Open Society Justice Initiative@OSFJustice

We use the law to promote and defend justice and human rights as part of the @OpenSociety Foundations.

 New York
justiceinitiative.org
Joined March 2011
243 Photos and videos
Oct 8: Join the first in an online discussion series tracing the human rights movement’s past, present, and future. Aslı Ü Bâli, Gay J. McDougall, Aryeh Neier, @AgnesCallamard, and our James A. Goldston explore the origins of modern human rights. RSVP: osf.to/TracingModernHumanRig…
Session 1 The Past: The Origin of Human Rights. Where Did Modern Human Rights Come From? What Went Right? What Went Wrong? What has been the trajectory of the human rights movement over the past three decades, and how can we apply those lessons as we look into the future? Thursday, October 8, 2026 12 noon–1:30 pm EDT Livestream Moderated by James A. Goldston, Executive Director, Open Society Justice Initiative Panelists include: Aslı Ü. Bâli, Professor, Yale Law School Gay J. McDougall, Former Vice Chair, UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Former UN Special Rapporteur on Minorities (2005–2011) Aryeh Neier, President Emeritus, Open Society Foundations; Co-Founder and Former Executive Director, Human Rights Watch Agnès Callamard, General Secretary, Amnesty International RSVP at osf.to/TracingModernHumanRights Session 2 will follow on November 19, and Session 3 will follow on December 14. Details forthcoming.

ALT Session 1 The Past: The Origin of Human Rights. Where Did Modern Human Rights Come From? What Went Right? What Went Wrong? What has been the trajectory of the human rights movement over the past three decades, and how can we apply those lessons as we look into the future? Thursday, October 8, 2026 12 noon–1:30 pm EDT Livestream Moderated by James A. Goldston, Executive Director, Open Society Justice Initiative Panelists include: Aslı Ü. Bâli, Professor, Yale Law School Gay J. McDougall, Former Vice Chair, UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Former UN Special Rapporteur on Minorities (2005–2011) Aryeh Neier, President Emeritus, Open Society Foundations; Co-Founder and Former Executive Director, Human Rights Watch Agnès Callamard, General Secretary, Amnesty International RSVP at osf.to/TracingModernHumanRights Session 2 will follow on November 19, and Session 3 will follow on December 14. Details forthcoming.
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A Norwegian court has allowed a lawsuit we’re supporting against Telenor to proceed as a class action. It seeks damages over the sharing of sensitive user data with Myanmar’s military. justiceinitiative.org/litiga…

Justice and Accountability Initiative v. Telenor ASA

The Justice Initiative is advising plaintiffs and partners to hold telecommunications giant Telenor to account for sharing customer data with the Myanmar military in the wake of the 2021 coup,...

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We welcome a significant development in our case before France’s Conseil d’État: France and the UK are joining 10 other countries in banning imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a measure sought by five partners in their ongoing litigation: justiceinitiative.org/litiga…

Rights Groups Sue France Over Failure to Prevent Corporate Support for Israel’s Occupation in...

Human rights organizations file a legal challenge before France’s highest court, seeking for the government to adopt measures to prevent French corporate and financial actors from contributing to...

justiceinitiative.org
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Open Society Justice Initiative retweeted
Open Society Foundations
@OpenSociety
Sep 3
The rule of law and human rights are vital to open societies. How can we imagine a world where international law is meaningful not just with lawyers and diplomats, but with everyone it seeks to protect? James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative @OSFJustice, explains how we build cases to improve people’s lives and rights. All too often law is used to reinforce and expand inequalities in power and wealth in societies. We help people use the law to change systems for the better, amid a deeply unjust world. Through this work, we’ve successfully protected people deported from the U.S. to countries they’ve never lived in, outlawed racial discrimination and segregation against Roma in Europe, and required governments to take the risks and damage from the climate crisis seriously. Building on our own cases, the Justice Initiative provides financial, technical, and strategic support to partners around the world who file cases for marginalized people and seeks to foster connections among those practicing strategic litigation. As James says, “Our privilege at the Justice Initiative is to be able to help people use legal tools in their struggle.”
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Open Society Foundations
@OpenSociety
Sep 2
An update from Open Society Justice Initiative’s Natasha Arnpriester: The Trump administration’s forced removal of asylum seekers and people with U.S. orders of protection to countries they have no relationship to continues to accelerate and violate the U.S. government’s protection obligations and international law. Just last week, a 24-year-old Afghan whose family helped U.S. forces fight the Taliban, and who was protected from return to Afghanistan, was deported in shackles to the Central African Republic, a country the U.S. government itself warns against traveling to because of violence and insecurity. He was aboard a flight carrying 70 others, including other Afghans, Iranians, Nepalis, and Nicaraguans. They are among the 100 people who were sent thousands of miles to eight African countries in the last two weeks—where they have never been and know no one. They are leaving family and loved ones behind, forced onto long flights, not knowing where they were being taken. Most have already won protection from U.S. immigration judges after facing persecution or torture at home. That protection legally bars the U.S. from returning them to the country where a judge found they would likely face such harm. But the U.S. government is exploiting a loophole. People the U.S. cannot legally send home are sent somewhere else, where many are then returned to the very countries they fled. These removals are carried out through an expanding web of opaque agreements, struck in exchange for money or other promises by the Trump administration. Liberia is among the latest, agreeing to accept up to 1,200 people. The Open Society Justice Initiative continues to support lawyers in receiving countries who are challenging these transfers in domestic and regional courts, working to protect people caught in this system. More cases are coming. @NatashaArnpr @OSFJustice
Open Society Foundations
@OpenSociety
Jun 10
The Trump administration is deporting thousands of asylum seekers and those in need of protection to third countries in violation of the U.S. government’s protection obligations and international law.
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International justice is the last resort for victims of the most serious crimes. As @EstiTambay explains, we are standing with the victims and for the rule of law in seeking to overturn sanctions against international judges and other officials. osf.to/4hISjgh
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Five years after the Taliban seized control, Afghanistan went from having female officials to experiencing “the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis,” says our @NatashaArnpr. She is developing a case against the Taliban for the @CIJ_ICJ. cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon…

