Soros and liberal megadonors behind nonprofit group that added US to human rights watchlist

Media outlets began circulating news this week that the United States had been added to a “global human rights watchlist” due to President Donald Trump’s policies. What the outlets failed to report, however, is that the group responsible for publishing the watchlist takes millions of dollars from many of Trump’s political adversaries, including George Soros’s philanthropic network.

CIVICUS, a South Africa-based nonprofit organization that exists to “strengthen civil society,” added the U.S. to its human rights “monitor watchlist” on Monday. The group defended its decision by arguing that the Trump administration was engaged in an “assault on democratic norms and global cooperation” after it “slashed federal funding for organizations supporting people most in need, dismantled [the U.S. Agency for International Development], and reversed progress on justice, inclusion, and diversity.” Media outlets, including Time, the Hill, the Guardian, Newsweek, and the Independent, all jumped on CIVICUS’s report to pump out stories implying that human rights in the U.S. were comparable to Pakistan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, both of which are also on the list.