European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
purpose	Human rights organization
Chair:	Lotte Leicht (CEO)
Executive Director:	Wolfgang Kaleck (General Secretary)
Establishment date:	March 5, 2007
Seat :	Berlin
Website:	www.ecchr.eu

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights eV ( ECCHR ; German European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights ) is a non-profit and independent human rights organization organized as an association that uses legal means to ensure that those responsible for human rights violations are held accountable. ECCHR was founded in 2007 by the Berlin lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck . He was supported by a group of international lawyers .

Goals and self-image

The aim of ECCHR is to use legal means to protect and enforce human rights , which are guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights declarations and constitutions . The impetus for the founding of ECCHR was the assessment that those responsible for serious human rights violations often operate across borders on international territory.

The ECCHR is based in Berlin. It is registered with the Charlottenburg District Court and recognized as a non-profit association by the responsible tax office for corporations.

Main topics

ECCHR initiates, conducts and supports legal proceedings as a strategic means to hold state and non-state actors responsible for serious violations of human rights. It concentrates on cases in which European and international law can be applied and which are suitable as precedents to advance the protection of human rights in Europe and in the world. ECCHR participates in the scientific discourse and also carries out its own investigations. In addition, ECCHR helps with the coordination and development of process and defense strategies.

The work of ECCHR focuses on three areas: international crimes and legal responsibility, migration, as well as business and human rights.

International Crimes and Legal Responsibility

• War crimes and / or crimes against humanity in Syria , Sri Lanka , Colombia and Argentina, among others
• Serious human rights violations in the fight against terrorism by the USA , Great Britain and their allies in prison camps in Guantanamo , Iraq and Afghanistan as well as through drone attacks
• Serious human rights violations such as torture and sexual violence in Bahrain , Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Coming to terms with dictatorship crimes in Argentina and Chile ( Colonia Dignidad )

In March 2019, the activists were involved in the establishment of a so-called “truth commission”, which is supposed to deal with the genocide of the Herero and Nama between 1904 and 1908.

migration

• Asylum and Refugee Policy of the European Union
• Pushbacks at the EU's external borders

Business and human rights

• Cooperation between companies with authoritarian regimes and conflict parties (e.g. in Argentina, Colombia, Syria, Yemen )
• Inhumane working conditions (e.g. in India , Bangladesh , Pakistan , Qatar )
• Access to land and livelihoods (e.g. in Peru , Zimbabwe )

Fields of activity

Legal work

ECCHR initiates and supports exemplary judicial procedures in order to hold state and non-state actors responsible for the human rights violations they have committed. It concentrates on selected case studies that are suitable as precedents to advance the protection of human rights in Europe and in the world. The ECCHR cooperates with lawyers and organizations worldwide. For example, ECCHR supported the lawsuit brought by Khaled al-Masri against the Federal Republic of Germany and the criminal charges in Germany against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former US President George Bush . The deputy CIA director Gina Haspel was charged with the allegation of torture with waterboarding in 2017 and an international arrest warrant was applied for.

Current cases of the organization deal, for example, with a lawsuit against the textile manufacturer KiK , the responsibility of European arms suppliers for the war in Yemen, illegal push-backs on the Spanish borders with Morocco and the processing of human rights violations in Colonia Dignidad .

Education and public relations

ECCHR wants to contribute to the discussion about the protection of human rights and their further development through public relations work. For this purpose, conferences and other public events are organized and own publications and internet offers are issued. ECCHR also offers events and workshops for lawyers, lawyers and students. In addition, ECCHR offers a trainee program, which gives trainees and young lawyers the opportunity to gain an insight into the work of the organization and to work on cases and procedures together with ECCHR employees. The Bertha Global Exchange program has also existed since 2013, which allows “colleagues from international partner organizations to be invited to Berlin for an intensive exchange of experiences for a period of two to three months. The aim of the Global Exchange is to learn and develop transnational legal work together ”.

Publications

• Carolijn Terwindt and Christian Schliemann: Tricky Business: Space for Civil Society in Natural Resource Struggles , Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (ed.), Berlin 2017
• Andreas Schüller: Litigating Drone Strikes: Challenging the Global Network of Remote Killing , Berlin 2017
• ECCHR: CIA - "Extraordinary Rendition" Flights, Torture and Accountability - A European Approach , Berlin 2009 (2nd edition), ISBN 978-3-00-026794-9
• Wolfgang Kaleck and Miriam Saage-Maaß: Transnational companies in court. On the endangerment of human rights by European companies in Latin America , Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-927760-78-3
• Wolfgang Kaleck and Miriam Saage-Maaß: Companies in court: Global struggles for human rights . Wagenbach, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-8031-2748-8
• ECCHR publishes an annual report and several times a year newsletters in German and English.

structure

Board

The board of ECCHR:

Lotte Leicht (Chair)

Tobias Singelnstein (Deputy Chairman of the Board)

Dieter Hummel (board member)

former CEO Michael Ratner until May 11, 2016.

