/AfriMAP project in 2007 the interests of the ruling party. Kenya monitor government budgets, examined the African Peer Review In 2007, the foundation launched and environmental organizations in Mechanism process in Kenya, con- a book, Meeting Their Mandates? Uganda improve the country’s natu- ducting audits of the justice sector, A Critical Analysis of South African ral resource use policies. democracy and political participation, Media Statutory Bodies, which OSIEA supported work to defend and effective public service delivery. analyzed the degree to which media and promote the human rights of The research will be published in statutory bodies in South Africa were marginalized and disadvantaged 2008. fulfilling their mandates, contributing communities. It funded efforts The HIV epidemic remains an un- to media diversity, and enhancing focusing on the issues of citizen- precedented public health emergen- access to media and information ship and statelessness, particularly cy in the region, thriving on stigma and communications technology. The among groups such as ethnic Somali and human rights abuses. A report aim of the book was to spearhead a Kenyans and Kenyan Nubians, and by OSIEA and the Law and Health Ini- public debate on the independence provided support to the Muslim Hu- tiative of OSI’s Public Health Program of South Africa’s media as well as man Rights Forum in Kenya to pro- documented how lack of access to issues of access to media for a di- tect people swept up in the arrests, legal services exacerbates the HIV verse range of voices. secret detentions, torture, and disap- crisis in Kenya. With OSIEA support, pearances conducted by the Kenyan 10 hospitals in Kenya now integrate government against people accused legal services into their HIV treat- Open Society Initiative of having links to al Qaeda. ment, and legal assistance programs for East Africa To address rampant sexual are being introduced into post-rape violence against women and girls, care centers and domestic violence East Africa is a region where OSIEA supported a women’s coali- programs in Uganda. democratic development is both tion that sought to hold the govern- moving forward and encountering ment responsible for implementing setbacks. The Open Society Initiative a new sexual offenses law through for East Africa (OSIEA), responding the training of police, lawyers, and to political change, worked to foster administrative personnel. In part- democratic development in Kenya, nership with the Zanzibar Female Tanzania, and Uganda by prioritizing Lawyers Association, the initiative four key areas of activity: governance helped improve the justice system’s and accountability, justice and response to violations of women’s

:: africa :: 97 In Nigeria, where elections in 2007 were criticized as undemocratic, the West Africa foundation supported a broad alliance for electoral reform.

Open Society Initiative In 2007, OSISA continued work- support a meeting of OSI’s leadership for Southern Africa ing through its project, the Southern with human rights defenders from Africa Resource Watch, and with Zimbabwe, leading to the creation of The Open Society Initiative local partners in Botswana, the the Human Rights Defenders Trust. for Southern Africa (OSISA) Democratic Republic of the Congo, commissioned a research and Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, advocacy project on making spending Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to Open Society Initiative more effective in fightingH IV and improve transparency and account- for West Africa AIDS across the region. The Centre ability in connection with revenue for AIDS Development, Research and flows from natural resource extrac- Central to the Open Society Evaluation examined civil society tion. The Southern Africa Resource Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in access to AIDS funding in Lesotho, Watch supported efforts to persuade 2007 were the West Africa Public Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, governments in Zambia and the Interest Litigation Center and Swaziland, and Zambia. The research Democratic Republic of the Congo the West Africa Resource Watch revealed that 70 percent of the civil to renegotiate mining contracts, and Institute. The Nigeria-based West society organizations surveyed did examined how key mineral and oil Africa Public Interest Litigation not provide their volunteers with any extraction has been managed and Center promotes the rule of law and financial or in-kind compensation. how revenues have been utilized in access to justice for citizens of the The activities least funded by southern Africa. region. It initiates and backs efforts donors were policy, advocacy, and The Angola office organized a to hold public officials and private research. Most notably, the research visit to Brazil to acquaint opposition entities accountable for actions found that a small percentage of members of parliament with mecha- contrary to the public interest, the organizations surveyed were nisms and systems that promote the provides support for advocacy for accessing the most readily available monitoring and transparency of na- law reform and for lawyers in the resources. In 2005, 89 percent of all tional budgets. The members of par- region who take legal action on spending was undertaken by the top liament have since formed a group human rights violations, issues of 20 percent of these organizations, within the national parliament to public interest, and constitutional compared with less than 1 percent promote transparency. In partnership cases in national and other courts. by the organizations in the bottom with the Revenue Watch Institute, To promote transparency in resource 20 percent. the initiative sent four journalists management, OSIWA established OSISA also focused on the Global and civil society activists to Brazil the West Africa Resource Watch Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, for internships to build capacity for Institute, based in Dakar, Senegal. providing support to nongovernmen- investigative work. The institute trains civil society tal organizations concerned with When the repressive government partners on how to monitor the implementation and governance is- of Zimbabwean President Robert revenue flows in the natural resource sues in Zimbabwe and Botswana as Mugabe cracked down on peaceful extraction industries and to advocate well as Namibia and Swaziland. With protestors on March 11, 2007, OSISA for improved transparency and OSI’s Public Health Program, the responded to the crisis with advocacy accountability in the management of initiative supported women’s rights interventions, and channeled ad- these revenues. coalitions in submitting Global Fund ditional resources to the Zimbabwe Nigeria, the most powerful na- proposals as part of the seventh program. It developed a dynamic Cri- tion in West Africa, held presidential round of funding. sis Engagement Fund, which helped elections in 2007 that were widely

98 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: criticized as undemocratic and un- tional amendment that would have motorcycle clubs, market women, fair. The initiative responded by con- given the president three four-year and other groups to advocate for fair tinuing its effective work with civil terms. In 2007, the alliance called elections and the rule of law. By the society to restore credibility to the for credible elections on a unified end of the year, the alliance was the Nigerian electoral process. Previous platform—a first in the nation’s his- hub of civil society’s engagement in efforts by the Alliance for Credible tory. The foundation assembled the electoral reform across the nation. Elections, a civil society coalition Nigeria Labour Congress, the Manu- The initiative also promoted group supported by the initiative, facturers Association of Nigeria, the national reconstruction efforts such helped rally popular support for the Nigerian Bar Association, Muslim as Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation 2006 defeat of a draft constitu- and Christian faith-based groups, Commission.

:: africa :: 99 In a tidal swamp, where hundreds of poor Haitians live in Cap Haitien, boys crawl through the muddy water looking for small fish and other food.

100 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Regions

Latin America and the Caribbean

In Latin America and the Caribbean, where confidence in elected officials remains low, the Open Society Institute worked to help civil society strengthen democratic institutions and values. The Latin America Program supported organizations that helped fight corruption in Guatemala and improved the management of revenues from Mexico’s national oil company. The Guatemala foundation sought to improve HIV prevention and environmental justice, and defended the rights of women factory workers. In Haiti, amid a stagnant economy and destructive political forces, the foundation partnered with the government and businesses on plans for a national park in Port-au-Prince and water facilities in a village on the north coast.

:: latin america and the caribbean :: 101 Latin America Program Santo Tomás that indicated the state Guatemala City. The project seeks of Tabasco was not managing rev- to stop HIV from spreading, promote The Latin America Program works to enues from the national oil company, respect for the human rights of those improve public access to government- PEMEX, in a transparent manner. living with HIV, generate solidarity, held information, enhance citizen Six weeks after the report, Mexico’s diminish stigma, and influence oversight of government policies, legislature introduced measures related public policy. The information and increase civil society’s role calling for an audit of PEMEX’s campaign includes radio spots in in strengthening the capacity and resource distribution. In addition, Spanish and indigenous languages, democratic responsibilities of public PEMEX announced new guidelines the distribution of promotional institutions such as the military, to strengthen transparency and materials to young people in public the police, the judiciary, and human accountability at the state level. places, and workshops in schools for rights bodies. The program also In Peru, a country rich in mineral teachers and graduating students. supports organizations that advocate resources, federal law stipulates The foundation supported a proj- for improved policies within Latin that half of the income taxes paid ect by Fundación Defensores de la American countries and at the by mining companies to the cen- Naturaleza to develop participatory regional level, and funds grantees in tral government should go to the tools and strengthen the capacities the United States that advocate for communities and regions directly of communities and municipalities to changes in U.S. policy toward affected by the mining. With support protect and manage the watershed the region. from the Latin America Program and forests of the Motagua-Polochic An OSI grantee, the Argentine the Revenue Watch Institute, Grupo system. The project promotes social Forensic Anthropology Team–Equipo Propuesta Ciudadana (GPC), a group organization in communities and im- Argentino de Antropología Forense of 11 NGOs throughout Peru, has proves community–local government (EAAF), launched a massive public worked hard to assert civic oversight relations. The methodology incor- campaign to collect blood samples of these funds. GPC research and porates the communities’ cultural from families of the disappeared in advocacy has persuaded the govern- principles and values to encourage Latin America. The samples will be ment and mining companies to begin forest conservation. processed in a soon-to-be-completed cooperating with citizen monitoring The Centro de Acción Legal DNA laboratory, the first of its kind efforts, and there are indications Ambiental y Social de Guatemala in the region. EAAF’s cofounder, that tax collection has improved. implemented another foundation- Mercedes Doretti, received a 2007 supported project to establish legal MacArthur Award in recognition of environmental precedents through this important work. Fundación Soros– litigation, promote public participation Another grantee, the Washington Guatemala through the media, and bring about Office on LatinA merica, helped win administrative and judicial reforms U.S. support for Guatemala’s Interna- HIV prevention and environmental that benefit environmental justice. tional Commission Against Impunity justice were two priorities for the The Centro de Estudios y Apoyo by underscoring its importance in the Fundación Soros–Guatemala in al Desarrollo Local (CEADEL), funded fight against corruption, organized 2007. The foundation supported by the foundation and the Swedish crime, and impunity in Guatemala. a program that informs young International Development Coop- In Mexico, OSI and the Revenue people about HIV and AIDS in eration Agency, is defending the Watch Institute sponsored a study by Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, rights of working women—mainly Fundar and the Asociación Ecológica Petén, Chimaltenango, Zacapa, and indigenous—in textile and food sup-

102 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The foundation in Haiti is helping the government create a national park in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood severely damaged by urban violence.

ply factories in the San Lucas–Chi- creation of a national park equipped European Union and the collabora- maltenango area. These tax-exempt with social and cultural services and tion of OSI’s Network Debate Pro- factories, which represent well-known the first botanical garden in Haiti. gram, FOKAL organized many youth international companies, violate Gua- Martissant Park will be located in the debates throughout the country. temalan labor laws by, for example, middle of a highly populated Port-au- Young debaters also benefited from failing to pay the minimum wage and Prince neighborhood that has been a collaborative initiative between using child labor. Working with the severely damaged by urban violence. FOKAL and the Canadian human National Labor Committee, a New In 2008, FOKAL, working with three rights institution, Rights & Democ- York–based organization, CEADEL European NGOs and EU funding, will racy. The debaters visited Canada to conducted campaigns in the United also launch an urban revitalization exchange views and develop discus- States to persuade the international project in the neighborhood sion groups with young Canadians companies whose products are surrounding the park. interested in the democratic process made in Guatemala to get the fac- Throughout 2007, FOKAL in their country and elsewhere. tories to comply with national and implemented a contract with Royal In 2007, the Bibliothèque Mo- international labor laws. Caribbean International cruise lines nique Calixte (BMC), a library and for a water facilities and social Internet center housed in FOKAL’s engineering project in the village of Resource Center in Port-au-Prince, Fondation Connaissance Labadie on the north coast of Haiti. served as the training site for the et Liberté (Haiti) FOKAL also participated in discus- more than 40 community libraries sions with the Ministry of Tourism for supported by FOKAL. The BMC, with Fondation Connaissance et Liberté the reinforcement of such activities approximately 6,000 active young (FOKAL) continued to develop local in the Labadie vicinity. FOKAL is the readers from the city’s impoverished and international alliances around primary nongovernmental partner urban neighborhoods, hosts writers, its approach to restoring peace and of the Brazilian NGO Viva Rio in the musicians, and painters in a variety rebuilding the country through urban urban revitalization project of Bel Air, of highly attended events. An affili- development, democratic debate, the a historic neighborhood of Port-au- ated association in Paris holds fund- environment, and arts and culture. Prince, also severely damaged by raising events and supports training FOKAL signed a management contract urban gang wars. and educational trips for young with the Haitian government for the With the financial support of the Haitian librarians.

:: latin america and the caribbean :: 103 Initiatives

Justice and Governance

The protection of human rights is a priority for the Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations network. A number of programs sought to strengthen the rule of law globally and nationally, open up government decision making to public scrutiny, and eliminate discrimination against women and Roma and other minorities. These programs helped win significant legal victories in 2007, from a school desegregation case involving Roma in the Czech Republic to a reproductive rights case in Poland. OSI organized the training of lawyers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan on litigating cases challenging the use of torture by police to obtain confessions, sponsored an antidiscrimination campaign in Romania that included messages from star soccer players, and moved to protect the rights of women and girls living in countries marked by armed conflict.

104 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Residents of Aker Camp, an informal settlement in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, mourn the loss of their homes after the military set fire to the entire neighborhood in reprisal for the killing of a soldier.

:: justice and governance :: 105 Open Society Justice to West Africans and others, the Jus- The Justice Initiative organized Initiative tice Initiative helped create charles- trainings for lawyers from Kazakh- taylortrial.org, offering daily updates stan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan on The Open Society Justice Initiative from the courtroom as well as expert how to overcome the challenges of works to protect human rights, analysis and information crucial to litigating torture cases. Torture is promote the rule of law, and understanding the trial proceedings. widely used in Central Asia to obtain develop legal capacity for open A law passed by the Mauritanian confessions and other statements societies. The Justice Initiative uses National Assembly in 2007 explicitly admitted as evidence in criminal pro- litigation, legal advocacy, technical outlaws slavery and related prac- ceedings. The trainings focused on assistance, and the dissemination tices, such as the sexual exploitation legal challenges in domestic courts of knowledge to secure advances in of female slaves, and provides up and international bodies to prompt the following priority areas: national to 10 years in prison as the punish- states in the region to comply with criminal justice reform, international ment for slave owners. Although their international obligations to pre- justice, freedom of information and slavery is widely practiced in the vent, investigate, and punish torture. expression, anticorruption, and country, previous governments Parliaments in Moldova and Geor- equality and citizenship. The Justice denied its existence. The Justice gia took important steps toward im- Initiative engages in significant Initiative provided advice and exper- proving access to justice by approv- activities across the world, tise in antidiscrimination law to a ing new legal aid laws guaranteeing with a number of notable 2007 coalition of Mauritanian NGOs that qualified legal assistance for all poor developments in Africa, Asia, and consulted with the government on defendants. The laws, developed Central and Eastern Europe. the bill. and drafted by the Justice Initiative The war crimes trial of former As a proponent of international and Soros foundations and legal Liberian President Charles Taylor is justice—including in particular in- NGOs in Moldova and Georgia, are a signal moment for international ternational and internationalized part of broader efforts to improve justice and especially for people in processes for prosecuting high-level each country’s justice system. West Africa who suffered most from perpetrators of genocide, crimes In a landmark decision for minori- his misdeeds. Taylor stands charged against humanity, and other atrocities across Europe, the Grand Cham- by the Special Court for Sierra Leone ties—the Justice Initiative has been ber of the European Court of Human with 11 counts of war crimes, crimes a long-time supporter of the estab- Rights ruled that segregating Roma against humanity, and serious viola- lishment and implementation of the students into special schools is a tions of international law related to Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The Justice form of unlawful discrimination that the conflict inS ierra Leone. Over the Initiative has provided training for violates fundamental human rights. last few years the Justice Initiative the court’s judges and other staff The ruling came in D.H. and Others has provided significant assistance and pushed the court to improve its v. the Czech Republic, an eight-year to local and international efforts practices in areas such as victims’ case in which 18 Roma children to bring Taylor to justice. The trial services, outreach, and administra- challenged the practice of shunting was transferred to The Hague—a tion. In 2007, the Justice Initiative Roma students—regardless of their world away from most of Taylor’s reported allegations that the court’s intellectual abilities—into “special” victims—due to concerns about personnel were required to provide schools for children with learning the political destabilization a trial in salary kickbacks, resulting in a UN disabilities. The Justice Initiative ad- Sierra Leone might cause. To bring investigation and, eventually, greater vised the plaintiffs and worked with news and information about the trial transparency at the court. an OSI grantee, the European Roma

106 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: OSI provided expertise on antidiscrimination law to Mauritanian NGOs in their successful effort to outlaw slavery in a country where previous governments denied its existence.

Rights Centre, and local counsel to rights, accountability, and rule of law Ministry of Economic Development, argue the case. promotion in Central and Eastern requiring the agency to declassify The Justice Initiative submitted Europe, the former Soviet Union, documents related to the transfer of comments to the European Court of and Mongolia. The program provides shares of a state-owned enterprise Human Rights highlighting the plight direct support to advocacy NGOs and provide Green Alternative with a of thousands of residents of Slove- that use monitoring, litigation, and copy of the privatization agreement. nia who were unjustly “erased” from domestic and international advocacy In Baysayeva v. Russia—a case the government’s registry of citizens to hold governments accountable for brought before the European Court in 1996. The 11 long-term residents respecting fundamental human rights of Human Rights by the grantee in Makuc and Others v. Slovenia and combating corruption. Russian Justice Initiative—the court were stripped of their legal status The program also partners with handed down a strongly worded after Slovenia’s secession from Soros foundations and other OSI decision condemning the disappear- Yugoslavia, and left with no meaning- programs to achieve common objec- ances of people detained by Rus- ful options for obtaining Slovene tives in advancing human rights and sian forces in Chechnya. The court citizenship. After the dissolution of the rule of law, develop new projects, ordered Russia to pay compensation Yugoslavia and the emergence of an and build networks among human for moral damages and also to take independent Slovenia, the new state rights and legal advocacy groups. steps to properly investigate disap- adopted laws allowing residents Program grantees such as the pearances. The court’s recognition of to apply for Slovene citizenship. Center for Reproductive Rights, In- the problem of disappearances can However, the citizenship application terights, and the Helsinki Foundation set a precedent for the way future process was cumbersome and the for Human Rights in Poland provided cases are handled in Chechnya. government did not publicize it ef- support and advocacy in 2007 that The human rights community fectively. As a result, thousands of led to a major victory for women’s achieved a significant victory inS ep- legal residents of Slovenia did not rights. The European Court of Hu- tember 2007 when Kazakhstan apply. In 1996, the Slovene govern- man Rights ruled that the govern- signed the Optional Protocol to the ment literally erased the names of ment of Poland had denied a woman International Covenant on Civil and 18,305 residents from its register of her right to privacy by preventing her Political Rights and the Optional citizens. Since then, these “erased” from having an abortion, despite Protocol to the Convention against citizens have been denied social doctors’ warnings that the preg- Torture. Advocacy by OSI partners, services including health care and nancy posed a threat to her health. the Kazakhstan International Bureau schooling, and some have been The birth rendered the woman for Human Rights and Rule of Law, rendered stateless. partially blind and unable to work. the Almaty Helsinki Committee, The court determined that Poland and the Charter for Human Rights, had breached the woman’s right to played a strong role in winning the Human Rights and privacy as defined by theE uropean government’s decision to ratify. The Governance Grants Convention for Human Rights and protocols will substantially strength- Program awarded her damages. en human rights protections and Green Alternative, another remedies for violations. The Human Rights and Governance grantee, won an important case for Grants Program is the principle freedom of information and privatiza- grantmaking effort of the Open tion accountability in Georgia. The Society Institute focusing on human Tbilisi City Court decided against the

:: justice and governance :: 107 An antidiscrimination campaign in Romania included a television series and live half-time messages from professional soccer players about the dangers of racism and discrimination.

