CFJ works in more than 40 countries through three initiatives. We provide free legal support to victims of human rights abuses around the world.

Our impact can be seen every time a journalist is freed, a victim of abuse is compensated or a perpetrator is jailed because of our work. But we also fight to change the system– to reform unfair laws and ensure that accountability becomes the norm. We seek to bend the arc of history towards justice.

Turkish soldiers of the Gendarmerie General Command clash with demonstrators. (Umit Turhan Coskun/NurPhoto)

All over the world, journalists and protesters are arbitrarily detained. Women, LGBTQ+ people and minorities are persecuted. Meanwhile, the perpetrators walk free.

Amal and George Clooney created the Clooney Foundation for Justice to change this.

We are proud of the impact we have achieved across our three initiatives, which wage justice to protect the human rights of the most vulnerable.

Explore some of our impact stories and testimonials by clicking on the slides below.

Impact Stories

Around the world, women and girls face injustice simply because they are women.

On the ground and in the courts, we’re collaborating to advance their safety and equality.

The work of our TrialWatch initiative has led to dozens of defendants being released or having their charges withdrawn.

TrialWatch is the first initiative that monitors criminal trials against the most vulnerable worldwide and advocates for the reform of unfair laws.

 

CFJ Co-Founder, Amal Clooney, is one of the leading lawyers securing the release of imprisoned journalists, political activists and leaders around the world.

She has successfully freed clients even in the most challenging legal landscapes including Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, detained in Myanmar following their coverage of the genocide of Rohingya Muslims.

She is the recipient of multiple awards including the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Gwen Ifill Award for ‘extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom’, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Freedom of the Press Award, and the American Society of International Law’s Champion of the International Rule of Law award.

Her freed clients also include Al Jazeera’s former bureau chief for Egypt, Mohamed Fahmy, and former President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed.

Amal Clooney talks to her client, Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy

Amal is a humanitarian by nature [and] a fierce litigator [who] takes her client’s legal battle personal[ly]… Her strategic advocacy, negotiation skills, and … access to the global diplomatic community was the main reason I was pardoned after returning to maximum security prison again to serve a flawed 3-year sentence.

Mohamed Fahmy
Former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, being arrested

“Without Amal’s tireless, dedicated and intelligent work, I would still be languishing in a prison cell in the Maldives, and the prospects for me personally, and for the restoration of democracy in my homeland, would be very dark.”

Mohamed Nasheed, Former President of the Maldives

Defending Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa

Amal Clooney continues to defend Nobel Laureate and Filipino journalist Maria Ressa against spurious criminal cases. Ressa is facing the rest of her life in prison because of her work exposing government corruption in her country. Two criminal libel cases against Ms. Ressa and dozens of cases against her news outlet Rappler have been dropped since Ms. Clooney has taken on Ms. Ressa’s case. So far, despite the looming prison term she is facing, Ms. Ressa remains free to continue her award-winning work fighting for press freedom while on bail.

Filippino Journalist Maria Ressa

“Amal has helped defend me since 2019, and I’m a rarity for her because she can actually talk to me. In the past, her journalist clients were in prison, and she worked to free them by combining law with an incisive understanding of politics, pragmatism, and public advocacy.”

Journalist and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa

CFJ Co-Founder Amal Clooney has represented Yazidi women in the only three cases in the world in which ISIS fighters have been convicted of genocide.

In one case, Amal represented a Yazidi woman who provided the key evidence that sealed the genocide conviction against the defendant, an ISIS member who had enslaved and abused the woman and killed her 5-year-old daughter. This led to the first conviction of an ISIS fighter for genocide in any courtroom in the world.

She has also represented victims in five other trials that have led to convictions of ISIS fighters for war crimes and for crimes against humanity. And she represents Yazidi Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad and other Yazidi survivors in their quest for justice.

Nadia Murad

This verdict is a win for survivors of genocide, survivors of sexual violence, and the entire Yazidi community…. When survivors seek justice, they look for someone to give them hope that justice is possible. Amal gave me and many survivors hope that we will achieve justice. I am grateful to Amal for her tireless work to bring ISIS members to court.

Nadia Murad Yazidi survivor and Nobel Laureate
ICC Prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan KC

[Amal’s] inspiring leadership, her brilliant legal acumen and her persistent stubbornness really helped the Security Council to pass Resolution 2379 that established the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for the Crimes of ISIS.

Karim Khan Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
United Nations - Amal Clooney: Security Council Statement

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Prosecuting War Criminals in Ukraine

Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, CFJ has carried out field missions and engaged in extensive open-source intelligence gathering and cutting-edge forensic analysis.

It will soon be ready to file some of the first war crimes cases against Russian soldiers in European jurisdictions, giving survivors an unprecedented chance to seek justice.

“Russian soldiers and Russian commanders are on notice. For now, they think they are invincible – largely because Russian forces have not faced justice for similar crimes in Chechnya, Georgia or Syria. But today there’s a new playbook.”

Anya Neistat, The Guardian

Our team of experts also collects, stores, and analyses open-source evidence, including satellite imagery, video, photo and audio materials and social media content.

Russian forces target frontline cities in Ukraine with airstrikes and artillery attacks (REUTERS)

Our Co-Founder Amal Clooney is advising the Ukrainian Government on the creation of international mechanisms for prosecutions and reparations for Russian war crimes. One aspect of this work concerns a United Nations-sponsored compensation commission and in November 2022 the UN General Assembly established the first step towards this landmark accountability mechanism by creating an ‘international register of damage’ to gather evidence of harms suffered by civilians in the war.