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.
Wa Baile v. Switzerland
Mohamed Wa Baile claims to have been subjected to ethnic profiling in 2015, when he was stopped by police officers in a train station in Zurich and told to identify himself. In 2018, Wa Baile lodged an application for the matter to be heard by European Court of Human Rights.
Last update: January 21, 2021Zhao v. Netherlands
In the UN Human Rights Committee's first ever decision on the right of children to acquire nationality, it determined that by registering a child as “nationality unknown”, Dutch authorities violated his right to international protection and to seek a nationality.
Last update: December 29, 2020Centro Prodh vs. the Governor of the State of Morelos et al.
This lawsuit against federal and state authorities in Morelos, Mexico, seeks to compel various levels of government to enact guidelines and policies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in prisons and guarantee adequate standards of healthcare in detention.
Last update: October 26, 2020German Criminal Investigation into 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. The complaint was filed before the Office of the German Federal Prosecutor.
Last update: October 06, 2020Yenina Esther Martínez Esquivia v. Colombia
Former Colombian delegate prosecutor Yenina Esther Martínez Esquivia has filed a petition before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerning her removal in 2004 after Martínez Esquivia ignored her superior’s orders to prematurely close a corruption investigation.
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, 2020