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About us

The MESOPOTAMIA OBSERVATORY OF JUSTICE / ÇAVDÊRIYA DADWERÎ YA MEZOPOTAMYA is a not-for-profit foundation that campaigns for access to justice for victims of international crimes and gross violations of human rights in the Middle East. It was formed in Geneva in September 2018 by a group of experts in International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law and Middle Eastern politics with the aim of promoting and supporting the use of international legal mechanisms to challenge political repression and impunity.

We are conducting a range of activities designed to secure access to justice for victims in order to expose egregious practices, to establish accountability, to obtain reparations, and to defend human rights and the rule of law. We work with victims and local legal actors in every country in the Middle East. Our core activities include monitoring and research, advocacy and strategic litigation, and legal training. We provide legal assistance to victims, take legal actions on their behalf, and provide training to local lawyers and human rights advocates. We are working with existing legal networks throughout our target region and are developing sustainable cooperation with organizations pursuing similar objectives elsewhere.

In order to fulfill our aims we focus on a range of thematic areas, including: the protection of habitat, cultural heritage and civilian infrastructure; the destruction of homes and forced displacement; extrajudicial killings; torture; political persecution; children’s rights; women’s rights; transitional justice. We have an extensive programme of strategic human rights litigation across these priority areas, with individual complaints and communications submitted to INTERPOL, the EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS and to various UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEURS. We are also organizing a series of events and publications to enable the sharing of best practice on the use of international legal mechanisms to combat international crimes and gross violations of human rights.