Soros to donate $100 million to Human Rights Watch, but criticizes US

Good news for the cause of human rights. Bad news for the U.S. track record on same.

According to the New York Times, billionaire philanthropist George Soros has announced that he will be donating $100 million to Human Rights Watch (HRW) "to expand the organization's work globally."

New York-based HRW investigates and reports on human rights abuses worldwide.

According to the Times, "It is the largest gift he has made, the largest gift by far that Human Rights Watch has ever received, and only the second gift of $100 million or more made by an individual this year, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University."

HRW already works globally, but this will enable the organization to "add about 120 staff members to its team of 300 around the world, expand translation of its reports and open new offices. The intent, said Kenneth Roth, the advocacy group’s executive director, is to increase its influence in emerging power centers."

And now for the egg on America's face. Soros explained to the Times why he wants HRW to be less US-centric: "I’m afraid the United States has lost the moral high ground under the Bush administration, but the principles that Human Rights Watch promotes have not lost their universal applicability," he said. "So to be more effective, I think the organization has to be seen as more international, less an American organization."

Indeed. How can the US fault other nations for their human rights abuses when we imprison people indefinitely without charges, torture them, etc.? It's shameful.

Kudos and thanks to Mr. Soros for his generosity towards human rights.