Local Government and and Eastern Europe. The coalition of the largest budget lines in most of Public Service Reform seeks to engage local governments the region’s countries, yet centralized Initiative and communities in Eastern Europe control of budgets makes it nearly in connecting EU-funded social and impossible for schools to manage The Local Government and Public economic opportunities with the staff and resources according to Service Reform Initiative (LGI) Decade of Roma Inclusion and in real local needs. Central control promotes democratic and effective using EU funding for Roma inclusion also results in citizens feeling local and regional governance and targets in public education, public disconnected from their children’s advances the role of policy analysis health, employment, housing, and educational systems and having less in public affairs. Working with civil infrastructure. LGI will share and dis- oversight over how schools are society partners, LGI supports seminate best practices, and advo- managed. As LGI helps bring educa- governmental reform by monitoring cate in Brussels for a better use of tion financing and administration and assessing how governments EU funding for the Decade of Roma to the municipal or school level, it perform and by providing them with Inclusion. works with communities and local analytical and technical support. LGI teamed up with OSI’s Roma governments to preempt corruption LGI and the OSI-supported Rev- Initiatives Office to enhance the and inefficiency by establishing enue Watch Institute began working policy writing and advocacy skills municipal transparency and account- in 2007 to ensure that regions and of Roma NGO leaders engaged in ability measures. communities experiencing vast the Decade Watch’s monitoring of increases in wealth from rising com- decade activities. In Macedonia, modity prices for natural resources Roma NGO leaders prepared a policy Roma Programs such as oil, gas, and minerals will brief that outlined ways for the gov- use that wealth in transparent and ernment to reduce its dependence OSI, the largest nongovernmental strategic ways to improve public on donors when implementing pro- supporter of Roma-related initiatives services and reduce poverty. LGI and grams. In Bulgaria, Roma advocates in Central, Eastern, and South the Revenue Watch Institute started used a policy brief to generate sup- Eastern Europe, has provided promoting participatory development port to create a resource center for some $100 million since 1993 to planning and local, national, and in- elected Roma officials.L GI plans to increase the capacity of the Roma ternational initiatives like the Extrac- expand this advocacy capacity build- to act effectively for themselves, tive Industries Transparency Initiative ing throughout Central and South to advocate for systemic change in Indonesia and Peru. They aim to Eastern Europe. in government and EU policies follow and help guide the “money” In Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, affecting Roma, to challenge the from the time it leaves the ground as and Ukraine, LGI advocated for negative image of Roma, and to a commodity until it arrives in na- education finance reform, which make the Decade of Roma Inclusion tional coffers, is transferred to local has often been overlooked by other a success. In 2007, OSI Roma governments, and then re-invested donors interested in improving fis- programs, such as the Roma for local needs and services. cal transparency and educational Initiatives Office and theR oma A coalition of OSI programs services. LGI aims to assist finance Participation Program, and Soros coordinated by LGI was established and education ministries in devolving foundations worked to empower to ensure that European Union financing and management deci- Roma communities and change funding is used effectively to help sions to municipal governments and attitudes among the public and the Roma communities in Central individual schools. Education is one policymakers in areas ranging

108 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: from arts and culture to public ing a public information campaign the majority population, and TV and health to education and economic designed by local organizations and live half-time messages from pro- development. Roma artists to raise awareness fessional soccer players about the Chachipe (“truth” or “reality” about breast cancer and improve dangers of racism and discrimina- in Romany), an online international Roma women’s access to screening tion. As part of the soccer campaign, photography contest organized by and early detection services. The led by OSI Roma Initiatives fellow OSI and the Open Society Archives Roma Participation Program and the Valeriu Nicolae and largely funded under the Decade of Roma Inclusion, American Jewish Joint Distribution by national and international soccer sought photos by both professional Committee worked with leading associations, Romania’s president and amateur photographers that Hungarian cancer organizations named Baˇnel Nicolitaˇ, a popular defied traditional prejudiced images on the campaign, which included player of Roma origin, as the ambas- of Roma and portrayed Roma as conferences and “Open Health Day” sador against racism and violence in equal and active members in society. events providing breast scanning Romania. Nearly 300 photographers from 18 and information about breast cancer A polling project cofunded by countries submitted some 2,200 and healthy living. OSI–Sofia demonstrated that infor- images to the contest. All contest Tuberculosis is another health mation and discussion about Roma photographs are available on the crisis facing Roma communities integration in Bulgaria can change Chachipe website (http://photo. throughout Europe. Two OSI initia- public opinion. The project initially romadecade.org). The photos were tives, the Roma Health Project and surveyed 1,344 people on issues also exhibited in Budapest and will Public Health Watch, collaborated involving Roma and housing, crime, travel to several European cities in with the World Lung Foundation, and education. From this group, 2008. the International Union Against pollsters selected 250 respondents Another project supported by Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, to consider proposals from political OSI brought Roma artists to the and the World Health Organization parties, the government, and non- Venice Biennale contemporary art to make the TB emergency in Roma governmental organizations and then exhibition for the first time.T he communities a political priority. The attend a two-day meeting. After the Roma pavilion, sponsored by OSI, Roma Health Project supported an meeting, the participants showed the Allianz Kulturstiftung, and the international seminar on TB and increased tolerance toward Roma European Cultural Foundation, fea- social exclusion, published a policy and lower acceptance of exclusion- tured Paradise Lost, an exhibition report, and helped organize a meet- ary policies. of works by 16 contemporary Roma ing for civil society representatives, For the 2007 elections, the artists representing eight European increasing awareness of Roma TB Kosovo Foundation for Open Society countries. The pavilion’s presence at issues among policymakers and in- helped NGOs produce a booklet the biennale exposed Roma artists ternational health organizations. promoting the Roma, Ashkali, and to a wider audience and demon- An award-winning antidiscrimina- Egyptian communities’ expecta- strated the vital cultural and political tion campaign in Romania spon- tions on issues such as political contributions that Roma can make sored by the Roma Initiatives Office participation, education, and the to Europe. and the Roma Participation Program return of refugees. OSI organized a Roma women in Hungary are integrated the first national-level microfinance workshop inS kopje, three times as likely to die from policy report by Roma researchers, a conducted by OSI’s East East: Part- breast cancer as non-Roma women. television series examining relations nership Beyond Borders Program, OSI addressed this crisis by organiz- between Roma communities and to help Roma communities in Mace-

:: justice and governance :: 109 donia pursue housing development. inequity. The program also advances gram attended the first international The workshop, which was the first women’s rights and gender equality conference on Japan’s use of sexual time that stakeholders in the region in law and practice, and works to slavery in World War II; activists, at- integrated Roma, housing, and increase women’s participation in the torneys, scholars, and survivors dis- microcredit issues, resulted in the democratic process. cussed how to get Japan to officially establishment of a Roma housing Promoting justice with a focus on acknowledge that its army engaged fund in Macedonia. gender issues and women’s rights in in sexual trafficking. Legal efforts to advance Roma societies making democratic transi- In Latin America, the program rights had a major breakthrough in tions was a major priority for the supported a Peruvian human rights 2007. After eight years of litigation, International Women’s Program in group that gathered evidence and the European Court of Human Rights 2007. Working individually as well as documented cases of sexual vio- ruled that racial segregation of Roma in cooperation with the Open Society lence, an issue that has been largely in education is a violation of fun- Justice Initiative, the program sup- unaddressed by the country’s truth damental human rights. The case, ported groups such as the Women’s and reconciliation process. D.H. and Others v. Czech Republic, Initiatives for Gender Justice, which The International Women’s was brought by the European Roma provided gender training to more Program also focused on promoting Rights Centre, an OSI grantee. than 100 legal counsel and staff the rights of women facing multiple To foster reading and creative from the International Criminal Court forms of discrimination. The program writing in Roma communities in and African women activists working supported the efforts of the Johan- Bulgaria, the Next Page Foundation, with the International Criminal Court. nesburg-based Forum for the Empow- an OSI Information Program grantee, The program assisted local erment of Women to protect black worked with 12 partners in four groups in the Democratic Republic lesbians and develop nationwide countries to implement the “Our of the Congo, such as Ajedi-Ka and advocacy campaigns to advance Stories” project. The project involved Solidarité Féminine pour la Paix their rights. In Cambodia, the pro- children in the creation of books, et le Développement Intégral, that gram provided funding to the Work- provided communities with access provided medical, legal, and edu- ing Group for Weapons Reduction, an to age and culturally appropriate cational assistance to demobilized NGO that challenges discrimination materials, and organized mentoring girl soldiers and pursued justice based on gender and physical dis- activities between communities and for survivors of sexual violence. In abilities caused by landmines that 40 authors, artists, and educators. Europe, the program helped Medica litter the country, particularly in poor, Mondiale in Bosnia and Herzegovina rural areas. In Nepal, the program produce a best practices manual supported the Feminist Dalit Orga- International for how to treat victims of sexual nization, an NGO that advances the Women’s Program violence based on the NGO’s work rights of Dalit women, who belong during the wars in the former to an “untouchable” caste and face The International Women’s Program Yugoslavia. triple discrimination on the basis of aims to promote, protect, and In Asia, the International gender, class, and caste. guarantee the rights of women Women’s Program supported the To advance women’s rights at and girls living in countries marked first efforts to document theK hmer the regional level, the International by armed conflict, unstable Rouge’s treatment of women from Women’s Program sustained net- governments, lack of the rule of law, Cambodia’s Cham Muslim minority. works such as V-Day Karama (which poor public health, and economic Filipina women supported by the pro- means “dignity” in Arabic), consist-

110 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: OSI supported groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that provided assistance to demobilized girl soldiers and pursued justice for survivors of sexual violence.

ing of NGOs from nine Middle East- tion that submitted the country’s a new generation of reproductive ern countries. With support from the firstC EDAW shadow report and car- rights and health issues activists. program and OSI’s Middle East and ried out advocacy work around its The network developed recommen- North Africa Initiative, Karama mem- recommendations. dations on sex education for health bers from Egypt, Morocco, and Tuni- In Central and Eastern Europe, and education ministers in Central sia formed a delegation at the 51st the Women’s Program supported and Eastern European countries, Session of the UN Commission on reproductive health and rights by highlighting the damaging effects of the Status of Women and addressed funding the ASTRA (The Federation abstinence-only based sex education the UN General Assembly. Karama for Women and Family Planning) and ineffective HIV and AIDS preven- members in Jordan created a coali- youth network that works to develop tion programs.

:: justice and governance :: 111 Drug users return used needles and select clean ones in a needle exchange van operated by OSI grantee Humanitarian Action in St. Petersburg, Russia.

112 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Initiatives

Public Health

In public health, OSI promotes policies based upon social inclusion, human rights, justice, and scientific evidence, empowering socially marginalized groups to participate in the creation of such policies. It launched an initiative to support efforts that would increase access to essential medicines for the treatment of neglected diseases in developing countries. It organized or participated in major conferences and workshops on harm reduction, media coverage of health, pediatric palliative care, drug-resistant TB, and sex workers’ rights. OSI’s call for a greater focus on human rights in the global AIDS crisis has been endorsed by more than 250 organizations. In mental health, OSI helped secure alternatives to institutionalization in a number of countries, including Azerbaijan, where the government agreed to a community-based pilot project.

:: public health :: 113 Public Health Program at between 1.3 and 2.1 billion The monitoring project is en- people—lack access to essential gaged, for example, in a budget Unique in the donor community medicines. In 2007, the Public analysis of Kyrgyzstan’s mental for its ability to move cutting- Health Program launched its Access health system. OSI and the Bishkek- edge issues in the field of public to Essential Medicines Initiative to based advocacy organization, Mental health, OSI’s Public Health Program support efforts to increase access to Health and Society, are calling promotes policies based upon social drugs to treat neglected diseases in for reform of Kyrgyzstan’s mental inclusion, human rights, justice, and developing countries, especially for health system—favoring a shift in scientific evidence.T he Public Health marginalized populations. funds away from large institutions, Program works with civil society The initiative promotes civil which can perpetuate human rights organizations to engage socially society engagement in work that abuses, and into community-based marginalized groups in shaping focuses on three key areas: monitor- mental health services. The project public health policies, particularly ing and ensuring transparency of provided technical assistance and those related to HIV and AIDS, and the pharmaceutical industry, foster- support to train advocates on health advocates for greater government ing models of drug innovation that budget monitoring in Azerbaijan, accountability and transparency. protect public health, and supporting Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine, In its efforts to establish stronger fair and efficient mechanisms to and supported a number of advocacy civil society advocacy, the program ensure availability of medicines. campaigns in Africa, including in has stepped up its investment in The grant program includes technical Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi. leadership development and capacity assistance in such areas as orga- building, and increased core support nizational development and media Health Media Initiative for national and regional organiza- skills. The Health Media Initiative works tions such as the Eurasian Harm to increase public awareness of Reduction Network; the Botswana Health Budget Monitoring health issues, especially health Network on Ethics, Law and AIDS; and Advocacy Project issues involving stigmatization and the African Palliative Care Asso- National health budgets are telling and marginalized populations. ciation. It sponsored a conference in indicators of the priority and The initiative focuses on building Cape Town in 2007 on critical health commitment of a government’s the capacity of health-related and human rights issues, including response to health issues such nongovernmental organizations HIV and AIDS, patient care, harm as HIV and TB. The Health Budget to utilize media and communicate reduction, palliative care, sexual Monitoring and Advocacy Project effectively with the public. The health, and minority health. Rule of supports civil society participation in initiative also seeks to build the law and public health coordinators tracking and analyzing national and capacity of media professionals to from more than 25 Soros founda- local resources for HIV and AIDS and report responsibly on health issues. tions attended workshops for collab- other health issues. The project works OSI held a regional workshop in orative advocacy and grantmaking. to promote transparency of public Johannesburg for journalists and funding, increase access to key health advocates from throughout eastern Access to Essential information, strengthen participation and southern Africa. The initiative Medicines Initiative of marginalized populations in health also worked toward improving HIV According to the World Health policy debates, and increase the and AIDS reporting in China. OSI sup- Organization, 30 percent of the effectiveness, equity, and impact of ported the Wuhan University School world’s population—estimated health expenditures. of Journalism and Communication to

114 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: An OSI report underscored the crucial need for increasing the access of women drug users to integrated harm reduction services, drug treatment, and sexual and reproductive health care.

conduct a month-long training grated harm reduction services, drug Law and Health Initiative program for 20 mid-career Chinese treatment, and sexual and reproduc- The Law and Health Initiative (LAHI) journalists. tive health care, and to ensure their collaborates with other Public Health reproductive rights. IHRD sponsored projects to further their goals through International Harm a panel discussion on women and litigation, law reform, legal services, Reduction Development harm reduction at the international and human rights documentation and Program Women Deliver conference in Lon- advocacy. In 2007, LAHI developed a The International Harm Reduction don. IHRD and its partners helped range of tools to support health and Development Program (IHRD) is bring progress in drug policies and human rights advocacy throughout dedicated to reducing HIV and health practices in many countries, the Soros network. Chief among other harms related to injecting including China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz- these tools was a comprehensive drug use and advocates for policies stan, and Ukraine. resource guide that includes fact that reduce discrimination against sheets, jurisprudence, and case illicit drug users. In 2007, IHRD International Palliative Care studies on six priority areas of worked to improve the quality and Initiative health and human rights. LAHI also accessibility of needle exchange The International Palliative Care worked with Soros foundations programs; ensure the provision of Initiative (IPCI) works in resource- in Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, effective drug addiction treatment, poor countries to integrate palliative Macedonia, and Ukraine to develop including methadone and care into national health care plans a series of practitioner guides for buprenorphine treatment; provide and policies, delivery systems, and lawyers interested in taking patients’ access to antiretroviral medicines professional and public education. rights cases. for injecting drug users living with IPCI convened multiple seminars LAHI and the Open Society Initia- HIV, including prisoners; end law and trainings in 2007 as part of tive for Southern Africa provided enforcement policies and practices its ongoing commitment to health unrestricted support and technical that impede HIV prevention and care leadership development. The assistance to six AIDS and human health promotion; improve women’s initiative held its first seminar on rights organizations in southern access to harm reduction services; pediatric palliative care in Salzburg, Africa. LAHI also launched a joint and mobilize people who use drugs Austria, bringing together physicians initiative with the Open Society Initia- and those living with HIV to protect and health care practitioners from tive for East Africa to expand access their health and human rights. An every region of the world to to legal services for people living IHRD conference in Bangkok brought discuss pressing issues on end- with and affected by HIV and AIDS together harm reduction advocates of-life care for children. IPCI also in eastern Africa. An accompanying and health and legal experts, convened a two-day pediatric report found that rampant human including former police officers, palliative care course in Tbilisi, rights abuses were fueling Kenya’s from more than 20 countries to Georgia, for 40 regional health HIV epidemic, and urged the Kenyan develop strategies for HIV prevention care professionals. The initiative government to make legal services a services to work effectively with law was particularly active in Africa in centerpiece of its AIDS response. enforcement. 2007, supporting the production As one of the few donor-funded The IHRD report Women, Harm of manuals for palliative care projects dedicated to health and Reduction, and HIV underscored professionals and legal advocates, human rights, LAHI has taken a the crucial need for increasing the and workshops on access to leading role in advocating for human access of women drug users to inte- essential pain medication. rights–based responses to HIV and

:: public health :: 115 OSI brought sex worker activists and health and human rights advocates to Cambodia to discuss responses to human rights abuses committed in the name of “rescuing sex workers.”

AIDS before governmental and mul- of countries in Eastern Europe and ginning of a much-needed dialogue tilateral bodies. Advocacy included Central Asia. In Azerbaijan, it joined on developing alternative, commu- pressuring UNAIDS and the World with the Ministry of Education to nity-based approaches to treating Health Organization to include strong create a pilot project to replace insti- and preventing drug-resistant TB in protection for informed consent, tutional care for children with a com- southern Africa. counseling, and confidentiality in munity-based system. The project is The Public Health Watch report their new guidelines on HIV testing. focused on closing one large institu- series, Civil Society Perspectives on In advance of World AIDS Day, tion and relocating children and staff HIV/AIDS Policy, documents how LAHI and an international coalition to community settings. In Kyrgyzstan, stigma and discrimination against of leading AIDS organizations is- the Mental Health Initiative joined marginalized groups can affect sued a ten-point declaration, Human with Habitat for Humanity to provide national HIV and AIDS policies. The Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More decent housing and support services series looks at both developed and Than Ever, and called for a greater to Kyrgyz families with mentally ill or developing countries, including Nica- focus on human rights in the global disabled relatives. ragua, Senegal, Ukraine, the United AIDS response. The declaration States, and Vietnam. focuses on stigmatized groups who Public Health Watch are at highest risk of HIV, including Public Health Watch works to ensure Roma Health Project people who use drugs, sex workers, that affected communities—including The Roma Health Project supports incarcerated persons, women and socially marginalized populations— civil society groups to promote equal girls, and men who have sex with are full and equal partners in access to health services for Roma men. The declaration has been en- developing and implementing TB communities. In 2007, the project dorsed by more than 250 organiza- and HIV policies. and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tions worldwide. Drug-resistant TB, found in 28 Tuberculosis and Malaria released a countries, is a growing danger for report outlining how Roma NGOs can Mental Health Initiative people who are HIV-positive. In develop and implement Global Fund The Open Society Mental Health advance of the WHO Euro Ministe- projects to better address Roma Initiative aims to ensure that rial Forum on TB in Europe, Public health concerns. people with mental disabilities are Health Watch and the Roma Health The Roma Health Project raised able to live as equal citizens in Project of the Public Health Program awareness on how socioeconomic the community and to participate prepared an “Offer of Partnership” difficulties that disproportionately in society with full respect for between civil society representa- affect Roma can lead to higher risk their human rights. The initiative’s tives and European leaders, and for contracting HIV, TB, and other activities focus on ending the stressed the importance of address- diseases. It collaborated with the unjustified and inappropriate ing underlying determinants, such International Harm Reduction Devel- institutionalization of people with as poverty and stigma, that fuel the opment Program to produce training mental disabilities by advocating for TB epidemic. Public Health Watch seminars and resources focused the closure of institutions and the also convened several sessions specifically on health outreach for development of community-based on TB and HIV for the World Lung Roma drug users. The project sup- alternatives. Conference held in South Africa. At ported the European Roma Rights In 2007, the Mental Health the conference, Public Health Watch Centre to produce a report on dis- Initiative helped secure alternatives coorganized a “Time for Change” crimination against Roma women in to institutionalization in a number satellite session, which was the be- Serbia, which was submitted to the

116 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: UN Committee on Elimination of Dis- sexual orientation, or gender identity, sex workers in developing and imple- crimination against Women (CEDAW). have access to quality health and menting policies and services that In conjunction with the Health social services and can effectively impact their health and rights. Media Initiative and OSI’s Media advocate for their rights. SHARP brought sex worker activ- Program, the Roma Health Project In 2007, SHARP provided finan- ists and health and human rights cofunded a number of media centers cial and technical support to create advocates from around the world in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, much-needed resources to help to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia, advance sexual health and rights. they discussed responses to hu- and supported investigative journal- SHARP also supported the Sex man rights abuses committed in the ism on Roma access to health care. Workers Project of the Urban Justice name of “rescuing sex workers.” Center to develop and release a Working with the Law and Health Sexual Health and multilanguage toolkit on sex work Initiative, SHARP held a human rights Rights Project issues for journalists, activists, and training in Thailand for sex worker The Sexual Health and Rights Project the general public. organizations to help them better (SHARP) works to ensure that people Through a series of workshops understand their rights in the face of who are stigmatized because of their and regional meetings, SHARP routine abuse by police and health sexual practices, real or perceived promoted the full participation of care workers.

