The Center for Justice and Accountability

We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself. --Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and dissident anti-Nazi, he was arrested by the Gestapo and executed at a Nazi concentration camp)

The San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) is the leading United States-based organization actively working to bring lawsuits against international human rights violators.

CJA was initially founded to prosecute human rights abusers who sought refuge in the United States. Their first client was a survivor of a Bosnian detention camp, who suffered further trauma after learning his torturer was not only free and unpunished, but also living in San Francisco. Since this case, CJA has been successful in bringing human rights abusers to justice, including a 9-0 victory before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case against the former Defense Minister of Somalia. CJA is internationally recognized and sought-after in developing, investigating and proving human rights cases. Today, they represent more than 200 clients from 21 countries, all survivors of torture and other human rights violations or family members of those who have been killed or disappeared. Currently, CJA is involved in two of the most important human rights prosecutions in the world: the Guatemala Genocide Case in Spain and the Second Khmer Rouge trial in Cambodia.

CJA clients observing the court at the Khmer Rouge trials

People march during the Guatemalan Genocide Trial

Founded in tribute to social justice activist Kelly Ann Brown, the Kelly Ann Brown Foundation (KABF) supports the Center for Justice & Accountability. Kelly knew the details of the Jesuit Massacre case CJA is currently prosecuting because of her work to close the School of the Americas (SOA). Many of the people responsible for violent atrocities across Latin America, including the Jesuit Massacre, were trained at the SOA. Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of the SOA Watch, was a friend of Kelly's and she supported his fight against injustice not just in Latin America but around the world. In memory of Kelly, KABF continues to fight injustice and support survivors.

Click here for more information on The Center for Justice and Accountability.