Photo Credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP via The Guardian
The Trump administration has recently shifted funds from supporting human rights to financing far-right and conservative causes.
According to CNN, the US Department of State holds US$177 million from past Democracy Funds that were originally set aside to support human rights.
However, some of the funding will now support conservative causes in Brazil and South Africa, which are countries that the Trump administration has had political and diplomatic disagreements with, according to CNN. The funds will now be used to support organizations advocating for Afrikaner rights in South Africa, groups challenging judicial rulings in Brazil, and European organizations focused on preserving traditional Western political values, according to CNN.
The Afrikaners are a White South African ethnic group who are descendants of European settlers who arrived in South Africa centuries ago.
Specifically, some of the shifted funds aim to prevent what the Trump administration sees as judicial overreach and censorship in Brazil. In the past, the Trump administration and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government have disagreed on key issues. As well, the Trump administration had previously sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the trial of Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally and Brazil’s former president.
The Trump administration has also taken steps to cancel US$810 million in grants that Congress had appropriated for refugees and immigrants, according to CNN.
Typically, the Democracy Funds are meant to support programs in authoritarian countries and places with limited democracies; however, these funds have now been reallocated to programs in Europe and the United Kingdom, according to The Guardian.
The grants will now fund projects related to issues such as Brexit, immigration, anti-communism, Christian protection, and opposition to what the Trump administration calls “gender ideology.”
US Vice President JD Vance has previously voiced concern over what he sees as the collapse of typical Western values in Europe, and Stephen Miller, an advisor in the Trump White House, has revolted against immigration and pushed to support White minorities in countries such as South Africa, as reported by The Guardian.
“The President promised to combat the destructive woke agenda that has done so much damage to our country and to the world. We will never apologize for defending Western civilization, opposing censorship, ending the era of mass migration, and taking action against government-sponsored race-based discrimination in South Africa,” said Department of State spokesperson Tommy Pigott, according to CNN.
However, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the Trump administration’s priorities.
“Congress appropriated money for the democracy fund on a bipartisan basis to support defenders of human rights, to assist victims of human rights violations and to instead promote the growth of democracy abroad,” said Jeanne Shaheen, according to The Guardian.
“The Trump administration’s proposals would use taxpayer funds to promote far-right organizations and programs in established democracies. This is a waste of resources and undermines United States values and relations with democratic partners, including allies in Europe,” she added.