:: public health :: 117 Initiatives

Education, Information, and Media

OSI’s education programs attempt to reduce global education disparities, reform education in the humanities and social sciences, empower youth by teaching them critical thinking skills, and provide access to education for marginalized children. Among other activities, OSI released reports warning that most Roma children continue to face disadvantages in every aspect of education; an OSI-supported scholar became a senior advisor to Kosovo’s education minister; and early childhood programs expanded into the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. At a conference in Cape Town, OSI helped expand the idea of open access to publicly funded information to include educational and legal materials. OSI supported efforts to overcome attacks on freedom of the press, assisting media organizations in Indonesia, South Africa, and elsewhere.

118 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Georgian journalists cover a political meeting in front of the parliament.

:: education, information, and media :: 119 Education Support up multicultural education project. In with OSI funding, received World Program Western Europe, it launched a new Bank financing to provide training to initiative to examine the educational 3,300 teachers in rural schools and The Education Support Program disadvantages faced by migrant and increase access to reading materials (ESP) made significant progress in minority groups. for 104,000 primary school students. advancing educational justice in A grant to the Global Campaign A project implemented by the 2007 by working to reduce global for Education allowed the group to Education Support Program and the education disparities and promoting prepare three years of research on International Renaissance Founda- access to education for marginalized schools in 178 countries for publication (Ukraine) received a $5 million children. The program began tion as an advocacy tool. As part of grant from the U.S. government to expand beyond postsocialist a new three-year project examining to expand its work in making the countries in the Caucasus, Central education inclusion and quality in country’s higher education exams Asia, Europe, and Mongolia, and into eight countries in South Eastern fair and transparent. In Pakistan, the Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, the program will conduct program supported a two-year study and Turkey. research to help determine dispari- to disseminate and publicize best A core activity in 2007 was sup- ties across the region and formulate practice examples from the country’s porting initiatives and research to initiatives to address them. Working education system. improve the chances of children with with the Network of Education Policy special education needs—those Centers, the program conducted who suffer from disabilities, learning research and monitoring on school International difficulties, or are socially disadvan- dropouts in Albania, Kazakhstan, Higher Education taged. In Mongolia, for example, Latvia, Mongolia, Slovakia, and Tajiki- Support Program the Education Support Program stan; published a study examining and other international partners how private tutoring has affected The International Higher Education launched a project to provide edu- education in nine postsocialist coun- Support Program (HESP) promotes cational opportunities for deaf and tries with high-stakes testing sys- the advancement of higher hard-of-hearing children, teenagers, tems; and launched a project inves- education within the humanities and adults. In Europe, the program tigating the impact and transparency and social sciences in Central, released reports on equal access to of financial donations from parents Eastern, and South Eastern quality education for Roma popula- to public schools in Azerbaijan, Geor- Europe, the former Soviet Union, tions in the eight Decade of Roma gia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova, and Mongolia. HESP provides Inclusion countries, warning that Slovakia, and Tajikistan. financial and technical assistance most Roma children continue to face The program’s Reading and to a network of institutions, ranging disadvantages in every aspect of Writing for Critical Thinking project from undergraduate universities to their education. supported training for 60 primary doctoral programs and centers for In Serbia, the Education Sup- and secondary school teachers advanced study. The program also port Program concluded a two-year and 25 higher education teachers, works closely with Central European program focusing on children with expanding its activities in Africa, University, OSI’s Scholarship disabilities that established an Central Asia, Latin America, the Programs, and Soros foundations education network, published an Middle East, Southeast Asia, Turkey, to fund and implement a variety of inclusive education practices guide and Ukraine. The Mongolian Educa- programs for students, academics, for teachers, and launched a follow- tion Alliance, an NGO established and education professionals.

120 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Since the late 1980s, OSI has supported scholars with innovative ideas who have contributed to their countries in fields ranging from human rights to macroeconomics.

HESP launched the Research Ini- programs outside of their home an EU higher education initiative that tiative for China in 2007 to provide countries. Scholarship programs aims to create common European two-year fellowships for doctoral work to revitalize and reform the higher education standards by 2010. students and young academics teaching of the social sciences and Elnura Gurbanova, an Azeri based in the Inner Mongolia and the humanities, provide professional alumna of a joint OSI/German Aca- autonomous Xinjiang Uygur regions training in fields unavailable or demic Exchange Service scholarship of China. The fellowships focus on underrepresented at institutions program, worked with other Azeris developing teaching and learning in scholars’ home countries, and educated overseas to prompt the about the cultures and societies assist outstanding students from a government in Azerbaijan to chan- of national minority groups in each range of backgrounds to pursue their nel a portion of the country’s oil region. Building upon its previous studies in alternative academic and revenues into scholarships for study effort to give Afghan women access cultural environments. Since the late abroad. As a result, the government to higher education, HESP pledged 1980s, the program has supported announced in 2007 that it plans to to support three more entering scholars with innovative ideas who fund upwards of 15,000 scholar- classes of 10 undergraduate female have made substantial contributions ships over the next seven years. The students from Afghanistan to study to their countries in fields ranging program will be administered with at the American University of Central from education to human rights to help from Fuad Ahmadov, a Scholar- Asia in Kyrgyzstan. HESP has pro- macroeconomics. ship Program faculty fellow currently vided support for some 40 Afghan The following are highlights from at Columbia University. students, both men and women. among the many achievements of Munir Nuseibah, an alumnus of In Russia, HESP pledged impor- program scholars in 2007: the Palestinian Rule of Law Program, tant financial support for endowment After earning a PhD in economics worked in 2007 as a lecturer at the campaigns at the European Univer- at Staffordshire University, Avdullah Al-Quds Human Rights Clinic in Pal- sity at St. Petersburg and Smolny Hoti was appointed as a senior advi- estine. The clinic, the first accredited College at St. Petersburg State Uni- sor to Kosovo’s minister of educa- program of its kind in the Arab world, versity. HESP pledged up to $5 mil- tion, science, and technology. Hoti documents human rights violations lion per institution in matching funds persuaded the minister to direct 5 in the Palestinian territories and for the general endowments, which percent of the University of Pristina’s teaches undergraduate law stu- are expected to cover student schol- self-generated revenues to research. dents. Nuseibah, who received his arships and faculty development. He also convinced the university LLM from the American University’s to hire a vice dean for research in Washington College of Law, taught each of its academic faculties, as a course that connects students to Network Scholarship well as a vice rector for research. practitioners so that they can learn Programs Hoti’s promotion of research in from real human rights cases. The the university helped facilitate the clinic bolsters this learning by having Network Scholarship Programs adoption of European financing sys- students provide supervised free fund the participation of students, tems that give students at Kosovo legal services to the public. scholars, and professionals universities opportunities to study from Eastern and South Eastern abroad. Hoti also prepared a paper Europe, Eurasia, Mongolia, the on Kosovo higher education that the Middle East, and Southeast government is using to advance its Asia in competitive academic membership in the Bologna Process,

:: education, information, and media :: 121 The U.S. National Institutes of Health, the world’s largest funder of scientific research, mandated that all journal publications resulting from NIH-funded research should be available to the public.

Network Debate youth in Central and Eastern Europe journalists at a bilingual newspaper Program to promote interethnic tolerance in Ramallah. and awareness and understanding In mid-2008, the Open Society The OSI Network Debate Program, of issues important to Roma com- Institute Youth Initiative, a new which operates in 40 countries, munities. With support from the U.S. program, took over the Debate Pro- empowers youth by teaching Department of State, the Debate gram’s activities and expanded the them how to engage in critical, Program worked with local schools focus to encourage a broader range reasoned discussions examining and civil society groups in Uganda of youth-led projects to promote issues important to their lives and and Rwanda to organize debates open society values. communities. Debate helps young promoting nonviolent change and people become active citizens who critical thinking. can influence public life and promote In Burma, the program worked Early Childhood open society ideals. with the American Center to support Program Working with its international the Myanmar Debate Society, which spin-off, the International Debate held public debates on contemporary OSI has maintained a strong Education Association, the program issues, attracting hundreds of peo- commitment to early childhood care improved and promoted idebate.org, ple; organized workshops for debate and education because scientific which provides free debate and trainers; and produced a Burmese- research has repeatedly shown that educational resources to help debat- language instructional film.P ublic early childhood interventions can ers meet, exchange ideas, and build interest in debate remains strong in help at-risk children overcome the community. One website project is Burma despite acts of government effects of social disadvantage. The the Debatepedia wiki, which allows intimidation against the debating aims of the Early Childhood Program debaters, students, and citizens to society. reflectOSI ’s mission to promote create an encyclopedia of debates, The Youth Citizen Journalism social justice by supporting activities pro and con arguments, supporting project, developed by the Debate that expand access to quality early evidence, and the positions of the Program and two other OSI pro- childhood development, with special key politicians, organizations, and grams, the Middle East and North attention to minorities, children with leaders involved in important de- Africa Initiative and the Moving Walls disabilities, and children living in bates. The Debate Program also International Photography Exhibition, poverty. worked with IDEBATE Press to publish organized journalism and photogra- The Early Childhood Program debate books for teachers, students, phy projects in Egypt, Lebanon, and helped Roma and other minority coaches, and debaters from middle Palestine. By training young people communities achieve a major educa- school through lower college, as well with accessible, affordable equip- tion antidiscrimination success by as debate societies. ment and pairing them with profes- cooperating with the Open Society The program’s broad range of sional journalists and photographers Justice Initiative’s efforts at the activities in 2007 included inter- as mentors and teachers, the project European Court of Human Rights to national debate tournaments in allows young people to quickly docu- hold governments accountable for Italy and the Czech Republic, the ment and advocate for issues that unjust placement of Roma children European Youth Speak project to are important to them. Project activi- in inappropriate “special schools.” encourage young people to discuss ties in 2007 included photography The Early Childhood Program was the European Union’s role in their training for girls in the West Bank instrumental in consolidating infor- lives, and continuing work with Roma and a workshop series for young mation about culturally appropriate

122 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: educational testing and early track- Projects launched in 2007 to make intellectual property rules ing for presentation to the court. included the establishment of post- more responsive to the needs of The Early Childhood Program’s graduate programs in child develop- poorer countries. The program also Step by Step initiative continued ment at the Institute of Educational supported projects to devise reforms to build its institutional strength in Development at BRAC University in and alternative approaches to copy- 2007. Step by Step, started in Bangladesh, and technical support right in Brazil, Kenya, Macedonia, 1994 in Central and Eastern Europe, for analysis and the development Serbia, and South Africa. introduced a child-centered approach of policies for young children by the The Open Access Initiative, a and community engagement into Ministry of Education in Liberia. multiyear Information Program advo- the rigid, teacher-centered education cacy effort to make access to systems of the communist era. scholarly information more equitable Step by Step has grown to include Information Program and affordable across the globe, working to develop national early helped prompt significant change childhood NGOs and institutions, The Information Program works to at the U.S. National Institutes of formally evaluating pilot projects, increase public access to knowledge, Health. The agency, the world’s larg- and supporting advocacy to reform facilitate communication among est funder of scientific research, re- early childhood policies. The initiative civil society groups, and protect sponded to open access advocates is implemented through the Open civil liberties and the freedom by mandating that all journal publi- Society Foundation in London, the to communicate in the digital cations resulting from NIH-funded International Step by Step Associa- environment. The program gives research should be available to the tion, and Step by Step NGOs located particular attention to the information public. Many other research funding in 29 countries. Step by Step contin- needs of disadvantaged groups and agencies around the world are ex- ues to diversify its funding base, less developed parts of the world. pected to adopt similar policies. with OSI providing less than 20 There is a growing awareness The idea of open access to percent of the funding for national around the world that global intellec- publicly funded information is being NGOs implementing the program. tual property rules are unbalanced expanded to educational and legal The bulk of Step by Step funding and at odds with the public interest, materials. Together with the Shuttle- currently comes from national and creating barriers to scientific and worth Foundation, the Information local governments, the European medical information in places where Program initiated the development Union, the World Bank, UNICEF, it is most needed. For example, and launch of the Cape Town Open USAID, and the sale of educational bilateral trade agreements between Education Declaration, the found- services and publications. developed and developing countries ing statement for efforts to allow The Early Childhood Program in often deny the poorer countries textbooks and other educational 2007 extended its technical exper- the same fair use rights that are materials to be freely translated and tise to the Middle East, Africa, and enshrined in the laws of richer adapted around the world. The pro- Asia, promoting long-term systemic countries. The program addressed gram advanced open access to legal change that involves children, their this issue in 2007 by supporting materials in Africa through a project families, and a wide group of edu- the Access to Knowledge advocacy that made case law from 18 south- cation, health, and social service coalition in its successful efforts ern African countries freely available providers. The program intends to to get the UN World Intellectual online. use single country initiatives to also Property Organization to adopt a To increase access to publica- formulate regional strategies. new development agenda that aims tions on business, science and tech-

:: education, information, and media :: 123 In South Africa, OSI supported a court case that resulted in a decision establishing the public’s right to know through media coverage of trials.

nology, the social sciences, and the providing search, email, and blogging which concerned a $128.59 million humanities, the program continued services to protect users rights, es- award against Time Asia for a story to support Electronic Information for pecially in repressive countries. The detailing former President Suharto’s Libraries (EIFL), a global consortium program also sustained a network financial interests.I n South Africa, of libraries in transition and develop- of electronic privacy activists across the Freedom of Expression Insti- ing countries. EIFL provides low-cost Europe, and pursued policy advocacy tute, a legal NGO supported by the access to thousands of premium in Eastern Africa to ensure access to program, challenged government journals through a consortium of major new Internet infrastructure in efforts to try in secret two individu- more than 3,000 libraries in over 50 the region. als for smuggling nuclear materials, countries that serve about 5 million by restraining media coverage of students, teachers, researchers, and the court proceedings; the court’s citizens. Media Program ruling became South Africa’s first Helping civil society groups use major legal precedent in favor of the information technology, program As part of its mission to defend and public’s right to know through the grantees brought together organi- advance media freedom across the media and reinforced the concept of zations in Africa that use mobile globe, the Media Program supported open justice. phones for monitoring and advo- efforts to overcome attacks on The Media Program supported cacy for the purpose of developing freedom of the press by helping press freedom monitoring and ad- toolkits for civil society. In Ukraine, train lawyers to defend journalists vocacy by funding groups such as a program-supported blogcamp and media organizations and submit the International Freedom of Expres- brought together several hundred cases to international tribunals. sion Exchange (IFEX), a network of bloggers and youth activists from The program collaborated with 80 press freedom organizations. across the Commonwealth of Inde- the Open Society Justice Initiative IFEX campaigns highlighted the pendent States. The public affairs and the Soros foundations to deterioration of press freedom in website Transitions Online worked establish media lawyers’ networks in countries such as Burma, Gambia, with NewEurasia.net to promote citi- Southeast Asia, Africa, Russia, and and Tunisia. To increase collabora- zen journalism among youth and civil Ukraine. tive monitoring and advocacy efforts, society organizations in Central Asia. The Media Program also sup- the program convened a meeting The Tactical Technology Collective ported numerous individual cases. In that brought international press used program support to produce the Philippines, the program provided freedom organizations together with Visualizing Information for Advocacy: support to a class action suit by practitioners and advocates from An Introduction to Information journalists and media organizations organizations across Latin America. Design, a handbook on using design against the secretary of justice and The meeting has led to progress on tools and techniques to make data senior police officials for their illegal more coordinated monitoring efforts more transparent and accessible in detention in attempting to cover between many of the groups present advocacy campaigning. up an alleged coup attempt. The and joint efforts in advocacy for free- The program also supported program and its partners brought dom of expression. work on monitoring and circumvent- together a coalition of NGOs and To help develop and strengthen ing Internet censorship worldwide media organizations to submit an national independent media net- by groups such as the OpenNet amicus brief in the H.M. Suharto v. works, the program assisted organi- Initiative, and the drafting of a code TIME Inc. Asia et al. defamation case zations like Pajhwok Afghan News, of conduct for major IT companies in the Indonesian Supreme Court, a national news and photography

124 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: agency in Afghanistan that provides Because investigative journalism radio and TV stations. In Africa, the daily coverage of efforts to rebuild plays a key role in keeping the public program engaged in media donor the country amidst ongoing conflict. informed and powerful economic and and aid policy in Africa, working to In Nepal, Communications Corner, political players accountable, the ensure African inclusion and leader- a media venture supported by the program supported international con- ship in key European and U.S. media program, used the Internet to link ferences and exchanges for investi- policy and donor initiatives, and local radio stations across the gative journalists and investigative encouraging international support for country in the lead-up to the 2008 journalism networks and organiza- an Africa-driven media development elections. In Peru, the broadcast- tions in Brazil, Chile, the Philippines, agenda. ing service Red TV worked to de- and South Eastern Europe. Television Across Europe, a 2005 mocratize and decentralize public The Media Program sought to report analyzing Europe’s public information by building a national influenceE uropean attitudes toward service broadcasting produced by network of local TV stations. The Roma by continuing its support to a the Media Program and EUMAP, con- Media Program also strengthened an coproduction fund for Roma and non- tinued to influenceEU debates and independent national TV and radio Roma journalists to jointly produce policies, including amendments to network in Moldova. stories for mainstream and Roma Italy’s 2007 media legislation.

