Litigation
Justice Initiative lawyers have represented scores of individuals and groups before domestic and international human rights courts and tribunals around the world. These cases seek not only to vindicate individual claims, but to establish and strengthen the law’s protection for all.
Chemical Weapons Attacks in Syria
The Justice Initiative has joined with Syrian groups in filing the first criminal complaint against Syrian government officials for the 2013 and 2017 chemical weapons attacks in Ghouta and Khan Shaykhun.
Last update: October 06, 2020Vagrancy laws of state parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
The Pan-African Lawyers Union has requested an opinion from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights on whether vagrancy laws contravene the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Children’s Charter, and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of women.
Last update: August 31, 2020Defensoria Publica and Ministerio Publico in Rio de Janeiro vs. State of Rio de Janeiro
A case filed by the Public Defender and the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rio de Janeiro argues that under international human rights law, a State has a heightened duty to protect the health of incarcerated persons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last update: June 19, 2020Laura Codruța Kövesi v. Romania
After being dismissed from her position as chief prosecutor of Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruța Kövesi lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled that the conditions of her removal had violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
Last update: May 05, 2020Elections in Africa during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU) has submitted a request seeking guidance from the African Court on Human and People’s Rights for states and regional institutions on how to hold elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last update: May 02, 2020Open Society Justice Initiative v. the United States Department of Justice et al.
The Justice Initiative has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to obtain records regarding activities and policies on the use of criminal and civil denaturalization of citizens, the revocation of derivative citizenship of family members, and policies and practice concerning statelessness in relation to denaturalization.
Last update: March 11, 2020Nubian Rights Forum et al. v. the Honourable Attorney General of Kenya et al. (“NIIMS case”)
The Nubian Rights Forum and the Kenya Human Rights Commission have appealed a Kenyan High Court decision on the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) (or "Huduma Namba"), a national identity card system that would exclude millions of Kenyan residents and give the government all-encompassing surveillance powers.
Last update: February 12, 2020Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law et al v. Sierra Leone
Two health-workers involved in efforts to combat the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, who themselves contracted and survived the virus, are seeking redress for deaths and damages caused by the corrupt diversion of million of international emergency relief funds.
Last update: January 31, 2020