Advisory Board

The advisory board of ECCHR

Alejandra Ancheita Theo van Boven Reed Brody Andrea Bührmann

Selmin Çalışkan Colin Gonsalves Florian Jeßberger

Manfred Nowak Annemie Schaus Peter Weiss

Cooperation partner

Are cooperation partners of ECCHR

• American Civil Liberties Union , New York (ACLU)
• Amnesty International , Section of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin (ai)
• Bahrain Center for Human Rights , Manama (BCHR)
• Treatment Center for Torture Victims Berlin eV, Berlin (bzfo)
• Bread for the World , Stuttgart
• Center for Constitutional Rights , New York (CCR)
• Center for International Law , Manila (CenterLaw)
• Center for Justice & Accountability , San Francisco (CJA)
• Clean Clothes Campaign , Amsterdam (CCC)
• Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo , Bogotá (CAJAR)
• Corporate Accountability - Network for Corporate Responsibility , Berlin (CorA)
• Cuny School of Law, International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic , New York (IWHR)
• Earth Rights International , Washington (ERI)
• Emory University School of Law , Atlanta (Georgia, USA)
• European Coalition for Corporate Justice , Brussels (ECCJ)
• Federation Internationale de ligues des Droits de l`Homme , Paris (FIDH)
• Research and Documentation Center Chile-Latin America , Berlin (FDCL)
• Forum Human Rights , Berlin
• Forum for International Criminal and Humanitarian Law , Brussels (FICHL)
• Foundation for Fundamental Rights , Pakistan (FFR)
• Society for Threatened Peoples , Switzerland, Ostermundigen (GfbV)
• Germanwatch eV, Bonn / Berlin
• Gunda Werner Institute , Berlin (GWI)
• Hamburg Institute for Social Research , Hamburg (HIS)
• Heinrich Böll Foundation , Berlin (HBS)
• Heinrich Böll Foundation European Union , Brussels
• Hertie School of Governance , Berlin
• Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio , Buenos Aires (HIJOS)
• Human Rights Law Network, New Delhi , (HRLN)
• Human Rights Program Harvard Law School , Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA)
• Human Rights Watch , Brussels / Berlin (HRW)
• Humboldt University of Berlin , Humboldt Law Clinic Fundamental and Human Rights , Berlin
• International Commission of Jurists , Geneva (ICJ)
• International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims , Copenhagen (IRCT)
• International Senior Lawyers Project , New York (ISLP)
• Campaign for clean clothes Germany , Wuppertal (CCC Germany)
• Khulumani Support Group , Johannesburg
• Coalition against Impunity , Nuremberg
• Kolko - Human Rights for Colombia , Berlin (kolko)
• Leiden University, Grotius Center for International Legal Studies , Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law , Leiden
• Leigh Day & Co , London
• medico international , Frankfurt (Main) (MEDICO)
• Memoria, Moscow
• Misereor , Aachen
• New York University School of Law , New York
• Nuremberg Human Rights Center , Nuremberg (NMRZ)
• Open Society Justice Initiative , New York
• Parkafilm , Berlin
• Pesticide Action Network Asia-Pacific , Penang (PAN AP)
• Public Interest Law Institute , New York / Budapest (PILI)
• Public Interest Lawyers , Birmingham (PIL)
• Redress , London
• Reprieve , London
• Republican Lawyers Association , Berlin (RAV)
• Rights International Spain , Madrid (RIS)
• Rosa Luxemburg Foundation , Berlin (RLS)
• Sherpa, Paris (Sherpa)
• Sri Lanka Advocacy Group
• Statewatch , London
• Transnational Justice Network , University of Essex, Colchester (UK) (TJN)
• Trial Watch , Geneva (TRIAL)
• Université Libre de Bruxelles , Brussels (ULB)
• Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights , Berlin
• Women's Link Worldwide , Madrid / Bogotá
• World Organization against Torture , Geneva (OMCT)
• Center for European Legal Policy at the University of Bremen (ZERP)

Cooperation lawyers

Are cooperation lawyers

Alejandra Ancheita Jörg Arnold Marcel Bosonnet William Bourdon Gonzalo Boye & Isabel Elbal Bernhard Docke