:: education, information, and media :: 125 Other Programs

Arts and Culture imagery and musicality of the Central and community centers to develop Network Program Asian states. the children’s awareness and knowl- As part of the International edge about Roma culture. The Arts and Culture Network Human Rights Documentary Film The First Roma Pavilion at the Program worked in the Caucasus, festival, a program grantee, One Venice Biennale, a groundbreaking Inner Asia, Central and Eastern World Kyrgyzstan, screened films effort initiated by OSI with support Europe, and the Balkans to develop, about women, Islam, and children, from the ECF, the Allianz Kulturstif- empower, and build the capacity followed by discussions, in Bishkek, tung, and Pro Helvetia, marked the of organizations and individuals Osh, and Jalalabad. The Central arrival of Roma contemporary culture promoting cultural exchange, Asian School of Performing Arts on the international stage. The pa- understanding, and tolerance provided training in acting, directing, vilion, featuring the works of 16 con- through the arts. dancing, and singing to talented temporary Roma artists, challenged The Arts and Culture Network young people from Central Asia, the exotic “Gypsy” stereotype. While Program continued its partnership selected in an open competition. the pavilion was open, the program with the European Cultural Founda- The Armenian Jewish Music & Poetry organized concerts by Roma musi- tion (ECF) in 2007 to support the Festival introduced the public to the cians, roundtable discussions, and a exchange of artists and cultural contemporary music and poetry of video installation of racist, anti-Roma managers between Europe and Jewish composers and authors to films and advertisements. the Caucasus. The program also help create a respectful and tolerant continued funding the ECF’s Balkan view toward people from different Incentive Fund for Culture to support nationalities and cultures residing in East East: Partnership collaborative artistic and cultural Armenia. Beyond Borders Program initiatives across Europe to help In Central and Eastern Europe prepare the cultural ground for South and the Balkans, the Arts and Cul- Through a combination of grants Eastern European states acceding to ture Network Program carried out and initiatives, the East East: Partner- the European Union. In Central Asia, two major activities in 2007: the ship Beyond Borders Program uses the program supported matching Roma Mentoring Project and the exchanges to foster collaboration funds grants with the Dutch organiza- First Roma Pavilion at the 52nd among civil society organizations in tion Hivos for museum and cinema Venice Biennale. more than one country and promote development and for the second The Roma Mentor Project brought practical responses to social, Central Asia Pavilion at the 52nd Roma painters, musicians, media economic, and cultural issues. The Venice Biennale, which featured stars, and other cultural profession- program works with individuals young media artists presenting als together with ethnically mixed and groups in Central Asia, Central video works emphasizing the children and youth groups at schools and Eastern Europe, Mongolia, and

126 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: The First Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a groundbreaking effort initiated by OSI, marked the arrival of Roma contemporary culture on the international stage.

Turkey, and has institutional partners brought together experts, nongov- Daniel Smilov, featuring five chapters in Croatia, Russia, and Slovenia. ernmental organizations, and micro- by fellows. In the program’s final year A special subprogram arranges finance housing practitioners from of operation, the fellows completed exchanges among groups within the Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, projects that included the launch of European Union and neighboring Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, a new think tank in Afghanistan and states to share experiences and Serbia, and Slovakia in Skopje to initiatives for Roma women. expertise regarding EU integration. increase awareness about the use of Fellow Ahmad Idrees Rahmani East East supported over 300 microfinance to build housing for the led a team of local and international initiatives in 2007, including Roma in South Eastern Europe. specialists that conducted field re- exchanges addressing issues such NGO representatives, journalists, search in Afghanistan and drafted as election monitoring, public interest activists, and scholars from Czech the country’s five-year plan for subna- law, and microfinance. Republic, Georgia, Germany, Mol- tional governance. Rahmani, together Independent election monitors dova, Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine with several Afghan colleagues, also and experts from the former Soviet used exchanges facilitated by the launched a new think tank in Kabul, Union came together in Kyiv in Oc- Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland the Afghanistan Center for Research tober to share methodologies and to increase cooperation on energy and Policy Studies. The center will evaluate monitoring of recent elec- issues and recommend EU policies provide economic development policy tions in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and that reflect the public interest. analysis to legislators and cabinet other postcommunist societies. The ministers and submit papers to the exchange, organized by the Moscow international donor community. Center of the Carnegie Endowment International Policy With support from the European for International Peace and the In- Fellowships Roma Rights Centre and the Vojvo- ternational Renaissance Foundation dina Secretariat for Labour, Employ- in Kyiv, resulted in participants de- The International Policy Fellowships ment, and Gender Equality of veloping new collaborative initiatives program concluded nearly a decade Serbia, fellow Tatjana Peric orga- to improve election analysis and of activities at the end of 2007. nized a regional conference for monitoring. A successor initiative, the Open Roma women in Serbia; the confer- Human rights and public interest Society Fellowship, was launched ence stressed the need to include law were strengthened in Mongolia in February 2008 and will continue Roma women in international action through an exchange supported by OSI’s commitment to supporting plans to fight gender discrimination the Open Society Forum in Mongolia. the development of public policy and in all Decade of Roma Inclu- The exchange in March allowed that advances civil society and sion decision making and to secure Mongolian public interest lawyers democratic reform. In addition to gender equality principles in Decade and NGO staff members to learn new many publications produced by planning. skills and share experiences with individual fellows, the International Working with other NGOs and their counterparts in Hungary and Policy Fellowship Program and a OSI programs and foundations, fel- Slovakia. Participants came away team of fellows produced two books low Raluca Maria Popa organized from the exchange with fresh ideas that received critical praise: Islam a workshop in Bucharest to assist about increasing international col- and Tolerance in Wider Europe, local NGOs and Roma organizations laboration to further social justice. published by the program, and in accessing EU structural funds for Working with the Open Society Political Finance and Corruption in gender equality and social inclusion Institute–Macedonia, the program Eastern Europe, coedited by fellow programs.

:: other programs :: 127 Documentary Moving Walls at OSI offices and to support partnerships between Photography Project cultural and educational institutions individual documentary photogra- in New York, Washington, D.C., and phers and NGOs or other organiza- The Documentary Photography Baltimore. In addition, the project, in tions. Projects must propose new Project looks at the nexus between partnership with OSI’s Middle East and innovative models for dissemi- photography and advocacy. Through and North Africa Initiative, presented nating and exhibiting photography exhibits, workshops, grantmaking, an international tour of Moving Walls that are designed to engage audi- and public programs, the project at cultural venues in Aleppo, Beirut, ences and stimulate positive social explores how photography can Cairo, and Damascus. This traveling change. In 2007, grants were award- shape public perception and effect exhibit consists of a core exhibition ed to Breaking the Silence, Wendy social change. The Moving Walls of seven past Moving Walls photog- Ewald, Leora Kahn, Tim Matsui, exhibition series aims to visually raphers shown alongside one to two and Jonathan Torgovnik. Production represent the transitional condition local photographers selected for grants are awarded, on occasion, of open societies and the promotion each venue. Two workshops are held to support organizations that run and maintenance of democratic in conjunction with the exhibition: a their own grantmaking programs for values. It is an artistic interpretation master class for local photographers the creation of new bodies of work. of obstacles—such as political and a youth media photography Production grants were awarded to oppression, economic instability, workshop (run by OSI’s Network The Aftermath Project and the W. and racism—and the struggles to Debate Program) that uses Moving Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic tear those barriers down. Walls in the curriculum. Photography. In 2007, the project presented Distribution grants are awarded

128 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: A church destroyed by Hurricane Katrina is still abandoned two years later. Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2007. The photograph by Stanley Greene appears on OSI’s site for Katrina: An Unnatural Disaster, along with the work of three dozen print and radio journalists, photographers, filmmakers, and youth media organizations who received Open Society Institute Katrina Media Fellowships. Katrina: An Unnatural Disaster was named the best nonprofit website of the year in the 12th Annual Webby Awards.

:: other programs :: 129 When the city of Chicago closed the Juan Diego Workers’ Center, immigrant workers were forced to return to the street to look for work.

130 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: U.S. Programs

United States

The Open Society Institute in the United States sought to repair democracy with support for groups working to secure immigrants’ rights, increase the fairness of elections, and mobilize young people. It promoted criminal justice reforms to reduce incarceration rates and end racial profiling, felony disfranchisement, and capital punishment. Among the year’s achievements: The U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Sentencing Commission both made rulings that will reduce the racially discriminatory disparities between sentences for powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Starting on the next page, writer Elizabeth Rubin reports on anti-immigrant policies and hostility in America and how OSI grantees are fighting back. A description of U.S. Programs’ activities in 2007 follows her story.

:: U.S. Programs :: 131 U.S. Programs

Protecting Immigrants’ Rights Against Government-led Attacks

he young mother has no name on the Some of the women were still breastfeeding young YouTube video. She speaks deliberately, in children they left behind. Men watched as female Spanish, sometimes in tears, but mostly with agents forced milk out of the women’s breasts disbelief as she recounts her ordeal at the to see if they were lying. They made crude jokes Michael Bianco garment factory in New Bedford, about getting oreo cookies to have with the “cow’s Massachusetts. She’d worked there for two years, milk.” “It was so ugly,” said the young mother. All most recently manufacturing backpacks for the she could think about was how to contact her sick U.S. military. Then suddenly on the morning of daughter. She had no money, no phone, and the March 6, her world was ripped apart. Coast Guard guards refused to allow her to speak to a lawyer. helicopters swarmed in overheard. Three hundred After several days, she was finally given a break to Tfederal agents stormed the plant, rounding up call home. Her daughter, who was being treated men and women like cattle. The agents from the for stomach problems, was deteriorating and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have threatening to kill herself. acquired such a reputation for gratuitous brutality Back in New Bedford, confusion and fear swept they’re now known as ICE men. The young through immigrant households. Children and mother recalls how the ICE men were throwing relatives had no idea where their family members men to the floor, hitting them in the face, cursing were or when or if they’d return. Families would them. They grabbed her too. She told them she not be able to pay their rent, their food and phone had no one to leave her sick daughter with. They bills. The actions of the federal government were didn’t care. Soon she was on a plane with no idea generating a veritable humanitarian crisis. where she was headed. The ICE men put chains on her waist. They tied her hands and feet. They threw bags of food to her and the other workers A Disastrous Year “like we were dogs,” but gave them no help if they for Immigrants didn’t manage to catch the bags and gave them no time to eat. What occurred in New Bedford was no isolated In Texas they were detained in appalling incident. The year 2007 was a disastrous one for conditions and humiliated by the ICE agents. immigrants. Federal immigration agents fanned

132 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: out across the country storming factories, meat- immigrant movement, as well as responding to packing plants, rounding up undocumented the daily legal, advocacy, and humanitarian needs workers, terrorizing their families and of immigrants in America. They include faith- communities. Hundreds of people trying to enter based Christian organizations, African-American the United States died in the desert as border civil rights advocates, small-town immigrant aid enforcement strategies funneled them into longer, workers, and national policymakers. more dangerous routes. In corners of Arizona, Take what happened in New Bedford. The Oklahoma, New York, and Pennsylvania local response of the Massachusetts Immigrant and police stopped drivers who looked Mexican and Refugee Advocacy organization (MIRA) shows demanded papers, denied businesses licenses if what a crucial impact OSI-funded groups are they hired illegal workers, threatened landlords if having. MIRA is a regional partner to three OSI they rented to illegal immigrants. In Oklahoma, grantees—the Center for Community Change, according to Hispanic business groups, life for an immigrant advocacy group, the Catholic Legal undocumented workers became so miserable Immigration Network (CLINIC), and the Four that some 25,000 packed up and left, victims of Freedoms Fund, a funding collaborative that what a few advocates cynically named the “starve supports local organizations. On the morning them out strategy.” The federal government, of March 6, MIRA in Boston received a tip that advocates say, deported an unprecedented 250,000 the raid was coming. MIRA called the Center for immigrants in 2007. Community Change, whose director, Deepak On the legislative side, the comprehensive Bhargava, sent an organizer to work with MIRA’s immigration reform bill, which was in the staff to provide services to the families and making for three years and had the backing of engage the Massachusetts political establishment. senators John McCain and Edward M. Kennedy, Pro bono lawyers, including attorneys from as well as the White House, was killed on the the CLINIC, took on the cases of the detained. floor of Congress.T he only federal legislation A church basement was converted to take in that managed to pass in the last two years was donations for families. State senators, the mayor, authorization for a 700-mile-long fence along the the governor, senators Kennedy and John F. Kerry, border with Mexico. On the other hand, state convened in the church to hear the stories of governments introduced some 1,400 widely families. diverging pieces of immigration-related legislation in the first half of 2007. Government hostility toward immigrants The Crying Child and the failure of comprehensive immigration reform have made the work of NGOs even By mobilizing such a speedy response, MIRA and more important. The Open Society Institute has the Center for Community Change gave victims funded a wide range of organizations tackling a public platform, raised money for the families, the entire spectrum of immigration issues. OSI- and ensured that the raid became a major national funded activists are brainstorming how to reframe story and rallying cry for immigrants’ rights. A the immigration debate and deflate the anti- photograph of the big, teary eyes of two-year-old

:: U.S. Programs :: 133 “Immigrants are hard workers, strong family values people. We don’t regard these people as ‘them.’ They are brothers and sisters.”

Tomasa Mendez, whose father was whisked away Exploitation, Ignorance, and flown to some unknown detention center, and Racism became a symbol of how immigrants are treated in the United States. What happened in New Bedford has made clear MIRA posted the testimony of the young to everyone the consequences of a status quo mother on YouTube—and of Senator Kennedy immigration policy—out-of-control ICE men, venting his fury at a press conference in New employers exploiting undocumented laborers, U.S. Bedford. Kennedy said that America needs military relying on cheap labor. Such scenarios are workers such as the ones caught in the raid but mirrored across the country in grotesque ways. not employers like Michael Bianco, who was In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, clean-up crews fining the workers $20 if they were three minutes were needed and the city had to supplement late or talked to another worker or took too long its workforce with undocumented laborers. in the bathroom. He lambasted the U.S. Army Meanwhile, the hurricane swept through many for contracting its work out to an exploitative private prisons in Louisiana holding immigrant employer. He praised the legal service offices detainees. Their records were lost. Many of the working on the case and promised not to abandon detainees were evacuated from the prisons and the families. dumped on the highways. CLINIC provided Bhargava’s organization wants to help build pro bono counsel for immigrant detainees, and up more MIRAs to do the same kind of work education on immigrant rights to clean-up crews. around the country. He is pushing for nonpartisan In addition to providing legal help, Kerwin is voter registration, focusing on 15 states, providing trying to change the way Americans think about technical assistance to find, register, and mobilize immigrants. In speaking to audiences around the immigrants to vote in November. But as Bhargava country, he delivers a straightforward message: pointed out, “Without immigration reform “Immigrants are hard workers, strong family those families in New Bedford and elsewhere will values people. We don’t regard these people as continue to face deportation proceedings.” Of the ‘them.’ They are brothers and sisters. If you have a 361 arrested that day in New Bedford, 160 have right to support your family and you can’t in your been deported, 12 left voluntarily, 181 more are country, you have a duty to leave your country facing deportation. so you can. Rights carry duties. People are forced Lawyers with the Catholic Legal Immigration to risk their lives to come here, and even though Network stepped in to assist those facing they’re needed, they become illegal and are treated deportation. Donald Kerwin, executive director very poorly.” To solve this problem, CLINIC has of CLINIC, is also involved in an immigration launched a naturalization and public education program run by the American Bar Association campaign to urge immigrants to move into in Texas, which mobilized its attorneys to help citizenship and escape the legal nightmare. workers like that young mother who were flown “We are up against a well-organized lobby that down to the detention facility in Texas. doesn’t have practical answers to the challenges we are facing,” said Kerwin, referring to the anti-immigration movement. “They say, ‘We

134 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: are talking about Western culture, Christian reaches back to the 1930s. They have revealed religion, and we’re worried about people who ties to the population control movement and don’t come from Europe.’ To us that is profoundly the white nationalist movement. Just before anti-American.” It leads to the gutting of family- the Iowa caucuses FAIR, which has numerous based immigration and denying children who’ve front organizations, brought some 22 talk radio never known any other country, the birthright show hosts to Des Moines to influence voters. citizenship that guarantees their rights. “We Ostendorf and others organized a counterattack say there are core moral principles here like, with civil rights, religious, and labor leaders under ‘Welcoming the stranger.’” the rubric of the Campaign For a United America. FAIR, one of the more pernicious “It’s become a pitched battle between FAIR and organizations in America, does not recognize that us,” he said. principle. FAIR, which stands for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, presents itself as a mainstream, moderate organization, and a Back to Immigration Reform go-to source for immigration information for the media. In fact it’s the opposite. It’s a bastion of Frank Sharry, the former executive director of the misinformation, racism, xenophobia, and scare National Immigration Forum, invested a lot of tactics. Fortunately OSI is funding the important energy in comprehensive immigration reform. work of the Center for New Community and its He was instrumental in bringing together McCain executive director, David Ostendorf, who has been and Kennedy. Reflecting back on the death of tracking the rise of anti-immigrant activity in the bill, he recognizes that strategic mistakes the racist movement and the post-9/11 “nativist” were made. A lot of it had to do with timing and movement. Ostendorf’s center began noticing elections. He’s now gearing up for an offensive FAIR during the uprisings against day laborers in to counter the xenophobic onslaught against Suffolk County, Long Island. FAIR staged them. Hispanics, Middle Easterners, Asians, Africans. “A FAIR organizer was going to black churches “The key is to reframe the immigration debate trying to rouse anti-immigrant sentiment,” said and convince politicians on both sides that it’s in Ostendorf. “This is one of the most serious nativist their interest to pass immigration legislation,” movements this country has seen in a century. he said. “We are starting an immigration war It has a lot of money, power, strength, people, room. America’s Voice will be standing up and influence in Congress, state houses, and to xenophobia directed at undocumented increasingly at the municipal level. FAIR is the immigrants in the United States.” Sharry heads lynch pin with a budget of $5 million annually, and this new organization. staff all over the country.” As Demetri Papademetriou of the Ostendorf and his staff have concentrated Migration Policy Initiative, a policy think tank on debunking FAIR’s “fair” façade by outing partially funded by OSI, asked, “Why is the U.S. their sources of funding. They revealed that government incapable of adjusting its immigration FAIR took $1.2 million from the Pioneer Fund, legislation to keep up with the times?” The last a eugenics and race science foundation that overhaul was in the mid-1960s. “We have massive

:: U.S. Programs :: 135 arguments about things at the margins and all we changing people’s lives incrementally. Their tactic come up with is a temporary solution. This is not is to place immigrants’ struggles in the larger how to do business on something that defines and struggle for human rights in America. “Agents redefines who we are as a nation.T hat is what think immigrants are the enemy or criminals and immigration is all about: constantly changing who shoot at them.” Every day Garcia was getting we are as a nation.” three to four complaints about agents with no Whether it is welfare, education, or industrial search warrants busting into people’s homes policy, immigration shapes these policies. “The demanding documents. He brought together policy answer remains the same: comprehensive the sheriff, border patrol police, and immigrant immigration reform,” Papademetriou said. activists to talk about rights. It worked. Reports of “You have to play chess and move in four or five illegal entry have dropped considerably. different directions. Come up with standards for “The border patrol is being more sensible people to work toward legal status. You have to because they saw a community was watching create a system of additional visas so people who what they were doing,” he said. Garcia is doing need to be here and unified with their families on a practical level what Sharry wants to do on can do so and employers who need workers can the political level—changing the calculus so that find them legally. You have to ask something of politicians are afraid to be seen as anti-immigrant. these employers, you have to ask them to pay In El Paso, people running for sheriff now pledge insurance and extra wages.” Papademetriou wants that they will no longer stop drivers for traffic to put together a standing commission on labor violations and ask questions about their legal and immigration for the administration to then status. In the past those local police would call put before Congress. What’s most unique about the border patrol to pick up someone with a the Migration Policy Initiative is its global reach. minor traffic violation, saidG arcia. Now they’re They are getting immigration out of its parochial promising they will not use local patrols to enforce clothes and seeing it for what it is—part of a federal immigration policy. “That was a major global mass movement of people. They’re local change,” Garcia said. brainstorming with advocates in Germany, Ireland, What is emerging from the shards of the Spain, and elsewhere, who are confronting huge immigration debate is a concerted effort on the immigrant populations. part of national and local actors to rebrand the While the work of such big-thinking groups immigration story. It’s a story not of aliens and is essential, immigration reform is a long way off. terrorists infecting America but of hard-working In the meantime, places like Fernando Garcia’s men and women, of parents and children, who Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso, an reached the shores of America looking for a better OSI grantee, are filling the federal vacuum, and life, just like every generation before them.

