CJA was founded CJA in 1998 with support from Amnesty International and the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to represent torture survivors in their pursuit of justice.  CJA’s first client was a Bosnian torture and detention camp survivor who experienced additional trauma after he learned that his torturer was living freely in the same community in the United States.  CJA recognizes that the need for justice is an integral component of a torture victim's recovery process and that healing cannot take place when the perpetrator continues to live without consequence.

CJA is part of the movement for global justice for those who have been tortured or have suffered other severe human rights abuses.  CJA was founded on the principle, first used during the Nuremberg trials after World War II, that certain crimes are so egregious that they represent offenses against all humankind.  These crimes include genocide, crimes against humanity, extrajudicial killing and torture.  CJA believes that perpetrators of such violations should be brought to justice wherever they are found.

CJA uses two civil laws to hold perpetrators of international human rights abuses accountable in the United States: the Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act.  We also pursue criminal human rights cases before the Spanish National Court which has initiated investigations into abuses around the world.  The most famous of these cases, against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, represented the first time that a former head of state was prosecuted on the victims’ initiative.

CJA has pioneered a survivor-centered approach to the quest for justice that combines legal representation with medical and psycho-social services to both empower and heal torture survivors and their communities.

Impact Litigation
CJA is now the leading non-governmental organization that brings cases against individual human rights abusers in the United States and Spain.  We have filed cases against human rights violators from Bosnia, Chile, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia and Somalia. 

CJA is actively investigating human rights abuses from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

Amicus Briefs
CJA authors or signs onto “friend of the court” briefs in human rights cases filed with appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, including those that deal with the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and the importance of keeping U.S. courts open to international human rights cases.

Partnerships, Outreach & Public Education
CJA partners with torture treatment centers, medical professionals, therapists, refugee groups, law firms, law school clinics, and human rights non-governmental organizations.  CJA mobilizes torture survivors to speak publicly to personalize the issue of torture and to empower other survivors to seek justice.

Training
CJA shares knowledge and expertise with government agencies working on human rights issues to ensure that high-ranking human rights abusers are brought to justice in the U.S. or in their home countries.

CJA has won judgments against a Bosnian war criminal, a Mayor of Beijing, two Salvadoran Ministers of Defense, a Salvadoran Vice-Minister of Defense, a Honduran Chief of Military Intelligence, a Chilean death squad member, and a Haitian paramilitary leader. We have received favorable verdicts in all of our cases that have gone to trial. In addition…

CJA won the first jury verdict in U.S. history for crimes against humanity in a contested case. We represented four Chilean-Americans whose brother/son had been tortured and killed in 1973 in Pinochet’s “Caravan of Death.”

CJA was successful in the landmark case against an architect of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Archbishop Romero was one of the most important voices for peace, justice and equality in the twentieth century.

CJA’s case against a Honduran Chief of Military Intelligence was the first time a Honduran military leader has been held responsible for human rights abuses.

In a groundbreaking victory for asset collection in human rights litigation, CJA succeeded in freezing nearly $1 million that a Haitian torturer won in the Florida State Lottery.

Impact
CJA’s cases deter potential and actual human rights abusers because they force military and government officials to realize that they may be held individually accountable, not just for committing abuses, but for their failure to take reasonable action to stop others under their command from committing abuses.

CJA’s cases help develop U.S. human rights law in a manner that is consistent with international law.

CJA’s work is used around the world as a catalyst for building a constituency for transitional justice, accountability and the rule of law.

CJA’s cases are part of the healing and empowerment process for torture survivors, which often leads them to speak out publicly for the first time about what happened and who was responsible.

Testimonials
Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate: “Survivors of torture around the world will not be silenced.  With the help of CJA we are rising up to hold our abusers accountable under the law.  CJA’s victories are bringing us closer to a world in which state-sponsored torture is unacceptable.” 

Judge Baltasar Garzon, Spanish judge, in the case against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet: “CJA is performing groundbreaking work.  If the promise of the Nuremberg Charter and the hopes of international justice are to be achieved, it is crucial for the U.S. and its courts to be active participants.  CJA is leading the efforts of lawyers and activists to enlist the U.S. courts in this global campaign for international justice.  CJA’s lawyers are among the most creative, energetic and effective lawyers whose work I have had the opportunity to observe.

Robert White, Former U.S. Ambassador: “CJA has become the leader in the never-ending fight to demonstrate to the world that America has not forgotten its ideals.”
 
