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.
TRIAL v. Argor-Heraeus S.A.
This complaint sought to initiate an official investigation by Swiss federal prosecutors into allegations that a Swiss gold refinery processed several tons of goal pillaged from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Last update: June 19, 2017Tenants of Mjølnerparken v. Danish Ministry of Transport and Housing
Twelve Copenhagen residents have filed a lawsuit against the Danish government seeking a declaration that measures under the country’s so-called Ghetto Package are unlawful under EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Prosecutor v. Nahimana et al.
The Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) convicted the accused of incitement to commit genocide, but in so doing blurred the distinction between hate speech and international crimes.
Last update: November 28, 2007Timishev v. Russia
The Open Society Justice Initiative represented a man of Chechen origin in a challenge to racial profiling by Russian police in the Caucasus, where non-Slavs are disproportionately stopped and detained.
Last update: October 22, 2008United States v. Private First Class Chelsea Manning
The 35-year prison sentence handed down to Private First Class Chelsea Manning by a United States military court in August 2013 far exceeded international legal norms.
Last update: May 19, 2016Use of Afghanistan’s Foreign Reserves to Satisfy Judgments Against the Taliban
The Justice Initiative filed a brief in the consolidated case of In re: Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 holding that U.S. law does not permit taking Afghanistan’s foreign reserves to satisfy judgments against the Taliban.
Vagrancy 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.
Vargas Telles v. City of San Lorenzo
The Open Society Justice Initiative has filed a brief urging Paraguay’s top court to recognize a right of general access to government information—the first case of its kind in the country.
Last update: February 25, 2010