136 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: OSI foundations have sponsored social science research and analysis of the brain drain in Pakistan, Romania, and other countries. Through OSI’s East East: Partnership Beyond Borders Program, Soros foundations have joined to support cross-border initiatives Global Migration: Working to Reduce related to migration. A recent initiative the Negative Effects proposed by the Soros Foundation– Moldova, the Soros Foundation– Romania, and the International Renaissance Foundation in Ukraine provided support for two projects, one War and intercommunal violence, Migrant women from Moldova, of them dealing with legislation related poverty and a lack of employment Ukraine, Southeast Asia and the to border control, refugees, and asylum and educational opportunities, and Indian subcontinent have fallen prey seekers, and the other encompassing a the irrepressible human instinct to to human traffickers who have seized broader analysis of migration flows from overcome adversity and thrive have their passports and identification East to West. driven about 200 million people—half papers, and forced them to become of them women, and many of them with sex slaves in places like Bosnia and EUMAP is conducting a research project children—to depart their homelands Herzegovina, Kosovo, The Netherlands, focusing on select neighborhoods in and seek new lives elsewhere. and the United States. Efforts to stem 11 cities in the European Union with migration, even by the United States significant Muslim populations. The Millions of Iraqis have fled to Jordan, and the European Union countries, study is examining the way municipal Syria, and other countries. People have resulted in human rights abuses, and national authorities address the from West Africa are undertaking violation of the rights of asylum seekers, challenges related to integration in a trek of thousands of kilometers and the descent of too many migrants European cities, how municipal and through parched landscapes in order into the limbo of statelessness. city councils deal with social, political, to reach the Mediterranean seacoast Migration has produced brain drain in and economic challenges, and to what and find boats to drop them near the migrants’ home countries. extent the needs and participation of the coastline of Europe. Men and Muslims are considered in key decision women from Central Asia spend days The Open Society Institute and the making. in buses, running a gauntlet of police Soros foundations have worked for checkpoints, to make the journey years to mitigate the negative effects to Russia so they can work in the of massive global migration. The Open underground economy. Society Initiative for West Africa has helped develop advocacy campaigns This massive movement of humanity and awareness programs aimed at has produced positive effects for dampening the adverse consequences the migrants, their families, and the of migration. Numerous OSI entities, economies of the countries of origin including the Open Society Initiative and destination. But for many migrants, for Southern Africa, have launched the passage is traumatizing or even programs to reduce xenophobia and fatal. Migrants have turned up dead draw attention to deadly attacks on inside the holds of oil tankers in West foreign workers. Africa; bodies of migrants wash ashore in Spain; migrants have been killed in Russia and South Africa. Worker migration in Southern Africa has spread drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV. Gangs and police officers have set upon migrants, including migrant Roma, beating them and burning them out of their settlements.

regions :: africa :: asia :: europe :: latin America :: middle east 137 U.S. Programs

The Open Society Institute’s U.S. oversight role, building the capacity Repairing Democracy Programs supports individuals of independent oversight (or watch- and organizations that nurture dog) organizations, and addressing Across the nation, voter participation the development of a more open the impact of the growing privatiza- has declined over the past 20 years, society, a society that allows all tion of government functions. ranking the United States 20th out people to participate actively and The new Democracy and Power of 21 established democracies in equitably in political, economic, and Fund will expand on OSI’s successful participation rates. This reality to cultural life; encourages diverse efforts to mobilize youth, immigrants, a great extent reflects how many opinions and critical debate; protects and communities of color. It will Latinos, African Americans and other fundamental human rights, dignity, provide capacity-building support people of color, new Americans, and and the rule of law; and promotes to organizations that are engaging low-income and young voters are broadly shared prosperity and human critical constituencies, nurturing new disproportionately refraining from security. U.S. Programs also has leaders, and generating new ideas taking part in elections. OSI grantees the flexibility to rapidly respond to and innovative solutions to address are working to ensure that as unanticipated developments and threats to democracy. many of these citizens as possible strategic opportunities, and to In addition to these long-term exercise their right to participate in support research and development funding initiatives, U.S. Programs the democratic process. on emerging issues. is embarking on two special cross- Following the failure of policymak- U.S. Programs in 2007 embarked program campaigns that will provide ers to secure fair and comprehen- on an ambitious plan to develop a expanded resources to address sive immigration reform legislation in range of new funding initiatives that urgent threats to democracy and 2007, immigrants’ rights advocates will build on current work and intro- human rights: a Campaign for stepped up their engagement efforts duce new strategies to address the Black Male Achievement and a among their diverse constituencies. formidable challenges facing open Campaign to Restore Human Rights The We Are America Alliance, an society in the United States. A new and Promote a Progressive National unprecedented collaboration of com- Transparency and Integrity Fund will Security Policy. munity-based, immigrants’ rights, unite under one umbrella OSI’s past These new funds and campaigns and faith-based organizations, and support for advocacy on the indepen- will complement ongoing work other OSI grantees, including the dence of the judiciary and the media, within U.S. Programs. OSI’s work on Arab American Institute Foundation, election systems reform, and the de- criminal justice and equality has long Democracia U.S.A., and Asian and politicization of government science been and remains a core priority PacificI slander American Vote, are policy. The fund will include support of U.S. Programs and will continue galvanizing the immigrants’ rights for restoring integrity in key execu- through a Criminal Justice Fund and community to work for the full en- tive agencies, revitalizing Congress’s the Equality and Opportunity Fund. gagement of new Americans in the

138 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Following the failure of immigration reform legislation, advocates stepped up efforts to mobilize their diverse constituencies to continue participating in the democratic process.

democratic process in 2008 and more than 40 leading youth, racial Several milestones for this work in beyond. justice, environmental, and other 2007 included the following: OSI recognizes that efforts to social justice organizations, and with engage all Americans in the demo- the help of Americans for Informed Crack/Powder Cocaine cratic process will be effective only Democracy, Campus Progress, Camp Sentencing Disparities with the repair of the United States’ Wellstone, the Ruckus Society, and For more than 20 years, federal failing election system. Indiana’s law Young People For, the conference’s sentencing laws have applied much concerning voter-ID requirements participants shared experiences and tougher sentences for crack cocaine is the most restrictive identification strategized about efforts for action offenses than powder cocaine law in America. Now that it has been in their home states, communities, offenses. Distribution of just 5 upheld by the Supreme Court in and schools. grams of crack carries the same Crawford v. Marion County Election mandatory minimum five-year federal Board, the law threatens to exclude prison sentence as distribution many eligible voters from participat- Supporting a of 500 grams of powder cocaine. ing in the election process and is Fair Justice System This sentencing disparity between likely to lead other states to enact for All crack and powder cocaine results similar laws that suppress access to in African Americans spending the franchise. U.S. Programs has been a leader substantially more time in federal The Brennan Center for Justice, in the fight for equal justice and to prisons for drug offenses than along with other OSI grantees the end the nation’s overreliance on whites; while they make up 82 Advancement Project, the Lawyers incarceration and harsh punishment. percent of the defendants sentenced Committee for Civil Rights Under OSI supports a range of criminal for crack offenses, African Americans Law, Demos, and Project Vote, are justice reforms to end racial comprise only 33 percent of all monitoring these developments and profiling, felony disfranchisement, crack users. working at the grassroots level with and capital punishment and to The Open Society Institute– individual advocates, community promote sentencing alternatives Washington, D.C., led a coalition of leaders, and elections officials to and progressive reentry policies grantees, including The Sentencing help guarantee full participation and practices. Support for justice Project, the American Civil Liberties and the free and fair conduct of reinvestment provides a practical Union, Break the Chains, Drug Policy elections. strategy for safely shifting the Alliance, and Families Against Man- OSI grantees in 2007 played nation’s massive investment in datory Minimums, that worked to an important role in engaging and prisons toward the rebuilding of draw media and public attention mobilizing young people through schools, health care facilities, parks, to this disparity. In May, the U.S. grantmaking and convenings. In and other public institutions in Sentencing Commission proposed November, 5,500 young activists neighborhoods devastated by high an amendment to the federal sen- from across the nation gathered at levels of incarceration. OSI grantees tencing guidelines to reduce sen- the University of Maryland in Col- also work to eradicate structural tencing ranges for offenses related lege Park for “Power Shift 2007,” a racism in law and public policies, to crack cocaine. In December, the conference designed to stimulate to restore due process protections Sentencing Commission voted unani- the effort to fight global warming. for noncitizens, and to advance the mously to make the crack amend- Organized by OSI grantee Campus rights of women and lesbian, gay, ment retroactive—applying it to Climate Challenge, a partnership of bisexual, and transgender people. prisoners sentenced before Novem-

:: U.S. Programs :: 139 ber 1, 2007. Sentences could be a case presenting the question of Justice Reinvestment in reduced by an average of 27 months whether Kentucky’s lethal-injection Wichita, Kansas for approximately 19,500 federal protocol violates the Constitution The Council of State Governments, prisoners over a 30-year period. because it imposes unnecessary an OSI grantee is spearheading With the same group of grantees pain and suffering. The number of Justice Reinvestment, a national submitting amicus briefs, the United executions dropped to its lowest bipartisan initiative to downsize States Supreme Court ruled in Kim- number in more than a decade. state prisons and reinvest savings brough v. United States that judges to revitalize communities to which may, at their discretion, depart from School Integration most people return after prison. federal sentencing guidelines in On June 28, 2007, the United The council provides nonpartisan cases involving crack cocaine. States Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision research and technical assistance in Parents Involved in Community to state policymakers and criminal New Jersey Death Penalty Schools v. Seattle School District justice officials.F or example, On December 17, 2007, Governor No. 1, and McFarland v. Jefferson the Kansas legislature, with Jon Corzine of New Jersey made County Board of Education limited the overwhelming bipartisan support, history by signing the first state law explicit use of race as a means to enacted comprehensive legislation repealing a death penalty law since integrate public schools. As a result that will enable the state to 1976. This decision was in part of the ruling, hundreds of school avert projected prison population based upon policy recommendations districts across the country must growth, saving the state $80 presented by the bipartisan review their voluntary integration million in prison spending over New Jersey Death Penalty Study plans. Challenges to these plans the next five years alone.I nstead, Commission and endorsed by the have already emerged. Some school Kansas will reinvest $7 million in County Prosecutors’ Association of districts are unable to address the drug and alcohol treatment and New Jersey. legal challenges and meet their make targeted reinvestments to A set of OSI grantees, led by diversity goals without significant revitalize communities, focusing Equal Justice USA, has been en- support from organizations and initially on Central Northeast gaged since 2001 in the campaign individuals with integration expertise. Wichita, a neighborhood to which a to abolish the death penalty in New U.S. Programs supported the disproportionate number of people Jersey and provided critical support NAACP Legal Defense and leaving state prison return. in the creation of the commission. Educational Fund, the Charles Other OSI grantees presented Hamilton Houston Institute for Race testimony before the commission, & Justice at Harvard Law School, the OSI-Baltimore including Murder Victims’ Families Civil Rights Project at the University for Reconciliation, the Innocence of California Los Angeles, The OSI-Baltimore was established in Project, and New Yorkers Against the Opportunity Agenda, and the Kirwan 1998 as OSI’s laboratory for social Death Penalty. Institute for the Study of Race and change. Its aim is to use a place- The historic decision in New Ethnicity at Ohio State University. based philanthropy strategy to under- Jersey capped off an eventful year in They form part of a growing network stand and address some of the the effort to end the death penalty in of organizations working directly with biggest challenges facing Baltimore the United States. The United States school districts to promote diversity and other urban centers in the Supreme Court brought executions and halt the erosion of civil rights in United States. to a halt with its decision to review school systems. Building on OSI-Baltimore’s three-

140 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: OSI grantees working to abolish the death penalty applauded New Jersey’s decision to become the first state to repeal a death penalty law since 1976.

year effort in grantmaking and public OSI’s efforts to reduce the number tablished foundations, and individu- education to raise awareness about of suspensions, the school system’s als toward a $20 million goal. the harm incurred by excessive use new chief executive, after reviewing of suspension and expulsion, the the data, embraced the philosophy Baltimore City Public School System that suspensions should be used as OSI-D.C. in 2007 completed a new version a tool of last resort and that every of its school discipline code that effort should be used to keep chil- The Open Society Institute– is expected to provide many more dren attached to school. Washington, D.C., works to promote positive behavior interventions. The In response to a fundraising chal- a just and open society in the earlier code allowed principals to lenge by George Soros to engage the United States and to encourage U.S. suspend children for over 30 of- Baltimore community in its work, OSI- policies that support democracy, fense categories, including truancy, Baltimore has successfully raised human rights, and the rule of law dress-code violations, and minor funds totaling over $10 million from abroad. For more about the work of disagreements. Further bolstering venture capitalists, civic leaders, es- the OSI-D.C. office, go to page 146.

:: U.S. Programs :: 141 A Shell oil pipeline runs through a small village in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, where pollution has destroyed most of the fishing the residents depended on for their living.

142 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Open Society Institute

The Open Society Institute (OSI) works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Open societies are characterized by the rule of law; respect for human rights, minorities, and a diversity of opinions; democratically elected governments; market economies in which business and government are separate; and a civil society that helps keep government power in check. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI builds alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. OSI places a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of marginalized people and communities.

:: open society institute :: 143 Investor and philanthropist administrative, financial, and in international drug policy with a George Soros in 1993 created OSI technical support. It is also the hub greater focus on human rights. as a private operating and grantmak- of communications for the entire ing foundation to support his founda- network and the main grant-giving tions in Central and Eastern Europe center. OSI’s offices in Brussels, Open Society Institute– and the former Soviet Union. Those Budapest, London, Paris, and Brussels foundations were established, start- Washington, D.C., are described on ing in 1984, to help countries make the following pages. Their activities, The Open Society Institute–Brussels the transition from communism. like the activities described represents the Soros foundations OSI has expanded the activities of throughout this report, reflect the network to partners in western the Soros foundations network to programmatic priorities and strategic Europe. The office facilitates encompass the United States and planning of OSI’s New York directors collaboration between the network more than 60 countries in Europe, and staff. and various European Union Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Each The Open Society Institute admin- institutions, the Council of Europe, Soros foundation relies on the exper- isters a number of large initiatives and the Organization for Security tise of boards composed of eminent from New York. These include the and Co-operation in Europe, citizens who determine individual Open Society Justice Initiative, the as well as bilateral donors and agendas based on local priorities. Public Health Program, the Central nongovernmental organizations. OSI’s manner of working on is- Eurasia Project/Middle East and OSI-Brussels assists the Soros sues around the world is to monitor North Africa Initiative, the Burma foundations network with its effort to a situation and advocate for improve- Project/Southeast Asia Initiative, increase collaboration with donors, ments while building human, institu- the Scholarship Programs, the In- and informs partner organizations tional, and governmental capacity ternational Women’s Program, and about the network’s mission, for strengthening open society the Open Society Fellowship, which activities, and methods. In addition, approaches to these issues. began in early 2008. OSI-Brussels works to influence OSI and the Soros foundations The New York office operates EU policies and raise awareness in have given away over $6 billion to programs in the United States European institutions, governments, build open, democratic societies, that focus on, among other things, and opinion-making circles about including approximately $440 mil- criminal justice and equality, and the issues of concern to the network. lion in 2007. The OSI offices are strengthening of democracy and gov- In 2007, the office worked on described below. ernment transparency. The office is antidiscrimination issues, advocat- home to independent organizations ing for an EU Roma policy aligned that spun off from OSI programs, with the Decade of Roma Inclu- Open Society Institute such as the Revenue Watch Institute, sion and pressing for a European (New York) or that absorbed other OSI programs, standard against ethnic profiling by such as the Soros Economic Devel- law enforcement. It hosted a Roma The Open Society Institute’s office opment Fund. OSI in New York also Initiatives fellow who served as the in New York is the headquarters for supports a number of civil society coordinator of the EU Roma Policy both OSI and the Soros foundations activities in Russia. Coalition consisting of a range of network. It provides the other OSI In January 2008, OSI launched Roma and antidiscrimination NGOs. offices, affiliated organizations, the Global Drug Policy Program to OSI-Brussels also called for an and Soros foundations with advocate a more balanced approach upgraded European Neighbourhood

144 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Policy (ENP) as an effective driver western European partners on is- Open Society for open societies in countries to sues such as intercultural dialogue, Foundation–London the east and south of the EU; Muslims in Europe, Roma, rule of facilitated input into the European law, and revenue transparency in The Open Society Foundation– Commission’s annual monitoring the extractives industries. The of- London is an independent U.K. reports on reform progress in candi- fice also assisted with the creation charity that houses various OSI date, potential candidate, and ENP of the European Council on Foreign initiatives described elsewhere countries. The office advocated for Relations. in this report, including the East greater EU involvement in conflict East: Partnership Beyond Borders zones of countries to its east, and Program, the Media Program, urged the European Union to main- Open Society Institute– the Information Program, the tain its conditionality toward Serbia Budapest Early Childhood Program, and regarding full cooperation with the the Scholarship Programs. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Initiatives based at OSI-Budapest international advocacy director of former Yugoslavia. include the Arts and Culture Network the Soros foundations network is Regional strategies—outside the Program, the EU Monitoring and also located in the London office.I n borders of the European Union— Advocacy Program, the International 2007, the office expanded with the were also an important part of the Higher Education Support Program, addition of EUMAP’s Cities Monitoring office’s work.OSI -Brussels advo- the Human Rights and Governance Project: Muslims in Europe, the cated for an EU Central Asia strategy Grants Program, the Local Govern- Mental Health Initiative, and staff of based on the principal values of the ment and Public Service Reform the Open Society Justice Initiative European Union, provided recom- Initiative, and the Think Tank Fund. and the Central Eurasia Project. mendations on governance and rev- The Roma Initiatives Office at The office also facilitates col- enue transparency for the EU Africa OSI-Budapest guides and coordi- laboration between the Soros foun- strategy, and pressed the G8 to sup- nates OSI programs and grantmaking dations network and partners in the port resource revenue transparency that seek to improve the situation United Kingdom, including the British and good governance in initiatives in of the Roma in Central and Eastern government and London-based Africa. The office urged reform ofEU Europe, with a special emphasis on NGOs. It assists the Soros founda- financial regulations to reduce the the Decade of Roma Inclusion. In tions network with building donor red tape involved in funding NGOs; late 2007, the office merged with partnerships and serves as a chan- called for an increase in the EU con- the Roma Participation Program, a nel for information and contacts. The tribution to the Global Fund to Fight Budapest-based grants program that office also develops coalitions with AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and supports Roma activism. long-term NGO partners and raises pushed a Common European Energy OSI-Budapest is located in the awareness in U.K. policy circles Policy based on a switch to a low Central European University com- about issues of concern to the Soros carbon economic model. plex, and its programs often share foundations network. The office also organized many resources with CEU, which was In 2007, the Open Society formal and informal meetings and founded by George Soros and contin- Foundation–London hosted a series debates in Brussels involving net- ues to be supported by OSI. of OSI visitors and meetings on a work offices, grantees, civil society variety of topics including how the leaders, representatives of European foundations in Central and Eastern institutions, policy centers, and other Europe are responding to new politi-