Juan Romagoza Arce, CJA Plaintiff: “When I testified, a strength came over me.  I felt like I was in the prow of a boat and that there were many, many people rowing behind – that they were moving me into this moment.  I felt that if I looked back at them, I’d weep because I’d see them again:  wounded, tortured, raped, naked, torn, bleeding.  So, I didn’t look back, but I felt their support, their strength, their energy. .... Being involved in this case, confronting the Generals with these terrible facts – that’s the best possible therapy a torture survivor could have.”

Fr. Stephen Privett, SJ, President, University of San Francisco: "CJA's overall goals are some of the finest examples of effective work for justice and human rights we have today.”

Chester Atkins, Chair, is Founder and Director of ADS Ventures, Inc.  He served as U.S. Represent­ative from Massachusetts 5th District (1985-93), Massachusetts Democratic State Chair, and a member of the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives. He was a Board Member of the U.S. Section of Amnesty International, and remains an active member of several nonprofit and for-profit boards.  Mr. Atkins is a Board Member of Oxfam America

William Aceves, Secretary, is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at California Western School of Law. He has represented several human rights and civil liberties organizations as amicus curiae counsel in cases before the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the author of The Anatomy of Torture: A Documentary History of Filartiga v. Pena-Irala (Martinus Nijhoff 2007) and the Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) Safe Haven report. He has served on the Board of Directors of AIUSA. He is a member of the National Board of the ACLU and the Executive Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association.  In 2007, he served as Co-Chair for the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law.  Professor Aceves has appeared before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Migrants, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

William Belding, Treasurer, is Program Director of the Association of Small Foundations in Washington, DC.  He is also an adjunct professor in international relations at the New School in New York and American University in Washington DC. He was President and CEO of Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, an international humanitarian organization that co-founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. He also served as Chief of Staff of Common Cause. Mr. Belding is an attorney and practiced real estate law in California before becoming fully engaged in the non-profit world. He was a Navy SEAL and served in Vietnam.

Joseph Brand, Chair of CJA's Board of Directors from 2002 to 2007, is a partner in the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs LLP.  His practice concentrates on legal aspects of international business and government affairs.  He has worked as a consultant for the United Nations, the World Bank, and the State Department, and conducted negotiation seminars throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and parts of Africa.  He taught the main international comparative law course at George Washington University for more than ten years, and serves as the Vice Chair of the George Washington University Board of Trustees.

Maryam Elahi is the Director of the International Women’s Program at the Open Society Institute.  Prior to OSI, Ms. Elahi was the founding director of the Human Rights Program at Trinity College.  Ms. Elahi was previously the Advocacy Director on the Middle East, North Africa and Europe for Amnesty International in DC. She has also worked at the Lawyer’s Committee for Human Rights. Ms. Elahi is the chair of the International Human Rights Committee of the American Bar Association and has served on numerous boards including the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, the ACLU of CT and AI’s Policy Board.

Gerald Gray, a psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker, founded CJA in 1998.  His experience with torture survivors in private practice motivated him to found Survivors International in 1990, which was one of the first torture treatment centers in the country. While working at Survivors, he discovered the pervasive problem of torturers living in the U.S. This injustice spurred him to create CJA to provide legal redress to survivors of human rights violations.  In 2001 he left CJA to direct a new torture treatment program in San Jose, the Center for Survivors of Torture, affiliated with Asian Americans for Community Involvement.  In 2005 he became an Ashoka fellow and co-director of the Institute for Redress & Recovery at Santa Clara University.  He is also a founding board member of The Canadian Centre for International Justice, which recently received funding to perform work similar to CJA’s in Canada. 

Richard Leigh is a retired credit union CEO.  He has held positions in several credit unions since 1967, including CEO and President of the Auto Club Federal Credit Union and of the California State Employees Credit Union No. 2.  He also worked as a stock broker with J. Barth & Co. and was a registered representative with the New York Stock Exchange.  He helped establish credit unions in Chile during three years with the Peace Corps (1964-1966).  Mr. Leigh served for five years as credit economist for USAID in Latin America and Chief of Party for the Caribbean Region administering projects in third world countries developing credit unions.

Pamela Merchant, President and Executive Director, is an attorney with twenty years experience in complex state and federal litigation.  Ms. Merchant spent eight years as a federal prosecutor with the U. S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, where she specialized in white collar prosecutions.  She also served as Special Counsel to the California Attorney General where she coordinated the affirmative litigation filed by the State in connection with the California energy crisis.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the Northern California Community Loan Fund.

