Open Society Foundations Targeted by New Hungarian Law Requiring NGOs to Disclose Foreign Funding Sources

Friday, March 10, 2017

Open Society Foundations Targeted by New Hungarian Law Requiring NGOs to Disclose Foreign Funding Sources

Lawmakers from Hungary's governing Fidesz party likely will submit new legislation regulating nongovernmental organizations in the next two weeks, the Associated Press reports.

The law, which would require "agent organizations" seeking to influence Hungarian politics to reveal all sources of foreign funding, is widely viewed as targeting groups backed by the Open Society Foundations and its founder, Hungarian-born U.S. financier George Soros.

Some of those organizations, including the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, offer legal aid and other services to migrants and refugees, populations the Hungarian government is working to keep out of the country...