:: open society institute :: 145 cal developments in the region and Open Society Institute– Open Society Institute– how the Soros foundations network Paris Washington, D.C. may have a greater impact on international drug policy. The Open Society Institute–Paris The Open Society Institute– In close collaboration with OSI’s serves as a liaison and resource office Washington, D.C., works to promote advocacy offices inA ddis Ababa, for the Open Society Institute and the a just and open society in the United Brussels, New York, and Washington, Soros foundations network. It also States and to encourage U.S. policies D.C., the international advocacy acts as the OSI board liaison office, that support democracy, human director developed and engaged in helping Soros foundations implement rights, and the rule of law abroad. various international policy activi- appropriate board rotation procedures. In 2007, OSI-D.C. was involved ties, including campaigns related to OSI-Paris in 2007 assisted with in debates over the proper balance continued European support for foundation board rotations in Albania, between security and the freedoms the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tu- Georgia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, guaranteed by the Constitution berculosis and Malaria; adherence Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, and international law, including the of conditions set by the European Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Serbia, proper treatment of detainees, prohi- Union in relation to Serbia’s progres- Tajikistan, and Turkey. OSI-Paris is bitions on torture, and constitutional sion toward EU membership; inter- also part of OSI’s Conflict ofI nterest limits on surveillance. The Bush national accountability for the Uzbek Evaluation Committee. Administration’s refusal to disavow government on the issue of forced Previously, OSI-Paris worked certain forms of torture such as wa- child labor in the country’s cotton closely with the Uzbekistan Com- terboarding, sleep deprivation, and industry; support for civil society mittee, created by OSI in 2004 as stress positions, and its defense partners in crisis-affected countries a result of the forced closure of the of abusive interrogation techniques such as Burma, Kenya, and Pakistan; Soros foundation in Uzbekistan. emphasized the need to educate and the drafting of the Council of The committee guided all network policymakers on U.S. legal obliga- Europe’s Treaty on Access to Official activity in that country. At the end of tions and how the administration’s Documents. 2007, management of activities in position damages U.S. credibility The Open Society Founda- Uzbekistan was streamlined under throughout the world. tion–London also houses two OSI the Central Eurasia Project. The office also worked to en- grantees: Publish What You Pay and The Belarus Project, operated courage a robust public debate on the European Council on Foreign by OSI-Paris since 1997 when the the proper limits of surveillance Relations. The Publish What You Pay OSI foundation in that country was in a free society and continued its coalition seeks to help citizens of forced to close, continued in 2007 efforts to support strong and inde- resource-rich developing countries to support the development of open pendent inspector general offices hold their governments accountable society in Belarus by enhancing and civil rights oversight at various for the management of revenues civic culture and supporting work agencies. As reports of problems from the oil, gas, and mining indus- that provides immediate benefits at the U.S. Department of Justice tries. Launched in 2007, the Europe- to Belarusian society and prepares mounted—including the hiring and an Council on Foreign Relations pro- the country for a democratic future. firing of attorneys along partisan motes a more integrated European The Belarus Project worked to create lines—OSI-D.C. brought together foreign policy in support of shared and protect citizen-controlled “civic a range of organizations to share European interests and values. spaces” and offered support to inde- strategies and ideas for promoting pendent media. the importance of a Justice Depart-

146 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: ment free from politicization in all its are fueled primarily by injecting nization established under 501(c)(4) functions. drug use. of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, Because OSI is active in many OSI-D.C. worked on several which is funded by George Soros and parts of the world, it engages the African advocacy efforts. The office operated separately from OSI— U.S. government on a wide variety hosted a two-day meeting for OSI’s engages in advocacy on U.S. and of issues, ranging from encouraging Africa staff members resulting in international issues including criminal constructive U.S. support for demo- the creation of an African Advocacy justice reform, human rights, and civil cratic change in Liberia, highlighting Group. After Kenya’s election crisis liberties. For more information, visit human rights abuses in Uzbekistan exploded in the final days of 2007, www.opensocietypolicycenter.org. and Turkmenistan, raising the im- the group sent high-level missions to portance of supporting civil society African and Western power centers organizations in Afghanistan, and to argue for international interven- Chairman’s, opposing repression in Zimbabwe tion and a negotiated settlement. Presidential, and and other countries. OSI-D.C.’s domestic policy staff Institutional Grants OSI-D.C. supported efforts to worked with a broad coalition on the promote transparency in the distribu- challenges of reintegrating formerly In addition to supporting the tion of natural resource revenues, incarcerated people into society. network’s foundations and initiatives, and supported U.S. financial and It engaged in advocacy on the in- OSI makes funds available to a banking sanctions against the Bur- justices caused by the mandatory variety of organizations, especially mese regime, putting pressure on minimum sentences and racially in the fields of human rights and the leaders’ lifestyles without hurting disparate impact of penalties for the anticorruption. Many of these ordinary Burmese citizens. The use of crack and powder cocaine—a grantees form close partnerships office and an international network 100:1 disparity which, over the last with OSI and are considered an of partners worked to make the UN’s 20 years, has contributed more than integral part of the efforts of the OSI new Human Rights Council a more any other law to the racial disparity and Soros foundations network. credible and effective body in part in U.S. incarceration rates. The office Chairman’s and presidential by encouraging democratic countries is leading an effort to bring together grants totaled over $13 million in with strong human rights records to advocates and experts working on 2007. Funding was committed or run for membership. different parts of the “cycle” of pov- went to, among others, the follow- OSI-D.C. engaged policymakers erty, including underfunded schools ing: $225,000 over two years to the and the nongovernmental community and inadequate housing, which con- Commonwealth Human Rights Initia- in discussing the appropriate role tribute to incarceration. tive, based in New Delhi, India, to for the U.S. government in promot- OSI-D.C. oversaw the second year promote human rights across coming democracy abroad and on the of the D.C. Community Grants Initia- monwealth countries; $170,000 to practices and standards of the Mil- tive, which issues grants to nonprofit the National Institute of Military Jus- lennium Challenge Corporation. The groups working in Washington, D.C. tice for their work to advance the fair office collaborated withOSI ’s Public in the areas of youth leadership and administration of military justice and Health Program to highlight the AIDS development, strengthening working foster improved public understanding epidemic and to increase awareness poor families, and HIV treatment and of the military justice system; and of regions—like the former Soviet prevention. $250,000 to the International Cen- Union—where some of the world’s The Open Society Policy Cen- ter for Transitional Justice for their fastest growth rates for the epidemic ter—a nonpartisan public policy orga- work helping countries deal with

:: open society institute :: 147 war crimes and mass human rights The ombudsman investigates the Application Information abuses committed during conflict or complaints she receives at her authoritarian regimes. discretion, and reports her findings OSI programs and initiatives award Large institutional grants were to the OSI-Budapest board as she grants, scholarships, and fellowships also given to longtime OSI grantees considers appropriate. Where on a regular basis throughout the Human Rights Watch ($1 million), necessary, OSI supports the work of year. The types of funding and the American Civil Liberties Union the ombudsman by providing her with eligibility requirements differ for each Foundation ($1 million), and the In- investigative assistance. Matters initiative. Potential applicants should ternational Crisis Group ($2 million). that can be dealt with by other consult the Grants, Scholarships, In the field of anticorruption, grievance mechanisms within OSI and Fellowships section of the Global Witness received 576,000 are referred to those mechanisms OSI website, www.soros.org, to British pounds for exposing the for resolution. determine their eligibility and access link between exploitation of natural The ombudsman does not deal appropriate application guidelines. resources and human rights abuses, with employee grievances or with The Soros foundations award conflict, and corruption; theI nter- disagreements about the merits of grants principally to local organiza- national Budget Project received a grant or programming decision. tions and individuals. Some founda- $600,000 for their work on civil soci- Rather, the chief concern of the om- tions also award grants to foreign ety monitoring of public budgets; and budsman position is to investigate organizations working in partnership Tiri received $1 million for their work accusations of rudeness, negligence, with local groups. Potential grant developing curricula in corruption for dishonesty, violation of procedures, applicants should contact individual public administration students and or other abuses dealing with grant foundations about their application addressing corruption in postconflict applicants, other parts of the net- procedures. Contact information for situations. In addition, the Soros work, partner organizations, or the the Soros foundations can be found Humanitarian Foundation gave a sec- general public. on the OSI website or in the directory ond installment of $10 million to the The position of OSI ombudsman at the end of this report. Millennium Promise Alliance in 2007 is held by Irena Veisaite, who, in the toward its five-year $50 million com- past, has served both as the chair mitment to the Millennium Villages of the Open Society Fund–Lithuania initiative to address the problem of board and as a member of the OSI- extreme poverty in Africa. Budapest board. The ombudsman may be contacted at:

OSI Ombudsman Irena Veisaite OSI Ombudsman The OSI ombudsman addresses J. Basanaviciaus 16/5 - 49, complaints from within and outside LT-03224 the Soros foundations network Vilnius, Lithuania about acts or practices that appear TEL: 370 265 21 29 to constitute abuses of authority EMAIL: [email protected] by Soros foundations, by OSI- Budapest, or by those parts of OSI in New York that serve the network.

148 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Partnerships

Donor Partners the Asian Development Bank. Austrian government agencies, OSI’s collaboration with UNDP including the ministries of Partnerships with other donors is especially extensive, and education and foreign affairs, that contribute significantly to the work includes a formal Memorandum operate bilaterally. of the Open Society Institute and of Understanding between the two the Soros foundations network. In institutions and numerous joint > National governments in several some instances, these partnerships funding projects. countries, including Germany, involve explicit agreements with the Netherlands, Sweden, other donors to share costs. At other > National government aid Switzerland, the United Kingdom, times, they take place informally agencies, including the United and the United States, that cofund when another donor determines to States Agency for International programs sponsored by Soros support a project OSI has initiated Development (USAID), the foundations in those countries, or, conversely, when we build upon United States Department of especially in education. another donor’s initiative. In some State’s Bureau of Educational cases, other donors contribute and Cultural Affairs, the United > American private foundations such directly to one of the Soros States Centers for Disease as the United Nations Foundation, foundations in support of a particular Control and Prevention, Britain’s the Ford Foundation, the John project. Department for International D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Our donor partners include the Development (DFID) and Foreign Foundation, the Bill & Melinda following: and Commonwealth Office( FCO), Gates Foundation, the Annie E. the French Centre National des Casey Foundation, the Charles > International organizations such as Oeuvres Universitaires et Scolaires Stewart Mott Foundation, the the World Bank, the World Health (CNOUS), the Swedish International American Austrian Foundation, Organization (WHO), UNAIDS, Development Cooperation Agency Freedom Forum, the Pew UNICEF, UNESCO/International (SIDA), the Canadian International Charitable Trusts, the William Institute for Educational Planning, Development Agency (CIDA), the and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Organization for Security and Netherlands Ministry of Foreign the JEHT Foundation, the Atlantic Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Affairs Matra Programme, the Philanthropies, the John S. and the United Nations Development Swiss Agency for Development James L. Knight Foundation, Programme (UNDP), the European and Cooperation, the Danish the Irene Diamond Fund, the Union, the Council of Europe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs FRESTA Carnegie Corporation of New the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Programme, the German Foreign York, the Lilly Endowment, the Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Ministry and Academic Exchange Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the European Commission, and Service (DAAD), and a number of Nathan Cummings Foundation,

:: open society institute :: 149 the Schumann Center for Media > Institutions of higher learning such NGO Partners and Democracy, the Rockefeller as the Central European University Foundation, the Surdna in Budapest, an internationally Another form of partnership is also Foundation, the Tides Foundation, recognized institution of post- of enormous importance to the and the German Marshall Fund. graduate education in social Soros foundations: the relationships sciences and humanities with grantees that have developed > European private foundations established and supported by into alliances in pursuing crucial such as AVINA, the Robert Bosch George Soros and OSI; Columbia parts of the open society agenda. Foundation, the King Baudouin University in New York City; the Foundation, the Sigrid Rausing American University in Bulgaria; These partners include, but are not Trust, the Oak Foundation, the the Moscow School of Social limited to the following: European Cultural Foundation, and Economic Sciences; the and some of the German political National Institute of Development > American Civil Liberties Union party-affiliated foundations. Administration in Thailand; Foundation for championing the the Economics Education and rights of Americans, and the > European and North American Research Consortium in Kyiv; and Leadership Conference on Civil institutions that administer the City University of New York. Rights Education Fund for its assistance funds obtained defense of civil rights and civil from their governments, such OSI also is a donor and partner of liberties in the United States as the Swedish Helsinki the Baltic-American Partnership Committee for Human Rights, Fund and the Trust for Civil Society > Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Press Now (Netherlands), Novib in Central and Eastern Europe. for empowering contemporary (Netherlands), International artists and facilitating cultural Media Support (Denmark), the The Open Society Institute and exchanges in literature, film- British Council, Norwegian the Soros foundations are deeply making, performing, and visual People’s Aid, Medienhilfe grateful to all our funding partners arts in the Arab region (Switzerland), Freedom House and thank them for their role in (U.S.), IREX (U.S.), the National building open societies and for > Baacha Khan Trust for educational Endowment for Democracy the trust in the Soros foundations programs that provide under- (U.S.), the Eurasia Foundation reflected by their support. privileged people in Pakistan with (U.S.), the Nazi Persecutee knowledge, skills, and critical Relief Fund (U.S., France, thinking Britain), Norwegian and Danish Burma Committees, Olof Palme > William J. Brennan Jr. Center International Center (Sweden), for Justice for its intellectual the Remembrance, Responsibility leadership in devising legal and Future Foundation (Germany), approaches to issues of civil Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Germany), liberties and democracy in the Rights and Democracy (Canada), United States International Republican Institute (U.S.), and the Asia Foundation (U.S.).

150 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: > Campaign for Youth Justice > Center for Educational principles and developing for its work to end the U.S. Development BILIM–Central Asia campaigns on these issues practice of trying, sentencing, for its work supporting educational and incarcerating children advising services in Eurasia > Democracy Coalition Project under the age of 18 in the adult and promoting international for working to strengthen the criminal justice system, and educational opportunities intergovernmental Community the National Juvenile Defender of Democracies process as a Center for its efforts to improve > Center for Global Development for mechanism for democratic change access to counsel and quality efforts to reduce global poverty of representation for children in and inequality by assisting > Drug Policy Alliance for its juvenile and criminal proceedings the newly democratic Liberian promotion of an alternative drug nationwide government, the Global Fund policy in the United States to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and > Center on Budget and Policy Malaria, and the reform process in > Earth Institute at Columbia Priorities for its expertise on Latin America University for its Millennium budget and tax policy questions in Villages initiative, which seeks to the United States, and also for its > Center for Public Interest Research lift some of the least developed International Budget Project, which for its support of student-directed villages in Africa out of poverty promotes budget transparency civic and political engagement and accountability in transition programs > Earth Island Institute for its work to countries educate 18- to 35-year-olds in the > Centro Edelstein de Pesquisas United States and Canada about > Center for American Progress for its Sociais for strengthening the climate crisis efforts to strengthen progressive democratic governance in Latin voices among young people, to America and promoting the > Economic Policy Institute for increase the impact and visibility region’s voice in international economic research in the United of the progressive faith movement, forums States to improve the well-being and to improve the U.S. response of low-income families and to Afghanistan > Committee to Protect Journalists empowering international research and Article 19 for their work institutions > Center for Community Change defending and upholding freedom for its efforts to give low-income of expression > Equal Justice Society for its work to people a voice in American advance racial justice in the United democracy, and the American > Council of State Governments States, with a focus on judicial Institute for Social Justice for for providing state legislators nominations and limitations on providing staff and leadership and policymakers in the United civil rights claims training, technical assistance, States with resources to establish research, and strategy support on effective public policies and > European Roma Rights Centre issues relevant to this group government programs, and the for its defense of the rights Progressive States Network for of a minority that is severely connecting progressive state persecuted in many countries, legislators around common and the Roma Education Fund

:: open society institute :: 151 for its efforts to close the gap in > International Center for Transitional > Médecins Sans Frontières, AIDS educational outcomes between Justice for its assistance to Foundation East-West, Doctors of Roma and non-Roma populations transitional countries wishing to the World, and Partners In Health pursue accountability for mass for their efforts in addressing > Global Fund for Women for its atrocity or human rights abuses crucial public health emergencies advocacy on human rights for under previous regimes that are often connected to women around the world abuses of human rights > International Crisis Group for > Global Witness for its investigations its research and advocacy in > Media Development Loan Fund of the connections between addressing armed conflicts and and the Southern Africa Media resource exploitation, corruption, other crises in international Development Fund for their role the arms trade, and severe abuses relations in assisting independent media of human rights to develop as self-sustaining > International Step by Step businesses > Heartland Human Care Services Association for fostering for programs addressing U.S. democratic principles and > Memorial Human Rights Center for immigration policy, and a series promoting parent and community monitoring and working to remedy of documentaries on immigration involvement in early childhood human rights violations in the reform legislation education, especially among North Caucuses, particularly in minority ethnic and linguistic Chechnya and Ingushetia > Helsinki Foundation for Human groups Rights in Poland for its human > Mental Disability Rights rights training efforts in Central > International Women’s Health International and Mental Disability Asia and Russia, as well as in Coalition, Center for Reproductive Advocacy Center Foundation for Poland Rights, and Planned Parenthood their protection of the rights of the Federation of America, for their mentally disabled > Human Rights Watch for its work protecting and expanding leadership in protecting civil and reproductive health advocacy and > National Council for Civil Liberties political rights worldwide services around the world (Liberty) in the U.K. for promoting democratic participation, justice, > Institute on Medicine as a > Justice at Stake Campaign for its openness, the right to dissent, and Profession for promoting efforts to keep the U.S. courts fair respect for diversity professionalism in U.S. medicine and impartial > National Senior Citizens Law Center > International Bridges to Justice > Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York for its research and advocacy on for ensuring basic legal rights in City for helping to reduce poverty constitutional and statutory issues China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, in New York City and stabilize affecting the aged in America and affecting long-term change in neighborhoods affected by the criminal justice systems subprime mortgage crisis

152 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: > New America Foundation in the > Public Interest Law Initiative for > Tides Center for its support of United States for its efforts to advancing human rights around forward-thinking activists and oppose privatization of public the world by stimulating public organizations airways, ensure nuclear security, interest advocacy and foster a new social contract > Local chapters of Transparency among workers, employers, and > Public Interest Projects for its U.S. International for their work the government work to strengthen affirmative with Soros foundations on action, human rights, immigrants’ anticorruption measures > New York Times Neediest Cases rights, and nonpartisan civic Fund for its financial support engagement > TESEV (Turkish Economic and of uninsured responders who Social Studies Foundation) performed rescue, recovery, and > Revenue Watch Institute for its for contributing to further clean-up work after the September leading role in promoting the democratization and better 11, 2001, attack on the World responsible management of oil, governance in Turkey through Trade Center gas, and mineral resources for the policy-oriented research and public good, and Tiri for providing training > Nurcha for helping build hundreds civil society representatives with of thousands of low-cost houses in evidence-based training on these > Vera Institute of Justice for its South Africa industries innovative efforts to pursue criminal justice reform programs in > Peace Institute in Slovenia for its > Sentencing Project for leading such countries as Russia, South efforts to promote open society efforts in the United States to Africa, and the United States principles and practices reduce excessive imprisonment > And a great many others > Penal Reform International for > Society of American Law Teachers its worldwide efforts to reduce for working to make the legal The pages of this and previous incarceration and protect the rights profession more progressive and annual reports also mention of prison inmates inclusive, and extending legal numerous independent organizations representation to underserved that were created by OSI or that spun > Project Syndicate for providing individuals and communities off from OSI or Soros foundation diverse commentaries to over 240 programs. All of these institutions newspapers worldwide > Southern Center for Human Rights obtain support from many donors. for its work to protect the human In many cases, the funding OSI > Project Vote/Voting for America for rights of the poor, people of color, provides is only a small fraction registering voters in the United and the disadvantaged in criminal of their total revenue. The support States and analyzing election law courts and prison systems in the they obtain from multiple donors American South, and the Equal enhances their independence and, > Proteus Fund for its support of Justice Initiative of Alabama for of course, helps to ensure their long- organizations working to advance providing legal assistance to term survival as institutions that can social justice and the common disadvantaged people in the region help to build open societies. good in the United States

:: open society institute :: 153 A boy and his horse, Mexico.

