Binaifer Nowrojee To Head Open Society Foundations Of George Soros

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY – Kenyan human rights lawyer of Indian descent, Binaifer Nowrojee, will become the first woman from the Global South to head the Open Society Foundations, ending a three-year period of restructuring for the pro-democracy organization.

Nowrojee was appointed the president of Open Society Foundations (OSF) in a unanimous decision of its Board of Directors to replace Mark Malloch-brown.

Currently the vice-president for programs at OSF, Nowrojee joined the organization in 2004, having previously worked at Human Rights Watch.

George Soros, the founder of OSF, said this appointment is part of efforts to make the organization “truly global. At the outset, that was merely an aspiration. But now I feel that this ambition has been fulfilled with Binaifer Nowrojee as president of the Foundations, supported by an international team.”

With a JD from Columbia Law School and an LLM degree from Harvard Law School, Nowrojee has been in human rights work for nearly three decades. “As a lawyer, much of my professional life has focused on pushing international courts to deliver justice to victims of sexual violence in conflict. I am Kenyan, of Indian origin, and have lived and worked in Kenya, Tanzania, Singapore, the UK, and US,” she said. “I have accepted this position because I know that when Open Society is at its best, it is an inspiring place to work,” she added.