Making the Law Work for Everyone
The Open Society Justice Initiative uses the law to promote and defend justice and human rights.
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Building Roads to Justice in Syria
The Open Society Justice Initiative is part of a broad movement of Syrian and international groups that are bringing some of those responsible for atrocity crimes in Syria before courts in Europe.
Principles and Guidelines on Protest and the Right to Information
These guidelines were drafted by the Justice Initiative and the Northern Ireland-based Committee on the Administration of Justice, in consultation with civil society groups, police professionals, and other experts, including from the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Kenya’s Controversial Digital ID Scheme Faces Pushback
Kenya ushered in a national biometric ID system with little public input. Now, advocates are challenging the government in the courts to ensure inclusive policies and data privacy.
Recent Developments at the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia: January, 2020
A ten-year deadlock over efforts to prosecute former Khmer Rouge senior officials for atrocity crimes is entering its final stages, after the ECCC pre-trial chamber split on whether to proceed with the trial of Ao An.
What we do
As part of the Open Society Foundations, the Justice Initiative shares its mission of building vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens.
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Since 2003, Justice Initiative lawyers have represented scores of individuals before domestic and international courts, in cases that have sought not only to vindicate individual claims, but to establish and strengthen the law’s protection for all.
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Acquittal Marks Advance for Struggle against Torture in Brazil
A criminal court in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has for the first time acknowledged the validity of internationally agreed standards on effective legal and medical investigations into allegations of torture—resulting in the acquittal of seven torture survivors who had been tried for drugs-related charges.
A New Report Warns of Looming Threat to U.S. Citizenship, Calls for Moratorium on Denaturalizations
A new Open Society Justice Initiative report warns of a looming threat to U.S. citizenship due to the Trump administration’s effective renunciation of longstanding norms and constitutional protections.
European Court of Human Rights Finds Russia Responsible for Death of Whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky
The European Court of Human Rights today delivered a comprehensive rebuke to Russia over the 2009 death in pretrial detention of Sergei Magnitsky, the accountant who had previously exposed a $230m tax fraud involving officials of Russia’s powerful Interior Ministry.