154 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Expenditures

Open Society Foundation for Albania Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation–Azerbaijan 2007 Expenditures $1,791,000 Civil Society 461,000 2007 Expenditures $3,773,000 East East 131,000 Central Administration 13,000 Education 85,000 Civil Society 867,000 European Union Programs 162,000 Culture 164,000 Human Rights 1,000 East East 129,000 Information 7,000 Education 162,000 Law 74,000 European Union Programs 99,000 Public Administration 364,000 Grants 2,000 Public Health 4,000 Information 70,000 Youth Programs 7,000 International Programs 20,000 Other Programs 321,000 Law 135,000 Administration 190,000 Media 193,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $64,985, funded Public Administration 272,000 by non-Soros entities, principally in Education. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Albania totaling $987,189 principally in Public Health 1,007,000 Education, Public Administration and Transparency and Accountability. Women’s Programs 174,000 Youth Programs 15,000 Open Society Institute Assistance Administration 451,000 Foundation–Armenia Note: The financial information presented above includes $1,011,076, funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Public Health and Civil Society. 2007 Expenditures $2,312,000 Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Azerbaijan totaling $1,572,836 principally in Education and Public Health. Civil Society 497,000 Culture 251,000 Open Society Fund–Bosnia and Herzegovina East East 79,000 Education 271,000 2007 Expenditures $3,110,000 Human Rights 102,000 Civil Society 275,000 Information 137,000 East East 212,000 Law 146,000 Education 446,000 Media 236,000 Human Rights 195,000 Public Health 235,000 Law 329,000 Women’s Programs 80,000 Public Administration 374,000 Administration 278,000 Roma 342,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $225,001, Women’s Programs 25,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Civil Society. Other Soros- supported organizations made grants in Armenia totaling $1,092,001 Youth Programs 184,000 principally in Education, Public Administration and Human Rights. Other Programs 345,000 Administration 383,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $38,040, funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Administration and Education. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Bosnia totaling $799,482 principally in Education and Public Administration.

:: expenditures :: 155 Open Society Institute–Sofia (Bulgaria) Open Estonia Foundation Fondation Connaissance et Liberté (Haiti) 2007 Expenditures $2,142,000 2007 Expenditures $1,769,000 2007 Expenditures $2,408,000 Civil Society 460,000 Civil Society 867,000 Civil Society 587,000 East East 138,000 East East 198,000 Culture 223,000 Education 122,000 Education 16,000 Economic Reform 296,000 European Union Programs 109,000 European Union Programs 406,000 Education 203,000 Information 3,000 Women’s Programs 98,000 Grants 69,000 Law 313,000 Youth Programs 10,000 Information 502,000 Media 1,000 Administration 174,000 Women’s Programs 74,000 Public Administration 336,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $838,955, Youth Programs 55,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Civil Society and European Public Health 84,000 Union Programs. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants Other Programs 16,000 in Estonia totaling $106,046 principally in Education and Public Roma 183,000 Administration. Administration 383,000 Youth Programs 13,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $578,302, funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Civil Society. Other Soros- Administration 380,000 Open Society Georgia Foundation supported organizations made grants in Haiti totaling $295,099 principally Note: The financial information presented above includes $330,052, in Civil Society and Economic Reform. funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Civil Society. Other Soros- supported organizations made grants in Bulgaria totaling $2,613,138 2007 Expenditures $4,190,000 principally in Education, Human Rights and Roma. Civil Society 466,000 Soros Foundation Hungary Culture 92,000 2007 Expenditures $289,000 Open Society Fund–Prague (Czech Republic) East East 244,000 Public Administration 38,000 2007 Expenditures $1,739,000 Economic Reform 361,000 Administration 251,000 Education 222,000 Civil Society 203,000 Note: Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Hungary totaling $2,070,463 principally in Roma and Culture. East East 287,000 European Union Programs 11,000 Education 116,000 Grants 1,000 Soros Foundation–Kazakhstan Ethnic Minorities 35,000 Information 70,000 European Union Programs 112,000 International Programs 196,000 2007 Expenditures $3,186,000 Human Rights 35,000 Law 392,000 Civil Society 216,000 Law 404,000 Media 204,000 Conference and Travel 1,000 Public Health 60,000 Public Administration 355,000 Culture 172,000 Roma 55,000 Public Health 685,000 East East 220,000 Women’s Programs 167,000 Transparency and Accountability 148,000 Economic Reform 450,000 Youth Programs 61,000 Women’s Programs 161,000 Education 115,000 Other Programs 5,000 Youth Programs 39,000 Information 28,000 Administration 199,000 Other Programs 15,000 Law 330,000 Administration 528,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $549,247, Media 623,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Civil Society and European Note: The financial information presented above includes $353,641, Union Programs. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in the funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Public Health. Other Soros- Public Administration 1,000 Czech Republic totaling $971,762 principally in Roma, Economic Reform supported organizations made grants in Georgia totaling $2,878,302 and Public Health. principally in Education and Public Administration. Public Health 315,000 Transparency and Accountability 150,000 Open Society Initiative for East Africa Fundación Soros–Guatemala Administration 567,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $51,589, funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Media and Administration. Other Soros- 2007 Expenditures $3,613,000 2007 Expenditures $4,287,000 supported organizations made grants in Kazakhstan totaling $2,161,104 African Initiatives 255,000 Civil Society 858,000 principally in Education, Human Rights and Civil Society. Law 718,000 Economic Reform 10,000 Media 801,000 Human Rights 49,000 Administration 756,000 Law 2,804,000 Public Health 104,000 Media 14,000 Transparency and Accountability 979,000 Public Administration 117,000 Note: The financial information above includes $2,400 funded by non- Other Programs 63,000 Soros entities, principally in Public Health. Administration 420,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $2,073,775, funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Law. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Guatemala totaling $220,138 principally in Civil Society and Women’s Programs.

156 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Kosovo Foundation for Open Society Open Society Fund–Lithuania Soros Foundation–Moldova 2007 Expenditures $2,438,000 2007 Expenditures $1,546,000 2007 Expenditures $4,149,000 Civil Society 286,000 Civil Society 558,000 Civil Society 565,000 East East 125,000 East East 173,000 Culture 38,000 Education 82,000 Education 23,000 East East 232,000 Ethnic Minorities 511,000 Grants 8,000 Education 191,000 European Union Programs 931,000 Law 51,000 European Union Programs 307,000 Public Administration 136,000 Public Health 258,000 Information 195,000 Public Health 121,000 Administration 475,000 Law 591,000 Roma 17,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $781,563, Media 527,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Civil Society. Other Soros- Women’s Programs 29,000 supported organizations made grants in Lithuania totaling $222,407 Public Administration 391,000 Administration 200,000 principally in Public Health, Public Administration and Human Rights. Public Health 725,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $26,750, funded Roma 14,000 by non-Soros entities, principally in European Union Programs and Ethnic Foundation Open Society Institute– Minorities. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Kosovo Women’s Programs 9,000 totaling $792,846 principally in Education and Media. Macedonia Youth Programs 70,000 2007 Expenditures $7,229,000 Other Programs 1,000 Soros Foundation–Kyrgyzstan Civil Society 1,434,000 Administration 293,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $1,106,072 2007 Expenditures $3,896,000 East East 217,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Public Health and Civil Society. Education 537,000 Economic Reform 358,000 Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Moldova totaling $1,615,536 principally in Education, Public Administration and Human Youth Programs 115,000 Education 2,804,000 Rights. East East 86,000 European Union Programs 451,000 Conference and Travel 56,000 Human Rights 100,000 Open Society Forum (Mongolia) Information 139,000 Information 148,000 Public Health 732,000 Law 271,000 2007 Expenditures $1,180,000 Economic Reform 166,000 Media 260,000 East East 53,000 Culture 190,000 Public Administration 267,000 Education 40,000 Media 203,000 Public Health 114,000 Law 11,000 Public Administration 357,000 Roma 25,000 Media 60,000 Law 493,000 Women’s Programs 42,000 Public Administration 1,011,000 Ethnic Minorities 71,000 Youth Programs 30,000 Youth Programs 5,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $28,335 funded Women’s Programs 72,000 Other Programs 140,000 by non-Soros entities, principally in Public Administration. Other Soros- supported organizations made grants in Mongolia totaling $846,392 Civil Society 263,000 Administration 568,000 principally in Education and Culture. Administration 416,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $3,826,932, funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Education and Civil Society. Note: The financial information presented above includes $779,733, Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Macedonia totaling Foundation Open Society Institute– funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Public Health, Law and Youth $2,299,050 principally in Education and Roma. Programs. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Kyrgyzstan Representative Office Montenegro totaling $2,550,196 principally in Education and Public Health. 2007 Expenditures $1,657,000 Soros Foundation–Latvia Civil Society 44,000 2007 Expenditures $1,853,000 East East 109,000 Civil Society 822,000 Economic Reform 220,000 East East 116,000 Education 311,000 Education 3,000 European Union Programs 185,000 European Union Programs 187,000 Grants 7,000 Law 198,000 Law 181,000 Public Administration 254,000 Public Administration 199,000 Public Health 42,000 Roma 78,000 Youth Programs 1,000 Women’s Programs 59,000 Administration 230,000 Administration 264,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $8,050, funded Note: The financial information presented above includes $468,751, by non-Soros entities, principally in Education and Economic Reform. funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Civil Society. Other Soros- Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Montenegro totaling supported organizations made grants in Latvia totaling $290,365 $734,997 principally in Education, Roma and Media. principally in Transparency and Accountability.

:: expenditures :: 157 Stefan Batory Foundation (Poland) Open Society Foundation–Bratislava Open Society Institute Assistance (Slovakia) Foundation–Tajikistan 2007 Expenditures $5,699,000 Civil Society 1,034,000 2007 Expenditures $1,985,000 2007 Expenditures $3,875,000 East East 2,503,000 Civil Society 239,000 Civil Society 144,000 Law 1,052,000 East East 195,000 Conference and Travel 67,000 Public Health 206,000 Education 121,000 Culture 141,000 Administration 904,000 Law 92,000 East East 112,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $2,490,220 Media 111,000 Economic Reform 83,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in East East. Other Soros- supported organizations made grants in Poland totaling $1,696,372 Public Administration 68,000 Education 644,000 principally in Education, Public Health and Human Rights. Public Health 175,000 Information 330,000 Roma 508,000 Law 272,000 Soros Foundation Romania Women’s Programs 56,000 Media 132,000 2007 Expenditures $3,555,000 Youth Programs 30,000 Public Administration 227,000 Civil Society 561,000 Other Programs 39,000 Public Health 834,000 East East 271,000 Administration 351,000 Women’s Programs 198,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $370,923 Youth Programs 164,000 Education 107,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Roma. Other Soros-supported Public Administration 677,000 organizations made grants in Slovakia totaling $774,110 principally in Administration 527,000 Roma, Public Administration and Human Rights. Note: The financial information presented above includes $827,035 Roma 492,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Public Health and Youth Women’s Programs 14,000 Programs. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Tajikistan Open Society Foundation for South Africa totaling $810,023 principally in Education. Youth Programs 5,000 Other Programs 872,000 2007 Expenditures $7,452,000 Open Society Institute Assistance Administration 556,000 Civil Society 1,001,000 Foundation–Turkey Note: The financial information presented above includes $399,542 Economic Reform 965,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Other Programs. Other Soros- supported organizations made grants in Romania totaling $2,588,329 Human Rights 480,000 2007 Expenditures $2,300,000 principally in Education, Public Health and Roma. Information 297,000 Note: Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Turkey totaling $307,374 principally in Education and Human Rights. Law 2,700,000 Russia Project Media 974,000 International Renaissance Foundation Public Health 233,000 2007 Expenditures $6,472,000 (Ukraine) Civil Society 5,249,000 Other Programs 148,000 Education 670,000 Administration 654,000 2007 Expenditures $7,809,000 Note: Other Soros-supported organizations made grants South Africa Civil Society 687,000 Law 1,000 totaling $930,187 principally in Public Health and Economic Reform. Public Health 182,000 East East 457,000 Education 276,000 Women’s Programs 27,000 Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa Administration 397,000 European Union Programs 597,000 Note: Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Russia totaling 2007 Expenditures $12,367,000 Information 363,000 $9,989,839 principally in Education, Public Health and Human Rights. African Initiatives 163,000 Law 1,420,000 Civil Society 1,673,000 Media 1,029,000 Fund for an Open Society–Serbia Economic Reform 2,816,000 Public Administration 575,000 2007 Expenditures $4,212,000 Education 1,020,000 Public Health 754,000 Education 582,000 Human Rights 1,176,000 Roma 93,000 Youth Programs 110,000 Information 365,000 Youth Programs 7,000 East East 208,000 Media 1,376,000 Other Programs 814,000 Information 149,000 Public Health 1,537,000 Administration 737,000 Transparency and Accountability 190,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $865,701 Public Health 277,000 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Media, Law and Information. Media 643,000 Women’s Programs 351,000 Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Ukraine totaling $3,413,698 principally in Education, Public Health and Law. Public Administration 364,000 Administration 1,700,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $2,400 funded Law 633,000 by non-Soros entities, principally in Public Health. Roma 330,000 Civil Society 154,000 European Union Programs 357,000 Other Programs 2,000 Administration 407,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $117,222 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Roma. Other Soros-supported organizations made grants in Serbia totaling $2,323,275 principally in Education, Roma and Human Rights.

158 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: International Initiatives OSI-Paris Belarus Support 1,377,000 Burma Project/Indonesia/Southeast Asia Initiative 9,326,000 Central Eurasia/Middle East Projects 14,636,000 China Grants 3,781,000 Latin America Regional Initiatives 9,417,000 Project Syndicate 2,358,000 Other African Initiatives 4,379,000 Open Society Initiative for West Africa Other International 13,001,000 2007 Expenditures $13,991,000 Total International Initiatives $58,277,000 African Initiatives 151,000 Civil Society 4,075,000 Network Programs Economic Reform 1,246,000 Children and Youth Programs 6,565,000 Education 50,000 Culture Programs 2,502,000 Grants 587,000 East East: Partnership Beyond Borders 5,236,000 Human Rights 1,427,000 EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program 1,300,000 Information 777,000 Information Program 5,249,000 Law 825,000 Institute for Educational Policy 4,058,000 Media 945,000 International Policy Fellowships 833,000 Public Administration 777,000 International Higher Education Support Program 20,801,000 Public Health 828,000 International Women’s Program 3,904,000 Transparency and Accountability 134,000 Local Government Initiative 8,859,000 Youth Programs 29,000 Media Program 10,044,000 Administration 2,140,000 Open Society Justice Initiative 11,978,000 Note: The financial information presented above includes $16,430 funded by non-Soros entities, principally in Public Health. Public Health Program 25,813,000 Roma Participation Program 8,178,000 Scholarship Programs 14,494,000 Total Network Programs $129,814,000 Note: Open Society Justice Initiative expenditures include $80,560 that has been spent through the Open Society Institute-Sofia (Bulgaria). Public Health expenditures above exclude a returned grant in the amount of $445,428.

U.S. Programs U.S. Justice Fund 28,296,000 Strategic Opportunities Fund 11,760,000 Special Chairman’s Fund 23,522,000 OSI-Washington, D.C. 2,623,000 OSI-Baltimore 4,282,000 Other U.S. Initiatives 7,432,000 Total U.S. Programs $77,915,000 Note: The Strategic Opportunities Fund included grants related to media policy and investigative journalism ($3,450,000); politicization of science-based policymaking ($640,000); and the subprime mortgage crisis ($414,000). The Special Chairman’s Fund included grants related to judicial independence and nominations ($5,587,000); civic engagement ($4,860,000); economic and social policy ($3,975,000); progressive legal infrastructure ($2,950,000); youth activism and leadership development ($2,865,000); and global warming ($1,110,000). Other U.S. Initiatives included grants related to drug policy reform ($4,000,000) and cooperative global engagement ($1,000,000); and other programs. OSI-Baltimore expenditures include $1,795,000 in third-party funds raised from outside donors.

Soros Foundations Network Soros Foundations 128,179,000 Network Programs 129,814,000 International Initiatives 58,277,000 U.S. Programs 77,915,000 All Other Organization, Programs, and Costs 76,411,000 Interorganization Elimination (29,718,000) Total Soros Foundations Network Expenditures $440,878,000

This report describes charitable activities undertaken by OSI and other U.S.-based organizations in accordance with regulations applicable to 501(c)(3) organizations. It also describes activities carried out and funded by the Open Society Policy Center, a 501(c)(4) organization, or foreign entities financed by non-U.S.–sourced funding.

:: expenditures :: 159 A man draws an electrical line to his home from the only power line running through El Pacifico, an informal settlement on the outskirts of Medellín, Colombia.

160 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Directory

Soros Foundations Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation–Azerbaijan Open Society Foundation 117A, Hasan Aliyev for Albania Baku 1110, Azerbaijan Rruga Pjeter Bogdani TEL (99412) 564 34 65/66 69 Pallati 23/1 Tirana, Albania FAX (99412) 564 34 66 TEL (355 42) 34 621, 34 223, 35 856 EMAIL [email protected] FAX (355 42) 35 855 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Farda Asadov EMAIL [email protected] WEBSITE www.osi-az.org EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Capajev Gjokutaj BOARD Zardusht Alizade (Chair), WEBSITE www.soros.al Arif Aliyev, Erkin Gadirov, Rashid Hajili, BOARD Arjana Fullani (Chair), Arzu Abdullayeva, Ilgar Mammadov, Bardhyl Minxhozi, Delina Fico, Henri Cili, Rasim Musabeyov Lindita Xhillari, Mustafa Nano Open Society Fund–Bosnia Open Society Institute and Herzegovina Assistance Foundation–Armenia Marsala Tita 19/III 7/1 Tumanian Street, cul-de-sac #2 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and 0002, Yerevan, Armenia Herzegovina TEL (374 10) 533 862, (374 10) 536 758 TEL (387 33) 444 488 FAX (374 10) 533 862, (374 10) 536 758 FAX (387 33) 444 488 EMAIL [email protected], [email protected] EMAIL [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Larisa Minasian EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dobrila Govedarica WEBSITE www.osi.am WEBSITE www.soros.org.ba www.eurasianet.org/resource/armenia BOARD Mirza Kusljugic (Chair), www.partnership.am Jasminka Babic Avdispahic, Nerzuk BOARD Lucig Danelian (Chair), Curak, Ivan Lovrenovic, Asim Mujkic, Sona Hamalian, Samvel Shoukurian, Jsna Baksic Muftic, Miodrag Zivanovic Hayastan Stepanyan, Arman Vardanyan, Amalia Kostanyan