Eileen M. O’Connor is an attorney with Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, LLP.  Prior to joining Orrick in 2005, she spent 24 years as a journalist working for ABC News and CNN in London, Moscow, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.  She covered the wars in Afghanistan, Sarajevo and Chechnya, for which her work was nominated for an Emmy.  Ms. O’Connor served as CNN bureau chief in Moscow, and later as White House correspondent and national correspondent.  In 2001, she left CNN to pursue a law degree.  In 2004 she was President of the Board of the International Center for Journalists.

Jane Rocamora is a Senior Attorney and Clinical Supervisor at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic at Greater Boston Legal Services.  Ms. Rocamora has spent more than two decades litigating civil, criminal and human rights cases.  She worked for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Rwanda investigating genocide and human rights and for Rwanda's Ministry of Justice on its reconstruction of the judicial system.  In 2000, Ms. Rocamora was appointed Acting Chief of the Judicial Support Section in Kosovo of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.  She is also a member of the Coalition for Women's Human Rights in Conflict Situations based out of Montreal Canada. 

Ralph Steinhardt, CJA’s founding Chair (1998-2002), CJA’s founding Chair, is the Arthur Selwyn Miller Research Professor of Law and International Affairs at George Washington University; co-director of the Oxford-GW Program in International Human Rights Law at New College, Oxford; and a Senior Visiting Fellow at Yale Law School.  He has written books and articles on the application of international law in U.S. courts, statutory construction, international trade law, jurisprudence, and human rights.  He has served as legal counsel to several foreign governments, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Human Rights Law Group, as well as represented plaintiffs in numerous lawsuits alleging violations of international human rights law.

Beth Stephens is a Professor at Rutgers University School of Law, Camden.  She has written extensively on the enforcement of international human rights norms in domestic courts.  She co-authored the leading book on Alien Tort Statute litigation, International Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts (Second Edition) (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2008).  She spent six years working on legal system reform in Nicaragua, and another six years as Staff Attorney responsible for the international human rights docket at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York.  She has served as counsel and legal consultant on many international human rights lawsuits.

Denise Vanison is a partner in the Washington office of the law firm of Patton Boggs LLP.  In her immigration practice, she advises corporate clients on international transfers, the employment of foreign nationals in the United States, I-9 employment verification requirements and procedures, and the procurement of passports, visas and US citizenship. Additionally, she has prepared white papers, drafted proposed legislation and developed lobbying strategies related to various immigration issues.  She taught Immigration Law as an Adjunct Professor at American University Washington College of Law, and serves as the co-chair of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs' Board of Directors.

Carolyn Patty Blum, Senior Legal Advisor, is a human rights consultant and works with organizations, such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, the International Center for Transitional Justice, and the Center for Justice and Accountability.  She also is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School where she teaches Refugee Law.  Before moving to New York in 2002, Professor Blum was a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley where she founded Boalt Hall Law School's International Human Rights Law Clinic and taught for over twenty years in the fields of immigration and refugee law and international human rights law. She has written extensively on refugee law and human rights as well as on human rights and film. In addition, she has assisted in the litigation of dozens of major asylum and human rights cases in the United States.  Blum is a 1976 graduate of the Northeastern University School of Law.  She recently received an honorary doctorate of law degree from Skidmore College in recognition of her work in human rights and with CJA on its El Salvador and Chile ATS litigation.

Carlos Castresana Fernandez is the United Nations Assistant Secretary General Director of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, CICIG.  He is also a Visiting Professor and Director of International Human Rights Programs at the USF Center for Law and Global Justice.  Before his current position, he was a Project Coordinator of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.  In 2005, he was appointed Prosecutor of the Spanish Supreme Court.  Professor Castresana authored the formal complaint and subsequent reports in the Argentine case and the Pinochet case before the Spanish Audiencia Nacional.  Professor Castresana serves as an expert in international legal cooperation and other issues in Europe and Latin America. He received the National Human Rights Award in Spain in 1997, was awarded a Doctorate Honoris causa from the Guadalajara University, Mexico in 2003, and an Honorary Doctorate from the Universidad Central de Chile in 2006.  He received his law degree from the Complutense University, Madrid, Spain.

Sarah H. Cleveland is the Louis Henkin Professor of Human and Constitutional Rights and Co-Director of the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School.  She teaches and writes in international human rights, international labor rights, and U.S. foreign relations law, and is an expert on international law in domestic courts.  A graduate of Yale Law School and a former Rhodes Scholar, Cleveland clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun and represented migrant farm workers as a Skadden Fellow before entering law teaching.  She is on the legal advisory board of a number of national human rights organizations, and has participated as an expert or amicus in human rights cases under the Alien Tort Statute and domestic and international cases involving the rights of immigrants. She has previously taught at the Harvard, Michigan and University of Texas law schools and at Oxford University.  

