Center for Justice and Accountability

The Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA) "is an international human rights organization dedicated to ending torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world and advancing the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress.

"CJA uses litigation to hold perpetrators individually accountable for human rights abuses, develop human rights law, and advance the rule of law in countries transitioning from periods of abuse.

"CJA was founded 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."

• Winner of the 2007 Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights

Funding

They receive funding from various groups including the following foundations:

• Academy for Educational Development - New Voices Fellowship Program
• Blaustein Foundation
• Center for Civil & Human Rights, University of Notre Dame Law School
• Firedoll Foundation
• Ford Foundation
• Funding Exchange
• HKH Foundation
• Isabel Allende Foundation
• James Knight Foundation
• JEHT Foundation
• Liberty Hill Foundation
• Open Society Institute
• Shefa Fund
• Tides Foundation
• Van Loben Sels - Rembe Rock Foundation
• Villers Fund - Boston Foundation
• Working Assets

People

Staff

• Pamela Merchant, Executive Director
• Matt Eisenbrandt, Litigation Director
• Chris McKenna, Development Director
• Almudena Bernabeu, International Attorney
• Neshemah Beanez - Blackwell, Operations Coordinator
• Moira Feeney, Staff Attorney/Media Coordinator

Directors

• Joseph Brand, Chair of CJA’s Board of Directors (2002 to present)
• William Aceves, Secretary
• Chester Atkins, Development Committee Chair
• William Belding, Nominations Committee Chair
• Gerald Gray
• Richard Leigh, Treasurer
• Pamela Merchant, President and Executive Director, joined CJA in October 2005.
• Jane Rocamora, Audit Committee Chair
• Ralph Steinhardt, CJA’s founding Chair (1998-2002
• Beth Stephens, Litigation Committee Chair
• Nicholas W. van Aelstyn

Legal Advisory Council

• Carolyn Patty Blum, Senior Legal Advisor
• Carlos Castresana Fernandez
• Sarah H. Cleveland
• Benjamin Cuellar
• Jim Eisenbrandt
• Jennifer M. Green
• Paul Hoffman
• Naomi Roht-Arriaza
• Steven M. Schneebaum
• Amanda Smith
• Beth van Schaack

Contact

Web: http://www.cja.org