Strategic Litigation Networks and Accountability for Gross Violations of Human Rights

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Florian Jeßberger
• Subject Area: Criminal Law ; Public Law
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 393063051

The proposed project aims to examine a novel actor in the area of international criminal justice: strategic litigation networks (SLNs). SLNs are networks composed of NGOs and other non-state actors active in the litigation of human rights and international crimes cases. The project is based on the assumption that SLNs proactively employ international and domestic criminal law and similar norms (such as punitive damages law) to target perpetrators of international crimes in a transnationally coordinated effort and as part of a larger juridical-political strategy transcending the individual case. Arguably, through the creative use of law in international and domestic fora (such as criminal complaints, amicus curiae briefs), SLNs contribute to the so-called fight against impunity of most serious crimes, e.g. genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.Specifically, the project aims to inquire into the SNLs operation methods, their role within the international system of criminal justice and their impact on the broader perception and development of international criminal justice. Drawing on a mix of research methods, including desk studies and field work (qualitative interviews), the research team will seek to formulate an overall theoretical framework for classifying and thus gathering a better understanding of what currently stands as a diverse and unsystematic muddle of initiatives, objectives, and (legal) techniques. Research questions include: What are the aims of SLNs and what impact do they have? What procedural mechanisms or gateways do SLNs use? Which legal arguments do SLNs apply and how can they be systematized? In particular, what weight is assigned to international and comparative law in their legal arguments (systematic pattern of cross-referencing)? Specific areas for in-depth-analysis will be selected where, arguably, SLNs offer competing narratives to the state-centered and state-driven international system of criminal justice. Subject to further analysis, these areas may include (a) accountability of (transnational) corporations and their employees for their involvement in human rights violations and international crimes; (b) accountability for international crimes, in particular torture, in the so-called war on terror; and (c) accountability for sexual- and gender-based crimes under international law.The project will conclude with an international symposium which will bring together scholars active in the field with lawyers and activists involved in strategic human rights and international crimes litigation, in particular from organizations and networks which were not analysed in the previous research periods. The results of the project will be published in a series of working papers (which will be available online), three articles in international peer-reviewed journals and an edited volume.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants