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The ruling against Kyrgyzstan from the UN Human Rights Committee underlines the obligation to protect prisoners from violence, including violence from other prisoners.

The ruling in Etxebarria Caballero v. Spain emphasizes the obligations states have to protect suspects in police stations from torture and ill-treatment.

The Open Society Justice Initiative has welcomed a call from European parliamentarians for the Russia to fully investigate the death in custody of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.

The Open Society Justice Initiative is calling on the European Council of Ministers and Parliament to develop a strong EU Directive to guarantee the right to early access to legal representation for all people accused or suspected of crimes.

The Open Society Justice Initiative is deeply concerned by new legislation that allows suspects in serious crime cases to be held for up to 48 hours without access to defense counsel, and up to 5 days without court review.

Advocates including the Open Society Foundations speak out on the estimated three million people around the world behind bars awaiting trial—many of whom are from the poorest and most marginalized sectors of society.

Mexico's widespread overuse of pretrial detention is costly, harmful, and ineffective. It is also unjust. To combat this problem, the Open Society Justice Initiative today launched a series of publications on pretrial justice in coordination with...

Many people suspected or accused of crimes across Europe are unaware of their rights and routinely prevented from mounting an effective defense, according to an Open Society Justice Initiative report.

The Open Society Justice Initiative drew attention to the plight of pretrial detainees at the 12th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

A new book explores the human toll of pretrial detention in Mexico through the stories of people who needlessly suffer in jail, sometimes for years, while awaiting trial.

Two sessions at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City explored the role of pretrial detention in spreading disease.

An empirical study of legal aid in Istanbul jointly undertaken by the Open Society Justice Initiative and Istanbul Bilgi University found that only 10 percent of criminal defendants in Istanbul are represented by a lawyer.

Judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys gathered to discuss the implementation of new reforms that allow pretrial release of prisoners at a training led by the Open Society Justice Initiative and its Mexican partner organization, Renace.

The Moldovan parliament voted unanimously to approve a new legal aid law developed by a working group which benefited from extensive consultations with the Open Society Justice Initiative.

A new legal aid law adopted in Georgia introduces a full-fledged model of public defenders as legal aid providers, a development praised by the Open Society Justice Initiative.

The administration of the president of Kyrgyzstan today officially presented a new draft law on legal aid, with input from the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Ukraine's second pilot public defender office was launched last week in Bila Tsirkva, an initiative that is part of a project on legal aid reform in Ukraine operated by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the International Renaissance Foundation.

A newly opened public defender office—a joint project of the Open Society Justice Initiative and two other civil society groups—recorded a major success last week when it was assured by Regional Director of Kharkiv Police that local police will...