Funding from the Open Society Foundations has supported efforts to demand slavery reparations from Britain, The Telegraph revealed on Friday.

The organization, founded by billionaire George Soros and now chaired by his son Alex, drew from its roughly $23 billion endowment to provide grants to various advocacy groups. These included hundreds of thousands of dollars directed toward initiatives pressing Britain over its colonial past.

Among the specific contributions, the foundations granted $350,000 in 2023 to the University of the West Indies to raise awareness of "reparatory justice" and foster ties between Caribbean and African nations. Another $300,000 went the same year to Ghana's foreign ministry, then led by Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, who now serves as secretary-general of the Commonwealth.

The Open Society Foundations also backed the African Judges and Jurists Forum in exploring legal strategies for reparations and acted as a key partner in the African Union's Economic, Social, and Cultural Council. It facilitated collaboration between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) representatives, who launched their reparations plan in 2014, and African advocates, including a study tour in Barbados and a summit in Ghana that produced a joint declaration.

The foundations described litigation as "a powerful, but underutilised, tool in the African reparations movement." Some recipient groups are now weighing international legal action that could target the British government.

The campaign highlights Britain's historical role in the transatlantic slave trade, though proponents note its eventual abolition of the trade in 1807 and slavery in 1833 within its empire. Britain later deployed naval forces to suppress the trade globally, including treaties with African kingdoms like the Ashanti and Dahomey that had participated in it.

Reactions in Britain emphasized this abolitionist legacy. Conservative peer Daniel Hannan stated, "Britain signed treaties with African kingdoms to stop them trading slaves. It poured blood and treasure into enforcing them. It took on expensive colonies to build alternatives to slavery. So naturally, it is now being asked for reparations."

Author Henry von Blumenthal remarked, "I’m all in favour of reparations as long as the amounts these African kingdoms pay us are affordable for them." Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to stand firm against the demands.

The Open Society Foundations has committed over $24 billion from George Soros since 1979 to progressive causes worldwide. Neither the foundations nor Downing Street responded to requests for comment by Friday evening.