Sandra Coliver is the Senior Legal Officer for Freedom of Information & Expression at the Open Society Justice Initiative. She has worked in the human rights field since 1979 and was the Executive Director of CJA from 2001-05.  She was one of the founding members of Amnesty International USA’s Legal Support Network and a member of Amnesty International USA’s Board of Directors from 1992-96.  In 1996, she moved to Sarajevo where she worked for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Crisis Group. She has taught human rights, humanitarian law, international law and women’s rights and has written and lectured on these issues.

Jim Eisenbrandt is a partner with the firm of Berkowitz Oliver Williams Shaw & Eisenbrandt, LLP in Kansas City. He concentrates in the practice of white collar criminal law and parallel proceedings primarily in federal courts.  He is a frequent lecturer on criminal law topics and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.  With the ACTL, Jim has served as Kansas State Chair as well as Chair of the Federal Criminal Procedure Committee.  He currently serves on the College's Access to Justice Committee.  He is also a member of the litigation and criminal law sections of the American Bar Association.

Jennifer M. Green is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, where she specializes in international human rights law and litigation in U.S. courts.  Ms. Green is a former director of Harvard Law School’s Clinical Human Rights Program.  She worked on human rights claims in the international tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American human rights system.

Paul Hoffman is a partner with Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman, LLP and has been a leading civil rights and human rights attorney since 1976.  Paul has been lead or co-counsel on numerous Alien Tort Statute cases, including the landmark cases against Unocal and Philippine ex-President Marcos.  He chairs the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International and the ACLU’s International Human Rights Committee and is a member of the California Committee of Human Rights Watch.  He serves as an Adjunct Professor on the law faculties of Stanford, UCLA, USC, Loyola, Southwestern University, and the Oxford University/George Washington Program in International Human Rights Law.

Naomi Roht-Arriaza is a Professor at the University of California, Hastings College of Law where she teaches international human rights among other courses including torts, reparations, and law and development.  She has written and lectured extensively on transitional justice, universal jurisdiction, reparations and corporate accountability.  Her publications include Impunity and International Human Rights Law and Practice  (Oxford University Press, 1995), The Pinochet Effect (U. of Penn. Press 2005), and Transitional Justice in the Twenty-first Century (edited with J. Mariezcurrena, Cambridge U. Press 2006). She advises a number of human rights organizations and is an Associate Editor of the Yearbook of International Environmental Law.
 
Steven M. Schneebaum is a shareholder with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig LLP.  His practice concentrates on dispute resolution, including litigation, negotiation, and arbitration, international law and trade, and the law of the European Union. Steven has been involved in many of the significant cases under the Alien Tort Statute  including the landmark case, Filartiga v. Pena, and CJA’s case against an Indonesian General who gave orders to carry out atrocities in East Timor (Doe v. Lumintang).  Mr. Schneebaum has taught international law and human rights courses at numerous law schools and is now Professorial Lecturer at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.  He has written and lectured widely in international human rights law topics since 1979. 

Amanda Smith is Pro Bono Counsel to Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in New York.  Ms. Smith's pro bono work includes asylum and immigration, criminal defense, homelessness, domestic violence advocacy, human rights litigation and the general representation of a number of non-profit entities.  She was part of CJA’s Mehinovic v. Vukovic team that obtained a $140 million judgment on behalf of four Bosnian Muslims who had been detained and tortured in the former Yugoslavia.  She is currently co-counsel in CJA's two cases involving the Accomarca Massacre in Peru. Ochoa v Rivera Rondon and Ochoa v Hurtado Hurtado.  Ms. Smith has a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford.

Beth van Schaack is an Associate Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, where she teaches civil procedure, international human rights, and international criminal law among other subjects. While an associate at Morrison & Foerster, she worked extensively on CJA's case against two Salvadoran retired generals (Romagoza Arce v. Vides Casanova) and on the case on behalf of John Walker Lindh. Prior to entering private practice, she was a Soros Justice Fellow in the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague and then as a staff attorney with CJA.

Pamela Merchant, Executive Director

Chris McKenna, Development & Outreach Director

Almudena Bernabeu, International Attorney

Neshemah Beanez - Blackwell, Operations Coordinator

Elizabeth Chertoff, Development and Outreach Associate

Natasha Fain, Staff Attorney