5 years after Taliban seized control, Afghan refugee reflects on new life in Canada | CBC News

Farkhunda Hashimy moved to Saskatoon with her family in 2023, escaping the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Decrees by the regime have restricted the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls, and...

cbc.ca
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Nearly two years after Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands had “formally taken steps” to take Afghanistan’s Taliban to account for imposing a “gender apartheid” on women and girls, progress has stalled.
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A rare moment of the international community not only naming the offences against women and girls—no education beyond sixth grade, no leaving home unless accompanied by a male relative, no speaking in public—but doing something about it has lost momentum.
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Open Society’s @NatashaArnpr asks why the process has stalled and how the four states could continue to pursue justice for Afghanistan’s women and girls under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW): justsecurity.org/151401/just…

Why Has the CEDAW Case Gone Quiet?

Nearly two years after invoking CEDAW against Afghanistan, states owe transparency on whether negotiation has failed.

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We’ve joined @afsc_org, @hrw, and @theCCR in challenging the Trump administration's Executive Order 14203, which imposes sanctions on the ICC. bit.ly/4g3fMX3
“These sanctions are an assault on the rule of law, independent judges and prosecutors, and civil society in the United States and around the world. They betray historic U.S. leadership in the cause of international justice and are a slap in the face to victims and survivors of grave crimes everywhere who depend on the ICC as a court of last resort.” - James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative

ALT “These sanctions are an assault on the rule of law, independent judges and prosecutors, and civil society in the United States and around the world. They betray historic U.S. leadership in the cause of international justice and are a slap in the face to victims and survivors of grave crimes everywhere who depend on the ICC as a court of last resort.” - James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative

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Open Society Justice Initiative retweeted
Open Society Foundations
@OpenSociety
Jul 24
States must comply with obligations set forth by international law. That is what is being argued in a landmark case filed before France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État, by five human rights organizations. The case challenges France’s failure to prevent companies and banks under its jurisdiction from contributing to Israel’s unlawful occupation of the Palestinian territories. The Open Society Justice Initiative advised these organizations—@fidh_en, @JURDIasso, @ICJPalestine, @LDH_Fr, and @law4palestine—on this case. nitter.net/Law4Palestine/status/2…
Law for Palestine | القانون من أجل فلسطين
@Law4Palestine
Jul 22
🔴France’s failure to prevent companies and financial institutions under its jurisdiction from contributing to Israel’s unlawful occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory breaches its obligations under international law. We have filed a case before France’s highest administrative court to challenge this. 👉Read the full press release and Q&A document covering everything you need to know about the case here: law4palestine.org/rights-gro…
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Open Society Justice Initiative retweeted
Open Society Foundations
@OpenSociety
Jul 7
For over two decades, the Open Society Justice Initiative @OSFJustice has been using the law to advance justice and human rights globally.
Our history of human rights litigation, advocacy, and legal empowerment In 2003, the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) was launched with a mandate to use the law to support Open Society’s work around the globe in advancing inclusive democracy and international justice and open society values.

ALT Our history of human rights litigation, advocacy, and legal empowerment In 2003, the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) was launched with a mandate to use the law to support Open Society’s work around the globe in advancing inclusive democracy and international justice and open society values.

2003: Initiating Clinical Legal Education. For over a decade, the Justice Initiative introduced clinical legal education at universities in more than three dozen countries around the world. For many, it was the first time they had ever been able to offer such legal training.

ALT 2003: Initiating Clinical Legal Education. For over a decade, the Justice Initiative introduced clinical legal education at universities in more than three dozen countries around the world. For many, it was the first time they had ever been able to offer such legal training.

