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Equity

Everyone deserves access to opportunities and fair treatment under the law, no matter where they come from, or how they choose to live.

Our Work

Panama City's skyline behind multiple makeshift homes.
Panama City's Boca La Caja and Punta Pacifica neighborhood on April 28, 2014. © Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty

Our vision of equity seeks to combat economic inequalities that run deep in society and in the world. This includes entrenched economic inequalities that are deeply rooted in colonial exploitation, which in turn threaten our shared ability to respond to the local, national, and global challenges we all face.

Debt and Recovery

Person measuring flour from a bag in an outdoor market
A vendor measures wheat flour at a market in Ibafo, Nigeria, on March 14, 2022. © Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty

The twin shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia have disrupted the lives of millions around the world and pushed fragile economies into economic crisis. Open Society has been supporting advocates pushing for new financial assistance from the richest countries, and for steps to mitigate the impact of this crisis on the livelihoods of the most vulnerable—while ensuring that governments can continue to fund their commitments to combat and mitigate the climate crisis.

Combating Corporate Abuses

Man with megaphone speaks to a crowd
Chris Smalls, president and founder of the Amazon Labor Union leads a protest in NYC on November 30, 2022. © Mark Peterson/Redux

We support efforts to ensure that private corporations take responsibility for the well-being of their workers, for their communities, and for the environment, while also backing initiatives to strengthen the rights and voice of marginalized workers.

Empowering Refugees

A woman speaks to a girl at a desk
Ghada, a refugee from Syria who takes on many leadership roles in her community, works with a young student in Bekaa, Lebanon, on August 20, 2020. © Ali Khedr for the Institute of International Education

Against the backdrop of rising global inequality, a majority of the world’s refugees are hosted in the Global South, often in countries with considerable debt burdens and high rates of poverty. The Global North’s containment approach to displacement and migration, combined with structural constraints perpetuated by decades of international humanitarian and development policies, has driven rightlessness and exclusion of refugees from social protection and societies. Open Society supports groups that recognize that a more equitable approach to sharing responsibility for the world’s refugees is essential.

Reforming Global Drug Policies

A group of women eating at a table
A formerly incarcerated woman has her first lunch out in 17.5 years, with the legal team who helped to reduce her sentence for drug possession, in Montgomery, Alabama, on May 8, 2018. © Lynsey Addario/Getty

Open Society works to advance justice-oriented drug policies that decriminalize, equitably regulate, diminish the negative consequences of prohibition. We support the health, safety, and social inclusion of drug-involved populations and communities harmed by coercive drug policies.

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