While much of the world’s attention has rightly been focused on the immediate humanitarian and security consequences of President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign assistance, that freeze also encompasses support for democracy and human rights activists fighting to make their societies more responsive to the needs and rights of their citizens. It has been accompanied by the abrupt termination of many of the highly skilled professionals at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department, who are indispensable to the responsible use of this money for programs. Not only is this assistance crucial to the societies to which it flows, but ending it will have significant negative, long-term implications for Americans because U.S. support to those who advocate for democracy and human rights pays dividends for America’s own security, stability, and prosperity.
As Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said of the foreign aid review that Trump has mandated: “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” U.S. support to democracy and human rights advocates clearly satisfies each of those criteria.
Among the many affected by the freeze are a wide range of courageous people fighting to end horrific human rights abuses such as extrajudicial killings, torture, and trafficking in persons, as well as those pushing to expand core values like freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association, and those reporting on corruption and government mismanagement and advocating for free and fair elections. Trump’s and Rubio’s orders also have frozen highly successful programs that, among other things, promote access to and secure communication on the unfiltered internet in repressive countries like China, Iran, and Russia. It is strongly in America’s interest to continue this support.
The United States has a long history of supporting activists and programs like these diplomatically and in some cases financially. Ronald Reagan greatly elevated this work with his call at Westminster for creation of an “infrastructure for democracy.” That, through congressional action, resulted in the creation of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its four core institutes – the International Republican Institute (affiliated with the Republican Party), the National Democratic Institute (affiliated with the Democratic Party), the Center for International Private Enterprise (which aims to strengthen democracy through private enterprise and market-oriented reform, and the Solidarity Center (dedicated to the international promotion of labor rights). Although the NED’s congressional appropriation is not formally subject to the freeze on foreign assistance, its funding has also been held up by the Trump administration, resulting in the recent suspension of its grants to democracy and human rights organizations.
Shoring Up Stability in Syria
One salient example of the value of this work is a program funded by USAID and implemented by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) that facilitates the return and reintegration to their homes in Syria of so-called “ISIS brides,” women and girls swept up with ISIS fighters at the fall of the claimed “caliphate” in 2019 and who then languished with their children in massive, squalid camps. Such reintegration projects are crucial for stabilizing the region. With U.S. support, one such woman, following her return home and receiving training on her rights, is now helping other mothers from the Al Hol camp through the same reintegration process so that ISIS will never get hold of them or their children again. It is just one of the many programs that have been suspended due to the funding freeze.
The reasons for these efforts are manifold: among others, they harken back to the important role our founding fathers and later American leaders like Martin Luther King played in our own country’s progress. Importantly, they also help us thwart the power and influence of autocratic and lawless regimes such as China, Cuba, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. It’s no accident that Russia’s prime minister has cheered on the Trump administration’s attacks on this kind of assistance.
But there are other reasons this support benefits the United States. Democratic and rights-respecting societies are more stable, peaceful and prosperous. Governments that give their citizens the ability to voice their concerns and change their leaders through elections provide peaceful avenues for evolution. As John F. Kennedy said, “[t]hose who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” And violent revolutions are rarely in America’s interest.
Moreover, as the most recent Nobel laureates in economics Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson demonstrate in their work, societies that provide the possibility of peaceful change of leadership and genuine rule of law prevail economically in the long run.
‘The Wars We Never Get Into’
How do these benefits to foreign societies make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous? As Trump said in his inaugural address: “[w]e will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by … the wars we never get into.”
The data unambiguously shows that democratic countries are more peaceful and secure and thus make for far better allies over the long-term than those subject to violent and abrupt change. And the more peaceful countries there are in the world, the less America needs to spend on defense. In addition, and importantly, societies that thrive economically provide greater business opportunities for Americans through investment, trade, and consumption of American goods.
Human rights and democracy activists are the very people fighting for their societies to achieve these attributes. They are truth tellers from China calling out their government’s mismanagement of the COVID pandemic and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities. They are citizens in Cuba protesting the inability of their regime to provide for their basic needs. They are Iranian emigres seeking to hold accountable the regime in Tehran’s leaders for their egregious abuses against anyone who challenges their theocracy. They are North Korean exiles trying to provide information about the outside world to their brethren in arguably the most closed society in the world.
They are also the religious leaders in Nigeria and Sudan who have saved hundreds of religious minorities from annihilation. They are former victims of trafficking from countries like the Philippines who have helped to protect other migrant workers in the Middle East. They are journalists in countries like Ukraine and Angola who have called out corruption in their societies, helping make their governments more accountable and creating a safer climate for business investment. If we let these people down, we are letting ourselves down.
Many of these organizations and the individuals who comprise them operate on a financial shoestring. Some of them rely on U.S. funding because there are few other countries willing to support such challenging work. Some of them also benefit from emergency assistance programs to escape imminent risk of harm so that they can continue their vital activities.
The funding freeze has already jeopardized the survival of many of these groups. The “infrastructure for democracy” inspired by Ronald Reagan that has enjoyed bipartisan support for almost four decades has been put at great risk. Many of these organizations have already had to cut sizable numbers of their staff or close altogether. Their collapse will be welcomed by the regimes they challenge and confirm what China and Russia often say to people around the world: you can never rely on the United States. We must not let this happen by restoring this assistance as soon as possible.