Guido Ehrler Hans Gaasbeek Pure Geulen Remo Klinger Nadja Lorenz Dieter Magsam

Christophe Marchand Chantal Meloni Karim Popal Petra Isabel Schlagenhauf Florian Wick Rodolfo Yanzon

Sponsor

Significant support for ECCHR: Bertha Philanthropies Dreilinden society for non-profit private capital mbH Oak Foundation Sigrid Rausing Trust Long-term projects on a significant scale have funded: bread for the World Episcopal aid organization Misereor Open Society Foundations Heinrich Böll Foundation Kreuzberg Children's Foundation medico international

Individual projects made possible: Amnesty International, Section of the Federal Republic of Germany Bread for everyone Civil Justice Program of the European Union Germanwatch Global Witness Hamburg Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Culture Medico International Samuel Rubin Foundation Sebastian Cobler Foundation Human Dignity and Work Foundation Foundation do!

Web links

• Website of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
• Sven Hilbig: About the endangerment of human rights by European companies in Latin America. Interview with Wolfgang Kaleck. In: Website of the Heinrich Böll Foundation . April 3, 2008
• Oral history interview with Wolfgang Kaleck from October 15, 2013, in: Sources for the history of human rights, published by the working group Human Rights in the 20th Century.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fight for human rights - ECCHR develops strategy for the next few years. In: mediationsakademie-berlin.de. November 18, 2013, accessed March 30, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Topics. In: ecchr.eu. Retrieved April 12, 2019 . 
3. ↑ 10 years of ECCHR - enforcing human rights by legal means . ECCHR, 2018, Chapter II. - Gerhard Werle, Baher Azmy, Manfred Nowak, Bernhard Docke, Anwar al-Bunni, Ben Wizner, Susann Aboueldahab: Völkerstrafaten und legal responsibility , p. 38–51 ( ecchr.eu [PDF; 2.0 MB ; accessed on October 23, 2019]).
4. ↑ Migration and Flight - ECCHR - EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS (de). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 8, 2017 ; accessed on January 4, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Business and Human Rights - ECCHR - EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS (de). In: www.ecchr.eu. Retrieved February 19, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Investigations into torture: “In Assad's prisons they pray to be allowed to die”. In: zdf.de. July 11, 2017, archived from the original on November 23, 2017 ; accessed on October 17, 2018 . 
7. ^ ^{A b} Trade Union Violence in Colombia as Crime against Humanity | Business & Human Rights Resource Center. Retrieved January 4, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Christian Fuchs: Trump's Darling. In: zeit.de. July 10, 2017, accessed January 5, 2018 . 
9. ^ Thomas Obel Hansen: In Pursuit of Accountability for War Crimes in Iraq. In: global-politics.co.uk. September 14, 2017, accessed on March 14, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Human rights activists call for an end to the weakening of international law on combat drones. Retrieved January 4, 2018 (German). 
11. ↑ Andreas Schüller: War Criminal Trial at the Higher Regional Court Stuttgart - Long prison sentences for FDLR militia leaders. In: lto.de. September 28, 2015, accessed July 12, 2018 . 
12. ^ Paul Wright: German doctor jailed for role in secret Nazi paedophile sect Colonia Dignidad in Chile. In: ibtimes.co.uk . August 15, 2017, accessed January 19, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Namibia advised to establish truth commission on genocide. Namibia Press Agency , March 26, 2019 ( lelamobile.com [accessed March 27, 2019]).
14. ↑ Christian Rath: Refugees in North Africa: Spain deportes illegally . In: The daily newspaper: taz . October 3, 2017, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed January 4, 2018]).
15. ^ Julian Schramm: Right to Rights. ECHR ruled: "Push-backs" are illegal | BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS BLOG. Retrieved January 4, 2018 (German). 
16. ↑ France starts inquiry into LafargeHolcim's Syria activities: source . In: Reuters . June 2017 ( reuters.com [accessed January 4, 2018]).
17. ^ Jan Greve: Rheinmetall's deadly daughters. In: Junge Welt. August 5, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2018 . 
