The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, has called on EU member states to counter severe damage from US President Donald Trump’s suspension of funds for international aid – noting among a series of impacts that “the independent media sector is at unprecedented risk”.
“U.S. funds have helped to sustain investigative journalism that uncovers corruption, exposes human rights abuses, and counters disinformation,” he says in a public opinion column on the Human Rights Commissioner website.
“Several of those in the sector are now struggling to continue their work, or risking to shut down altogether as a consequence of the freeze. This provides a golden opportunity for those determined to suppress the truth or stifle dissent and it emboldens those who have long peddled false narratives and tried to undermine the democratic fabric of European societies.”
In separate comments in Brussels, the CoE human rights commissioner called US vice president JD Vance’s criticisms of European leaders in February for restricting free speech, failing to tackle mass migration, and refusing to work with populist parties“ unhelpful and misinformed” adding that the myth far-right politicians represented the “voice of the people” has to be challenged.
“Vice-president Vance spoke about us yielding on free speech, but he seemed to be inviting some kind of absolute free speech. We’ve learned from our history in Europe where absolute free speech leads you, it leads you to tyranny, despotism, it leads you to genocide. He spoke about us abandoning our values, I would say it’s quite the contrary.”
O’Flaherty said the rise of far-right political parties – who have seen big increases in support in France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and many other EU states – was the result of politicians “stirring up” resentment.
“Populism is not driven by the wishes of the people in our streets calling for something new. It’s led from the top down by certain politicians.
“But there is an unease, no doubt about it, many people in Europe are unhappy…Young men in particular feel very aggrieved, and we have to engage with them directly, we have to listen to them.”
In his website article, O’Flaherty wrote that “the crisis set in motion by the US suspension of funds for international aid is of alarming proportions”, undermining humanitarian programs, civil society, independent media and the democratic fabric of our society. He called on European leaders to “ensure that human rights and democracy do not wither under financial pressure” and to fill the void left by the US aid freeze.
On March 5 the United States Supreme Court stopped the Trump administration from withholding payments to foreign aid organizations for work they have already performed.
A divided Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold a lower court decision ordering the administration to promptly release funds to recipients of grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development and State Department.
Although all the US aid cuts are not entirely stopped and in a separate case earlier a federal judge allowed the administration to put more than 2,000 USAID workers on leave.
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Michael O’Flaherty
