Topic: Rule of Law

The creation of an independent panel to review the selection process for the Inter-American human rights system is part of a continuing effort by civil society groups to promote transparency.

Turkmenistan’s authoritarian state is being called to account before the UN Human Rights Committee over the death in police custody seven years ago of human rights activist Ogulsapar Muradova.

The African Union body responsible for protecting children’s rights has urged Kenya to grant citizenship to children of its stateless Nubian minority, in a ruling that marks a victory in the battle against statelessness across the continent and beyond.

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.

The regional human rights court has rebuked the government of President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia over the killing of Deyda Hydara in 2004.

A lawsuit filed in federal court in the South District of New York seeks the immediate release of government records relating to the killing of U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

A leading Azerbaijani journalist and rights defender, Emin Huseynov, is asking the European Court of Human Rights to rule that he has been wrongly stripped of his citizenship.

An assessment of the justice system in Mexico’s Guerrero state has underlined the systematic failure to investigate and prosecute the grave crimes of murder, torture and enforced disappearance.

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...

Mexican officials gathered in Chihuahua to plan the country's first pretrial services agency at a meeting organized and led by the Open Society Justice Initiative and its Mexican partner organization, Renace.

Lawyers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan join international human rights law experts this week for a practical seminar on strategic litigation to combat torture and ill-treatment organized by the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Georgia’s first public defender office will provide legal aid for criminal defendants unable to afford a lawyer thanks to a pilot program established with technical assistance from the Open Society Justice Initiative and others.

The Second European Access to Justice Forum, organized by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Public Interest Law Initiative, met to discuss the need to reform legal aid systems.

Two out of five candidates for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights are unqualified for office, a new report by independent experts finds.

The Open Society Foundations welcome UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for justice to feature as an essential element of the next global sustainable development agenda.

Husanboy Ruziyev, a survivor of the 2005 massacre that left hundreds dead, accuses the Uzbek authorities of subjecting him to torture and illegal detention in 2004, and of failing to properly investigate the 2005 violence.

The Open Society Justice Initiative has filed Freedom of Information requests over Denmark’s role in the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen, in a CIA drone strike in 2011.

A new report highlights progress made by Guatemala's Public Ministry under Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, now seeking a second term in office.

The Tshwane principles focus on how to ensure public access to government information without jeopardizing legitimate efforts to protect people from national security threats.

A new guidebook, created through a partnership between the Open Society Foundations, Namati, and the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, seeks to help the 1.1 billion people who lack access to crucial identification documents.