:: directory :: 161 Open Society Institute–Sofia Open Estonia Foundation Fondation Connaissance (Bulgaria) Estonia Avenue 5a et Liberté (Haiti) 56, Solunska Str. EE10143 Tallinn, Estonia 143 Avenue Christophe Sofia 1000, Bulgaria TEL (372) 6 313 791 Port-au-Prince, Haiti TEL (359 2) 930 6619 FAX (372) 6 313 796 Alternate Mailing Address: FAX (359 2) 951 6348 EMAIL [email protected] P. O. Box 2720 EMAIL [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mall Hellam Port-au-Prince, Haiti EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Georgi Stoytchev WEBSITE www.oef.org.ee TEL (509) 224 5421, 224 1509, 224 WEBSITE www.osi.bg BOARD Piret Ehin (Chair), 5963, 224 6039 BOARD Petya Kabakchieva (Chair), Aavo Kokk, Piret Ehin, Ivi Proos, FAX (509) 224 1507 Haralan Alexandrov, Sasha Bezuhanova, Ilmar Raag, Siim Raie, Katri Raik EMAIL [email protected] Georgi Gospodinov, Nelly Ognyanova, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Michele D. Pierre-Louis Kina Tchuturkova, Neri Terzieva, Open Society Georgia Foundation WEBSITE www.fokal.org Yulia Zaharieva 10 Chovelidze Street BOARD Daniel Henrys (President), 0108 Tbilisi, Georgia Nicole Magloire (Vice President), Open Society Fund–Prague TEL (995 32) 25 05 92, 25 05 93, 25 Danile Magloire, Vertus Saint-Louis, (Czech Republic) 04 63 Patrick Vilaire Seifertova 47 FAX (995 32) 29 10 52 130 00 Praha 3, Czech Republic EMAIL [email protected] Soros Foundation–Kazakhstan TEL (420 2) 225 40979 ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Tamar Kaldani 117-20 Furmanov Str. FAX (420 2) 225 40978 WEBSITE www.osgf.ge Almaty, Kazakhstan 050000 EMAIL [email protected] BOARD Giorgi Loladze (Chair), TEL (7 3272) 503 811, 58 89 83 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Marie Kopecka Ia Antadze, David Aprasidze, FAX (7 3272) 503 814, 58 89 81 WEBSITE www.osf.cz Iago Kachkachishvili, Zaur Khalilov, EMAIL [email protected] BOARD Igor Blazevic (Chair), Lela Khomeriki, George Loladze, (Cc. [email protected]) Helena Ackermanova, Ivana Bursikova, George Nijaradze CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Dariusz Zietek Terezie Kaslova, Jiri Pehe, Czeslaw WEBSITE www.soros.kz Walek Fundación Soros–Guatemala BOARD Tulegen Askarov (Chair), EdificioP laza Marítima, 6 Nivel Gulnara Baigazina, Munavara Open Society Initiative 6a Avenida 20-25 Zona 10 Paltasheva, Dosym Satpayev, Assylbek for East Africa Guatemala City 01010, Guatemala Abdulov, Oleg Boretskiy ACS Plaza, Lenana Road TEL (502) 2366 5701 (PBX), 2366 4647 P. O. Box 2193-00202, Nairobi, Kenya (PBX) Kosovo Foundation TEL (254) 20 387 7508 / 386 9621/2/3 FAX (502) 2366 4805 for Open Society FAX (254) 20 387 7663 EMAIL [email protected] Ulpiana, Villa No.13 EMAIL [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Elena Díez-Pinto 38 000 Pristina, Kosovo EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Binaifer Nowrojee BOARD Helen Mack Chang (President), TEL (381 38) 542 157, 542 158, 542 WEBSITE www.osiea.org Armando Quiacaín Cruz (Vice President), 159, 542 160, 542 161 María Riquiac Morales (Secretary), FAX (381 38) 542 157, 542 158, 542 José Miguel Gaitán (Treasurer), 159, 542 160, 542 161 Dina García de Vega, Rev. Gerardo EMAIL [email protected] Granados Patzán EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Luan Shllaku BOARD Blerim Shala (Chair), Shpend Ahmeti, Eqrem Basha, Venera Hajrullahu, Goran Lazic, Muhamet Mustafa, Nenad Rikalo, Jeta Xhara

162 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Soros Foundation–Kyrgyzstan Foundation Open Society Fund for an Open Society–Serbia 55A, Logvinenko St. Institute–Representative Office Kneginje Ljubice 14 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 720040 Montenegro 11000 Belgrade, Serbia TEL (996 312) 66 34 75, 66 34 95, 66 Njegoseva 26 TEL (381 11) 30 25 800 42 40, 66 43 06, 66 43 46 81 000 Podgorica Montenegro FAX (381 11) 32 83 602 FAX (996 312) 66 34 48 TEL (381 81) 665 099 EMAIL [email protected] EMAIL [email protected] FAX (381 81) 665 101 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jadranka Jelincic WEBSITE www.soros.kg EMAIL [email protected] WEBSITE www.fosserbia.org DIRECTOR Sanja Elezovic BOARD Srdjan Bogosavljevic (Chair), Soros Foundation–Latvia WEBSITE www.osim.cg.yu Marjan Muratovic, Aleksandar Molnar, Alberta 13 BOARD Srdjan Darmanovic (Chair), Mihail Arandarenko, Aleksandar Baucal, Riga, Latvia LV 1010 Mirsad Bibovic, Rade Bojovic, Bozena Milica Delevic´ Ðilas, Miomir Brkic TEL (371) 6703 9241 Jelusic, Olivera Komar, Vladan Micunovic FAX (371) 6703 9242 Open Society Foundation– EMAIL [email protected] Stefan Batory Foundation Bratislava (Slovak Republic) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Andris Aukmanis (Poland) Bastova 5 WEBSITE www.sfl.lv 10a Sapiezynska Street 811 03 Bratislava, Slovak Republic BOARD Guntars Catlaks (Chair), Warsaw 00-215, Poland TEL (421 2) 5441 6913, 5441 4730, Kristine Dupate, Edvards Kusners, TEL (48 22) 536 02 00 5441 8870 Nils Muiznieks, Ugis Rotbergs FAX (48 22) 536 02 20 FAX (421 2) 5441 8867 EMAIL [email protected] EMAIL [email protected] Foundation Open Society EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Anna Rozicka EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Alena Panikova Institute–Macedonia WEBSITE www.batory.org.pl WEBSITE www.osf.sk Blvd. Jane Sandanski 111, P. O. B. 378 BOARD Aleksander Smolar (Chair), BOARD Katarina Vajdova (Chair), 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Klaus Bachmann, Nathalie Bolgert, Martin Barto, Eugen Jurzyca, Zuzana TEL (389 2) 2 44 44 88 Miroslawa Grabowska, Jacek Kusova, Janet Livingstone, Milan Vajda FAX (389 2) 2 44 44 99 Kochanowicz, Jaroslaw Kurski, EMAIL [email protected] Andrzej Rychard, Andrzej Ziabicki Open Society Foundation EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Vladimir Milcin for South Africa WEBSITE www.soros.org.mk Soros Foundation–Romania 1st Floor, Colinton House, The Oval BOARD Gordana Duvnjak (President), 33 Caderea Bastiliei Str. Sector 1 1 Oakdale Road Mersel Bilali, Mirushe Hoxha, Bucharest 010613, Romania Newlands 7700, South Africa Mabera Kamberi, Goce Todorovski, TEL (40 21) 212 11 01, 212 11 02 TEL (27 21) 683 3489 Zarko Trajanovski, Nikola Tupancevski FAX (40 21) 212 10 32 FAX (27 21) 683 3550 EMAIL [email protected] EMAIL [email protected] Soros Foundation–Moldova EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Gabriel Petrescu EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Zohra Dawood 32 Bulgara Street WEBSITE www.soros.ro BOARD Azhar Cachalia (Chair), Chisinau, MD-2001 BOARD Ilona Mihaies (Chair), Zyda Rylands (Deputy Chair), Republic of Moldova Miklos Bakk, Dezideriu Gergely, Jody Kollapen, Barney Mthombothi, TEL (373 22) 270 031, 274 081, 270 Florin Moisa, Dan C. Mihailescu Nomsa Masuku, Karrisha Pillay, 232 Nomfundo Walaza FAX (373 22) 270 507 EMAIL [email protected]; [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Victor Ursu WEBSITE www.soros.md BOARD Arcadie Barbarosie (Chair), Constantin Cheianu, Ludmila Malcoci, Constantin Marin, Nina Orlova, Gheorghe Cojocaru, Maia Sandu

:: directory :: 163 Open Society Initiative Open Society Institute Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa Assistance Foundation–Turkey for West Africa 12th Floor, Braamfontein Centre Cevdet Pasa Caddesi Immeuble EPI 23 Jorrisen Street Mercan Apt., No. 85, D.11 Bebek Boulevard du Sud X Braamfontein 2017, South Africa Istanbul 34342, Turkey Rue des Ecrivains Mailing Address: TEL (90 212) 287 9986, 287 9975 Point E, Dakar, Senegal P. O. Box 678 FAX (90 212) 287 9967 TEL (221) 869 1024 Wits 2050, South Africa EMAIL [email protected] FAX (221) 824 0942 TEL (27 11) 403 3414, 403 3415, 403 DIRECTOR Hakan Altinay EMAIL [email protected] 3416 WEBSITE www.osiaf.org.tr; www. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Nana Tanko FAX (27 11) 403 2708 aciktuplumenstitusu.org.tr WEBSITE www.osiwa.org EMAIL [email protected] BOARD Can Paker (Chair), BOARD EL Hadj Sy (Chair), DEPUTY DIRECTOR Grace Kaimila-Kanjo Suay Aksoy, Umit Boyner, Eyup Can, Ayo Obe, Sister Mary Laurene Browne, WEBSITE www.osisa.org Zulfu Dicleli, Melih Fereli, Memduh Halidou Ouedraogo, Elsa Wentling, BOARD Musa Hlophe (Chair), Hacioglu, Umit Kardas, Murat Sungar Emelia Arthur, Cheikh Saad Bouh Carlos Figueiredo, Alice Mogwe, Godfrey Kamara, Aicha Bah Diallo, Issa Kanyenze, Fidelis Edge Kanyongolo, International Renaissance Ouedraogo Mathasi Kurubally, Elinor Sisulu, Foundation (Ukraine) Betty Sombe, Norman Tjombe, 46 Artema Str. Immaculée Birhaheka, Terezinha Kyiv 04053, Ukraine Francisca Luisa da Silva TEL (380 44) 486 12 53, 461 97 09 FAX (380 44) 486 76 29 Open Society Institute EMAIL [email protected] Assistance Foundation–Tajikistan EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Yevhen Bystrytsky 37/1 Bokhtar Street, Vefa Business WEBSITE www.irf.kiev.ua Center, 4th Floor BOARD Ihor Burakovsky (Chair), Dushanbe, 734002 Tajikistan Ihor Koliushko, Andriy Kurkov, Nataliya TEL (992 47) 441 0745, 441 0746, 441 Petrova, Inna Pidluska, Volodymyr 0747 Prytula, Oleksandr Sushko, Yevhen FAX (992 47) 441 0729 Zakharov EMAIL [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Zuhra Halimova BOARD Alla Kuvatova (Chair), Hamidullokhon Fakerov, Yusuf Salimov, Zulfiya Yusupova, ZebunissoR ustamova, Muhammadi Boboev, Lutfullo Saidmurodov

164 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: OSI Regional OSI Initiatives Human Rights and Governance Directors (Network program personnel can be Grants Program contacted at OSI offices as indicated) Yervand Shirinyan, Program Director (Budapest) South Africa, Southern Africa, AfriMAP–Africa Governance West Africa Monitoring and Advocacy Project Information Program Julie Hayes (New York) Ozias Tungwarara, Director (Johannesburg) Darius Cuplinskas, Director (London) East Africa Pascal Kambale, Deputy Director Binaifer Nowrojee (Nairobi) (Washington, D.C.) International Higher Education Bronwen Manby, Senior Program Adviser Support Program Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, (London) Rhett Bowlin, Director (Budapest) Moldova, Romania, and Slovakia Mugambi Kiai, Program Officer (Nairobi, Jonas Rolett (Washington, D.C.) OSIEA) International Women’s Program Kiko Mapunda, Program Assistant Maryam Elahi, Director (New York) Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, (Johannesburg) Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Latin America Program Arts and Culture Network Program and Tajikistan Sandra Dunsmore, Regional Director Michael Hall (New York) Andrea Csanadi, Senior Program Manager (Washington, D.C.) (Budapest) Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Local Government and Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Burma Project/Southeast Asia Public Service Reform Initiative Serbia, and Slovenia Initiative Adrian Ionescu, Director (Budapest) Beka Vuco (New York) Maureen Aung-Thwin, Director (New York) Robert Ebel, Chair of LGI Steering Committee (USA) Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Central Eurasia Project/Middle Kristof Varga, Manager of Local Poland, Russia, and Ukraine East and North Africa Initiative Government Information Network (LOGIN) Leonard Benardo (New York) Anthony Richter, Director (New York) (Budapest)

Latin America and the Caribbean Early Childhood Program Media Program Sandra Dunsmore (Washington, D.C.) Sarah Klaus, Director (London) Gordana Jankovic, Director (London) Biljana Tatomir, Deputy Director (Budapest) Southeast Asia East East: Partnership Beyond Algirdas Lipstas, Deputy Director (London) Maureen Aung-Thwin, Director of the Borders Program Burma Project/Southeast Asia Initiative Mary Frances Lindstrom, Director Open Society Fellowship (New York) (London) Leonard Benardo, Director (New York) Turkey, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Middle East and North Africa, Pakistan Education Support Program Open Society Justice Initiative Anthony Richter, Director of the Central Hugh McLean, Director (London) James Goldston, Executive Director (New Eurasia Project/Middle East and North York) Africa Initiative (New York) EUMAP–EU Monitoring and Robert Varenik, Director of Programs (New Advocacy Program York) Katy Negrin, Project Manager (Budapest) Zaza Namoradze, Director (Budapest) Miriam Anati, Advocacy and Communications (Budapest) Nazia Hussain, Project Director, Muslims in EU Cities (London)

:: directory :: 165 Public Health Program U.S. Programs OSI Offices Françoise Girard, Director (New York) (The Open Society Institute’s Shari Turitz, Director of Programs (New U.S. Programs are headquartered in Open Society Institute York) New York, except for OSI–Baltimore) 400 West 59th Street Daniel Wolfe, Program Director, New York, NY 10019 USA International Harm Reduction Development Ann Beeson, Director, U.S. Programs TEL (212) 548 0600 (New York) Nancy Youman, Deputy Director, U.S. FAX (212) 548 4679 Judith Klein, Program Director, Mental Programs WEBSITE www.soros.org Health Initiative (London/Budapest) Lori McGlinchey, Assistant Director, U.S. George Soros, Chair Heather Doyle, Project Director, Sexual Programs Aryeh Neier, President Health and Rights Project (New York) Erlin Ibreck, Director, Grantmaking Stewart J. Paperin, Executive Vice Kathleen M. Foley, MD, Medical Director, Strategies President International Palliative Care Initiative (New Raquiba LaBrie, Director, Equality and Annette Laborey, Vice President York) Opportunity Fund Maija Arbolino, Chief Financial Officer and Mary Callaway, Project Director, Leonard Noisette, Director, Criminal Director of Finance International Palliative Care Initiative (New Justice Fund Ricardo Castro, General Counsel York) William Vandenberg, Director, Democracy Tawanda Mutasah, Director of Network Jonathan Cohen, Project Director, Law and and Power Fund Programs Health Initiative (New York) Anthony Richter, Associate Director and Cynthia Eyakuze, Project Director, Public Open Society Institute–Baltimore Director of the Central Eurasia Project/ Health Watch Diana Morris, Director Middle East and North Africa Initiative 201 North Charles Street, Suite 1300 Laura Silber, Director of Public Affairs and Roma Initiatives Baltimore, MD 21201 Senior Policy Advisor Bernard Rorke, Director (Budapest) TEL (410) 234 1091 Stephanie Steele-Behrens, Director of FAX (410) 234 2816 International Human Resources Scholarship Programs EMAIL [email protected] Yalan Teng, Chief Information Officer Martha Loerke, Director (New York) George Vickers, Director of International Alex Irwin, Deputy Director (New York) After-School Program Operations Audrone Uzieliene, Deputy Director Herbert Sturz, Founding Chairman of (London) The After-School Corporation OSI International Advisory Board Marieclaire Acosta, Suliman Baldo, Leon Think Tank Fund Botstein, Tom Carothers, Maria Cattaui, Goran Buldioski (Budapest) Yehuda Elkana, Asma Jahangir, Ivan Krastev, Pierre Mirabaud, Aryeh Neier Youth Initiative (President), Wiktor Osiatynski, Istvan Rev, Noel Selegzi, Director (New York) Van Zyl Slabbert, George Soros (Chair), Jonathan Soros

Board of Trustees (U.S. Committee) Deepak Bhargava, Leon Botstein (Trustee), Geoffrey Canada, Joan Dunlop, Sherrilyn Ifill, Cecilia Muñoz,A ryeh Neier (Trustee), George Soros (Trustee), Jonathan Soros (Trustee), Bryan A. Stevenson, Ethan Zuckerman

166 :: soros foundations network Report 2007 :: Open Society Institute–Brussels Central European University 6 Place Stephanie Nador u. 9 B-1050 Brussels, Belgium H-1051 Budapest, Hungary TEL (32 2) 505 46 46 TEL (36 1) 327 3004 FAX (32 2) 502 46 46 FAX (36 1) 327 3005 EMAIL [email protected] EMAIL [email protected] DIRECTOR Andre Wilkens PRESIDENT AND RECTOR Yehuda Elkana WEBSITE www.ceu.hu Open Society Institute–Budapest BOARD OF TRUSTEES Leon Botstein (Chairman), Oktober 6. u. 12 George Soros (Honorary Chairman), H-1051 Budapest, Hungary Gerhard Casper, Akos Detrekoi, Yehuda TEL (36 1) 327 3100 Elkana, Patricia Albjerg Graham, Vartan FAX (36 1) 327 3101 Gregorian, Chaviva M. Hosek, Wilhelm EMAIL [email protected] Krull, Monica Macovei, Mary Patterson EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Katalin E. Koncz McPherson, Pierre Mirabaud, Peter WEBSITE www.soros.org Nadosy, Aryeh Neier, William Newton- GOVERNING BOARD Katalin E. Koncz, Aryeh Smith, Matthew Nimetz, Gary Poliner, Neier, Istvan Rev, William Newton-Smith Wanda Rapaczynski, Gunter Stock, Adam Tertak Open Society Foundation–London SECRETARY TO THE BOARD Liviu Matei Cambridge House GENERAL COUNSEL Tamas Kende 100 Cambridge Grove CEU SENATE Yehuda Elkana (Ex-officio), London W6 0LE, United Kingdom Howard Michael Robinson (Provost/ Academic Pro-Rector), Elissa Helms, TEL (44) 207 031 0200 Julius Horvath, Janos Kis, Laszlo Kontler, FAX (44) 207 031 0201 Stefan Cibian (Student Representative), EMAIL [email protected] Tara O’Brien (Student Representative), MANAGING DIRECTOR Marijke Thomson ZofiaP aztina (Student Representative), Open Society Institute–Paris Roderick Martin, Michael Laurence Miller, Robert Sata, Tibor Varady, Uwe 38 Boulevard Beaumarchais Puetter 75011 Paris, France TEL (33 1) 48 05 24 74 FAX (33 1) 40 21 65 41 EMAIL [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Annette Laborey

Open Society Institute– Washington, D.C. 1120 19th Street, N.W., 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20036 USA TEL (202) 721 5600 FAX (202) 530 0128 EMAIL [email protected] WEBSITE www.osi-dc.org DIRECTOR Stephen Rickard DIRECTOR OF U.S. ADVOCACY Morton H. Halperin

:: directory :: 167 Credits

Soros Foundations Network Report 2007

Published by the Photographers Open Society Institute AP Photo/pool: 24 (left corner) 400 West 59th Street Juan D. Arredondo: 160–161 New York, New York 10019 USA Marcus Bleasdale: 4–5, 30–31 www.soros.org Rena Effendi: 51–55 Produced by the Mathew Elavanalthoduka/AP Photo/UNMIL: 29 (right corner) Office of Communications Christoph Froehder/AP Photo: 26–27 Laura Silber, Director of Public Affairs George Georgiou: 72–73 Ari Korpivaara, Director of Publications Stanley Greene: 129

Janet Jarman: 154–155

Editors John Kaplan: 28–29 Ari Korpivaara, William Kramer Ed Kashi: 104–105, 142–143 Adrees Latif/Reuters: 86–87 Photography Editors Jon Lowenstein: 130–131 Pamela Chen, William Kramer Mary Kate McKenna, cover

Story Writers Justyna Mielnikiewicz, 118–119 Chuck Sudetic, OSI senior writer, wrote five of the feature Open Society Institute/Pep Bonet: 10–17 stories in this report: “Rising to the Challenge of the TB and HIV Lorena Ros/Panos for the Open Society Institute: 112–113 Epidemics” (page 18), “Bringing War Criminals to Justice” (page Benjamin Rusnak: 100–101 32), “Supporting the Roma in Securing Their Rights” (page 44), Stephanie Sinclair/VII Network: 94–95 “Opening the Books on Natural Resource Revenues” (page 56), and Chor Sokunthea/AP Photo: 26 (left corner) “Helping Small Businesses Build Strong Communities” (page 67). Tom Stoddart/Getty Images: 24–25 Journalist and writer Elizabeth Rubin wrote the story “Protecting Chuck Sudetic: 62–66 Immigrants’ Rights Against Government-led Attacks” (page 132).

Editorial Assistants Rachel Hart, Alexander Krstevski, Paul Silva, Laura Wickens

Designer Jeanne Criscola | Criscola Design

Printer GHP Media, Inc

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