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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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ECCHR
Crimes in Libya: suspect surrendered to ICC
German authorities surrendered Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri to the International Criminal Court. His transfer marks the first time a wanted suspect has been brought before the ICC since the investigation in the Libya situation was opened in 2011. This is an important step toward justice for victims of Crimes against Humanity committed across Libya - and for International Law.
Germany's border controls erode core EU rights
A Syrian refugee and journalist has filed a complaint to the Administrative Court in Stuttgart, challenging an unlawful, violent and seemingly racially motivated border control by German officers at the French border. The control violates fundamental rights under German law, as well as the right to move freely in the Schengen zone.
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Justicia Ambiental - Afungi gas site in Mozambique
TotalEnergies accused of complicity in Mozambique war crimes
ECCHR filed a criminal complaint against TotalEnergies, alleging the company enabled war crimes, torture and enforced disappearances committed by Mozambican forces guarding its gas site. The French Anti Terorrism Prosecutor is now called to investigate the international crimes.
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Sina Marx
How the fashion industry is failing to address labor rights violations
Denouncing human and labor rights as a burdensome bureaucratic obligation is the strategy used by neoliberal and right-wing political forces to weaken European protection standards. This sends a destructive signal to companies including those in Germany, where the supply chain law (LkSG) is far too often applied only pro forma.
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Wikimedia
New trial over crimes in Syria: The starvation siege of Yarmouk
For the first time, the starvation and siege of Yarmouk, a former Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, will be examined in court: The Higher Regional Court in Koblenz begins a trial against five men suspected of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes under the Assad regime.
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.
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.
ECCHR in the media
Total faces war crimes allegations over Mozambique massacre
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
Lafarge on Trial: Cementing Accountability
Pakistani farmers to sue German polluters over climate-linked flood damage
Gaza: Does ceasefire impact international war crimes cases?
German rights group files war crimes complaint against Israeli sniper over Gaza killings
Indonesians vs Swiss company Holcim: ‘We want to save our island’
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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.”
