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Using the law. For a world free from torture, exploitation and fortressed borders.
ECCHR is an independent, non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to enforcing civil and human rights worldwide. It was founded in 2007 by Wolfgang Kaleck and other international human rights lawyers to protect and enforce the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as other human rights declarations and national constitutions, through legal means. Together with our global network, we enforce human rights and make injustice visible. In court and society.
Current cases
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Chiara Bellamolli
Search and Rescue Organisations Suspend Communication with Libyan Rescue Coordination Centre
After years of escalating human rights violations by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard in the Mediterranean Sea, 13 search and rescue organisations found a new alliance and collectively reject the growing pressure by the EU and its member state Italy to communicate with the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Tripoli, Libya.
Lafarge on Trial: A Landmark Case for Corporate Accountability
From 4 November, French cement giant Lafarge faces trial in Paris for financing terrorist groups during the Syrian war — a historic moment in the fight to hold corporations accountable in conflict zones. A separate investigation into alleged complicity in crimes against humanity continues.
Pakistan Climate Cost Case
Floods, destruction, loss — in 2022, the climate crisis hit Pakistan with full force. Now, 43 farmers from the Sindh region are demanding justice: they are seeking compensation and accountability from RWE and Heidelberg Materials for the consequences of the climate catastrophe.
Constitutional complaint against German arms exports to Israel
ECCHR is supporting a constitutional complaint filed by a Palestinian from Gaza before the German Federal Constitutional Court. The complaint challenges German export licenses for tank transmissions that are being extensivly used in Gaza. Germany's constitutional duties remain – regardless of the current ceasefire.
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Refugees in Libya
No deal for crimes against humanity
A coalition of more than 60 organizations calls for common protests in October against the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya. The deal facilitates grave abuses of people who are trying to reach Europe via Libya and the Mediterranean Sea, and thus contributes to crimes against humanity.
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Screenshot aus Dokumentation, gepostet auf X von Younis Tirawi (@ytirawi)
Alleged war crimes in Gaza: Criminal complaint filed in Germany
ECCHR believes that an individual with strong connections to Germany has committed international crimes against Palestinian civilians, while part of an IDF sniper unit known as the “Ghost Unit.” ECCHR calls on the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation into this individual and to investigate broader crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza.
Together with those affected and partners worldwide, ECCHR uses legal means to end impunity for those responsible for torture, war crimes, sexual and gender-based violence, corporate exploitation and fortressed borders.
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Institute for Legal Intervention
Critical Legal Training
At ECCHR, we look to a growing network to share and develop our motivation, knowledge and innovative approaches to conducting human rights work. With this in mind, ECCHR’s Critical Legal Training focuses on training, networking and collaborative learning. To ensure the future of progressive human rights work, we take part in an ongoing learning process together with young lawyers and our international colleagues.
International Summer School on Corporate Accountability & Climate Justice
Together with the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Tilburg Law School, ECCHR organizes an international summer school for human rights practitioners and advanced students on the topic of Corporate Accountability & Climate Justice.
Investigative Commons reinvents legal investigations
To expand the production of (forensic) evidence to actors beyond state-appointed experts and to use forums other than courts for accountability, we co-founded the Investigative Commons in 2020 together with long-time partner Forensic Architecture and their German sister agency Forensis.
The Institute for Legal Intervention focuses on critical perspectives on the law, particularly concerning power and power dynamics. We aim to make a long-term contribution to societal, legal and political debates through exchange with universities and research institutions, through our training and co-learning activities, through collaboration with our partners worldwide as well as in dialogue with artists and activists.
Events
19 November 2025, 6:00 pm, Berlin
Film screening "Por la Tierra - Im Namen der Erde"
28 November 2025, 7:00 pm
On Justice #8 Environmental Justice and Rights of Nature
ECCHR in the media
French cement firm Lafarge in the dock, accused of funding terrorism
Rights groups file case in Germany against German-Israeli soldier over suspected Gaza war crimes
Sea-rescue NGOs cut ties with Libyan rescuers over abuses
Pakistani farmers to sue German polluters over climate-linked flood damage
Gaza: Does ceasefire impact international war crimes cases?
Indonesians vs Swiss company Holcim: ‘We want to save our island’
Let’s stay in touch
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Publications
A Palestinian from Gaza seeks justice in Germany's top court
Abdel J., a Palestinian from Gaza, has lost everything he loved: his wife and child were killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2024. Now he is taking legal action against Germany’s exports of weapons of war and arms shipments to Israel which continue to be used in Gaza, even after the current fragile ceasefire.
Would you like to receive regular updates on our case work on Israel and Palestine in the coming months? Subscribe to our special newsletter here.
The Pretense of Justice
With its report The Pretense of Justice, ECCHR presents an analysis of the Israeli justice system’s persistent unwillingness to genuinely prosecute international crimes committed against Palestinians. The report demonstrates that Israel’s self-portrayal as a “rule of law-abiding state” is untenable.
Understanding the EU Forced Labour Regulation
The European Union’s Regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the EU market (otherwise known as the Forced Labour Regulation) entered into force on 13 December 2024. It bans the sale, import and export of goods made using forced labour. As part of our advocacy in this area, we published a model law with the key elements that would create a worker-cen- tred Regulation, analysis on evidentiary standards, an initial position paper, as well as a submission of evidence to the European Commission.
In order to sustainably change the law, a transformation of social power relations is needed – and new laws have to be created. This is why ECCHR initiates and participates in legal and law-related policy debates, organizes public events and publishes on selected topics.
15 Years of Engagement
The existence of human rights is not a foregone conclusion – rather, they must be defended and fought for again and again. The challenges of legal human rights work demand perseverance and have been our central focus since ECCHR’s foundation in 2007. Read our multimedia article “Fighting for 15 years to uphold human rights worldwide.”
