Locking up prisoners for extended periods while awaiting trial feeds corruption; bribes are needed for food and water, for blankets and even to see a lawyer.

Of the nearly ten million people in detention around the world, those held before trial or conviction are most at risk of torture.

The majority of Sierra Leone's prison population is in pretrial detention. To reduce the numbers, a local NGO is piloting a prorgam that provides early legal assistance to criminal defendants.

We seek to document what happens when pretrial justice systems fail, and to develop and share cost-effective ways to get them working.

The 47 members of the Council of Europe are again considering reform of the world's leading human rights court. Five fact sheets present an overview of the issues.

Teodorin Obiang, vice president of Equatorial Guinea, is facing trial in Paris on money laundering and corruption charges—due almost entirely to a 10-year legal campaign by French anti-corruption groups.

James A Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, argues before the UN Human Rights Committee that the UN needs to devote more resources toward actual implementation of international tribunal rulings.

Open Society Justice Initiative Executive Director James A. Goldston looks at "the importance of citizenship in making effective the promise of fundamental human rights protection."