2005: Advancing the Independence of Media in Romania. The Justice Initiative supported Romania’s reforms to increase the transparency of public procurement in advertising, in a measure that bolstered media independence in the country.

ALT 2005: Advancing the Independence of Media in Romania. The Justice Initiative supported Romania’s reforms to increase the transparency of public procurement in advertising, in a measure that bolstered media independence in the country.

2007: Monitoring the World’s Most Significant Grave Crimes Trials. After the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor shifted to The Hague, far from West African audiences, OSJI launched a website which became the model for International Justice Monitor, a 14-year project that relayed information on over a dozen International Criminal Court and domestic grave crimes trials.

ALT 2007: Monitoring the World’s Most Significant Grave Crimes Trials. After the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor shifted to The Hague, far from West African audiences, OSJI launched a website which became the model for International Justice Monitor, a 14-year project that relayed information on over a dozen International Criminal Court and domestic grave crimes trials.

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Open Society Justice Initiative retweeted
Open Society Foundations
@OpenSociety
Jun 24
In a lawsuit filed today, the Open Society Justice Initiative @OSFJustice is representing Kimberly Prost, one of the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges who are subject to U.S. sanctions issued by the Trump administration. The suit challenges the legality of these sanctions, which the U.S. government imposed against the judges in connection with their decisions on ICC investigations into alleged crimes in Afghanistan and Palestine. These sanctions are tantamount to a financial death penalty and include asset freezes and travel restrictions. “These judges are being punished for discharging their judicial duties independently by rendering decisions with which the Trump administration disagrees. This is an effort to pressure them to render future decisions more to the administration's liking,” said James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. This is the fifth lawsuit against these sanctions. In prior cases, courts have found them unconstitutional. This is the first time ICC judges have gone to court themselves to challenge their designation. Judge Prost is venerated for her contributions to international justice. She has been a judge at the ICC since March 2018 and previously held numerous high-level legal positions in Canada and abroad, including within Canada’s Department of Justice, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the United Nations.
We’re Suing the Trump Administration Over Its Sanctions of ICC Judges. “Targeting international judges for carrying out their judicial duties is an unprecedented attack on judicial independence and the rule of law. This lawsuit seeks to reaffirm fundamental constitutional protections and the limits of executive power.” - James A. Goldston, Open Society Justice Initiative

ALT We’re Suing the Trump Administration Over Its Sanctions of ICC Judges. “Targeting international judges for carrying out their judicial duties is an unprecedented attack on judicial independence and the rule of law. This lawsuit seeks to reaffirm fundamental constitutional protections and the limits of executive power.” - James A. Goldston, Open Society Justice Initiative

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Open Society Justice Initiative retweeted
Open Society Foundations
@OpenSociety
Jun 10
The Trump administration is deporting thousands of asylum seekers and those in need of protection to third countries in violation of the U.S. government’s protection obligations and international law.
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“We are demanding that the U.S. halt this inhumane deportation regime. We also urge governments around the world not to become parties to these clandestine arrangements, whose terms remain hidden.” Our James A. Goldston & @NatashaArnpr in @guardian: theguardian.com/commentisfre…

The US has deported thousands to third countries. This must stop | James A Goldston and Natasha...

Monitors estimate 17,500 people have been sent to countries they may never have visited – and where they could face further danger

theguardian.com
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“Democracy should be recognized as a human right within the Inter-American system,” writes our @salesrodrigo_. It would not be a conceptual leap as the system already reflects democratic values. verfassungsblog.de/right-to-…

The Question of Democracy Before the Inter-American Court : Guatemala's Advisory Opinion Request...

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has been asked a question that could reshape the relationship between democracy and human rights in the Americas. In 2024, Guatemala submitted a request for...

verfassungsblog.de
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Open Society Justice Initiative retweeted
Project Syndicate
@ProSyn
Apr 16
James A. Goldston thinks the US president has unwittingly reminded the world why it needed common rules to begin with. project-syndicate.org/commen…

Trump Has Made the Case for International Law

James A. Goldston thinks the US president has unwittingly reminded the world why it needed common rules to begin with.

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“Telenor went into the country saying you should trust us—they did that and that trust was breached,” says Joseph Wilde-Ramsing of our partner Somo. We’re supporting this suit for justice for victims of abuse by Myanmar’s military and the telecom giant. theguardian.com/global-devel…

Norway’s state telecoms firm accused of helping Myanmar regime seize activists

Lawsuit in Norway alleges Telenor passed on data helping Myanmar military arrest 1,200 activists, some in safe houses

theguardian.com
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We funded five organizations through a new litigation incubator the provides pre-litigation funding and support to groups developing innovative and precedent setting cases against corporate actors in Europe. justiceinitiative.org/newsro…

Justice Initiative Funds Corporate Accountability Litigation Incubator Grants

The Justice Initiative funded five organizations through a new litigation incubator that provides pre-litigation funding and support to groups developing innovative and precedent‑setting cases...

justiceinitiative.org
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