Corruption
The Justice Initiative works to combat high-level, transnational corruption, which drains resources from developing countries and fuels repression and violence.
We support a broad, global effort by Open Society to combat corruption in all its forms, with our legal efforts aimed largely at challenging international networks of corruption.
We seek to break through the complex financial and legal structures used to conceal corrupt money flows, seeking prosecutions and the effective return of corruptly acquired assets. We also seek new approaches that expand the reach of the law, such as holding corporate actors accountable for the war crime of pillage, or using human rights law to challenge corruption’s impact on economic, social, and political rights.
International Prosecutors Fought Corruption in Guatemala. Now They’ve Been Ordered Out
The United States is acquiescing in the destruction of one of the few institutions that has shown success in targeting the main causes of Guatemala’s dysfunction.
Legal Remedies for Grand Corruption
This collection of essays explores how civil society groups have been taking innovative legal approaches to hold to account those responsible for high-level corruption, and looks at possible new strategies for the future.
Case Watch: UK Supreme Court Provides Gateway for Zambian Farmers and Corporate Accountability
The UK Supreme Court has given poor Zambian claimants the right to sue a global mining behemoth in English courts.
Cases
APDHE v. Obiang Family
This case before a Spanish court involves massive sums of money allegedly diverted by the President of Equatorial Guinea to buy property in Spain and the Canary Islands for his family.
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.
APDHE v. Equatorial Guinea
This complaint challenged a small clique of ruling families in Equatorial Guinea who reap huge profits through corruption and monopoly control of the national petro-carbon industry, while ordinary citizens live in poverty.
Recent work
Legal Remedies for Grand Corruption
This collection of essays explores how civil society groups have been taking innovative legal approaches to hold to account those responsible for high-level corruption, and looks at possible new strategies for the future.
International Prosecutors Fought Corruption in Guatemala. Now They’ve Been Ordered Out
The United States is acquiescing in the destruction of one of the few institutions that has shown success in targeting the main causes of Guatemala’s dysfunction.
Mexico’s Criminal Justice System Is Failing. It’s Time for a New Vision of Reform
Human rights advocates, as well as a diverse collection of artists and policymakers, are calling on the government to seek international support in order to reinvigorate a discredited justice system.
- Access to Justice
- Citizenship
- Economic Justice
- International Justice
- Corruption
- Criminal Justice
- Civic Space
- Discrimination and Equality
- Rule of Law
- National Security and Counterterrorism