The Center for Justice and Accountability identifies and prosecutes the world’s worst human rights criminals. CJA is relentless in the pursuit of justice for those who have endured the horrors of torture, crimes against humanity and other severe human rights abuses. Time, distance, danger, politics –nothing deters CJA in seeking vindication for our clients.
CJA’s mission is to deter torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other severe human rights abuses around the world through innovative litigation, policy, and transitional justice strategies.
CJA was founded in 1998 on the principle, first used during the Nuremberg trials after World War II, that certain crimes are so egregious that they represent offenses against all humankind. These crimes include genocide, crimes against humanity, extrajudicial killing and torture.
CJA’s vision is a world in which justice thrives – where every nation has the capacity and willingness to prosecute human rights criminals and achieve justice for those most marginalized in society. We believe too that the world’s worst human rights criminals should be brought to justice wherever they are found, as we help build the rule of law in the nations where the original crimes occurred.
CJA partners with victims and survivors in pursuit of truth, justice, and redress.
For 20 years, CJA has sought to bring these human rights abusers to justice. In our first case, filed in 1998, we successfully sued a war criminal from the Bosnian War who had found safe haven in the United States.
Since then, CJA has defended the Mayan Ixil community from Guatemala in cases in both Spain and Guatemala, seeking accountability for a genocide that killed thousands; and we have represented 45 Cambodian Americans before the international hybrid tribunal in cases against former leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, which led to the death of 1,700,000 to 3,000,000 Cambodians. Our cases have helped make laws that advance international human rights.
CJA integrates other innovative strategies to hold human rights abusers accountable. We pair our survivor-centered litigation with transitional justice projects, in which we work alongside in-country prosecutors to hold human rights abusers criminally accountable in national courts. We engage in policy advocacy to ensure that there are civil and criminal remedies to hold human rights criminals accountable around the globe.
CJA uses the fullest extent of the law – often in savvy and innovative ways – to bring human rights abusers to justice. We use a unique combination of tools – litigation, transitional justice, and policy – to hold perpetrators accountable.
CJA prosecutes human rights abusers. Our cases address some of the world’s worst atrocities—from the genocide in Guatemala to the campaign of terror led by Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia. We are relentless in the pursuit of justice and truth for those who have endured the horrors of torture, crimes against humanity and other severe human rights abuses.
CJA has pioneered efforts in post-conflict countries to hold human rights abusers criminally accountable in national courts. We have worked on historic trials – including the Ríos Montt trial in Guatemala and the Accomarca Massacre trial in Peru. CJA believes that global justice requires a multi-layered approach, and we are proud to partner with NGO’s worldwide in building the rule of law.
CJA has played a significant role in developing human rights policy in the United States, including testifying before Congress on behalf of the Child Soldiers Accountability Act and the Genocide Accountability Act. Working with policymakers and civil society groups, CJA crafts and supports policies that ensure the effective prosecution of atrocity crimes, deny safe haven to their perpetrators, and protect and rehabilitate their victims.
