Support for white Afrikaners, anti-communism and others reveals how US redefining what qualifies as human rights With hours left before the funding expires, the Trump administration is pushing to direct more than $175 m of the state department’s flagship human rights fund to a slate of awards that includes a massive $40 m grant for an anti-communism fund, support for a group advancing white Afrikaner rights in South Africa, a campaign against Brazil’s supreme court, and programs that would reward ideological allies in Europe who protect “western civilisational norms”.
Critics have focused on 43 awards of a combined $176. 9 m that will bolster rightwing and conservative causes around the world while likely angering US allies over interference in internal politics. The Guardian has seen a sample of the controversial grants, which makes up most of the $205 m in funding that Congress has appropriated for the entire human rights and democracy fund (HRDF).
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