18. ↑ Andrea Koch: Beyond the Conventions: Transnational Corporations and Human Rights | BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS BLOG. Retrieved January 4, 2018 (German). 
19. ^ Linde Bryk and Claudia Müller-Hoff: Strategic Litigation to Address Forced Labor | BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS BLOG. Retrieved January 4, 2018 (German). 
20. ↑ Human Rights, the Environment and Mining: Holding Transnational Corporations Accountable | OHRH. Retrieved January 4, 2018 . 
21. ↑ Handelsblatt : El-Masri sued the Federal Ministry of Justice
22. ↑ Donald Rumsfeld, Getting What He Deserves
23. ↑ Prosecution for torture - Bush does not dare to go to Switzerland. In: spiegel.de . February 6, 2011, accessed November 13, 2019.
24. ↑ Deutschlandfunk : Torture allegations against the new CIA boss - "Personnel decision is a catastrophe" , from March 13, 2018, loaded on March 14, 2018
25. ↑ Factory fire in Pakistan / KiK - ECCHR - EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS (de). In: www.ecchr.eu. Retrieved February 19, 2016 . 
26. ^ Ewan MacAskill: Italian officials and German firm face legal action over Saudi arms sales. In: The Guardian. April 18, 2018, accessed July 19, 2018 . 
27. ↑ Migration and Flight - ECCHR - EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS (de). (No longer available online.) In: www.ecchr.eu. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016 ; Retrieved February 19, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
28. ^ Colonia Dignidad: Criminal proceedings against Hartmut Hopp in Germany
29. ↑ Bertha Global Exchange - ECCHR - EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS (de). (No longer available online.) In: www.ecchr.eu. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016 ; Retrieved February 19, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
30. ^ Tricky Business: Space for Civil Society in Natural Resource Struggles. (PDF) In: European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). Retrieved July 19, 2018 . 
31. ^ Litigating Drone Strikes: Challenging the Global Network of Remote Killing. In: European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). Retrieved July 19, 2018 . 
32. ↑ ecchr.eu
33. ↑ ECCHR mourns Michael Ratner May 12, 2016
34. ↑ ecchr.eu ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
35. ↑ ecchr.eu
36. ↑ aclu.org
37. ↑ amnesty.de
38. ↑ bahrainrights.org
39. ↑ bzfo.de
40. ↑ brot-fuer-die-welt.de
41. ↑ ccrjustice.org
42. ↑ centerlaw.org
43. ↑ cja.org
44. ↑ cleanclothes.org
45. ↑ colectivodeabogados.org
46. ↑ cora-netz.de
47. ↑ law.cuny.edu
48. ↑ earthrights.org
49. ↑ law.emory.edu
50. ^ Corporatejustice.org
51. ↑ fidh.org
52. ↑ fdcl-berlin.de ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
53. ↑ forum-menschenrechte.de
54. ↑ fichl.org
55. ↑ rightsadvocacy.org
56. ↑ gfbv.ch
57. ↑ germanwatch.org
58. ↑ gwi-boell.de
59. ↑ his-online.de
60. ↑ boell.de
61. ↑ boell.eu ( Memento of the original from July 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
62. ↑ hertie-school.org
63. ↑ hijos.org.ar
64. ↑ ecchr.eu  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
65. ↑ law.harvard.edu
66. ↑ hrw.org
67. ↑ lawclinic.rewi.hu-berlin.de
68. ↑ icj.org
69. ↑ irct.org
70. ↑ islp.org
71. ↑ clean- clothing.de
72. ↑ khulumani.net
73. ↑ koalition-gegen-strafahrung.de ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
74. ↑ kolko.net
75. ↑ grotiuscentre.org
76. ↑ leighday.co.uk
77. ↑ medico.de
78. ↑ memo.ru ( Memento of the original dated February 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
79. ↑ misereor.de
80. ↑ law.nyu.edu
81. ↑ Menschenrechte.org
82. ↑ soros.org
83. ↑ parkafilm.cc
84. ↑ panap.net
85. ↑ pili.org
86. ↑ publicinterestlawyers.co.uk
87. ↑ redress.org
88. ↑ reprieve.org.uk
89. ↑ rav.de
90. ↑ ris.hrahead.org
91. ↑ rosalux.de
92. ↑ asso-sherpa.org
93. ↑ lanka-advocacy.org ( memento of the original from October 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
94. ↑ statewatch.org
95. ↑ essex.ac.uk
96. ↑ trial-ch.org
97. ↑ ulb.ac.be
98. ↑ uzbekgermanforum.org
99. ↑ womenslinkworldwide.org
100. ↑ womenslinkworldwide.org
101. ↑ zerp.uni-bremen.de
102. ↑ ecchr.eu
103. ^ European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. Information on the amount of funding. In: sigrid-rausing-trust.org. Retrieved September 28, 2019 . 
104. ↑ "promotion" ecchr.eu, accessed on March 9, 2020