One thing we have learned at ECCHR from the last 15 years is that transnational human rights work requires significant reserves of patience and perseverance. The wheels of justice often turn slowly, which makes it difficult to recognize progress on a range of different battlefronts. ECCHR’s legal interventions are designed to work toward long-term social change, whether that means setting legal precedents or mobilizing politically to push for new, more just legislation. And now, after 15 years, we find ourselves in a position to take stock of our work as a whole.

Since its inception in 2008, ECCHR has generated a tremendous amount of expertise in the field of strategic human rights litigation, spanning a wide array of geographical regions and topics. The Living Open Archive is a multimedia platform that offers diverse avenues to explore this wealth of material and will be available soon. The ECCHR Book Series aims to examine the potentials and pitfalls of human rights work in a shifting political and legal landscape. Uniting diverse voices across disciplinary boundaries, each book explores overlapping political, economic, social and environmental challenges worldwide, as well as strategies to combat them. In the first two books, ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck discusses the role of art in political and legal interventions with artist and activist Tomás Saraceno, and ECCHR Legal Director Miriam Saage-Maaß and GLAN Founding Director Gearóid Ó Cuinn explore new systemic approaches toward combating corporate power. The ECCHR Book Series will also be available soon in print and online.

To celebrate 15 years of ECCHR and in recognition of the more than 25-year-long trajectory of legal action to enforce human rights, we sought to critically assess the transformative potential of law, as well as the limitations of legal interventions, in confronting systemic injustices, structural inequalities and intersectional discrimination. To this end, on 9 November 2023, staff, partners and alumni engaged in discussions and reflections, assessing 15 – 25 years of transnational human rights litigation, examining current challenges, and generating new insights for future endeavors at our symposium "Addressing systemic injustice through legal means."

Video footage to follow

Banana plantations in Ecuador are rife with labor and human rights violations, from heavy exposure to toxic pesticides, to starvation wages, gender discrimination and suppression of trade unions. Nonetheless, two of the largest supermarket chains in Germany, Rewe and Edeka, continue to import their bananas from such plantations, long after these abuses were exposed.

Until now, these companies refer to audits by the Rainforest Alliance that did not confirm the violations. Yet, the reliability of such audits has been documented and criticized for many years. The German Supply Chain Act obligates companies to ensure that there are no violations of human rights and environmental obligations in their own business operations, as well as their supply chains. This is why ECCHR is supporting Oxfam, the Ecuadorian union ASTAC and Misereor with filing a complaint against these companies with the German Federal Office of Economics and Export Control.

More about the case

We are currently looking to fill two positions: Legal Advisor at the Institute for Legal Intervention and Student Assistant to support the Critical Legal Training.

Anne Fargeas joined ECCHR in October as Head of Finance and Administration

Alexander Schwarz joined the International Crimes and Accountability team in October as Deputy Program Director

Katherina Kersten joined the Fundraising and Partnerships team in November

Sigrun Matthiesen joined the Communications team in November as a Senior Communications Officer

Bruna Santos returned to ECCHR in November as a Humboldt Fellow at the Institute for Legal Intervention

Jenny Dahlström joined ECCHR in November as Office Manager/Team Assistant

Kranti LC joined ECCHR in November as a Global Exchange Fellow

Nina Marandi, Leander Beinlich and Davy Wang joined the Business and Human Rights team in October as trainees

Alexandra Geraki Trimi joined the Border Justice team in November as a trainee

Ada Hernández Lluís joined the Institute for Legal Intervention in November as a trainee 

Layla Mzher Alyassin joined the International Crimes and Accountability team in November as a trainee 

Christina Smikalla joined the Communications team in October as a trainee

After an analysis initiated by the research-exhibition "Marejesho," ancestral remains of victims of German colonial rule have been identified through DNA-matching for the first time. The descendants in Tanzania are now demanding prompt repatriation, an apology from Germany for colonial crimes, and negotiations on reparations. Personal belongings are also to be returned. The exhibition "Marejesho" at TA T in Berlin is currently open to the public. The symposium, organized by Decolonize Berlin and ECCHR, brings together those affected and guests from Namibia, Tanzania, Ghana and Zimbabwe with representatives from civil society, politics and cultural institutions to discuss questions of repatriation and restitution.

Refugio Berlin, Lenaustr. 3-4, 20 November, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm (in-person and online)

More info on exhibition and register here for the event

This project, led by the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA) and Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA), seeks to uncover traces of the German colonial genocide buried within the Namibian environment. Inherited Testimonies is a live performance where collective testimonies are delivered by traditional leaders and oral historians within an immersive visual and auditory environment conceived by Forensic Architecture/Forensis. Last year, the Investigative Commons (an ECCHR/Forensis collaboration) held a conference that addressed the genocide committed against the Ovaherero in the region of Waterberg, focusing on questions of transgenerational dispossession and reparations. This year’s conference examines genocidal acts committed against the Nama, as well as the broader environmental legacies of colonialism.

House of World Cultures, Berlin, 2 December

More info

Six months before the EU elections, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation hosted an event on 8 – 10 November on the burning issues of the day. How do we prevent the rise of fascist forces in Europe? How do we strengthen the social struggles for justice in Europe? How can Europe deal with its colonial past and become a motor of global solidarity in a polarizing world? This event brought together activists, social critics, politicians and anyone interested in to have their say. Among others, participants included: Jeremy Corbyn, Klaus Lederer, Carola Rackete, Gregor Gysi, Michael Hardt and Wolfgang Kaleck.

More info

This event at the Maxim Gorki Theater on 9 November brought together an international network of actors from the arts, culture, climate protection and European civil society, including Oleksandra Matwijtschuk, Nobel Prize winner; Eyal Weizman, Founding Director of Forensic Architecture; Susanne Baer, former federal judge; and Wolfgang Kaleck, General Secretary of ECCHR. Looking at human rights as a means of gathering evidence and restoring justice in times of war, the guest speakers also addressed questions of justice for future generations. Before the panel discussion, the evening began with a performance by the choir project "MOTHERS. A SONG FOR WARTIME" by Marta Górnicka.

More info

Wolfgang Kaleck / Tomás Saraceno

Beyond Limitations: Wolfgang Kaleck in conversation with Tomás Saraceno

ECCHR Book Series, 2023

(available soon)

Miriam Saage-Maaß / Gearóid Ó Cuinn

Challenging corporate power: Towards a systemic approach using human rights

ECCHR Book Series, 2023

(available soon)

ECCHR / Brot für die Welt / Misereor

Arms and conflict-affected areas in the Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive

September 2023

ECCHR / Brot für die Welt / Misereor
German Supply Chain Act: Implementation from Below
September 2023

Wolfgang Kaleck / Andreas Schüller

Room for Improvement: A Critical Assessment of 20 Years of the Code of Crimes Against International Law in Germany from an NGO Perspective

Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2 November 2023

ECCHR

No immunity for international crimes: Call for support of ILC Draft Article 7 as a key step for making international crimes prosecutable

6 November 2023 (only available in German)

Wolfgang Kaleck

International law and war in the Middle East: Why criminal investigations are so important - guest contribution by Wolfgang Kaleck

6 November 2023