Our Approach
Strategic Litigation
CEHRI’s core mission is to initiate strategic litigation to address serious human rights abuses, holding both State and non-state actors accountable. We support selected individuals or groups of individuals whose cases are capable of sustainably improving the overall human rights situation of many. As a rule, we do not offer individual legal representation without such action likely to have a greater societal impact.
We bring cases to both, domestic courts and international tribunals or quasi-judicial mechanisms.
Strategic litigation before national courts is a crucial tool for prosecuting international crimes, bridging the gaps left by international tribunals, and reinforcing global accountability mechanisms. Despite its challenges, it advances justice and ensures that domestic legal systems play a key role in upholding international law. Our domestic legal work also fosters the following:
- Principle of universal jurisdiction: The principle enables Austria and many other States to prosecute violations of international criminal law, regardless of where the crime occurred or the nationality of the perpetrators or victims. Relevant crimes are considered to concern the international community as a whole.
- Implementation of international criminal law into domestic legal frameworks: This aims to strengthen domestic frameworks directly, by sustainably developing a State’s national legal system to enable it to address grave violations effectively in the future.
Our work focuses on three key areas:
Therapeutic Justice for Holistic Recovery
Therapeutic justice emphasises the potential for legal proceedings and victim testimonies to produce positive, healing effects. Central to this approach is the idea that sharing experiences of human rights violations in a public forum can be both cathartic and empowering for victims.
At CEHRI, we recognise the challenges faced by victims of severe human rights violations in legal proceedings. These challenges often include the risk of re-traumatisation and the uncertainties of navigating the legal system.
Therefore, our approach is comprehensive and victim-centered, and it includes the following key elements:
- Collaboration between legal team and mental health experts: While the legal team handles legal proceedings and ensures clear, consistent communication with victims, psychosocial support and accompaniment are provided during particularly stressful events, such as interviews with public prosecutors, pre-interview briefings, debriefing sessions, and continuous follow-up with victims.
- Culturally sensitive support: We provide culturally sensitive therapeutic support in our clients’ mother tongue whenever possible. Thus we ensure the support is effective but also respectful of their identities and experiences.
- Informed decision-making: We prioritise keeping victims informed and involved in decision-making, empowering them to actively participate in their cases.
- Victim-centered approach: We hold ongoing consultations with our clients, promoting feedback, and periodically training all our team members.
- Adherence to the Istanbul Protocol: We follow the Istanbul Protocol’s guidelines to ensure proper documentation and investigation of torture and ill-treatment